Yui is cast as Wakaba Ayukawa, and she’s good at everything she does – she graduated at the top of her class, she’s multi-lingual, and she has what is takes to become an ace lawyer. Only her first assignment is to baby-sit her boss’s five year old daughter, who is five going on 30, or so it seems.

Wakaba is driven because as child she grew up in rather desperate circumstances – her father was in debt from gambling to the Yakuza loan-sharks.

Little Wakaba got them out from under this by studying and then filing a motion and getting a decree for Voluntary Bankruptcy. That set her on her path of wanting to be lawyer and for seeing anything that she took on to its finish. In her own personal lexicon, there was no such thing as not finishing anything to the best of her ability.

But she hadn’t counted on taking a smart-ass five year old girl to pre-school every day. However everything was not all bad. At the law firm every once in a while she got to do a project, or a report, or a translation of a law-brief, and people took notice of her skills. At the pre-school she ran into a single parent Dad whose step-son also attended this school. This was Ryo Nishido as Sota Yamada , a would-be chef.

His story was no picnic either. He married a dancer who came with a son, another precocious 5 year old. But that marriage ended with a divorce after his wife ran off to New York with another guy, leaving Sota with her son. He currently worked as a short-order cook in a little hole-in-the-wall neighborhood restaurant. Sota had formerly worked at the internationally acclaimed, world class restaurant, Paul Bocuse, in Tokyo – but had given that up to raise his step-son.

Anyway, Wakaba and Sota become part of a rotating cooperative of five or six single parents who watch the kids in a group after school each day. There’s lots of friction as well as attraction between Wakaba and Sota. It’s hate at first sight, or is it? Beyond that, Aragaki’s character may be a whiz at law, and she might know what she wants in life, but she’s beyond haughty. You just know that she’s going to find the road to romance, a difficult journey, because she lacks an understanding about how to get on with other people. For her, it has always been a struggle, and she’s overcome every obstacle – but the cost of that is her utter lack of social skills.

Meanwhile, back at the law-firm, Wakaba is working her tail off, as she sets her sights on finding what she calls a AAA+ guy – who in this case is Shindo, a terrific and successful lawyer, a good looking guy, a guy with goals and ambitions, and on top of all that – he is very wealthy.

Poor Sota has none of those qualities or perks – but he is great with kids, and he’s sincere and honest.  There’s your set up – Shindo sets his sights on Wakaba as well. So Wakaba wants a guy like Shindo, or Shindo, she wants to be a successful lawyer, and she envisions herself married to the man of her dreams forever and ever.

Only, she can’t quite get over the bump in the road that turns out to be Sota.

While billed as a romantic comedy – it is quite a bit more than. Wakaba herself undergoes a transformation. It is obvious from the jump that she knows what she wants and she’s going to go after it – and any intrusive feelings about a man without a higher education, without money, and without any future goals (other than being a great Dad) will have to be dealt with.

The supporting cast included a trio of single Dads, a great performance by Hiroko Yakushimaru as Sakuragawa (above left) – the big boss of the law firm, and a sparkling turn by Misako Renbutsu (above right) – who played Soyoko, who was Sakuragawa’s assistant, and a woman who wanted Sota as a boy friend.

There are many bright and comedic moments, and then there are some Yoda-like statements by the two five year old children, who nearly steal the show. But as it turns out they are inspirational kids who one way or another work their magic on Wakaba and Sota. As for the two leads, each week we will watch them learn about work, relationships, and love, in this rewarding, funny, and ultimately heartwarming series. The DVD of this series is scheduled for a January, 2012 release.

The Bull Doctor is a Japanese TV Series about forensic pathology – or the study of why a person or people have died. We have Makiko Esumi (below) in the lead role as Dr Tamami Oodate (Oodate Sensei). She’s just been asked back to the Joto University Hospital to work as a forensic doctor – in short conduct autopsies. The last time I watched Makiko in a role, she played a brilliant surgeon who had the worst luck in finding a guy to be with. That show was called The Love Revolution (produced in 2001 but I saw it just a few years ago. This one is her first appearance in a TV series since 2007. Welcome back. (Okari)

Also on hand is Satomi Ishihara (below). I’ve seen her in a high school baseball TV series called H2 (2005), as a nurse in the TV Series Ns’ Aoi (2006), as an athletic airline stewardess – sorry – cabin attendant/basketball player in The Flying Rabbits film (2008), as a high school teacher in the TV series Puzzle (2008), and one more – as a forensic medical student in the series Voice (2009). This time she’s a homicide detective working with forensic doctors. Go figure.

So what is this one about, besides the overview of forensics?

It seems that Japan needed a distinct overhaul to the laws and regulations surrounding autopsies and forensic studies. This drama goes a long way in that direction because as you will see – autopsies that should be done are often refused by the relatives of the deceased, autopsies that have been done are not always accurate, and more often than you’d think or like – Death Certificates are either false or forged to hide crimes. So in this series the guidelines for the medical procedures and methodologies regarding autopsies, the hospital administrative side to forensics, and police investigative techniques are all put under the microscope.

