The quiz show "Wafu Sohonke" ("Total Main House for Japanese Style"; TV Tokyo, Mon., 8 p.m.) tests celebrity contestants' knowledge of Japanese customs and traditions, many of which are arcane. On this week's two-hour special, they narrow the focus to customs and traditions having to do with Japanese women, in particular takumashii (strong in both spirit and body) women.
The special follows women over the course of a single day. One of the subjects is a Buddhist nun, who has decided to cut all ties to the material world. She is shown waking up before dawn and taking part in ascetic religious training. There is also a profile of a 77-year-old woman who sells fish door-to- door from a cart that she pulls through the streets by herself, as well as a day in the life of a woman who runs a boarding house for students, and a look at the workaday world of a "charisma midwife."
"Takumashii" of a peculiarly male sort is presented for your entertainment on "Sekiguchi Hiroshi's Tokyo Friend Park II" (TBS, Thurs., 7:55 p.m.), the game show that pits two teams of celebrities against each other in a competition to win prizes for themselves and members of the audience. This week, two pairs of popular sumo rikishi will go head-to-head . . . or belly-to-belly, if you prefer: Hakuho, Aminishiki, Toyonoshima and crowd favorite Takamisakari.