Updates related to the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 28 Feb 2025

Since there would probably not be many significant developments in this incident prior to the release of findings by FujiTV's third party investigation committee in late March 2025, the frequency of these updates will be less frequent until then. Besides developments and information directly related to FujiTV, it is expected that the other TV stations will also share their own investigation findings in due course.

- The background story of FujiTV's shift to Odaiba and its love for the number 8: 

• FujiTV was the ratings king for 12 years from 1982 to 1993. Its HQ used to be in Kawada-cho, Shinjuku Ward.
• Construction on the new HQ in Odaiba began in May 1993 and the move was completed in March 1995.
• However, this also marked the beginning of its decline and by the time president Kameyama Chihiro was at the helm in 2015, its annual average rating was No.4 out of the 5 key Tokyo-based private TV stations. In November the same year, its primetime weekly ratings position was even overtaken by TV Tokyo which was usually in the last spot.
• The site of FujiTV's new HQ was part of the Waterfront Sub-capital Development Plan which began in the midst of the bubble era in 1989 and the goal was to create a huge business district in Odaiba. However, with the election of Aoshima Yukio, the Tokyo governor in 1995, the World Cities Expo scheduled to take place from March to October 1996 was cancelled. As such, FujiTV's plan to showcase its unique globe-shaped observatory in the air through this expo failed to materialise.
• To begin with, the employees themselves were not so convinced by the need to move to Odaiba. Part of the reason was that there were many production companies which worked with FujiTV located around Kawada-cho and that its proximity to Shinjuku Nichome made it a convenient area to hold business meetings. However, Odaiba was lacking in entertainment options back then and you had to cross the Rainbow Bridge as the sole means to access the area. As such, employees were concerned that nobody would want to come to Odaiba if they had no specific purpose to do so.
• While some affiliated companies and production staff did move together to Odaiba, the environment was also said to be not so conducive for work with the area positioned as a tourist attraction and the space design not optimal due to the mid-air corridors linking the buildings.
• Some also cited the poor location in terms of fengshui and fortune telling as a reason why employees were not enthusiastic about the move. It was believed that the direction in which the HQ moved from Kawada-cho to Odaiba was seen as the most inauspicious.
• In order to remove such poor perceptions of the area, FujiTV deliberately incorporated the Rainbow Bridge in many of its productions so as to give it an image overhaul e.g. the 1997 drama "Love Generation" starring Kimura Takuya & Matsu Takako and the 2003 movie "Odoru Daisousasen THE MOVIE 2 Rainbow Bridge wo fusa seyo!". Many other FujiTV shows also kept showing footage of the new HQ building and the Rainbow Bridge.
• FujiTV and its executives seem to have a strong attachment for the number 8. During the shift to digital terrestrial broadcasting in 2011, other TV stations changed their channels but FujiTV stuck to the number 8. This was seen as putting it at a huge disadvantage due to its positioning on the TV remote control and the TV program listings in newspapers. Besides this, the date when Hieda Hisashi became the president was 8 August 1988 so this became the annual FujiTV Day. Its listing on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was 8 August 1997 and the countdown to this was started at a time which lined up a string of 6 eights i.e. Heisei 8th year (1996) 8 August at 8.08am 8 seconds. The big meeting room where the regular president's press conference is held has a huge painting of Mount Fuji which has 8 peaks at the top nicknamed as "8 Leaves" and symbolises the 8-leaf lotus flower of Buddhism and the number 8 in Kanji.

- Despite the headwinds against FujiTV's shows, "119 Emergency Call" seems to be doing relatively well in various aspects:

• As of 14 February 2025, the number of TVer subscribers who added this drama to their favourites exceeded more than 930,000 thus making it within shot of making it to the top 3 for this season. In contrast, the other FujiTV primetime dramas are outside of the top 10. While this may be due to individual preferences pertaining to these dramas, the potential impact of the anti-FujiTV sentiment as a result of the ongoing scandal cannot be discounted as well.
• The drama managed to keep its household rating above 7% up to Ep 4. 
• Feedback about the drama on social media is largely positive with praise centered on the increasingly interesting storyline and its realistic portrayal.
• Its inclusion of popular voice actors in every episode so far seems to have gathered their fans as well to tune in to the drama.
• While there had been a tendency to rely on famous actors and scriptwriters for the Mondays 9pm timeslot, the changing of generations within FujiTV has brought about a higher willingness to give relatively unknowns or up-and-coming people a chance. In Seino Nana's case, this is her first leading role in a Mondays 9pm drama. 
• Especially since FujiTV's reputation has taken a hit because of the Nakai incident and there has been an increasing reluctance to be associated with their shows, this might open up more opportunities for those who haven't made it big yet.

- Doing the right thing at the right time?: With the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tokyo Sarin Attack caused by Aum Shinrikyo on 20 March this year, FujiTV intends to air a special review programme on this case in the same month as reported by Sponichi on 7 February 2025. However, response to this piece of news has been somewhat critical due to FujiTV's handling of its own scandal and whether their priorities are misplaced i.e. they should review their own case first before doing the same for other things. As such, this has led to speculation if this is a move by FujiTV to deflect attention and criticism away from itself.

On the other hand, it was pointed out that this topic has been on FujiTV's radar for a long time since they had done similar features after 2000 when media attention on this matter was already waning. The issue though is, the timing of this 30th anniversary special may be considered inappropriate and in turn diminish the impact and meaning of their original intention to remind viewers about this important case in history.

- The first meeting of Fuji Media Holdings' Management Reform Subcommittee was held on 3 February 2025 but the composition of this subcommittee was cast into doubt as whether the company really has the intention to conduct reforms to its heavily-criticised corporate structure and governance systems:

• The committee is made up of 7 external directors of FMH. Considering that these directors were almost non-existent since Nakai's incident first came to light at the end of last year, it is doubtful as to whether they will be able to do anything to bring about the necessary changes.
• Among them, the inclusion of Yamada Makiko who used to be a former Prime Minister's Secretary/Cabinet Public Relations Officer is seen to be especially problematic. As the TV stations' broadcasting licenses are given out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the fact that Yamada came from this ministry and the amakudari practice (high-ranking government officials taking a lucrative job in a private or semi-private corporation) has already been criticised as one of the contributing factors to the crisis, makes her eligibility and willingness to lead reforms questionable. Adding on to the suspicion that she did not perform her duty to check on FujiTV's management was the statement made by former president Minato Koichi when asked by reporters during the second press conference on 27 Jan 2025. He confirmed then that the decision not to allow live broadcasting and video recording of the first press conference had nothing to do with her since she doesn't come to FujiTV regularly and wasn't at the TV station when they made this decision.
• The remaining 6 members of this committee are also seen as reflective of advisor Hieda's preferences and easily influenced by him. 2 of them are from key corporations within Fuji Sankei Group - Sankei Shimbun and Bunka Housou while 1 is from Daiwa Securities Goup which is FujiTV's lead underwriter securities firm. Kikkoman's honorary chairman is widely known to be Hieda's close friend and the company even sponsored a programme on FujiTV for more than 50 years to date. The children of two of the committee members are also employees of FujiTV (one had already left). 
• With regard to the selection criteria of the committee members and transparency of its work, FujiTV's PR department did not want to provide details. However, it stated that the selection was done based on requirements for outside directors stipulated in the Companies Act and the independence standards stipulated by financial instruments exchanges.