So the series is at once important and topical. Yes, that does mean serious. But this is not say that the series is all work and no fun. The series has romances, issues about raising kids, work related stress intruding on home life, some comedy, conflicts between the police and the forensic doctors, and some office politics. So it works as not only a medical series, a police procedural, but also as a family series. There are some fine actors and actresses who round out the ensemble cast making the series quite entertaining.

While the stories and cases are interesting yet somehow they all manage to not get solved until we’ve manage t0o reach nearly the end of each episode. While the settings/locations are mostly in the forensic department itself as well as in the lab where the actual autopsies are done, often we go out to a crime scene. I liked the look of the series which involved lots of outdoors location settings, and employed a good many long lens zoomed close-ups which gave us the kind of very attractive facial images with indistinct, or blurred backgrounds due to the reduced depth of field settings.

I thought Makiko Esumi showed a strong screen presence as the tough minded truth seeker who wore either the Doctor’s White lab coat, or the surgeon’s gowns most of the time. When she wasn’t wearing those it was mostly jeans or slacks with that cute hat which we saw mostly while she’s pedaling a bike to work.

On the other hand, Ishihara’s role was more difficult. She’s good in the role, but she’s playing a young female homicide detective, who has some issues to solve away from being a cop. Meaning we buy into her as a character involved, a woman seeking to find her way, but not so much as a homicide detective. Of course she has a tough boss who never wants to see things correctly, or fairly,

or he’s not willing to accept her theories because each time the police department requests an autopsy, he takes a hit on his department. Oh those bureacrats who make a detective’s life miserable. She’s also involved with a doctor in the forensics department – Nakura Sensei played by Goro Inagaki who played his role, through all 11 episodes in a manner that was so low-key that it was off-putting . While his character arc improved greatly by the end of the series, his acting did not. He was the weakest part of the series.

It had 11 Episodes and the broadcast period was from July 6th to September 14th in the Wednesday Night 10:00 PM slot.

I’ll close by telling why the series was called The Bull Doctor. As I said up top it was not about veterinary medicine. Instead think of the fact that Dr. Oodate was so concerned with finding the truth, and overcoming any barriers to the truth, that she operated like a human bulldozer steamrolling through the office, the lab, or over or through her colleagues. The terms stepping-on-toes or following orders were somewhat foreign to her; hence the title: The Bull Doctor. The video below will give you an excellent idea of what the series and cast look like.

What would you say if I told you that Kuroki is in a J-TV series that is currently airing in which she plays a tough as nails lady cop. The full title of the series is: Jiu: Keishichou Tokushuhan Sousakei, but most are simply calling it Jiu.

As the series opens, Kuroki’s character is a member of the SIT (Special Investigative Team). She’s a loner, she repels all and any invitations of friendship from either colleagues or outsiders, at least in the first couple of episodes. She’s barely able to hold conversations with her colleagues; not because she is inarticulate, but because she doesn’t see the point of it.

By the end of the opening episode she has saved a female detective who had been asked to go into a hostage situation by posing as a delivery from a restaurant. Kuroki’s character – called Isaki Motoko, guns down the perpetrator before he can slit his own throat in an attempted suicide.

Isaki’s actions are noticed by the higher ups in the Tokyo police. But they don’t know what to do with her. Is she a loose cannon about to go off like a Dirty Harry. Is she a danger to her colleagues?

Beyond that they don’t even know that she’s gone undercover and infiltrated a small Yakuza cell. This is a mission that is totally unauthorized. But hey – that’s what she’s all about.

Without having any sure answers about her, they do the unexpected – they promote her into SAT (Special Attack Team akin to our own SWAT forces), where she will be asked to work in the most dangerous situations, the ones with the highest risk, or most likely, in their minds, they have placed her on a force that would be deployed where she might get injured or wounded, or even killed. That would protect the risk the city faced because of her quick trigger finger, and her propensity for violence first – ask questions later.

The series began this summer (July 29th) in the Friday, 11:15 PM time slot – which means that it will undoubtedly be more adult than what you might see in prime time. Six episodes have aired, but so far I’ve only seen four episodes with English subtitles, so I can’t go any further into the plot or provide more details other than some images.

I can tell you that you will see Kuroki kick ass. She’ll look great in a one piece swimsuit or in combat boots and camo fatigues, and that even though this is a police drama with another actress, Mikako Tabe as Misaki Kadokura, in a key detective role, and they are polar extremes, they’re going to have to work together to bring down the criminal Jiu who is responsible for a number of brutal crimes.

Kuroki plays the eye candy rough neck cop role, and Tabe plays the cerebral detective who gets her answers by out thinking the criminals and by charming the witnesses.

Quite a duo!

