Cooking on American TV is basically always nonfiction. Japan has this type of show too, so in both countries we can watch how-tos that teach us to cook elaborate dishes from scratch, whether we set foot in the kitchen ourselves or not. And for better or worse, there’s been cross-fertilization: the US now owns the TV cooking competition, a genre we borrowed from Japan after the successful importing of Iron Chef (a show that I loved, but that I think now has a lot to answer for).

But in Japan there are also many series where cooking and food are a central element of fiction. In these series, chefs are main characters, average people are obsessed with a certain dish, and even the plot may turn on a particular detail of a special recipe or ingredient.

Sure, in the US we have shows where the characters gather to eat in a certain restaurant or bar. There was one old show, Alice, about a waitress in a diner, and historical shows like Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey may have a shot of the staff working on dinner while they’re talking about something else. Maybe you can think of one or two more. Contrast this handful of shows with the fact that on a fansub site like gooddrama.net, there are enough shows with food that you can actually search for it as a separate genre, and that isn’t all of them.

Numbers aren’t the most important difference, though, because comparing those few shows to Japanese food drama is like comparing apples and oranges, or sushi and a Maine lobster roll. Take two tales that involve a soup-maker. You may have seen the Japanese movie Tampopo, where (in between other odd unrelated food-centric vignettes) the plot follows a woman who owns a ramen shop and is working to come up with the perfect recipe. We see her slaving over variations of broth and getting the advice of experts who make comments on her noodles like “They have sincerity, but lack substance.” Compare this to the most famous soup-maker on American TV – the character on Seinfeld who’s famous for yelling at people, not for obsessing about the details of his cooking.

The focus on culinary detail in Tampopo is far from unique. Japanese dramas reflect an obsession with the quality of food that that isn’t seen on American TV – reflecting the fact that it’s also not, I’m sad to say, part of American culture.

Becoming A Chef

Let’s start by looking at a particular sub-genre of the food genre in Japanese television shows. Yes, the story of “becoming a chef” seems to come up so often that I’m giving it its own category.

Western food: Hungry!

Start with a drama where the title fits this theme perfectly: Hungry! (Hanguri!). As a child, the main character, Yamate Eisuke, wanted to follow in the footsteps of his mother, a French chef with her own restaurant. Instead, he forms a rock band with three friends, but as the series opens, he’s nearly 30 and they haven’t broken through to the big time. He goes to his mother and tells her that he wants to return to her restaurant and study to be a chef again. Unfortunately this touching reunion is marred by the fact that his mother has a heart attack and drops dead.

Further complications ensue when he declares he’s going to take over the restaurant: his father has already sold it to a rival restauranteur, who in the course of the series becomes obsessed with Eisuke, going back and forth between wanting to ruin him and trying to hire him. (A relevant side note is that this bad guy is played by Goro Inagaki, a member of SMAP, which is a band that has its own line of food products at Japanese 7-11s, something else we’d never see in the US.)

Along with that business rivalry, which turns very personal, there are romantic complications, fights with his friends – but even the interpersonal drama usually turns on the food. One character’s family runs a small market garden nearby where the restaurant buys vegetables. She falls in love with Eisuke’s cooking first and then, as a sort of side effect, with him. And the rival tries to make trouble by convincing that family to sell all their produce to his restaurant instead. I definitely can’t think of an American series where the bad guy’s plan of attack consists of buying up all the tomatoes.

And much of the emotional drama is about Eisuke’s struggle to learn to be a French chef worthy of his mother’s legacy- a process we watch in extreme detail. Don’t watch this show when you are Hungry! yourself, because a huge amount of screen time is spent on shots of prepping, cooking, plating and serving French food. They’re so serious, they present the name of the dish on-screen when it is served. In fact, they’re so serious that there is a recipe book based on the series, and the star took French cooking lessons as part of his preparation for the drama.

Japanese food: Ando Natsu

Ando Natsu is a young woman with the dream of becoming a French baker. She starts as an apprentice at a cafe run by an older woman baker who she worships… who promptly drops dead. Watching these two dramas in succession, you get the feeling that making French food in Japan is not good for the lifespan.

With no idea what to do next, she stumbles into a wagashi shop in Asakusa. Wagashi are those exquisite traditional Japanese confections that are basically small edible works of art, made in different seasonal shapes including flowers. She sees that these sweets give the same joy to the customers as French pastry does, and asks to become an apprentice.

