A recent NHK documentary about the new lay judge system cited a survey that found many citizens were learning about trials by watching movies and TV dramas. To that end, TBS's ongoing drama series "Hotei Suspense" ("Trial Suspense") should be popular.

As pointed out in last week's Channel Surf, the series' usefulness in terms of what people can learn about the law is not clear. This week's story focuses on veteran Judge Kamiya (Hideki Takahashi), who is famous for his harsh sentences.

Judge Kamiya presides over a hit-and-run case in which a woman and her child were killed. The prosecution is asking for the death penalty, but the defense is trying to get a jail sentence of a determined length. Matters become complicated when Kamiya's daughter, Mari (Ai Maeda), is kidnapped and he receives a note saying that Mari will be killed if he gives the defendant the death penalty.