When you finally get home, all the lights are out. Tadaima! (I ‘m home!), you say but there’s no answer. When you turn on a lamp – your wife jumps out and says turn it off. You’re dumbstruck – you have no idea. What’s wrong?

She directs you to get a flashlight, and to take a look out in the courtyard. And it is out there, in your own courtyard, which is your enclosed back yard – a young girl lies dead in your back yard. Hello…!

Not quite the Okari (Welcome home) response you expected. This is how the latest entry from the producers of Shinzanmono which I reviewed last year here, begins. This time, the series has returned to the broadcast medium in the form of a 2 hour Special Movie. The title is Red Finger.

Hiroshi Abe returns as Detective Kyouchiro Kaga

Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, portrayed once again by the wonderful Hiroshi Abe, returns to TV. This SP is a prequel to the series and takes place two years earlier. Kaga is still a great detective. And the beautiful Meisa Kuroki is once again on hand as a local reporter Aoyama.

Meisa Kuroki as Ami Aoyama

As the DVD cover tells us – when Maehara returned home to find a corpse on his property, this average salary-man and his family, were looking at just the beginning of a tragic chain of events.

The Maehara’s: a death in their own family might have preferable to this nightmare of a situation

I won’t tell you anymore about the plot – but I can tell you that Detective Kaga is once again a breath of fresh air as far as television detectives go. He’s not stylish, he doesn’t toss off memorable one-liners, and he’s not run by an overbearing boss who questions his every move.

No sir, this is straight detective work which requires diligence. The production is a little heavy-handed in that they make sure you are shown some major clues, but still converting clues into proof is never easy in real life, nor in a television mystery. It is also true, that as a viewer, you may miss the significance of what they show you. So pay attention!

They don’t make these made-for-tv movies to be over and done in an hour. This one runs two hours, and while the murder mystery genre is turned inside out – this is not a ‘who is the killer’ deal, instead it is how will he be caught, or can he be caught?

Abe is marvelous – his observational and listening skills are superb, as is his ability to ferret useful information from the way people speak as well as what they actually say. All of us have seen so many television and film detectives. Mysteries along with the detectives that solves them are a staple of the book industry.

So it is both a pleasure and a reward to watch an intelligent detective work his way through the case. Not a bullet is fired, there are no car chases, and the detective, and the beautiful reporter do not get close for a night of heavy breathing.

As Red Finger closes, we get a voice over spoken by Meisa Kuroki’s character, the reporter Ami Aoyama. She is actually quoting something that Kaga told her. She says, “A detective is not only responsible for unlocking the truth, he not only captures the offenders, but he also needs to save the souls of those related to the case.”

That’s not in the spiritual sense only, but it is reflected in the care that Kaga shows everyone in the case – be they his colleagues, or people he meets along the way to solving the case, the victim’s family, as well as the criminals. Aoyama concludes, “And this is the Detective named Kyouchiro Kaga.”

“I’ll be back … “

As such, I will recommend this Red Finger. It is available through amazon.com. To demonstrate further proof of Kaga’s popularity, there will be another movie coming out next year.

The sudden suicide of Akari’s father sets off a chain of events. Members of Dojima family gather and their servants are killed one after another and an investigation begins. After that, the body of their driver (Kitaro), who had hung himself, is found in the garage.

So there’s your set-up for the March 2011 release Gaze (aka Mesen) taken directly from the DVD box cover. I decided to watch this one because I’ve been a fan of Yukie Nakama for a long time.  She’s the cover girl , and the lead actress, but this is far from a glamorous role for her.

In fact even though we get a brief peek at her in a hot-springs (onsen) this made for TV movie is definitely short on glamor. This is not to say that the female actresses are unattractive. No, with certainty I can state that all of the three daughters are quite nice looking, as is the girl friend of one of the sons. She’s played by Misa Uehara. While I’m at it – let’s not forget the family housekeeper either.

Misa Uehara as the girl friend who is marrying into this family

The head of housekeeping

The eldest sister

There is a detective and his assistant who meet at bars or restaurants for the evening meal – which gives them an opportunity to relax, eat, and have some drinks – all the while, they’re batting around some theories about the case, like who the culprit might be.

The homicide cop - you won't be confusing him with either Hercule Poirot or Lt.Columbo

They create possible motives, and then discard them. They bring out some alibi’s for us to ponder. After all, in the space of a day or so – 4 people, all within the sphere of one family, are found dead. And while they’re there in the bar – it’s Hey, another bottle of sake please. But these detectives are not the comic relief. In fact, there is no comic relief.

Yukie as Aki taking a dip at the onsen

Well, they fill out 94 minutes, and most of this, which is set up like an Agatha Christie mystery story, isn’t really that hard to figure out. Sure there are some decided red herrings which come into play, and which may confuse you would-be-homicide detectives in the audience.