The title of this series and the character’s name actually refers to sweets – Ando Natsu is a pun on An-donut (a doughnut filled with sweet bean paste) which is pronounced the same in Japanese, and other characters often tease her by referring to this pun.

This series also spends a lot of time in the kitchen, referencing how hard it is to make the beautifully detailed sweets, how long the apprenticeship lasts, and the menial tasks the beginner is saddled with. Natsu washes a lot of dishes and gets very excited every time she’s allowed to do some simple part of the actual confection-making process for the first time.

Particular processes and ingredients in making wagashi are often central to the plots. In one episode, Natsu has to stay awake all night to supervise the fermenting of the starter for a special order for an important memorial service. She’s called away for a time to prevent someone from committing suicide. (Yes, really. The writers of this series did not fear improbable melodrama.) She thinks it still looks OK when she gets back, but in the morning, the master tells her it’s ruined. Fortunately, they’re expecting a delivery of koji, the starter for fermentation, and might have just enough time to make a new batch – till they find out the delivery truck was in an accident, and all the containers overturned and spilled.

Natsu thinks she’s solved the problem when she runs all over town and manages to buy a package of koji that comes from the same prefecture. Unfortunately, that’s not close enough. She’s crushed when they tell her they can’t use it, that without the exact same koji, they can’t claim to be selling the same sweets they’ve always made. The master explains in mystical detail that the skill of the chefs is nothing without the wind in the town, the atmosphere of the store, and the tiny living things in the koji.

You understand, this is like saying it’s not worth baking bread if you can’t get the same brand of yeast you’ve always used. For all I know this is true about wagashi, or even bread if you’re a true connoisseur, but that fact sure wouldn’t sustain that amount of drama in an American TV series.

Another element we see in Ando Natsu that frequently recurs in this type of drama is someone’s longing for a favorite food from long ago. One episode is about a woman who comes to buy their persimmon-shaped sweet which is the favorite of her dying father. For complicated and dramatic reasons they no longer make this sweet, but Natsu finds the recipe and tries to replicate it. This effort to satisfy a dying customer gets her fired (temporarily) for trying to pass off her inferior beginner’s work as the product of this revered generations-old shop. (Don’t worry, there’s a happy ending and the man does get his wagashi in the end.)

Cooking at Inns

Not all shows about professional cooks are set in restaurants. Some are about traditional inns, where the quality of the cuisine is a huge part of their reputation.

O-sen

O-sen, about an inn in Tokyo’s old shitamachi neighborhood, is practically an education in traditional Japanese cooking. (Like some others of these shows, O-sen is based on a manga – there are also many manga where fictional plots, settings and characters are food-related.) As we watch the training of a character who’s talked his way into a job in the kitchen without really understanding what this kind of cooking is all about, we learn about different kinds of miso, why a fire made of straw is best for cooking rice, and other details of extremely traditional Japanese cuisine.

O-sen is another show where a vital plot point turns on a particular ingredient. The cooks use a traditional hand-made katsuobushi, the dried bonito fish which is the fundamental ingredient in the broth used in nearly every Japanese dish, but is now mostly made in a more mass-produced way. The inn not only uses the hand-made variety, in fact they’ve always used the katsuobushi of one particular producer who is now threatened with being closed. Without this particular dried bonito, O-sen says, the taste will change, the food will no longer be their food, and the inn will have to go out of business.

There isn’t space here for me to explain all the intrigue that swirls around this – but all I can say is, I wish I lived in a country where dried fish can be so important to a plot.

Kamo, Kyoto e Iku

Along with the longing for a favorite food from the past, another recurring theme is people’s exquisitely accurate memory for such foods. Kamo, Kyoto e Iku is set in a traditional inn in Kyoto. One episode is about a couple who has been coming to the inn for 40 years. The woman, who’s had a stroke, loves a tofu dish they serve, so her husband brings her to the inn so she can have it again. While she no longer recognizes her own husband, she remembers the taste of the dish well enough to be disappointed that it doesn’t taste exactly the same. The inn’s owner goes to the 200-year-old tofu store to ask what’s happened. The tofu maker blows up at the suggestion that the tofu has changed, but eventually admits that the woman is right, that he’s gotten too old to make it properly. The happy ending comes when he teaches a younger tofu-maker his method, and the woman gets to have exactly the dish she remembers one more time.