- Economic magazine "Shuukan Diamond" pulled off its latest issue due to be published on 17 Feb 2025 due to a mistake in its article based on a survey of FujiTV's sponsors. The editorial department found a mismatch in the company names and responses just before the publishing date. As of 14 Feb, although the copies were already delivered to bookstores, they would not be sold to the customers. Subscribers would have already received their copies with the wrong information by post. The publisher will follow up with a correction notice and upload the updated information on its homepage on 17 February.

The survey was conducted on 436 companies which placed ads on FujiTV and about 300 responses were received by Diamond. This is the first time in the magazine's history to suspend an issue. According to the Japan Magazines Publishers Association, the circulation figure of "Shuukan Diamond" was 72,000 per issue as of the last quarter of 2024.

- WOWOW announced on 14 Feb that it will no longer show nor provide the 2008 movie "Watashi wa kai ni naritai" starring Nakai on its streaming platform. The film was originally scheduled to be shown at 2.20pm on 21 Feb. In its statement, WOWOW apologised for the last-minute decision and explained that this was a move made in line with its corporate guidelines and in view of the current situation and customer feedback.

- Asset management company Rheos Capital Works Inc. has become a major shareholder of FujiTV's parent company Fuji Media Holdings with 5.12%. The holding of the latter's shares is said to be for investment purposes. While Rheos intends to use its rights as a shareholder, it has no plans to get involved in FMH's management. This is not the first time that Rheos has acquired shares of parent companies which own TV stations as it also had 5.31% of shares in TV Tokyo Holdings as of Oct 2024. 

• According to a Bloomberg interview with Rheos' president Fujino Hideto, he pointed out that FMH's problems are due to its management being dominated by elderly men and their corporate culture which ignores human rights. He felt that if these factors are eliminated from the company, FujiTV will then have a chance at reinventing itself and change its future.
• Rheos was reported to have started buying FMH's shares since 20 Jan which was three days after FujiTV's first press conference. On that day, the share price was JPY 1,785.5. At the time when Nakai's incident first came to light on 19 Dec 2024, the share price was JPY 1,858. By the time it was known that Rheos had become a major shareholder on 7 Feb, the share price had already surged to JPY 2,516.
• What's interesting this time is how former "enemies" are seemingly banding together now. Rheos is a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings whose chairman and president is Kitao Yoshitaka. Back in 2005, Kita was a white knight of Nippon Housou which was facing a takeover bid by Livedoor led by Horie Takafumi. Since FujiTV was a subsidiary of Nippon Housou at that time, this move effectively prevented FujiTV from being taken over. This led to Horie holding a grudge against Hieda and Kitao but he and Kitao reconciled after that. SBI Investments even invested JPY 1 billion in Horie's rocket development venture "Interstellar Technologies" in 2022. Since Horie had already declared openly that he will be buying FMH shares so as to attend the upcoming shareholders' meeting and pressure the management to carry out reforms, it is speculated that he may be teaming up with SBI Holdings and Rheos this time even though Fujino denied this collaboration.
• According to the Companies Act, as long as more than half of the shareholders agree to remove the elderly management team at the general shareholders meeting, the motion can then be passed. As such, this is comparatively easier to execute vs. implementing fundamental changes to FujiTV's corporate culture. For example, at FujiTV's 533rd Program Council in Jan 2024, the chairman Tadaki Keiichi said that being overly mindful of human rights would restrict the creative space and liberty needed to make TV programmes which will then become so boring and rejected by the viewers eventually.
• Unlike the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organisation (BPO) which has no legal power on TV stations, the program council in each TV station has the authority to drive programming decisions. As such, the stance of the council will shape the TV station's production values and direction more so than BPO.

- President Online's article provides a review of FujiTV over the years and examines whether there is a likelihood of it becoming a "normal" TV station again:

• It is important to note that at this stage, FujiTV has not committed a criminal offense under the Broadcasting Act or the Companies Act yet. As such, its relation to Nakai's incident has more to do with its moral and social responsibilities as a TV broadcaster.
• It is probably more accurate to say that the problems with the TV station lies in its management's poor awareness of human rights especially for women and not sharing information with stakeholders when a portion of senior management members came to know about the Nakai incident and continuing to hire Nakai as a host after that. 
• As such, to use the term "poor governance" to describe these problems as a whole does not seem entirely correct since the company itself and its parent are actually operating soundly from a business perspective.
• To regain the public's trust, the most important point is probably how the TV station will revamp itself to something which matches the public's expectations. It is clear that a radical change in management and executives is the way to go of which attention is centered on its advisor Hieda Hisashi who has been controlling FujiTV for almost 40 years.
• If the era of the founding family's control is included, FujiTV's history has been dominated by that and Hieda's era for about 60 years since its opening in 1959 as the 4th key station based in Tokyo.
• Back when FujiTV was established, since the financial sector was the key driver, it was regarded as the mass media outlet for the financial world. Initially, it was chaotic until the Shikanai family took total control for close to 30 years. Subsequently, the Hieda coup took place in 1992 which led to Hieda becoming the president at the young age of 50.
• Looking at the 8 FujiTV's presidents who succeeded Hieda, it is clear that the stints of the presidents got shorter to about 2 years per person after 2010. This coincided with the timing of FujiTV's decline in various aspects and was reflective of the difficulties faced by these short-term presidents to do anything significant during their stints. It was also obvious that those who were former producers were actually unfamiliar with the corporate management side of things and their ages at the time of their appointment were mostly on the higher side i.e. 60 years old and above. While reasons for their departures varied, it didn't appear as if they quit voluntarily so it was obvious that the appointment decisions were beyond their control.
• In terms of the chairman, Hieda hogged the seat for a long 16 years before his successor Kanou Shuuji took over for just 2 years between 2017 and 2019. The latter was then "transferred" to affiliated Kansai TV to be its chairman before being restored to the same position in FujiTV 4 years later.
• Another problem area cited in the Hieda empire is its overly close ties with the political world especially with the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. In addition, the practice of amakudari as seen from the appointment of multiple former key government officials (some of them even plagued by scandals) to take on senior executive positions is viewed unfavourably.
• Currently, Fuji Sankei Group has become a massive organisation with 78 companies, 4 corporate bodies, 3 art museums and about 13,000 employees.
• Even if Hieda is out of the picture, his influence in the organisation can still be seen from the appointment of key officials who are seen to be those in his favour. As such, conducting a total revamp of management is likely to create huge chaos and not so easy to do as people may imagine it to be.

- While FujiTV was said to be the pioneer in starting the joshiana (female announcers) boom in Japan back in the 1980s, it was actually during Hieda's era as the company president when the TV station started giving nicknames ending with "pan" to its female announcers and promoting them as if they were also TV talents. Looking at the 10 generations of "pan" announcers in their history, 5 of them had already left FujiTV i.e. first generation Chino Shio (Chino-pan), second generation Takashima Aya (Aya-pan), 4th generation Kato Ayako (Kato-pan), 7th generation Mita Yurika (Mita-pan) and 10th generation Kuji Akiko (Kuji-pan). In addition, looking at the number of female announcers who left FujiTV since 2000, there were as many as 20 of them in total.

On the other hand, while TBS had 16 announcers who left, none of them were those who joined from 2018 onwards. Over at TV Tokyo, it doesn't hire new announcers annually due to its size and lower number of news reporting programmes and has a smaller team to begin with so it had only 9 announcers who left during the same period.