Aki has to figure out where's she going to find replacements for the family chef and limo driver

But my over-all impression is that this production wasn’t a standout from any angle. The production wasn’t bare-bones or made inexpensively – but it didn’t show up as a costly production either. The acting was adequate at best, and the script and direction lacked any kind of flash, pizazz, or even – real drama. In short it was mundane.

Nice hat - but the cost of this outfit won't make the film's accountants cringe

As a fan of Yulie Nakama I was disappointed in Gaze.It’s not really bad, and despite being billed as a Japanese TV Special, it really wasn’t. I wonder what Nakama saw in this role, and why she signed on. Not recommended.

Face-Maker began on October 7th. It the story of Kirishima played by Masaru Nagai, , a skilled plastic surgeon. Before returning home to Japan, Kirishima was affiliated with the US Federal Witness Protection Program. Kirishima’s nickname is Face Maker. His practice helps those in need of an identity change as well as a need to look completely different. This doctor doesn’t work for cash. His payment for these surgeries is that he gets to keep someone’s previous face.

One such patient is the beautiful former gravure idol, Hiroko Sato, who has a featured double role in Episode Three. She first appears as one of the ‘before’ patients – Emiko Masubuchi.

Hiroko then appears as Ami Hashimoto, a newly recovered patient of Kirishima, who now, post-op, has Masubuchi’s old countenance.

As the doctor re-cycles the faces, how would you feel if you encountered someone with your old face?

Quite a challenge for Hiroko, who looks a tad thinner than we remember her from her days as an idol. But she is still a stunning woman.

Nagareboshi or Shooting Star pairs up the electric Aya Ueto with Yutaka Takenouchi. He plays Kengo Okada, an employee, actually he is a supervisor at an aquarium. He is 39 years old and has a secret that he would do anything to keep a secret, even if it means sacrificing everything.

Ueto stars as Risa Makihara, who is 26 years old and works in the sex trade. She’s working to pay off a huge debt incurred by her brother. As things can’t get any worse for her, she is suicidal.

One night as he is making his way home, and purely by chance, Kengo sees her, sizes up the situation, and snatches her off the train tracks, just before an onrushing train can take her life. This is actually the first thing we see as the series starts.

Ueto has dyed her hair a reddish or auburn color for this role. Since Aya Ueto has always been a magnet for me, I do look forward to this series which just began on October 18th.

L to R: Haruka, Atsuko, Kazunari, Karina and Naoto

Our third J-Drama on the Fall Schedule is Freeter le wo Kau. The star is Kazunari Ninomiya who we watched and enjoyed in Dear Father or Hakei, Chichiu-sama which was discussed here. In this drama which began on air on October 19th, he plays a young man, Seiji Take, who quits after just three months on a new job. He has no dreams or ambitions, no incentives, and no money. He becomes a hikkomori, or a person who never leaves his room.

But his Mom falls ill, and he has to take a job. He lands a part-time construction job. There he has a supervisor played by the beautiful and very much up-beat Karina (below left). To begin with, they don’t get a long as they are polar opposites personality-wise. This is the way things go on TV. Hate at first sight. But things will change.

The thing about this show is that it is filled with beautiful women. Besides Karina, there is Haruka Igawa (far right) who appears as Ayako. Rounding out the third beauty on this show’s promotional image, is Atsuko Asano (center) who stars as Kaz’s Mom.

Long a fan favorite for her strong characterizations and superb acting is Ryoko Shinohara. This fall she has the lead in Ogon no Buta. She plays a convicted swindler who has been just released from prison. She finds it difficult to land a job. When she spots an older man who she thinks is a prime target for a pick-pocketing by noticing his expensive shoes , she goes for it. But he spotted her checking out his shoes. Instead, before she can run off, he offers her a job. At the National Board of Audit. He is one of the Commissioners of this Bureau.

The Board is a division bureau in the Japanese federal system. Their job is to watch for frauds, tax cheaters, and other malfeasances by government agencies. Sort of like: Have Calculators, Will Travel. These are not the accountants you’d want to mess with.

Only they are paper tigers. They only audit and check. They never bust anyone. That is until Shinohara as Shinko joins the team. She’s tough, she’s fearless, and she’s not afraid to go where the Board of Audit formerly would not. Forensic accounting was never so interesting.

Shinohara is not the only good looker in the cast. But as the  series shows, she’s always in jeans and boots. She’s not playing the role for glamour. But that’s where the rest of the females in the cast come into play. Also appearing in the cast as hostesses at a bar are Sayaka Yamaguchi (above left), Shin Yazawa (above right), and Anna Nose (above center). Sayaka plays Ryoko’s sister in the story, and the bar where they work is a regular place in the series – where these fearless accountants go to unwind, and discuss strategies.

Our last drama for this article is called Juui Dolittle or Veterinarian Dolittle. This drama is about the business of veterinarian medical profession. It is also about a love triangle. The 1st vet is  Tottori Kenichi played by Shun Ogori (below) He is a surgical genius, and he knows it. He asks for and receives astronomical sums to cure the animals aka beloved pets that are brought to him by their distraught owners. He believes whole-heartedly that A) – ‘veterinarian medicine is a business’, and B) – ‘I’m not running a charity’.

