Teacher-cum-TV personality Osamu Hayashi has made Toshin, where he works, the most famous juku (cram school) in Japan. One Toshin colleague who has ridden on his coattails is history instructor Shinichiro Kanetani, the host of the new series "Shinkaishaku Nihonshi" ("New Interpretation of Japanese History"; TBS, Tues, 1:11 a.m.).
As the title implies, Kanetani's take on Japan's past is slightly different from what is conventionally taught, or maybe it's the methodology, since his lectures are often illustrated with humorous dramatizations.
One reason reconstruction of the areas destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake has been delayed is that local governments still haven't decided what form reconstruction should take.