Last Monday, NHK's latest six-month asa-dora (morning drama series) started. "Carnation" (NHK-G, Mon.-Sat., 8:45 a.m.) is a fictionalized version of the early life of Ayako Koshino, one of Japan's first Western-style fashion designers, who emerged during the Taisho Era (1912-26) and gave birth to three other famous female fashion designers: Hiroko, Michiko and Junko Koshino.

The protagonist, Itoko (Machiko Ono), is the daughter of a prominent kimono seller in Osaka, though she is attracted to Western apparel. However, her main obsession is the sewing machine she spies in a business located not far from her family's establishment. She decides that she will quit school and work for the company, just so she can learn how to use the device. Her father strongly disapproves, even though he knows in his heart that the kimono business is on its way out.

Though not a governess like Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee, "Kaseifu no Mita" ("Mita the Maid"; Nippon TV, Wed., 10 p.m.) is still pretty magical for a domestic servant. Wherever she is hired, she figures out the central problem in the life of the family she's working for and then goes about solving it, often in a cold, bossy sort of way. She never smiles or betrays any emotion.