On the other side of this spectrum, is Masaru Hanabishi played by Hiroki Narimiya (below). He is the opposite of Tottori. He is called the charisma vet. His forte is the diagnosis. He is thoughtful and caring. He is a vet whom the pet owners love. But he can’t do surgeries any longer. He had lost his own pet dog due to his own carelessness in performing a surgery on this dog. Now he is too frightened to perform any surgery on any kind of animal.

Between them is Mao Inoue as Asuka Tajima. In the opening week, she asks for the help of Tottori for her horse who has a fracture in his left foreleg. Because of her love for this horse, she must ask Tottori to save him, as every other vet felt the horse should be put down.. Despite his sky high fees, she agrees and has the surgery performed on the horse. When she cannot pay these fees, Tottori takes her on as his assistant. In short, she will work off the debt.

In the first two weeks of the show our hearts go out to a  pair of cats, the horse, and a dolphin, all of who require the intervention of a vet to survive. We also are witness to the goings on in the pet-care business world – the back stabbing and in-fighting that occurs at the institutional level of the animal health industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKQQ4VfQFlw&feature=related

Mao Inoue and Shun Ogori also starred with Jun Matsumoto in the wildly successful series Boys over Flowers which ran for two full seasons in 2005 and 2007 and then had a two hour plus special which was broadcast in 2008.

I’m sure that there are other very worthy shows with beautiful Japanese women who also were part of the 2010 Fall Season. But I decided to write about these  shows because either the actresses appealed to me, or the story lines appealed to me.

Each of these in part, can be found on the internet for downloads with English subtitles. As creating fan-subs is a timely process, none of these are completely available with subtitles yet.

http://s625.photobucket.com/albums/tt332/toyohara_fan/Video%20Clips/?action=view&current=InnocentWorld.mp4

From that beginning role, Yuko has gone on to win a number of awards for acting in both films and TV, so I thought I’d present a look back at Yuko on both the big screen and the small screen. From this point, I’m going to limit the presentations to those shows that I’ve actually seen. We will follow these chronologically so you so you get to watch as Yuko seemingly has grown more beautiful with the passing of years.

Lunch Queen Cover

In 2002, Yuko was the female lead in a TV series called Lunch no Joou or Lunch Queen. Yuko had top billing as Natsumi Nagita, a girl for who lunch was the highlight of the day. Through some rather unique circumstances, Natsumi ends up working at this restaurant called The Macaroni Kitchen. The restaurant was famous for it’s Rice Omellette with a demi-glaze sauce as shown in the image.

Yuko as Nasumi in Lunch Queen

What makes this story interesting is that the restaurant is run by three brothers, and before all is said and done, each of them will fall in love with her.

From the year 2004, I was able to watch Yuko in both a TV series and a movie. The TV series was called Pride which was about hockey players and the women in their lives. I’ve already done a piece on Pride here … but Yuko is featured prominently in this clip so please have a look.

Yuko as Mio in Be With You

On the big screen in 2004, Yuko starred in the critically acclaimed Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu aka Be With You. The plot or story line is that a wife and mother (Mio) dies after a lengthy hospital stay following an auto accident, She leaves behind a husband and a six year old boy. Before passing, she creates a storybook for her son Yuji in which she promises to return come the next rainy season. Takumi (the husband) knows the this could not happen but he refuses to tell his son the reality. But on a foray into the nearby forest soon after the onset of the six week rainy season, they come upon a seemingly lost and bewildered woman who is Mio. But per the conditions of the promise Mio can only stay in their lives for the rainy season.

Besides the obvious questions about life after death, there’s another question. Having lost a loved one once, only to have her appear in your lives again, and with the knowledge that you are going to lose her once more (after six weeks) – what would you do?

In 2008, Yuko starred in the beautiful drama Bara no nai Hanaya or The Flower Shop Without Roses. A woman dies in childbirth. Her daughter is raised by the keeper of a flower shop, Eiji Shiomi. Into his life comes a blind woman, Mio, played by Yuko.

Yuko in The Flower Shop Without Roses

The daughter called Shizuka is now six years old. She loves Eiji and Eiji loves her, but of course there’s something missing in his life, and that would be a woman to love him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkjxqvI58m8&feature=related

Yuko’s character could or should be the answer, but there are complications. In TV romances there are always complications, but you will not see these particular ones coming. This is a tender and moving story enhanced greatly by Yuko’s outstanding performance.

In 2009, Yuko got a guest appearance for few chapters in the American TV series FlashForward.

This series started strong with high ratings, but the writing could not sustain the story. Despite being sold to TV markets in 100 countries, this series folded its tent after just the one season.

The above link is a short clip of Yuko on American TV.