Not Just Professionals

You’ll also find these elements in shows that aren’t set in inns or restaurants and where the main characters aren’t culinary professionals. My favorite example so far comes from Tokyo Bandwagon, which is about a family that runs an antique bookstore. In one episode the family is trying to reunite the cook from their local izakaya with a former momento. Long ago he wronged this man and can’t believe he will ever forgive him. They invite the cook for a meal and present him with a dish of simmered turnip. One taste and he basically says “OMG, it’s him!” and insists that no one else but his former master could have made that dish. He’s proved right when the man steps into the room for a dramatic reconciliation. It’s ridiculously improbable, but if you’re a fan of Japanese food, how can you not love it? (What’s more, how can you not weep with envy when they sit down to one of the family meals pictured above.)

I’ve also just started watching the first episode of a show called Lunch Queen. The main character is a waitress in a coffee shop who keeps a detailed notebook about places to go to eat lunch. A customer tries to convince her to pretend to be his fiancé as part of a ruse to approach his estranged family. She’s having none of it – till he tells her that they own the restaurant that makes the best omu-rice in all of Japan. I can’t wait to see what hijinks – and recipes – follow.

Bonus Wallpapers!

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The Saiseimaru and the Seto Inland Sea

The Seto Inland Sea (Setonaikai) in central Japan is dotted with approximately 3,000 small to medium-sized islands, often sparsely populated and located far from welfare services. The Seto Inland Sea lies between Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The relative isolation of the area has been helped out greatly by the travels of the Saiseimaru, a floating medical clinic that visits the islands on a regular schedule all year round.

Running the ship costs about 120,000,000 yen per year, which is about $1,215,120. Each year the ship services about 542,000 patients though, so it certainly seems to earn its keep. The current ship is the third Saiseimaru, and it will be exchanged for the forth on January 26th, 2014.

Tell Me More About These Islands

The Seto Inland Sea is most often compared to the Mediterranean due to its relaxed atmosphere and mild climate. Most of the sea is actually part of the Setonaikai National Park, one of the first national parks designated in Japan. The area is covered by an extensive ferry network with many of the islands being connected to one another by small local ferries. The reason for this is that the area is a historically important trade route, and the area continues to be an integral shipping lane.

Some islands in the area have become popular tourist destinations. Most notably, the eastern islands around Naoshima (which we covered before, by the way) have become a nifty modern art destination with crazy museums on Naoshima itself, Inujima, and Teshima.

Visiting the islands gives you the opportunity to visit terraced rice fields, old fishing villages complete with old wooden houses, and it gives you a peek into a traditional way of life that has largely disappeared from the mainland. It’s basically like traveling years into the past on some of the islands here.

The total population of the Seto Inland Sea is about 35 million people, but I’m pretty sure this number includes people living on the mainland coast, and not just the islands themselves. The largest island (Awajishima) has a population of 157,000, and the second largest (Shodoshima) has a population of just 32,000. Some of the smaller islands have as little as 200 people living on them, and many seem to have under 1,000. So, that kind of gives you a rough idea of what the area’s like.

The Saiseimaru Saves the Day!

I hadn’t given much thought to before, but in different areas of Japan, there are a lot of islands. So many that it wouldn’t really be feasible to have modern hospital establishments on each and every one of them. So that’s where this boat clinic comes into play. Researching the topic of the Saiseimaru itself was a real pain though. The gracious Mami helped me out a ton on this one as most all the information concerning the boat was in Japanese, and even then, there wasn’t a whole lot out there to find.

Now, this doesn’t surprise me too much as there’s only one of these boats out there doin’ its hospital thing, but I do think that it’s really cool. Since it’s so neat, I was surprised that there wasn’t more info out there, especially with the drama that just came out based upon it. And speaking of the drama, let’s get into that now, shall we?

Clinic on the Sea

I actually first heard about Clinic on the Sea, or Umi no Ue no Shinryojo (海の上の診療所) when I was watching Summer Nude earlier this year (it was great, you should check it out). There was a preview for Clinic on the Sea as a new and upcoming drama, and something about the preview just stood out to me. It made me feel like it was going to be a good one.

And so far, it is.

As of this article, I’ve only checked out the first two episodes, but they were both very enjoyable. Since the series is currently airing, only a few episodes are out right now, but I’m thinking I’ll keep up with it since I’ve enjoyed it so far already.