As for NTV and TV Asahi, due to the strong power that their parent companies hold i.e. Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun respectively, it is said that their compliance standards in the announcer department are comparatively higher than that of the other key stations. And since they have a higher number of female management in the announcer department, these TV stations are said to be better at protecting their staff against unwanted advances or unnecessary entertainment functions. In NTV, 18 announcers left since 2000 while TV Asahi had only 11 who left.

- NTV released the results of its internal survey during its regular president's press conference on 17 Feb 2025:

• The survey had 161 respondents mainly from the programme production side. These included 12 executives and producers from the content production, news reporting and sports reporting teams. A total of 25 female announcers were also interviewed in person.
• The theme of the survey was to investigate if there were any meal gatherings where inappropriate sexual contact or advances were made.
• Due to the urgency of trying to establish this, the survey was limited to a small group of people.
• While there were no reported instances of such meal gatherings, 12 respondents mentioned that the purpose of some gatherings were indeed ambiguous.
• As some respondents did not give clear answers or could not answer for sure about some instances and some had felt uncomfortable about speaking in person, there will be an anonymous survey about human rights to be conducted in March so as to identify possible sexual and power harassment issues.

During the press conference, the president also revealed that Nakai had informed NTV on 17 December 2024 about being interviewed by a magazine which was 2 days before the publication and followed up with them again on 6 January 2025. However, he didn't divulge any details about what the issue was about citing the reason as due to a confidentiality agreement. He also apologised for any potential inconvenience that would arise. Eventually, Nakai left the show "The! Sekai Gyoten News" after news reports about his incident came to light.

- While the TV industry is enveloped in a moody state due to the recent spate of bad news, NTV's upcoming Sports Fest at Ryogoku Kokugikan National Sumo Arena on 15 March 2025 looks likely to be a massive event for the entire group's companies. As many as more than 10,000 employees and their family members from about 50 companies under NTV Holdings including NTV, BS Japan, Ax-on Inc., Hulu and Studio Ghibli are expected to attend this. Although some have wondered if the timing of this event meant as a show of unity and positivity in NTV Holdings is to contrast against the state of things over at FujiTV, the event was actually decided more than 6 months ago and seen as important to garner support from the affiliated companies for NTV's annual charity event "24 Jikan Terebi" in August.

- Mainichi Shimbun's public opinion poll conducted on 15 and 16 Feb 2025 included 2 questions pertaining to FujiTV in relation to its role in the Nakai incident. While such opinion polls tend to focus on political issues, there are sometimes questions about societal issues included:

1) Was it appropriate for companies to pull off their CMs from FujiTV: 

Yes: 58% 

No: 16% 

Neutral: 25%

2) What do you think FujiTV should do in order to regain public trust?

Investigate and clarify the suspicion over FujiTV's employees' involvement in the matter: 45%

Investigate the real situation about how female announcers and employees were reportedly made use of for entertainment functions: 42%

Revamp the management team: 52%

Come up with preventive measures: 48%

Others: 8%

Not Sure: 10%

- FujiTV's poor public perception seems to be something which has been going on for some time:

• Back in Jun 2015 when three of its female announcers appeared on FujiTV's talk show "Bokura no jidai", they commented on how the TV station seemed to be pursuing a negative image on purpose and that the dislike towards it seemed to be more about its image rather than the content it made.
• Leaving out TV Tokyo which is comparatively smaller in size, FujiTV has been the TV station with the worst household ratings among the 4 Tokyo-based key TV stations since 2016 for 8 consecutive years. In terms of individual ratings, it has been in the last spot since 2020 after measurement criteria for this parameter was standardised.
• In All About's favourite TV station survey conducted in April 2024 (500 people from their teens to 70s), FujiTV was no.4 behind NTV, TBS and TV Tokyo. Interestingly, while TV Asahi was last in this favourites ranking, it had good household ratings because its content is mainly targeted at older audiences who are said to watch more TV than the younger generations. This is probably why TV Asahi continues to include the household ratings figures in its annual reports despite other TV stations stopping this practice since the individual ratings measurement standard was finalised in 2020. Their reluctance to phase out household ratings measurement is also believed to be one of the key obstructions to the streamlining of ratings reporting from households to individuals. Just like FujiTV, TV Asahi's chairman who is about the same age as Hieda of FujiTV, has been hogging the position for 16 years.
• Another survey conducted by J-CAST News in May/June 2018 asked 1,014 respondents which TV station they disliked. FujiTV won the top spot with 32.7% of the votes.
• FujiTV's first golden era was between 1982 and 1993 where they won the triple crowns i.e. No.1 in average ratings for the three time belts - all-day (6am to 12 midnight), golden (7pm to 10pm) and primetime (7pm to 11pm) for 12 consecutive years. Even for the period between 2004 and 2010, there was a time when they got this title for 3 consecutive years. However, the ratings decline came and persists till today.
• Despite their poor performance, FujiTV still felt that it was the leader among the private networks and even came up with a programme which positioned itself as one which considered the future of the industry which was not a welcomed move by its competitors. As it got more anxious about its poor performance, FujiTV made a series of programmes which were either heavily criticised or exposed to have fake or made-up content. Even so, there were hardly any proper investigations nor explanations about the problems which led to a huge distrust and dislike for the TV station that built up over the years.

- FujiTV announced on 21 Feb 2025 that their annual summer special programme "27 Jikan Terebi 2025" has been cancelled. 

- TBS released the findings of its investigation about the relationship between its employees and those in the entertainment industry on 21 Feb 2025 which was initiated following the Nakai incident:

• There was indeed a TBS announcer who had attended the meal gathering organised by a FujiTV executive in May 2023 which Nakai also appeared at. However, there were no sexual advances made to this announcer and she did not notice any of the same made to other women at that gathering. In addition, she made it clear from the start that she could not stay late so had left before the gathering ended. As for having a meal with Nakai, that was the only time it happened.
• As for the barbecue at Nakai's home on 31 May 2023, it was also confirmed that 2 male employees had attended it as they were invited personally by Nakai himself. There were other individuals from the entertainment industry and FujiTV's programming department at the event. These two employees left when the barbecue ended and did not see nor hear any inappropriate behaviour during the event.

- TV Asahi revealed some information about how the Nakai / FujiTV incident had an impact on them:

• There was a sense of crisis for the entire TV industry in terms of compliance issues so TV Asahi also did their own investigation on whether there was a similar situation internally. Although they did not identify any instances, they are currently in the midst of doing a second round survey on about 70 employees. 
• As for the sponsor pullout at FujiTV, some companies did come to TV Asahi since they had freed up a portion of their budgets originally meant for FujiTV. However, timing-wise, most of the CM slots were already taken up for February and March 2025 so it was difficult to absorb about 20% of the original CM market share at one go.
• In particular, March is a period when sponsors typically need to use up their remaining budgets so it was hard to tell if the spike in advertising income was due to this reason or what happened at FujiTV.

- During TBS' regular president's briefing on 26 Feb 2025, it was revealed that Nakai had contacted TBS just before the article on his incident came out on 19 Dec 2024 but he did not give any details on the matter. As such, the TV station had no choice but to cancel the recording sessions of his shows "Nakai Masahiro no kinyoubi no sumairutachi e" and "THE MC3" scheduled in the remainder of Dec 2024 while waiting for updates on the situation and conducting its internal investigation. Subsequently, TBS managed to speak to Nakai directly. One of the shows was eventually cancelled while he left the other as decided on 20 Jan. 