Our last look at Yuko is from a Japanese TV series that aired just a few months ago. The title was Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku or Summer Romance Shines in Raibow Color.

Yuko as Shiori Kitamura in Summer Romance with Rainbow Color

Yuko has the role of Shiori Kitamura, a widow with a five year old daughter. Jun Matsumoto plays Taiga Kusunoki, a struggling second generation actor. He’s not particular good and when he does land a role he might mess it up, and people resent him, thinking he got the role because his father was a major dramatic star on Japanese TV.

The show has an unsual beginning in which Taiga is sky diving and lands in a tree due to a mechanical mishap with his chute, he is ‘saved’ by Shiori. She’s a cheerful woman and ends up with a job at the talent agency which represented both the elder and the younger Kusunoki.

Romance is in the air – only Taiga is a love-struck mumbler who is scared to express himself, and Shiori is still attached to the memory of her deceased husband. Of course in TV circles, these are obstacles for sure, but they’re not unsurmountable. This is a romantic comedy and so romance will find its way.

As you can see from all of the images, Yuko Takeuchi is a really beautiful woman. She’s had remarkable success in the films and TV in Japan. Her skills as an actress are unmatched. Plus she’s been selected for some roles in can’t miss TV hits. Good luck Yuko. We hope to see you again.

The China Lover

The subject of the novel, or maybe it should be called a historical-fiction book based on real life events, is Yoshiko Yamaguchi who was also known as Shirley Yamaguchi, Li Xianglan, and Ri Kouran. Yoshiko was born in Manchuria in 1920 to Japanese parents.

Following the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese had set up a puppet Manchurian government. By the late 1930′s, she’d grown into a very pretty and talented young woman who soon caught the eyes of the Japanese working there. Yamaguchi wanted more than anything else to be a singer and a movie star.  The Japanese believed they had struck gold with this talented young woman, because she was fluent in both Mandarin and Japanese. Her movie career began and her career seemed to be fast tracked. But there was a problem.

Yamaguchi, was asked to pose as a Chinese girl by her Japanese handlers. Though born in China, and raised in China, she was Japanese. She was even given a Chinese name, Li Xianglan, to attract the Chinese audiences.

The agent makes a pitch to the director

As I said above, she wanted to be a star. But her films were in actuality propaganda pieces. Yes, even in 1940, the terms ‘win the hearts and minds‘ was in full use; nearly 30 years before this term was used by the United States in their efforts in Viet Nam. The roles she played under the name of Li Xianglan were all about Chinese girls falling in love with Japanese men. This was part of the propaganda plan that the Japanese used to help the Chinese to begin thinking of the Japanese occupation as beneficial and paternalistic.

But there was a lot of pressure on her. She found it difficult to live under an assumed identity. She chafed about having to act Chinese when she was really Japanese. As the pressure mounted, Yamaguchi realized she’d never be a star in  her own right. She also realized that she was a political instrument, though she hadn’t realized it at first. She threatened to quit. She was told to forget those notions and get back to work. When again she threatened to quit, she was told no chance. Back to work and shut up.

making nice to the military

But the Chinese were not fooled. When one particular role showed Ri Kouran as a Chinese woman was being beaten, belittled and abused by the Japanese character, a huge controversy arose.  The Chinese resentment about the Japanese rapidly and publicly increased. When Japan was ultimately defeated in WWII, the Japanese plans for China were publicly reviled as simple global aggression. Li Xianglan/ Ri Kouran/Yoshiko Yamaguchi was arrested by the Chinese and charged with treason and collaborating with the Japanese. She was on trial for her life. She ultimately revealed that she was in fact a Japanese and not a Chinese National and was cleared.

A promo image for the TV Series

But that’s not even close to the end of her story. After the war, Ri Kouran relocated back to Japan and relaunched another film career. She caught the attention of Hollywood and came to the USA and starred in a few films. She even did a Broadway musical in New York. She would later marry the famed Japanese-American architect Isamu Noguchi.

A scene from within a movie from a scene in the TV drama

When that marriage floundered in the middle 1950′s they divorced and Yamaguchi went back to Japan. Once more she launched another career, this time as a TV News anchor and talk show host. She became successful in this phase as a crusading TV journalist. This lead to her marriage to a Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Otaka.

Ri Kouran at a live performance meeting an old friend from the audience

In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese Parliament and she served for 18 years (3 terms). This was certainly a thrilling life. One that a film writer or novelist did not create. nor even dream of creating, yet, Yoshiko Yamaguchi actually lived it.

Buruma’s novel is this same story told through the eyes and ears of three different and separate men who came into contact with her at various stages of her life. Buruma’s book has a ctreative and interesting structure to it. One woman’s story as told over a 50 year period,  by three separate men is not something you read very often.

But the story of Yoshiko still has more to it. A Japanese tv mini-series called Ri Kouran was produced and aired in February 2007. All of the images, other than book jackets and another TV production, are of Aya Ueto and are from the DVD made from the Japanese TV series production.