You already know the basic premise from reading the first part of this article – the story follows a hospital ship on its journeys to help out those on the many islands of Japan. The main dude, Dr. Kota Sezaki (played by Matsuda Shota) is a brilliant doctor serving on board the fictional floating hospital Kaishinmaru. He’s a bit quirky, and incredibly quick to fall in love. So much that he finds himself falling for a girl at every port they stop at, but the girl always ends up with someone else by the end of the episode.

Now, I usually don’t like shows that are so formulaic like this. It seems like every episode is just Kota going somewhere, instantly falling for a girl, doing medicine on someone related to that girl, and then the girl ends up with someone else and Kota is thrown into crushing depression at the end of the episode. Sure, it’s a little predictable, but I really, really like Kota as well as the rest of the cast.

Kota’s character instantly clicked with me. He has a lot of personality and he loves the ladies. Coming from the stoic lead Yamapi played in Summer Nude, Kota is a welcome change.

There’s a handful of famous actors and actresses to be seen here as well (Terajima Susumu, Arakawa Yoshiyoshi, Shinoda Mariko) so the show definitely has that star power. There’s also a bit of mystery as Kota has told his mother that he’s engaged but too busy to come home and introduce her to his fiance. And there’s also a mystery character at the restaurant/bar his mom runs who has yet to reveal his face. Toda Erika is also searching for Kota, but we have no idea why, and she’s had minimal screen time so far.

Will Kota end up with Toda Erika’s character? Will his mother ever meet the fiance that he doesn’t (or does??) have yet? Will Kota end up falling in love with one of the nurses on the Kaishinmaru instead? Who knows!? But what I do know is that the show is so funny and entertaining that I am perfectly content with watching it and slowly finding out the answers to all of these pressing questions.

If you like, boats, medicine, crazy characters, or anything else I’ve mentioned, you should check out the show. It’s nifty. It’s not gonna knock off any of the powerhouses from my Top 10 Dramas list, but it’s an entertaining show nonetheless.

So tell me, had you ever heard of these mobile sea clinics in Japan? What do you think of them? Gonna check out Clinic on the Sea? You should!

Sites Referenced:
Japan-Guide
Web-Japan
Wikipedia
EMECS

Is This as Good as You Claim it is, John?

Why yes. Yes it is. A little while ago I had the strong desire to watch a Japanese drama. This happens every once in a while, but most of the time I check out a few shows and end up coming away disappointed. Recently though, I came across the drama Summer Nude.

In fact, just reading about Summer Nude got me all excited with anticipation to check it out. It stars two of my favorite J-drama names (Yamapi and Karina, both of which I featured in my Favorite J-Drama Actors post), it’s a rom-com drama (my favored drama genre by the numbers), and it’s getting decent viewership ratings from Japanese viewers as well.

Plus, I talked to my Japanese homestay sister and asked her what dramas she/her friends were watching. She told me that all of her friends were watching Summer Nude and were pretty excited about it. My suspicions had been confirmed. This was a show that I needed to check out.

But What’s it All About?

Okay, so we’ve got Yamapi playing the main dude, Asahi Mikuri‎ya. Asahi works at a photography studio by the ocean and is always hanging out with the same group of friends. They live in a small coastal town and live relatively comfortable, quaint, simple lives. When Asahi was little, he dreamed of becoming a famous photographer, though he currently spends his days photographing normal things like weddings and local events.

The issue with Asahi is that he was deeply infatuated with a woman, but this woman up and left the town without a trace, giving no reason for having left. Asahi is super hung up on her, even though it is now three years later. The girl was somewhat of a local celebrity because she did an ad campaign for a local brewery, and her face is plastered on a huge billboard in the middle of town.

Every day for the past three years, Asahi has said good morning and good night to this billboard, pathetically reminding himself of the girl he lost three years ago and can’t seem to move on from. He is still holding onto her in the hope that she will one day return.

And then there’s this other girl, Natsuki Chiyohara‎ (Karina), who works as a successful restaurant manager in Tokyo. But then she quits this job to start a new life with the man she’s going to marry. Asahi is hired on to photograph the wedding, but Natsuki’s husband ends up taking off and leaving her during the reception.

Through a series of events, Natsuki ends up working at the local restaurant in Asahi’s town and gets close with him and all his pals. Meanwhile, Hanae (Erika Toda) is crushing super hard on Asahi like she has been for the past ten years. And then there’s another guy crushing on her! And then there’s a model who comes to town and throws another wrench into the mix! Talk about your typical j-drama love pentagon, ammiright?