The president Ryuuhou Masamine expressed regret at this incident since Nakai had worked with them extensively over the years. As for when they will get Nakai to attend a hearing for their internal investigation, this is likely to happen within this year. It had approached both Nakai and the victim in question through their representatives since the end of last year and is trying to confirm their stances towards assisting in TBS' investigation given their existing confidentiality agreement.

- The Fuji Sankei Ladies golf tournament has been cancelled as announced on 27 Feb 2025 due to the withdrawal of the organiser Fuji Sankei Group. The event was scheduled to be held from 25 to 27 Apr and has been held 42 times to date since 1982. However, following the sponsor fallout and criticism towards FujiTV for its alleged involvement in the Nakai incident, the fate of the tournament hung in the balance before the decision to cancel was made 2 months before the event date. As for the Fuji Sankei Classic tournament for male golfers in Sep, it is still unclear if it will take place as planned.

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Lion no kakurega
3) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5

1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

3) Lion no kakurega

4) Hikaru kimi e

5) Houkago Karute

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Lion no kakurega
3) Sora wataru kyoushitsu

4) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

5) Hikaru kimi e

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Lion no kakurega

2) 3000 man

Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

5) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega

3) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
3) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
4) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute
5) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
3) Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu
4) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

5) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Yagira Yuuya - Lion no kakurega
2) Kamiki Ryuunosuke - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

3) Kubota Masataka - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Fujiwara Tatsuya - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

5) Matsushita Kouhei - Houkago Karute

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Leading Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Hikaru kimi e
2) Shuri - Monster
3) Nanao - Munou no taka

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Hikaru kimi e
2) Matsumoto Wakana - Watashi no takaramono

3) Nao - Ano kuzu wo nagutte yaritainda

4) Shuri - Monster

5) Adachi Yumi - 3000 man

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Hikaru kimi e
2) Matsumoto Wakana - Watashi no takaramono
3) Nanao - Munou no taka

4) Shuri - Monster

5) Nao - Ano kuzu wo nagutte yaritainda

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Shuri - Monster

2) Yoshitaka Yuriko - Hikaru kimi e

3) Nanao - Munou no taka

4) Matsumoto Honoka - Usotoki Rhetoric

5) Adachi Yumi - 3000 man

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Bandou Ryouta - Lion no kakurega

2) Kobayashi Toranosuke - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

3) Tanaka Kei - Watashi no takaramono

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Kobayashi Toranosuke - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
2) Bandou Ryouta - Lion no kakurega
3) Shimizu Hiroya - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
4) Emoto Tasuku - Hikaru kimi e
5) Tamamori Yuuta - Ano kuzu wo nagutte yaritainda

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Bandou Ryouta - Lion no kakurega
2) Kobayashi Toranosuke - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
3) Tanaka Kei - Watashi no takaramono
4) Shimizu Hiroya - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
5) Emoto Tasuku - Hikaru kimi e

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Bandou Ryouta - Lion no kakurega
2) Shiono Akihisa - Hikaru kimi e

Kobayashi Toranosuke - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

4) Sato Tasuku - Lion no kakurega

5) Akiyama Ryuuji - Hikaru kimi e

Source: The Television

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

2) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
3) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu
3) Kuroki Haru - Hikaru kimi e
4) Tsuchiya Tao - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
5) Ono Machiko - Lion no kakurega

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Tsuchiya Tao - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

3) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

4) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
5) Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Sugisaki Hana - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo
2) Morita Kokoro - 3000 man

Ito Aoi - Sora wataru kyoushitsu

4) Miyamoto Nobuko - Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo

5) Hirose Arisu - Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu

Source: The Television

"KING OF SING" Top 20 singers with the best singing abilities rankings as voted by vocalists (2025)

TBS music program "KING OF SING" released its rankings of top singers with the best singing abilities as voted by 122 vocalists during its broadcast on 20 February 2025. There were two rankings in terms of age groups i.e. 30s and below and 40s and above. 

Check out the lists below to see if your favourites have been included in this ranking!

Top 20 singers in their 30s and below

1) Oomori Motoki (Mrs. GREEN APPLE)

2) Ado

3) Iguchi Satoru (King Gnu)

4) Yamazaki Ikusaburo

5) Ikuta Rira

6) Fujihara Satoshi (Official Hige Dandism)

7) Yonezu Kenshi

8) Takahata Mitsuki

9) Taka (ONE OK ROCK)

10) Shimizu Miisha

11) Fujii Kaze

12) May J.

13) LiSA

14) Ayaka

15) Miura Daichi

16) Kamishiraishi Mone

17) Shirota Yu

18) Nagaya Haruko (Ryokuoushoku Shakai)

19) Aimyon

20) Ikuta Erika

Top 20 singers in their 40s and above

1) MISIA

2) Tamaki Koji

3) Niizuma Seiko

4) Oda Kazumasa

5) Utada Hikaru

6) Shimazu Aya

7) Yoshida Miwa (DREAMS COME TRUE)

8) Fuse Akira

9) Nakajima Miyuki

10) Inaba Koshi (B'z)

11) Superfly

12) Kubota Toshinobu

13) Hirahara Ayaka

14) Yamadera Koichi

15) Kuwata Keisuke (Southern All Stars)

16) Hirose Koumi

17) Hikawa Kiyoshi

18) Hirai Ken

19) Matsu Takako

20) Ishikawa Sayuri

The 122nd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2024) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)
2) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)
3) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)
4) Donna chiisana - wacci (Houkago Karute)
5) Ashita - Noda Emi (Watashi no takaramono)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Ashita - Noda Emi (Watashi no takaramono)
4) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)
5) Uta wo okurou - Takeuchi Mariya (Subarashiki Kana, Sensei)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Nekko - King Gnu (Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo)

2) Fuujin - Vaundy (Lion no kakurega)

3) Break out of your bubble - Little Glee Monster (Sora wataru kyoushitsu)

4) FOREVER - Chanmina (Monster)

5) Endless - TOMOO (Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu)

Source: The Television

Highlights from the interview of Kuroiwa Tsutomu (Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu) - Best Script for the 122nd The Drama Academy Awards

The Television conducted an interview with Kuroiwa Tsutomu who won the best script category in the 122nd The Drama Academy Awards for "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu". Here are some highlights from his interview which includes behind-the-scenes trivia about the production of this drama:

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!

• To Kuroiwa, this drama was a brand new challenge for him as well since he had never attempted something like this in his career so far. In addition, since he made his debut as a scriptwriter in FujiTV, writing this drama felt like coming full circle back to his roots so he wanted to do something unlike the norm.

• As to why he decided to make this drama based on the theme of Japanese gods, he revealed that he had visited Ise Shrine several years ago and heard an introduction of Sarutahiko Shrine from his taxi driver at that time. He then learnt of the Sarume Shrine which honours Amenouzume no Mikoto (Hirose Arisu's character) and felt that there is a lot of interesting and deep stuff to uncover in Japanese mythology. As such, this was what led to the development of this drama.

• He commented that while many people would have heard of various Japanese gods' names, they probably wouldn't have known much beyond that. After discussing with the producer, they felt that this was an interesting topic to explore in this drama.