Meisa as Kawashima with Ri Kouran as a supporting character

There was In fact, a second tv series involving Yamaguchi that was produced and that aired in 2008. It was called Dansou no reijin. Meisa  Kuroki starred as Yoshiko Kawashima, a woman in the military during the Japanese occupation who befriended Ri Kouran.

Ueto looks gorgeous in the period costumes, and I simply could not resist sharing them. The Youtube below is a music video of the Ueto song Namida no Niji which will show you some small segments from the Ri Kouran TV show mixed with the new music.

Basically, over the life of the series, which ran this year from mid-April through June 24th, we will learn some in depth info about the five lead characters. We watch as they struggle with their problems like: their aversion to commitments, their lack of confidence, their unwillingness to either express the truth or to face it.

If that sounds kind of grim and disturbing to you, you can rest assured that the series is not completely or only about bumps in the road, it only seems that way. The cast is youthful, attractive, and their problems/issues are not too remote for most of us to identify with or relate to. As they’ve agreed to meet for the first time in the opening Episode, I’ll give you a little thumbnail sketch about each of them to help you decide if you’d like to watch this series.

Eita as Nakaji

Keisuke Nakajima is played by Eita who is in real life is 28 and has been working steadily in TV series and films in Japan for some time. He’s well liked and you’d have to say that his career is burgeoning as he’s gone from supporting roles to lead roles.

Nakaji and Haru

Here he is called Nakaji. The info he’s put out to the group is that he is a photographer. In reality, he’s a photographer’s assistant, in short a low level assistant in the skin magazine trade. He works on gravure idol photo-shoots. Throughout this entire series, he has a continuous and endless case of one bad hair day after another. As the series begins we learn that he has been involved with and is in love with a married woman.

Haru Mizuno is played by the award winning actress Juri Ueno. She walked off with an award for her role as a high-strung student trying to become concert pianist in Nodame Cantabile in 2006. She then followed with another award for her performance as a gay woman in the 2008 series Last Friends.

Juri Ueno as Haru

Haru has told the group that she is a teacher at a private high school. Her reality is that she’s a provisional teacher who is still on probation and she hasn’t gotten her full teaching license yet. Her character is attractive but has no self confidence at all. As a result, she’s never had a boy friend and has already past her 24th birthday.

Jae-Joong Hero is not only a Korean actor, but in his role in the series, he portrays a Korean living and working in Tokyo. He tells the group he is a Doctor, and that (Doctor) becomes his character’s name. In truth, he is a salesman for a medical supplies firm, and his track record is not too good.

Jaejoong aka 'Doctor'

He’s going to fall head-over-heels for Haru. The relationship has a good many stumbles, and week to week it seems that she loves me, she loves me not is the rule rather than the exception. That’s because Haru also really likes Nakaji. And because she can’t decide.

Megumi Seki appears as Peach. She’s tall and attractive with a willowy figure. Beyond that she’s an aggressive and sexually active woman. She’s only a sales girl in a women’s clothing shop but she’s implied to the group that she manages the store.

Megumi Seki as Peach

She will be attracted to two of the three male leads, and when we meet her, she is already pregnant by another lover. She easily bonds with Haru, and they become the supporting friend for each other.

The last of the main characters is Kaoru Ichihara or ‘Leenda’, played by Tetsuji Tamayama. He has told the group that he is an editor of a prestigious magazine, but in reality he is just an assistant editor who is being sexually harassed by his female boss who constantly promises better assignments and promotions in return for sleeping with her.

Tetsuji as Leenda

As you will see, he is the fifth wheel as well as the odd man out. Yet he outwardly appears as the most stable of the main characters while inwardly he hasn’t yet learned to face up to his reality. He too has his secret which will emerge in the coming weeks.

I’ve watched the whole series which you can find with either hard or soft subtitles. You’ll have to google to find them,  At times, I became angry at the characters for their indecisiveness, their inability to be honest even to themselves, and for letting their fears control them. Yet despite the anger, you do get caught up in rooting for them.

The series as a whole is far from upbeat, and despite the somewhat happy endings achieved by some of the characters. the series does not end with you pleased about the results for each of them. But the production hasn’t skimped on cost savings measures, and it is a visually attractive series. I won’t go as far as saying this is a must see, but it is diverting, and I did stay with it to completion.

For two video trailers go to:
http://asianmediawiki.com/Sunao_ni_Narenakute

Shinzanmono

I think shinzanmono means something along the lines of ‘new neighborhood people or person’, which is what Detective Kaga Kyoichiro is in Ningyo-cho. Kaga was just tranferred to the Nihonbashi precinct, is placed in charge of the case. With virtually all of the residents of the neighborhood’s main shopping street, harboring one secret or another, they will all emerge as suspects, Detective Kaga must use his keen sense of deductive reasoning to uncover the truth about these people as well as solve the case..