Who will Asahi end up with? Will his love ever return? Will he give Hanae a chance? Will he end up dating Natsuki? What about the other people? Everyone is crushing on everyone and there is just so many love chains and triangles going on in this show it’s insane.

So Many Feels!

Oh. My. God. Every episode of this drama is absolutely packed with feels. As you can tell from the summary, there are a lot of feelings happening in this show – I didn’t even cover them all! It starts off kind of complicated, and then it gets even more complicated from there. It’s awesome.

Most of the time I have difficulty explaining to someone the convoluted love relations that happen in dramas, but I think Summer Nude has taken the cake for me. But really, if you have a weakness for J-dramas, this one will pull at your heartstrings multiple times every single episode.

The music accompanying the scenes really fits well with everything, the beach scenery featured in the show is great, and there are great actors to be seen in the show. I know not everyone is a huge fan of Yamapi, but I really like him.

But Wait, This Can be Both Entertaining and Useful!?

Like all great recommendations that come from this fine site of ours, Summer Nude is both fun and educational. Well, it doesn’t have to be educational, but it can be. Koichi wrote a while ago about how to use dramas for studying up on your Japanese, and Summer Nude is no exception. You should probably also check out Jordan’s article on Going from Loving Japanese Media to Studying It. You can do it! Yeah!

In the show you get a healthy smattering of male and female dialogue to listen to and learn with. It’s mostly informal speech, but there’s some formal language thrown in here and there as well.

Or if Summer Nude isn’t really your kind of drama, you can always head over to DramaWiki and check out their entire list of currently airing summer dramas and find one you like. It’s a very enjoyable and potentially rewarding time consuming treasure hunt.

Yamapi Sings a Song

Also, Yamapi himself sings one of the main songs for this show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sing before (I knew he sang, I just never watched any of his stuff before), and he ain’t bad – but it feels weird to see him singing when I’m just so used to him being a stoic actor. It’s still an enjoyable song though – I think it fits well with the show.

So, have any of you seen Summer Nude yet? If you like the same kind of shows that I do (see my top ten here), then you should definitely check this one out.

Are you following any dramas this summer? I’m planning on checking out Yamada-kun to Nananin no Majo and Hanzawa Naoki at some point, but Summer Nude is more than enough for now. I’ll probably check those out once I get caught up with the Summer Nude episodes and have to start waiting a week to see the next one (the horror!).

Do you have any other recommendations for summer J-dramas this season? Share your picks in the comments!

The Birth of a Hero

Sakamoto was born on the island of Shikoku in 1836. He was born into a low ranking merchant samurai family that had bought their title with the wealth they acquired from selling sake. Sakamoto was bullied in school, and wasn’t really feeling the whole academic scene so he took up kendo at the age of 14. Thanks to this, he was a master swordsman come adulthood.

The division between the low class samurai and high class samurai was incredibly obvious where Sakamoto grew up. Low class samurai like Sakamoto were constantly messed with and abused by the upper class samurai. Sakamoto and his friends hated this and resented the upper class samurai. They hungered for change.

In 1853 when Commodore Matthew Perry rolled into Japan, Sakamoto actually saw his black ships coming into the harbor. This roused feelings of both curiosity and angst in Sakamoto. Japan was pressured into signing the Convention of Kanagawa, one of the “unequal treaties” the shogunate was forced into signing during this time. Sakamoto was already pissed off from being pushed around by the upper class samurai – getting pushed around by foreigners too was just too much.

Young samurai like Sakamoto were eager to expel the foreign barbarians taking advantage of Japan. As Japan was forced to make greater and greater concessions to foreigners due to a lack of military might, even permitting foreigners to build settlements on sacred Japanese land, the radical samurai became even more nationalistic and xenophobic.

“I’m like, so xenophobic right now.”

Under the slogan, “Sonno-joi,” (“Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians”) they called for the removal of all foreigners from Japanese soil, the reinstatement of the Emperor to a position of real power, and the deaths of the traitorous Japanese officials who enabled these foreign oppressions.

After Sakamoto completed his studies in 1858, he joined his friend in the Tosa Loyalist Party in 1862. The Tosa Loyalist Party was only focused on a revolution for the Tosa clan whereas Sakamoto wished for a nationwide revolution. Because of these conflicting views, Sakamoto ended up abandoning the clan without permission and became a ronin. This, of course, was a big no-no. One of Sakamoto’s sisters ended up committing suicide out of grief from the incident. Yes, it was that serious.