• As to the choice of gods to feature in the story, the first thing that was decided was to feature Sarutahiko no Kami (Sakoda Takaya's character) and Amenouzume no Mikoto as a married couple. With regard to Okitama no Kami (Fujiwara Tatsuya's character), this was because he is an enshrined deity in the inner hall of Ise Shrine and said to be considered as the same as Sarutahiko no Kami. This piqued Kuroiwa's interest and fitted the character setting of Okitama no Kami hiding his identity in the story. While thinking of the other characters, he decided to choose those who most people are familar with. As for viewer feedback that the gods had the Avengers vibe when they gathered together, Kuroiwa felt that it was good that his choices worked out well.

• Kuroiwa wrote the script with Fujiwara Tatsuya in mind as Okitama no Kami right from the start. He felt that there was nobody else besides Fujiwara who could play the role of a god and without him, this story wouldn't have been possible. He also cited how Fujiwara said the line "Boku mo kami desu" (I am also God) as simply terrific and felt that Fujiwara was so convincing in his portrayal of Okitama.

• With regard to the huge amount of lines for Okitama, Kuroiwa said that generally, he tries not to write more than three rows of lines for each character per round in his dialogues but he felt that since it was Fujiwara, he thought that longer lines would be of no issue for the latter. While Kuroiwa did feel somewhat apologetic to Fujiwara for giving him so many lines this time, he was also very impressed with how the actor was able to say his lines so effortlessly, clearly and smoothly.

• As for Hirose, he praised her for being such a cool and talented younger generation actress and wished that they can work together again in future. He cited the scene in the end when there was a confrontation between Koyume (Hirose) and Naobi Yoshimichi (Kakizawa Hayato) where she had to say the line "Detekoi" (Come out here) to him. Since this is a strong word which typically sounds awkward if said by a woman, there was a discussion with the producer as to whether they should opt for a softer-toned word to replace this. However, they decided to stick with what was in the script and felt that the effect with which Hirose delivered this was better than expected.

• The story took a sudden change in genre and direction at the end of Episode 5 when it was revealed that this was not just a police drama investigating supernatural phenomenon and that the members of Zenketsu were all gods. This was a calculated move from the start and considering that the drama consisted of 10 episodes, that was an appropriate timing for the turning point. However, the surprise would only work if viewers stayed on until Ep 5 so they had to leave various clues on a trial-and-error basis to see what worked in holding the viewers' attention and interest. He remarked that this approach probably succeeded in part due to the fact that viewers could go back to watching the drama on-demand when armed with the knowledge of later developments and could derive new joy in re-watching earlier episodes to uncover clues which they had missed previously. Unfortunately, even though Kuroiwa had told his mother to hold on until Ep 5, she actually gave up watching his drama before that so he jokingly said it was such a pity. 

• Ultimately, this drama was a mystery story packaged as a police detective story until Ep 5 and revealed to be about Japanese gods from Ep 6 onwards. To prevent this from being a stale and old-fashioned mystery drama, he had to make sure that the script was in line with the times. He also felt that although there were some words of advice for mankind towards the end, that didn't feel like preaching thanks to the fact that it was the gods who said those lines, not human beings.

• In order to make the scenes where Okitama explained to Koyume about Japanese mythology and various gods more understandable and interesting to viewers,  it was decided to make flash animations primarily based on ink paintings and supplemented with old articles and pages from the Nihon Shogi (The Chronicles of Japan - the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history). This was intended to make the viewers curious about Japanese mythology as they watched this drama.

• As for the deduction theories on social media after the broadcast, Kuroiwa was a bit concerned that some had mentioned about the characters' names incorporating that of Japanese gods right from Ep 1 but also didn't want the link to the real theme to be totally unnoticeable by viewers. It was thus hard to find the right balance along the way. 

• Since there are some parts which haven't been fully depicted in the drama, he deliberately left those to the viewers' imagination and hoped to be able to cover these if there is ever going to be a sequel.

• Kuroiwa confirmed that Okitama had not erased Koyume's memory so she retained the memories of her 3 months spent in Zenketsu. However, her memories of her days as a god were still gone.

Romaji lyrics and translation of "Puppets Can't Control You" by ONE OK ROCK (Japanese version) - Theme Song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

Title: Puppets Can't Control You

Artist: ONE OK ROCK

Written by: Taka / DAIDAI / Gianni Taylor / Dru Decarro / Derek Tyler Carter

Theme Song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

* Since the song lyrics are in English except for the opening verse, the romaji lyrics and translation (in brackets) will be for the Japanese section only. Note that the English version's opening verse is not the same as this.

senkou ka koukou de kimaru you na 

bakageta petenshi no geemu ni

jissai odorasarete kuruwasare

damasareta ageku

They want to make us pick a side

(It seems like it's been decided whether you go first or second

A stupid trickster's game

After being manipulated, driven crazy and cheated

They want to make us pick a side)

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Clip his wings he don't deserve that halo

I'm losing faith in everyone again

If the TV stations sell their lies on cable

Then we're so blind that we'll be tuning in

But I don't know where to start

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Holding on to nothing

Till it turns into something

Don't like who I'm becoming

I can't keep running

Searching for an answer

Re-reading every chapter

There's no happy ever after when it's over

Damned if I do

It's way too late to fix it

I'll be damned if I don't

The bane of my existence

They said damn kid you gotta try

Even if you never win

You can't pretend

You'll never be happy again

Observations from Video Research's Top 10 celebrities' TV CM Exposure Ranking 2024 & TV CM Deals Ranking 2024

As seen from the results below, there are some interesting observations which can offer food for thought on determining who's popular with advertisers vs. who's actually seen on TV more frequently:

• While Ayase Haruka (10) has less than half of Kawaguchi Haruna's number of CM deals (24), the total number of times which her CMs were shown and the total running time were 17% and 35% higher than the latter's figures respectively. Her total exposure time in 2024 also increased by about 4% from 2023's total of 329,115 seconds.
• Despite the fact that Kawaguchi has been the CM queen for three years in a row based on total number of CM deals, she was actually not in the top 10 for the total CM exposure ranking last year.
• Most of the celebrities in the 2023 Top 10 for the CM exposure ranking were also in the 2024 version but Kawaguchi and Yokozawa Natsuko were the only ones who came from outside 2023's top 10. On the other hand, Yoshioka Riho and Koike Eiko who were in the 2023 Top 10, did not make it to this year's ranking.
• Although some celebrities have a high number of CM deals, the actual exposure they got did not allow them to make it into the top 10 ranking in terms of total CM running time - Hashimoto Kanna, Imada Mio, Yoshioka Riho, Ootani Shohei, Hamabe Minami, IKKO, Ooizumi Yo, Suzuki Ryohei, Nagasawa Masami, Nagano Mei & Yamada Yuuki.
• On the reverse, while some celebrities may not have that many CM deals, they got a lot more exposure on TV - Degawa Tetsuro, Takito Kenichi, Suda Masaki, Yokozawa and Nakajo Ayami.
• In terms of regional differences, Ayase was gaining the most exposure in all three surveyed regions i.e. Kanto, Kansai and Nagoya. On the other hand, while Kaku Kento was No.2 in Kanto and Kansai, Ashida Mana was No.2 in Nagoya. 
• The gap in total running time was relatively consistent and small between Kaku and Ashida in all three regions but if compared to Ayase, the largest difference between No.1 and No.2 was observed in the Kanto region (62,680 seconds) as compared to the Kansai (17,400 seconds) and Nagoya (22,245 seconds) regions.
• The number of times which the CMs were aired could be dependent more on the advertisers' CM budgets, size of the companies, the length of the CM and the timeslot which the CMs were aired rather than a direct reflection of the celebrity's brand power or name value. More information is probably needed to determine if the total running time is mainly made up of shorter version CMs (15-sec ones) or those which run for at least 30-secs and higher. In addition, advertising budgets for a domestic company vs. an international enterprise could be vastly different too. Moreover, depending on the timeslot when the CM is aired, the rates could differ a lot. For example, playing shorter CMs for a higher number of times during off peak hours could actually be cheaper than running longer CMs for a smaller number of times during primetime slots. 