Much of that is from the synopsis provided on the d-addicts.com website. But it really doesn’t do the series justice. Calling it a detective show is truly an over-simplification. Unlike American detective shows where the detective solves a new crime each week, this series focuses on just the one case. We, much like Detective Kaga, are in the dark. Though we witnessed the murder in the opening episode, and have seen snippets of it, in flashbacks, in every episode that followed, we still have no idea. This is a literal, “Who done it?”

Detective Kaga is portrayed by Hiroshi Abe. He brings a quiet calm to the role, and from his simple white shirt without a tie, and black suit…he appears to be completely style-less. In that regard, he is similar to the classic American detective, Lieutenant Columbo, who was played in that classic series by Peter Falk. But unlike Columbo, who actively worked at being shambling, forgetful, and messy to deceive the suspects, Kaga is none of the above. At worst he is edging in the direction of being unkempt but hasn’t arrived at that station yet.

He is direct yet quite polite and courteous, sharp as a tack when it comes to smarts because he is sharp-eyed and listens to everything that is being said, and extraordinarily giving in the sense of calming and reassuring both victims and suspects to gain their confidence.

Though the series broadcast run has concluded, I’ve seen just the first five episodes as I must wait for the subtitles to become available. But from what I have seen, I can decidedly recommend the series. So let’s give you a leg up by introducing some of the characters to get you started.

Mieko Harada as the victim Mineko Mitsui

But first, who and what was the victim Mineko Mitsui all about? She’s a 40 something divorced woman, living alone in a small flat, who is also estranged from her 20 something year old son.

From what we can see in the flashbacks, she’s attempting to get her life back on track, and has moved into this neighborhood because she has discovered that this is where her son lives. She’s made quite a few friends in Ningyo-cho, and apparently was well liked. Mieko Harada had the role.

Meisa Kuroki as Ami Aoyama

The beautiful Meisa Kuroki has the part of Ami Aoyama. She’s a part-time freelance writer/reporter/stringer for some local magazines and newspapers. She also works as a part-time waitress to supplement her meager earnings from writing.

We come to discover that she is the girl friend of the murdered woman’s son. While appearing in each episode, she is also the narrator at the beginning of each episode.

Anne (just a single professional name on stage) plays the role of Nao Kawakama in Episode One. She’s a headstrong girl who can’t get along with her Mom who runs an upscale cookie shop in the neighborhood. Nao wants to go to Paris and study hair design. She also lies to the police under questioning about an insurance salesman who is a suspect. That’s her right above this paragraph.

In Episode Two, we meet Yui Natsukawa (above left) who plays the restaurant owner Yoriko. Her husband is cheating on her with various bar girls. Detective Kaga is on the trail and he questions one of the girls, Asami, played by Mao Miyaji (above right) about this suspect. We will meet Asami again in the 4th Episode.

Yuki Shibamoto as Maki

In Three we get to know more about Maki Yanagisawa played by the lovely Yuki Shibamoto. Maki had met and befriended the murdered woman. Maki also was fighting with her Mother and went missing soon after the police arrived to question her. In this episode. Gravure Idol Yuko Ogura also had a small role as a men’s shop manager. She sells Detective Kaga some ties and undershorts.

Yuko Ogura as The Sales Mgr at a men's Shop. She loves how Det. Kaga looks with the ties she's selling

Four introduces a curmudgeon of a watch repairman played by veteran Japanese actor Yoshio Harada. His surliness stems from his unhappiness and disillusionment because his daughter ran off and married (against his wishes) a young man whom he considered to be biker-trash.

The daughter is played by Haru and she and her father will not reconcile until she delivers a newborn son. Her husband is now working at a watch manufacturing plant. As for the watch repairman, he’s a suspect because he is known to have frequented the same park as the murdered woman Mineko. And both of them were seen in this park at the same time on the day she was murdered.

Miyuki as portrayed by Mahiro Konno

In Five, we meet Miyuki who is employed at the favorite bake shop of Detective Kaga, Ami Aoyama, as well as the murdered woman. Miyuki is played by Mahiro Konno. Her character is pregnant and was befriended by Mineko, who watched over the pregnant girl, as any parent might; only she wasn’t Miyuki’s mother. We also find out that Ami Aoyama met and talked with Miyuki about Mineko in this chapter.

That’s as far as I can go up to now. It’s very interesting to watch as each Episode introduces a new character, and as we get to know them, we find that Detective Kaga will help them as people who are in need of a helping hand, and yet as he helps them, we must consider that each of them is possibly the murderer.

This excellent production has charm, wit, humor, superior writing, and lots of style. The characters are fresh, and while their family problems are universal and not new, we can enjoy how Kaga works his magic and uncovers their secrets one by one.

Through five weeks, I still have no idea who killed Mineko. And neither does Detective Kaga, and therein lies the charm and magic of this wonderful series. You just have to return the following week, because solving the case has become as important to us as it is to Kaga. Okay, make that almost as important.