Now that school is out summer is officially here, and NHK celebrates with a dramatization of Mitsuyo Tsunoda's novel, "Kidnap Tour" (NHK-G, Tues., 7:30 p.m.). Fifth-grader Haru (Hana Toyoshima) is about to enjoy her summer vacation when her father, Takashi (Satoshi Tsumabuki), shows up unexpectedly. ...
Thanks mainly to a first-person "biography" written by former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, there is renewed interest in disgraced former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. NHK is presenting a series of special programs, some of which are dramatizations, about the scandal that brought Tanaka down: ...
Based on a true story, the new drama series "Aogeba Totoshi" ("Graduation Song"; TBS, Sun., 9 p.m.) takes place at a high school in Kanagawa Prefecture in the 1980s. Akira Terao plays Hikuma, a saxophone player who has lost his zest for life after an ...
Love vs. career is the theme of the new drama series "Seisei Suru Hodo Aishite Iru" ("I Absolutely Love You"; TBS, Tues., 10 p.m.), which is based on a popular manga. Saki Takei plays Mia, who is employed in the public-relations department of a company ...
Ryoko Yonekura returns as the genius freelance surgeon Dr. Michiko Daimon in a special two-hour installment of "Doctor X" (TV Asahi, Sun., 9 p.m.). Michiko happens to be in Kanazawa when national politician Aiko Ichinose (Kayako Kishimoto) collapses on the street after an intimate interlude ...
You may wonder what former New York Yankee slugger Hideki Matsui has been up to since he retired several years ago. Well, one thing he's been doing is appearing on the sports variety show "Tunnels no Sports O wa Ore da" ("Tunnels' I Am ...
Some people think entrepreneurship is dead in Japan. They may change their tune if they watched the variety show "Medekin" (Fuji TV, Sun., 4:05 p.m.). The title is a play on the Japanese word "demekin," which refers to a bug-eyed goldfish, but the operative ...
In addition to singing and dancing, the popular male idols managed by Johnny & Associates do a lot of educational TV, including "Aiba Manabu" ("Aiba Learns"; TV Asahi, Sun., 6 p.m.), in which Masaki Aiba, a member of boy band Arashi, learns about some ...
Before he became a firebrand politician, Toru Hashimoto was a lawyer and TV personality, and one of the variety shows he often appeared on was Nippon TV's "Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo" ("Legal Advice Office With a Line Outside the Door"; Sun., 9 p.m.). ...
Kumamoto Castle, which was seriously damaged in last month's earthquake, is one of Japan's most beloved and iconic landmarks. Originally built in the 15th century, the structure is one of the largest fortifications in Japan and covers a big piece of land. It is ...
Recently, an artificial intelligence program developed by Google defeated several champions of the Asian board game go. The program's achievement made headlines all over the world since go is considered a very complex game. The programmers, in fact, thought it would take much longer ...
Vacation is almost over, so it's back to the usual animated TV show grind. This week's episode of "Chibi Maruko-chan" — the 1051st! (Fuji TV, Sun., 6 p.m.) — finds the eternal elementary school student coming home from class on Saturday to an almost ...