While working against the Japanese shogun in secret, Sakamoto took on the name Saitani Umetaro to conceal his identity. To start his mission, Sakamoto decided to assassinate a high-ranking official in the Tokugawa shogunate who was a staunch supporter of both modernization and westernization. This man was Katsu Kaishu. Sakamoto’s current mindset was that these people were betraying Japanese tradition and history and they needed to die.

The Revolution Begins

“Okay, you’ve convinced me not to kill you.”

Surprisingly enough, Katsu convinced Sakamoto to not assassinate him and Sakamoto became his protege instead. He explained to Sakamoto that Japan needed to develop a long-term plan for their future and increase their military strength. This way Japan could modernize and stand up to the rest of the world, but they need not compromise their integrity or heritage.

Sakamoto was convinced. Among many other things, Katsu instructed Sakamoto in the ways of naval science, joint stock corporations, American democracy, and the Bill of Rights.

Sakamoto then managed to negotiate a secret alliance between the Choshu and Satsuma provinces against the Tokugawa shogunate. The Choshu and Satsuma were the two most powerful provinces in Japan during this time and had long been bitter enemies. It was quite a feat that Sakamoto managed to get them to cooperate. Sakamoto was beginning to show just how impressive a man he was.

Together with Katsu, Sakamoto worked towards creating a modern navy to contend with the naval forces of the Tokugawa. Sakamoto was so influential here that he’s even been called the “father of the Imperial Japanese Navy”. Sakamoto also established Japan’s first modern company, Kaientai. Kaientai was a private naval and shipping firm that Sakamoto and his men used to transport guns for the revolutionaries.

While Sakamoto’s revolutionaries prepared to crush the shogunate with military might, Sakamoto drew up an eight-point plan. It was a simple but incredibly forward-thinking piece of work which laid out what he considered to be the necessary conditions for a stable and respectable government after the fall of the shogunate.

The plan was delivered to Lord Yamanouchi Yodo, who in turn sent it to the Shogun, representing it as his own proposition. Tokugawa Yoshinobu accepted the Eight Point Plan and officially resigned in 1867 to avoid the looming treat of an incredibly violent revolutionary overthrow of the government. The Meiji Restoration followed.

The Meiji Restoration was chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan under Emperor Meiji. The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan’s political and social structure. This period lasted until 1912 and was responsible for the emergence of Japan as a modernized nation. This restoration was brought about in no small part by Sakamoto himself. He truly had a large hand in getting Japan to where they are today.

“I die!? WHAT!?”

Unfortunately Sakamoto was assassinated at an inn in Kyoto in 1867, just before the restoration began. Blame has been thrown around and a pro-Shogun group even confessed to the murder in 1870, but the true assassin has never been proven in a court of law.

The Sakamoto Legacy

Sakamoto was a great man. He wanted a revolutionized Japan where all were equal. He wanted Japan to modernize. He wanted Japan to be unified and great and proud. Eventually, all his ambitions were realized. Sakamoto was killed just five years after he met Katsu and began to form a vision of a new Japan but he changed and influenced so much in that short time.

Six months after Sakamoto’s death, the new Meiji Emperor presented a five-point Charter Oath derived from Sakamoto’s Eight Point Plan and it became the first constitution of modern Japan.

Recently when Japan’s economy was in the dumps, executives of 200 Japanese corporations were asked the following question: “Who from the past millennium of world history would be most useful in overcoming Japan’s current financial crisis?” Sakamoto Ryoma topped the list. He won out over people like Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Oda Nobunaga, and the founders of NEC and Honda. Would he really be the best choice? It’s hard to say, but Japan has enough respect for him to claim so.

He also had a penchant for wearing Western footwear with his usual samurai clothing. Many like to cite this as his own take on modernizing without compromising Japan’s history or culture.

Sakamoto was a true visionary, imagining a modernized Japan while others were stuck in the past. He sought inspiration from overseas and developed a plan to break down class barriers and unite the country as one. Even though he died before all of his visions were realized, he had a monumental effect on Japanese history, bringing Japan up to speed with the rest of the world without compromising the Japanese identity.

Ryoma Den, the Drama

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT-SBxzmiJ0']

Yes, I realize this is a Thai trailer, but I couldn’t find one in Japanese or English. Sue me.

