Sekai Shogeki Story; Chimpanzee Ai ga Oshiete Kureta; Aoki
Unidentified flying objects are a topic of great concern to people who have too much time on their hands. A retired sheriff from Colorado who has spent the past 25 years looking into UFOs is the subject of a report on the variety show ...
Travel shows warp true globalization
Now that Tokyo has been given the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, the city, as well as all of Japan, will spend the next seven years "internationalizing" (kokusai-ka), a term that becomes fashionable again every few years when something like this happens. ...
Fun with frugality plus competitive money saving; CM of the week: Parinko
On the variety show "Shiawase Bonbi Garu" ("Happy Poor Girls"; Nippon TV, Tues., 10 p.m.), celebrities look at how much fun it is to live the impoverished life. The women who are the subjects of the show grew up during the recession, so saving ...
Private tutor as crime solver; inner workings of the human body, dramatized; CM of the week: Acom
These days a college education doesn't get you as far as it used to, though it comes in handy for solving crimes, apparently. The hero of the two-hour suspense drama "Katei Kyoshi ga Toku" ("Private Tutor Solves the Case"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.) is ...
Womens fashion fail-off; celebs discuss transgender issues; CM of the week: Boss
Everybody on TV knows their place and what's expected of them, so the "women's pride battle" on the variety show "London Hearts" (TV Asahi, Tues., 9 p.m.) needs to be qualified. What kind of women? Pride in what? The subtitle of this week's contest is, ...
Two documentaries on the rougher side of sports; CM of the week: Bandai Namco's Gundam games
The life of a pro athlete can be grueling, but 37-year-old soccer player Dan Ito has a perverse determination to make his even more so.
Enka queen sings jazz; documentary on dementia; CM of the week: g.u.
Aki Yashiro is known as the Queen of Enka, or "Japanese ballads," according to the standard translation. However, Yashiro started out singing jazz in hostess clubs and didn't make her enka debut until 1971, when she was 21 years old. Last year she finally ...
Yoshimoto seeks laughs and profit beyond Japan
Osaka-based Yoshimoto Kogyo, the giant talent agency that celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, has made an enduring business out of that fleeting phenomenon: laughter.
'The Cat Lawyer and the Invisible Man'; Imalu as a barista; CM of the week: Loto 7
A sequel to an award-winning original script solicited by TBS and Kodansha publishing, "Neko Ben to Tomei Ningen" ("The Cat Lawyer and the Invisible Man"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.) stars Hidetaka Yoshioka as Taro Momose, a graduate of the University of Tokyo's law department ...
Profiles of Japanese living overseas; CM of the week: Astalift
It's been said that Japanese people, especially younger ones, no longer travel abroad in search of adventure. This week there are three programs that go looking for Japanese people who do just that. One of the shows is the special two-hour premiere of a new ...
The dogs of post-3/11 Fukushima; ESP for the common man; CM of the week: Tokyo Metro
The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant forced the relocation of hundreds of families, and since then television has made a concerted effort to keep us informed as to their situation. On Tuesday, NHK will air a special about ...
'Rich Man Poor Woman in New York'; getting into Todai; CM of the week: JCB
One of the popular drama series last summer was "Rich Man Poor Woman," which was broadcast in the coveted Monday 9 p.m. time slot on Fuji TV. Shun Oguri played Toru, a young IT billionaire, and Satomi Ishihara was Makoto, who despite graduating from ...