Top 10 celebrities with the highest CM exposure in 2024 (based on total running time of CMs) - Kanto region

Numbers behind the names reflect the number of times the celebrity's CM was aired on TV and the total running time of these CMs.

Numbers in brackets indicate the position which the celebrity got in the 2023 ranking:

1) Ayase Haruka - 18,536 times / 341,310 secs (1)

2) Kaku Kento - 15,741 times / 278,630 secs (2)

3) Ashida Mana - 16,195 times / 260,715 secs (4)

4) Kawaguchi Haruna - 15,834 times / 253,410 secs (11)

5) Degawa Tetsuro - 15,809 times / 243,070 secs (6)

6) Takito Kenichi - 12,145 times / 236,090 secs (10)

7) Suda Masaki - 12,673 times / 215,985 secs (3)

8) Yokozawa Natsuko - 10,728 times / 213,005 secs (16)

9) Nakajo Ayami - 12,546 times / 205,125 secs (9)

10) Hirose Suzu - 10,018 times / 197,025 secs (7)

Top 10 celebrities with the highest number of CM deals in 2024

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of CM deals which the celebrity had:

1) Kawaguchi Haruna (24)

2) Kaku Kento (18)

3) Ashida Mana (16)

4) Hashimoto Kanna (14)

5) Imada Mio / Hirose Suzu / Yoshioka Riho (12)

8) Ootani Shohei / Hamabe Minami (11)

10) Ayase Haruka / IKKO / Ooizumi Yo / Suzuki Ryohei / Nagasawa Masami / Nagano Mei / Yamada Yuuki (10)

Highlights from the chat session between ONE OK ROCK's Taka and Iida Kazutaka (producer of "Mikami-sensei")

There was a chat session featuring Iida Kazutaka i.e. producer of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" and Taka i.e. vocalist of ONE OK ROCK which sings the theme song "Puppets Can't Control You". In the two-part article, they talked about various things such as the story leading to their collaboration and the message they want to convey in the theme song. Given the length, I have extracted some highlights pertaining to the drama and theme song as shared below:

• Iida first came into contact with ONE OK ROCK's music in 2013, thanks to Sato Takeru's recommendation. He watched the 2016 concert "18 sai" during the COVID-19 pandemic and was deeply moved by the embedded messages of respect and encouragement which transcended the boundaries between adults and youngsters at the age of 18. With the intention to showcase a similar story like this, "Mikami-sensei" materialised after 5 years.
• Iida already had the intention to get ONE OK ROCK to sing the theme song although he wasn't confident that the band would accept his offer. 
• In response, Taka said that it was rare for such an offer to come to them. He explained that the band tends to touch on supposedly taboo or controversial themes in their music so there is this perception of dealing with them can be troublesome, whether it is justified or not. As such, they were really happy to have received this offer.

• Taka revealed that on a personal level, he is not so receptive to the idea of working with TV since young. As such, under normal circumstances, he would have said no to such an offer especially since his utmost priority is to uphold the band's policy.
• In the US, it is common for them to bring in several staff members for music playing sessions with the band when making music. Through this process, it allows the band to bring in fresh ideas from different people through a trial-and-error process and identify those whose values and ideals are in sync with them vs. those who just want to make use of and tap on the power of their brand. However, this is not something that's usually practiced in Japan and the system can only work if there is mutual respect between both parties and a relationship that's geared towards making the best stuff. 

• Iida shared that in the world of making dramas, there is also a difference in practices between the US and Japan. In the US, it is common to have multiple scriptwriters work on a single drama and the story is crafted through feedback along the way. However, in Japan, the standard practice is to have one scriptwriter be responsible for the entire drama. While Iida said that he hopes to bring in a more consultative process in making Japanese dramas going forward, he felt that he can also learn from the band's experience but acknowledged that it does take courage to adopt the input of others and be receptive to change.

• Both of them highlighted the importance of communication and how it can foster understanding and convey thoughts accurately. Even through a fictitious work like this drama or music, viewers can draw parallels between the story/lyrics and their lives which will give rise to new energy and create opportunities for discussion.

• At the time when ONE OK ROCK received the proposal for the theme song, they were in the midst of making their album "DETOX" and felt that the drama matched its theme. However, they were worried initially about how far they could go for the song to portray the drama's key theme.
• The word "puppets" in the title does not refer to just its literal meaning but also those who step up to take responsibility whenever things happen such as the president of a country or company. The thing is, there are usually bigger and stronger powers behind these figures. As such, the meaning that they want to convey through this song is that, "no matter how many puppets you change to make the public's anger go away whenever there's a crisis, we will no longer be deceived by this rigged system and listen to these puppets put up by the larger powers". Taka joked that this might come across very strongly in Japanese but the interpretation of the message should differ to a certain extent since the lyrics are in English.
• The song was written entirely in English at first. Since there was feedback that there should be some Japanese lyrics given that this is still a theme song for a Japanese drama, they wrote the lyrics in Japanese for the opening verse in the Japanese version while keeping to all-English lyrics in the original version. Taka said that it's rare for the band's recent songs to begin with Japanese and felt that it was a good idea to do this after all.
• Taka also revealed a funny anecdote about the song which he let close friends hear before the tie-up with the drama was announced. However, the feedback he got was that it was difficult to appreciate what the song was trying to convey if you just heard it on its own. Once the song was played during the ending credits of "Mikami-sensei", those friends came back to tell Taka that they finally understood what the song was about and praised its compatibility with the drama. Taka himself was convinced by what they said when he watched the ending credits and realised that the song turned out to be better than he thought.
• Iida said that it was a deliberate decision to choose a hard rock song for the drama since it is positioned as one which would break stereotypes in the TBS Sunday drama timeslot.
• Taka shared that he doesn't have a TV at home and hasn't watched a TV show in more than 10 years. However, he does watch Netflix at times. This is the first time in a long while that he finds himself "hooked" to a TV drama and is surprised by how unconventional and edgy the story is especially considering that this drama is shown on a terrestrial TV network and not an international OTT platform.

Quick Review #102: Lost Care (movie)

Title: Lost Care / ロストケア

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to watch a film talking about serious themes for thought such as dementia, mercy killing, euthanasia, living with dignity, social welfare and social mobility and/or are fans of Matsuyama Kenichi and Nagasawa Masami

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.

* Potential spoilers ahead, proceed with caution!

Liked:

- While the original novel was positioned as a suspense story probably more focused on the "who" aspect, the bulk of the movie talked about the "what", "how" and "why" since the identity of the killer was already known from the start. And because the story dealt with really serious life-and-death themes which would affect all of us in one way or another as we and our parents grow older, it posed difficult questions for the viewers to consider and think about what we would do in similar circumstances. I really liked how the issues were illustrated without feeling like there was a "correct answer" pushed to me and there was adequate room and time to consider each point before moving on to the next one.