I just recently checked out the first episode of the 2010 hit drama Ryoma den. I’m normally not into J-dramas that don’t have a comedic or romantic aspect (just check out my top 10 list), but this drama seems like it could be pretty interesting. It’s 48 episodes long which is like four times as many episodes as I prefer in a series, but for a guy as awesome as Sakamoto, I suppose he deserves that many.

The show looks like it will chronicle all of Sakamoto’s greatest achievements in thorough detail. I’m sure they’ll be taking more than a handful of liberties with the history to make it more entertaining, but if you’re into Sakamoto and you enjoy historical dramas, I’d definitely say that this is a show worth your time.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on Sakamoto Ryoma? Have you watched any of Ryoma den? What do you think? Share your thoughts down in the comments!

Sites Referenced:
Wikipedia
Squidoo

Now that I’m a bit older and wiser, Japanese TV isn’t as mysterious to me anymore, but it’s still damn entertaining, especially now that I understand what’s going on. And in the month that the Tofugu team has been in Japan, I’ve been watching more than my fair share of Japanese TV in our hotels after long days of work.

I thought that I’d throw together a guide for some of the most popular and entertaining types of TV shows from Japan. Included is a summary of the genre, some of the tropes, and how you can use that particular type of show to help you learn Japanese. Enjoy!

Variety Shows

Japanese variety shows are great. Take a bunch of Japanese celebrities, put them together in a TV studio, and watch the magic happen. Plot? Writers? Who needs ‘em!

Variety shows, as the name implies, have a lot of different things going on. Depending on the show, you can expect panel discussions, quizzes, minigames, comedy sketches, or none of the above.

There are lots of different types of variety shows, like Gaki no Tsukai, LINCOLN or AKBingo, so you’ve got your choice of cast.

Not only does the format vary a lot, but variety shows are usually pretty off-the-cuff and unscripted. They’re a ton of fun, and you never know quite what to expect.

They’re also a great study tool for learning Japanese since it more closely represents how actual people talk than other types of shows (I’m looking at you, anime).

What To Look For

• Japanese television personalities (tarento)
• Bright, garish sets
• Picture-in-picture shots
• Unnecessary captions

Game Shows

Everybody knows about Japanese game shows. As I wrote about in my article about the awesome Japanese survival adventure game show Tore!, Japanese game shows, with their bizarre, quirky premises have long been the subject of American curiosity and amusement.

Nowadays, I’d say that there’s a lot of crossover between Japanese variety shows and game shows. A Venn diagram of the two is getting close to just a circle.

Both genres usually involve celebrities, quizzes, and minigames. Beyond that though, they’re a little more nuanced. There’s more of a reward system in game shows, although it’s much more often predicated on punishment. Hey, whatever works!

This is another great genre for learning how real people talk in Japanese, as a lot of it is unscripted.

What To Look For

• Tarento
• Weird premises
• Challenges involving punishment

Drama

Besides anime, drama is a popular type of TV in Japan and overseas. Japanese drama are live-action shows that are usually an hour long, with an emphasis on plot. They can be about pretty much anything, from epic period pieces to modern-day problems.

We’ve written before about our favorite dramas and how to study Japanese using drama, so check those out if you already know and love J-drama.

As for using drama as a tool to learn Japanese, it depends a lot on the type of drama. Some are set in the current day, starring everyday people, while ohers are set in the Edo era and star samurai. Your mileage may vary in terms of the usefulness of the diaglogue.

What To Look For

• Dramatic camera angles
• Conflict (physical and emotional)
• Lots of continuity

Anime

Of course, everybody knows anime. For better or worse, it’s one of Japan’s biggest cultural exports, if not the biggest. Without much exaggeration, otaku fuel the Japanese economy.

Anime is just a general Japanese animation, which can be really about anything at all, have drastically different art styles and writing, and appeal to different markets. But over the years, trends and tropes have emerged, making the half-hour anime show sort of a genre unto itself.

As for using it as a tool to learn Japanese, that’s . . . questionable. While some people claim that you can learn Japanese from anime in only 5 minutes a day, anime is problematic as a learning tool. Generally, anime characters are written in very specific situations that cause them to talk in kind of unrealistic ways.

Still, anime’s hard to beat for the entertainment value of giant robots clashing, wacky romcoms, or sweeping adventure shows.

What To Look For

• “[A]verage guy is a flawed loser audience stand-in, until one day, cute girls”
• Anything on this list

Do you like to watch Japanese TV? What are you favorite shows? Let me know in the comments!

