Tag - commercial

 
 

COMMERCIAL

JAPAN / Media
Mar 10, 2013
Meals on memory lane; "For That Inevitable Day"; CM of the week: Chunichi Shimbun
Fuji TV's Sunday lunchtime show, "Uchi Kuru!" ("Home Visit"), is the king of peripatetic eating programs. Hosts Shoko Nakagawa and Hideyuki Nakayama accompany the week's celebrity guest on a tour of eateries and watering holes from his or her past, dredging up memories while consuming to excess.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 3, 2013
Re-creating Reiko Ohara; Tragic tsunami elementary school; CM of the week: Elleair
Reiko Ohara died in 2009 after a long illness and an even longer time out of the public eye. In the 1970s and '80s, she was one of the busiest and most respected actresses in Japan. On Wednesday, TV Tokyo is presenting a two-hour drama about her life, "Joyu Reiko: Hono no yo ni" ("Actress Reiko: Like a Flame"; 9 p.m.). It will be interesting to see how much detail the drama covers, since many of the people in Ohara's life are still alive.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 24, 2013
'Love is Science'; tribute to Kenji Miyazawa; CM of the week: DMM.com
If love is the drug, then chemistry explains everything, right? That seems to be the premise of the four-part miniseries "Renai wa Kagaku da" ("Love is Science"; Fuji TV, Mon.-Fri., 11 p.m.).
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2013
Beat Takeshi and disappearing Japan; Taking apart the Boeing 707; CM of the week: Takada Moving Center
An endangered plant or animal species symbolizes a world that changes irrevocably every moment, but there are also man-made things that vanish. This week, on the variety show "Takeshi no Nippon no Mikata" ("Takeshi's Way of Viewing Japan"; TV Tokyo, Fri., 10 p.m.), comedian-filmmaker Takeshi Kitano looks at once familiar items that are "about to disappear."
JAPAN / Media
Feb 10, 2013
2,160 Hours of Yasushi Akimoto; AKB48 dramas; CM of the week: U-Can
Some fans can't get enough of AKB48, and NHK understands this, so on Monday it is broadcasting "Mitchaku: Akimoto Yasushi 2,160-jikan" ("Intense Coverage: 2,160 Hours of Yasushi Akimoto"; BS Premium, 9 p.m.), a two-hour special (presumably just the highlights then) in which NHK's cameras follow AKB producer-Svengali Yasushi Akimoto's very busy life as he auditions new members for the SKE48 troupe in Nagoya and rehearses the opening performance of the remodeled SKE48 Theater in that city.
JAPAN / Media
Feb 3, 2013
A big eating marathon; The worst father; CM of the week: Choya
Though there are professional competitive eaters, one doesn't have to be certified to participate in such contests. The TV personalities on this week's two-hour special edition of the variety show "Ikinari! Ogon Densetsu" ("Out of the Blue! Gold Legend"; TV Asahi, Thurs., 6:53 p.m.) are all comedians known for their appetites.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 19, 2013
Share house lovers; "Tonbi"; CM of the week: Open House
A "share house" is a relatively new concept in Japan: unrelated people sharing a rented residence. The new drama series, "Shea Hausu no Koibito" ("Share House Lovers"; Nippon TV, Wed., 10 p.m.) puts the inevitable romantic spin on it.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 13, 2013
A signature mystery; "Last Hope"; CM of the week: Mister Donut
The new Fuji TV drama series, "Biburia Koshodo no Jiken Techo" ("Biblia Antique Book Shop Case Notebook"; Mon., 9 p.m.) is based on a series of "light mystery novels," meaning stories where no one is killed. Ayame Goriki plays Shioriko, who runs the titular store located in an alley near Kita Kamakura Station. Shioriko is asocial and eccentric, but she knows more about antique books than anyone.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 6, 2013
Ueto stars as ex-con in NHK drama; a Japanese spin on "The Brothers Karamazov"; CM of the week: Parco
Strange casting decisions are often explained by advertising prerogatives, so we're not sure what prompted NHK to cast Aya Ueto against type to play an ex-con in the 10-part drama "Itsuka Hi no Ataru Basho de" ("In a Place Where the Sun Sometimes Shines"; NHK-G, Tues., 10 p.m.).
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 4, 2013
NHK spotlights gunslinging daughter of the north in yearlong Sunday drama
How to rebuild when you've lost everything? In the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, as many thousands of people in northeastern Japan sought to answer that question for themselves, public broadcaster NHK began looking for a historical figure whose story might provide some inspiration — someone whose life it could depict in the 2013 edition of its yearlong Sunday-evening taiga drama series.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 23, 2012
