To celebrate its 45th anniversary, TV Asahi will present a special five-part drama series about Japan's favorite siblings -- Yujiro and Shintaro Ishihara. Like Elvis, Yujiro's early death has only increased the actor-singer's popularity, and since his older brother, who was responsible for making him famous, is the combative governor of Tokyo, people are always reminded of Yujiro whenever they see Shintaro. The governor, in fact, reportedly wept when he was shown a preview of the drama series, called "Little Brother," which covers the lives of the two Ishiharas from 1934 to 1987. Each two-hour episode starts at 9 p.m.
* Nov. 17: The Ishiharas' father is a shipping company executive and for the first part of their boyhood they live in Otaru, Hokkaido, but move to Zushi on the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture shortly before the war.
* Nov. 18: When the boys are in their teens, their father buys a boat. After the father dies in 1951, Shintaro becomes the de facto head of the family even though he is attending university. Yujiro is just a party animal, only interested in sailing and girls, and his mother suffers for it. Shintaro captures his brother's wayward ways in his first novel, which is published in 1955. It becomes a best seller.