- The acting of Matsuyama Kenichi and Nagasawa Masami was truly brilliant. While I would say that Matsuyama dominated about two-thirds of the story, Nagasawa also had her moments to shine as the climax in her storyline slowly built up. The showdown between their characters may not appear to be very dramatic in an outwardly manner but there were a lot of underlying emotional battles between the suspect and the prosecutor which showcased both sides of the arguments.

Despite the fact that the prosecutor should be expected to distant herself from the case on an emotional basis and be impartial, her personal situation which coincided to some extent with the suspect but her circumstances allowed her to deal with it in a different way really reinforced the point that "when you are in a safe spot, it is easy to criticise people for doing something which seems wrong or unethical". And the point made by the suspect about how people fall into a hole and just cannot see a way out of it despite their best efforts further strengthened the despair that he and many others stuck in the hell of caring for the critically ill and elderly without the necessary support experienced on a daily basis.

Disliked: 

- Due to the nature of how the story was crafted, those looking for suspense would be disappointed because the identity of the killer was already given away. As such, I would say that the movie is more of a soul-searching humanity story rather than a suspense tale.

- The "heaviness" of the material would no doubt weigh heavily on the minds of the viewers so those looking for light-hearted or relatively stress-free entertainment may not like this. Although I liked this movie to a large extent, the lingering sadness and frustration after watching it was definitely not easy to get over.

A look at the reasons for Yokohama City Fire Department's decision to continue supporting "119 Emergency Call" behind the scenes

Due to the controversy over FujiTV's role in the Nakai Masahiro incident, many companies and government organisations have put on hold or cancelled their collaborations and/or business relations with the TV station while waiting for its third party committee investigation to conclude before deciding on the path ahead. In the midst of this, Yokohama City Fire Department's decision to help with the filming of Winter 2025 drama "119 Emergency Call" behind the scenes while removing any mention of its name in the credits was met with mixed reactions from the public.

According this article by Toyo Keizai, while it was avoidable that some had criticised the fire department for using taxpayers' money to provide support to the production of this drama and being seen as "endorsing" FujiTV's perceived enablement and abetment of Nakai's action and compliance violations, there were also others who were worried about whether the drama would make it till the end of the season if the fire department had pulled the plug on supporting the filming. 

Of course, the city government and the fire department would have definitely expected some degree of backlash regarding their decision even with the removal of their names in the credits. While there was no mention of a detailed analysis on the responses and comments posted on social media and articles with regard to this, Toyo Keizai noted that many of the negative comments called for the withdrawal of support mainly to show a firm stand against FujiTV's failings in the incident and the handling of the aftermath. And due to the nature of the Internet and social media, it was more likely that those who felt strongly against the collaboration would tend to speak out as compared to those who were on the fence or had positive sentiments towards the drama. Perhaps this was also why that those in favour of the decision tend to cite specific reasons and personal examples explaining why this drama would be useful and informational to the public such as knowing how to provide useful information in a calm manner to the emergency hotline officers and being able to appreciate and understand the value of the important work done by the command centre officers who are largely "unseen" by the public. It certainly does take a lot more effort to write praise as compared to dishing out criticism online.

As seen from the positive feedback from the public, it seems that the three aims of the fire department in supporting such a drama have indeed been met to a certain extent:

1. Promoting the understanding of the fire department's work: Through the drama, the public can understand how the fire department's teams work together, how to make 119 emergency calls and the challenges in its inability to dispatch fire engines and ambulances "immediately" during certain situations. In this drama, the command centre officers do not actually go out to save lives but have an important role in "passing on the baton" to those on the ground and are equally pivotal to their other colleagues in the process of saving lives. 
2. The potential of positive spillover effects to fire departments nationwide: While this drama is set in Yokohama City, the importance of the work handled by the fire department's control centre would be the same anywhere else. As such, in order to convey this and boost understanding of their work, giving up on the collaboration with FujiTV so easily will no doubt be counterproductive to their efforts so far.
3. To enhance the public's safety and boost awareness: As featured in the drama, most people who call the emergency hotline would tend to be nervous and in a panic mode thus cannot provide details or comprehensive information to the command centre's officers. This no doubt delays the speed of dispatching appropriate resources to deal with the situation and creates the inability of on-the-ground emergency personnel to handle the matter in the best way possible. This is when useful tips such as how to stay calm, speak succinctly yet being detailed would be of value to those reporting cases to the emergency hotline. In addition, making the public be aware of when to call the hotline such as those who can go to the hospital themselves shouldn't be calling for ambulances or showing how prank calls can waste time of the officers who should be working on the true emergencies are expected to boost safety for themselves and others since nobody would know when they might be the ones who require help one day.

On the other hand, there could be potential benefits to the fire department itself since it doesn't really have to spend extra money for its collaboration with FujiTV. From what is known so far, the support provided includes training and acting guidance during filming and lending of fire engines and uniforms. Through fostering understanding of their work, the fire department may also be able to achieve better optimisation of their operations through the reduction of waste and resources caused by non-emergencies and other situations like prank calls. In addition, the spotlight shone on the command centre officers might create a "career boom" as more children and youngsters get inspired to join this line which will help in the uncovering and development of future talent. And since the lead character was someone who switched jobs from a bank to the command centre, it is also hoped that adults may be encouraged to do the same and consider this occupation which was relatively unknown until this drama. Last but not least, this drama might also help to increase the motivation of current command centre officers who hardly get any recognition and praise for the work they do.

The article also mentioned how the drama already had its fair share of difficulties right from the start such as when the broadcast of Ep 1 was interrupted due to the earthquake in Miyazaki Prefecture on 13 Jan or that its Ep 3 broadcast was cancelled at the last minute due to the over-run caused by FujiTV's marathon press conference about the Nakai incident. Despite these and the sponsor fallout, the drama is still staying its course and has been praised in the media. While it remains to be seen if anything else might happen to cause any changes, it will certainly be good for the drama to finish its run successfully and deliver its intended objectives as planned.

The secrets hidden in the sponsor credits section of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?"

Apparently, there is a secret hidden in the sponsor credits section of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?"

At the top and bottom of the screen, there were some dots and dashes which resembled the Morse code. After deciphering them, they supposedly contained statements which are now widely seen as clues to solve the mysteries in this drama especially since they correspond to key developments in the respective episodes:

SPOILERS AHEAD! Proceed with caution ~

Ep 1: 私の声に気付いてますか (Have you noticed my voice?) -> not sure whose voice this is referring to though.

Ep 2: 俺はあの時から真実を探してる (I have been searching for the truth since that time) - most likely referring to Komugi Papa i.e. Detective Yamashita Haruo (Lily Franky) who had been re-investigating the murder case from 22 years ago.

Ep 3: 光の中のあの人は何を隠してる (That person in the light is hiding something) - most likely referring to the mysterious man with the backpack and carabiner whose face keeps getting blocked by light.

Ep 4: 真実の鍵は水の中 (The key to the truth is in the water) - the mystery water which Detective Akazawa (Fujimoto Takahiro) was told by his wife (Nishida Naomi) to drink or Someda (Sakai Toshiya) found dead in the water?