"Family History"; Top athletes in unimaginable contests; CM of the week: Sato Shokuhi
The portion of resident Korean nationals in the sports and show business worlds is higher than it is in the general population. Athletics and entertainment were and still are two traditional ways for non-Japanese to escape poverty.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 16, 2012
Arashi looks at Japan's future; Christmas and the single woman; CM of the week: Nissan
Boy band Arashi has been getting a lot of work recently from NHK. In addition to their second consecutive hosting gig for the year-end song contest, they've been tapped to navigate "Asu ni Kakeru Tabi" ("Travels Building a Bridge to Tomorrow") a series of five programs, three of which air this week (Mon.-Wed., 10 p.m.), that look at "ideas that point to a bright future for Japan."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 9, 2012
"Give it a try!"; A Matsumoto mystery; CM of the week: Pizza Hut
Celebrity couples are very popular among variety-show producers, but in recent years they have shown more interest in another two-for-one bargain: the parent-child pairing. This week a special two-hour edition of the consumer challenge show, "Otameshi Ka!" ("Give It a Try!"; TV Asahi, Mon. 7 p.m.) will feature three such duos.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 2, 2012
Terrorists and prison breaks; "Secrets of Prefectural Residents"; CM of the week: Family Mart
Criminality is the theme of this week's two-hour special edition of "Jitsuroku Sekai no Mystery" ("True Accounts of World Mysteries"; TV Tokyo, Mon., 9 p.m.). The main segment recounts a terrorist incident. On Dec. 11, 1994, Philippine Airlines Flight 434 was en route from Cebu to Narita when a bomb exploded, killing one Japanese man and injuring 10 others. The pilot was able to land the aircraft safely. The device had been planted by a famous international terrorist traveling under a false name who had been on the previous leg of the flight.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 25, 2012
Is the whole world worrying about Japan?; "Villain"; CM of the week: Ezaki Glico
Does Japan suffer from an inferiority complex? That's one way of interpreting the title of the variety special "Nakayoshi Terebi: Nihon no Ima wo Sekaiju ga Shimpai Shite Iru zo" ("Friendly TV: The Whole World is Worrying About Japan Now"; Fuji, Tues., 7 p.m.).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 18, 2012
Research and ranking; Kara explains love; "Knocking over a pile of blocks"; CM of the week: Pepsi
The "R" in the title of the daily variety show "R no Hosoku" ("The Law of R"; NHK-E, Mon.-Thurs., 6:55 p.m.) stands for "ranking" and "research." Kids go out into the streets and find out what interests today's junior high and high school students and then create rankings based on the research. In the studio these rankings are discussed by students along with guest celebrities and the host, Tatsuya Yamaguchi of Tokio.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 11, 2012
'The Anonymous Detective'; 'Wide Area Police'; CM of the week: Bausch + Lomb
Actor Katsunori Takahashi is known for his suave good looks, as well as making fun of them, and this week he appears in two dramas playing idiosyncratic crime fighters.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 4, 2012
'Legacy Liquidation Expert'; 'The Fly Woman Who Loves'; CM of the week: Panasonic
There is a business called ihin seiri gaishi, companies that clean up after dead people. The most common request for such services comes when a person living alone dies and the family doesn't want to go through the trouble of disposing of his or her belongings.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 28, 2012
Kimutaku as a loser; Kabuki posture; CM of the week: Coca-Cola
Kimutaku is back in the coveted Monday 9 p.m. Fuji TV drama slot, which he used to own. SMAP's enduring heartthrob Takuya Kimura used to play topical professionals — airline pilots, race-car drivers, concert pianists — in his Monday night dramas, but in "Priceless" he does something unexpected. He plays a loser.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 21, 2012
All about Yo; "Words make the world"; CM of the week: Tsutaya
Kimiko Yo's career has followed a different trajectory from that of most Japanese actors. She started in theater at the age of 20 in 1976 and didn't land her first movie role until 1987. She has since made a resume of solid supporting roles but didn't gain traction as a leading lady until the dawn of the millennium, when she was in her 40s.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on