If you need help with a problem and want to make a bunch of celebrities feel good, check out Nippon TV's "Power Bank" (Sunday, 12:30 p.m.). For each episode of the show, individuals register as "helpers," meaning people with some kind of skill or experience, and when a viewer requests assistance, this "bank" of expertise is utilized. But just in case there isn't anyone in the bank with the skills required, the show's main host, sports tarento Kane Kosugi and his two celebrity assistants are always on hand to do what they can.
Among the tasks for which viewers requested assistance on past shows were English conversation, renovating an old judo dojo, showing someone around Sugamo, training for a marathon and helping a child learn how to swim. On this week's show, Kosugi and his experts will help someone find good homes for 36 dogs.
Sunday is the election for the governor of Nagano Prefecture, and you can bet your Shinshu soba that after the polls close at 8, all the TV stations will be indulging in "flash news" reports about the possible results based mainly on exit polls.