Karina

Karina is a model and an actress and has also been in three of my favorite J-Dramas. She usually plays a sort of no-nonsense woman, usually with a bit of a tomboyish attitude. She’s a very strong female character and always excels at any role she plays. I’m currently watching her in the show PRICELESS where she co-stars alongside Kimura Takuya (see below).

Best Drama She’s Been In: Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu
For more information and a list of all the shows she’s been in, check her out on DramaWiki.

Abe Hiroshi

Abe Hiroshi. My dude. Even when he ends up in a show or a movie that isn’t that great, I still enjoy watching just because he’s in it. He just has a way of talking and carrying himself that makes everything so interesting. He stars in my all time favorite Japanese drama (Kekkon Dekinai Otoko) as well as my all time favorite Japanese movie (Survive Style 5+). He’s a pretty awesome guy.

Best Drama He’s Been In: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko
For more information and a list of all the shows he’s been in, check him out on DramaWiki.

Aragaki Yui

Aragaki Yui is adorable. She doesn’t always find herself in the best roles in dramas, but she’s managed to make it into two of my all time favorites. She is hilarious to watch, and when she has a good character to play, she does a really great job of it. I think she does best in roles where she plays a high schooler. The stuff I’ve seen where she plays someone older just isn’t as good in my opinion.

Best Drama She’s Been In: Papa to Musume no Nanokakan
For more information and a list of all the shows she’s been in, check her out on DramaWiki.

Yamashita Tomohisa

Yamapi here is another actor that’s in a ton of great shows. He’s been in two of my top favorites, and he’s been in at least one “classic” J-Drama that I’ve unfortunately not gotten around to watching yet. He’s always fun to watch, and he co-stars alongside Kitagawa Keiko in the excellent J-Drama Buzzer Beat.

Best Drama He’s Been In: Proposal Daisakusen
For more information and a list of all the shows he’s been in, check him out on DramaWiki.

Kitagawa Keiko

Kitagawa Keiko is really pretty. Along with Buzzer Beat, she’s also been in a great drama called Tsuki no Koibito where she co-starred alongside Kimura Takuya. She played very different roles in these two shows, but she played each equally as well. She’s also been in a decent amount of movies and just recently stared in a J-Drama alongside Gackt. The show is called Akumu-chan and I’m really looking forward to checking it out.

Best Drama She’s Been In: Buzzer Beat
For more information and a list of all the shows she’s been in, check her out on DramaWiki.

Nagase Tomoya

Nagase Tomoya is hilarious. Without him, My Boss My Hero would just not have been the same. Since this was the first show I saw him in, I really have trouble seeing him play anything else, but he really is a talented actor. Apparently he sings too, but I’ve never looked up any of his stuff. Aragaki Yui was his love interest in My Boss My Hero, and they had many hilarious scenes together.

Best Drama He’s Been In: My Boss My Hero
For more information and a list of all the shows he’s been in, check him out on DramaWiki.

Kuninaka Ryoko

I’ve actually only seen Kuninaka Ryoko in one show. Kekkon Dekinai Otoko. But I just thought she did such a good job with it. Maybe it was just the character she was playing in it that made her so enjoyable. Or maybe it was the awkwardly cute pug that she had in the show. I dunno. If you have any other suggestions for dramas she’s been in, please let me know.

Best Drama She’s Been In: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko
For more information and a list of all the shows she’s been in, check her out on DramaWiki.

Kimura Takuya

Kimura Takuya is like a magic man. He’s been in so many good shows and so many of them are rated way higher than your run of the mill J-Drama. I consider a viewership rating of 13% and up to be pretty good – Kimura Takuya’s shows are more often than not 20% and above. Either he makes the shows so much better than they normally would be, or he just really knows what roles to choose. Either way, he’s a great actor and definitely deserves all the fame and recognition he’s gained.

Kimura Takuya is also in tons of commercials, and he’s a member of the pop group SMAP. He really does it all. He’s even a licensed hairdresser. Along with Karina, he stars in a show called PRICELESS. This is the drama I’m currently watching, and so far it doesn’t disappoint. Hopefully it stays good enough for me to see it all the way to the end.

Best Drama He’s Been In: Pride
For more information and a list of all the shows he’s been in, check him out on DramaWiki.

So tell me, who’s your favorite J-Drama actor/actress? Whats your favorite show that they’ve been in? Share your recommendations down in the comments!