Show-biz synergy reaches critical mass Saturday with the premiere of "Ashita ga Arusa" (NTV, 9 p.m.). The title, which translates as "there is a tomorrow," meaning you should work hard because the future is always staring you in the face, was also the title of a popular song by Kyu Sakamoto in the '60s. Several years ago, it was revived by the rock group Ulfuls and then picked up as a theme song by Re:Japan, who are also members of the Osaka comedy production company Yoshimoto Kogyo.
Fellow comedian and former Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima, who wrote the lyrics for the song, dashed off a dozen new verses, and the group performed it for a Georgia coffee commercial.
The Re:Japan version is the theme song for the series, but the synergy doesn't stop there. The cast is made up of Yoshimoto employees, and even Aoshima appears as a regular character. The main actor is Masanori Hamada, the shorter half of the comedy duo Downtown, which also toils for Yoshimoto. He plays a put-upon salaryman approaching middle age -- essentially the same character he's been playing in a series of Georgia ads since August.