Traditional Tokyo gets the two-hour mystery treatment in "Yorozuya Chobei no Sumidagawa Jiken Fairu Sono Ni" (Chobei Yorozuya's Sumidagawa Incident File No. 2; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.). The hero, Chobei Yorozuya (Kotaro Satomi), is a pawn shop owner in Tokyo's Asakusa district who has quit the police force following the killing of his best friend in the line of duty. He's a nice guy who looks after his late friend's daughter, Misuzu (Yumi Adachi), a traditional storyteller.
When Misuzu's friend, Ayaka, is found murdered, she decides to investigate for herself and goes undercover as a furisode, the Asakusa equivalent of what in Kyoto is called a maiko, or apprentice geisha. Ayaka herself was a furisode — which are in the midst of a comeback — and the community is afraid her murder will have a bad effect on the local economy.
Old Tokyo is also the subject of a special two-hour version of "Wafu Sohonke" (The Head Family of Japanese Style; TV Tokyo, Thurs., 9 p.m.), a quiz show about matters and things specific to Japan. The special highlights traditional handicrafts and skills still found in Tokyo's shitamachi (low city) district east of the Imperial Palace.