While I did notice these symbols on screen since I'm watching the TVer version (not sure if it does appear in the Netflix version though), they never struck me as potential clues especially since I do not know how to decipher the Morse code in the first place. Looks like there is one more thing to pay attention to while watching this drama. 😁

Interestingly, Hirose Suzu was so excited to find out about this when her manager forwarded the article to her and even tagged her co-star Matsuyama Kenichi in her post on X. In response, he "complained" that the staff had hidden yet another thing from the cast and that some "gimmick genius" must have come up with this idea.

Behind-the-scenes trivia from TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei"

TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" held an event on 15 February 2025 for 40 senior high school students where the producer Iida Kazutaka, director Miyazaki Yohei and cast members Toyoda Yuudai and Yamashita Kouki appeared. During the event, they shared behind-the-scenes trivia with the audience including:

- The theme song "Puppets Can't Control You" by ONE OK ROCK was kept as top secret from most of the cast and staff members until it was finally revealed in the ending credits of Ep 1's broadcast.

• According to Iida, a hint was actually dropped to everyone when they started filming the classroom scenes in December. 
• A sacoche bag which is the size of their script, was handed out to everyone at that time. On it was an English phrase which is taken from the lyrics of the song.
• During a briefing with cast members, Iida mentioned that this drama was conceptualised after he heard the song "We are" from ONE OK ROCK.
• This led to Okudaira Daiken who plays Kanzaki Takuto, to guess correctly then that the English words on the bag should be song lyrics.

- Iida revealed the roots of how this drama came about. He used to aspire to become a teacher after he saw the 5th season of "3 nen B gumi Kinpachi" sensei in the final year of his senior high school. However, he failed his university entrance exams and repeated a year before he finally entered Waseda University's School of Education. He even obtained the English teaching license for junior and senior high. 

It was then when he felt that he would not be able to teach his students well if he had no prior working experience so he applied to join TBS instead of becoming a teacher. While in TBS, he kept thinking of making a drama about teachers one day and finally realised his dream through "Dragonzakura" in 2021. 

Just when he wanted to do an original story about teachers and felt that there was a lot of pent-up frustration in society due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he happened to see a video of ONE OK ROCK's 2016 concert in 2020 and felt the youthful energy and brilliance through it. As such, he started to plan for a school drama which ultimately became "Mikami-sensei" 5 years later.

- Unlike many school dramas to date, "Mikami-sensei" emphasizes the need for teachers and students to think together rather than teachers telling the students "how to think". With regard to this point, there was a mutual understanding with scriptwriter Shimori Roba that they didn't want this drama to be preachy and instead reflect the need to change the perception of teachers as times have also changed. It was important to emphasize that while one may be passionate about something, conveying it in a calm manner with only the necessary words is probably the best way going forward. This was unlike past dramas which tended to show passionate teachers lecturing their students with grand words and long arguments just to get their viewpoints across.

- There is also a conscious attempt to shine the spotlight on social issues of today despite this drama being entertainment and make it easier for the general audience to understand and appreciate. This was something that may not be easily done in political or social dramas meant for the adult audience.

- All 29 student actors were chosen through an audition. Contrary to the tendency to choose only popular or well-known actors to play students in school dramas so as to attract the viewers' attention, it was extremely important for the selected student actors to be able to convey the key messages in the story. In this way, the story would be able to make a lasting impression on the audience rather than be a once-off thing.

- The positioning of the Sunday drama timeslot is that it provides entertainment which can provide viewers with the motivation and encouragement to work hard again at the start of a new week. As such, while keeping this in mind, the intention of this drama is also to encourage viewers to start thinking about issues and be kinder to the people around them. This will hopefully bring about more positive effects to the society at large.

Quick Review #101: Haretara ii ne (Drama SP)

Title: Haretara iine / 晴れたらいいね

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who like time travel stories or themes such as counting our blessings in peaceful times vs. those during war times and/or are fans of Nagano Mei

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.

* Potential spoilers ahead, proceed with caution!

Liked:

- If you are a fan of Nagano Mei, you should be very satisfied with this SP because you get to see different sides of her character at one seating - cute, bubbly, determined, serious and jaded. While I wouldn't say that this was one of her best performances to date, her acting here was at least on par with her usual standard. Don't miss the part where she explained the concept of time travel in her own words because that was so hilarious. Her interactions with Yoshine Kyoko as buddies was also nice to watch.

- This was one of the few dramas/movies which I felt was wrapped up nicely to project the message of positivity for the future and ended on a feel-good fuzzy vibe.

Disliked: 

- Stories about people who lived through WWII or those of people who live in the present time-traveling to the past or vice versa are aplenty so the hurdle to distinguish this from what had been made so far was already high. While it would be difficult to deviate much from the standard flow of developments in such stories (someone travels in time -> causes some changes or takes part in some events in the new era-> the time traveler either returns to the original time or stays in the other era), I found the lack of a clear central theme a bigger issue even after watching two-thirds of the SP. The messages of counting your blessings, make the best out of your circumstances and not giving up hope on the future became more apparent only when the nurse maids went through their arduous journey to return to Japan. While the good thing was that the delivery method of these messages was kind of implied rather than directly shoved into your faces, the subtleness might be lost on some viewers.

- The change of the current timeline from 2015 (in the novel) to almost a decade later (in the SP) was baffling. Given the increased gap between both timelines, this would have made it almost impossible for the nurses' to survive until they could meet Saho in the 6th year of the Reiwa era. Not sure though if this was a deliberate move to make Sae and Mitsu the only ones who could reunite with Saho. Considering that the two of them were already in their 20s during the time they were in the Philippines, that would mean that they would be more than 100 years old by the time they met Saho again. Likely to happen or simply too far-fetched?

- There was something about the time-travel logic which I failed to comprehend - how could Sae have known about Saho's presence and actions in the past if there was a "switch" between the two of them? From the story, it appeared that everyone saw Saho as Sae and the two of them didn't exist together in the same timeline. It bothered me quite a bit when the ending suggested that Sae was aware of Saho's time travel experience which shouldn't have happened though. If anyone understands why this was so, it would be great if you can enlighten me.

- While the supporting cast had quite a number of good actors, the story just didn't offer them enough time and space to do their magic so it was a pity.

Romaji lyrics of "Elf" by Ado - Theme song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?"

Title: Elf

Artist: Ado

Written & Arranged by: Teniwoha

Theme song of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?"

hashirinasai hayaku motto hayaku 

kanashimi ni oitsukarenai you ni

sagashinasai akari no tomoru michi wo

sore wa sore wa mabayui deshou

idominasai kimi no utsukushisa ya toutosa wo kizutsukeru mono ni

nemurinasai tsukaretara nemurinasai

shinwa wo motanai ano seiza no you ni

te wo hanashita ato 

kimi wa kizuku darou

yubi no katachi taion

sono nagori ga mune wo sasu

wasuretakoto mo wasureteshimae

kanashimi mo nukumori mo kieteshimae

saredo ima mo mimi ni nokoru wa

kataku saikai wo negau you na

[Sayonara]

Adieu Adieu

Love You And you?

odorinasai dare ni warawaretemo

awayuki wo harau eda no you ni

sakebinasai kokoro kara sakebinasai

koko ni tashika ni itanda to hibikasete

yukiai no sora ni touhanabi ga nijimu

kaerubeki ie wo sagasu

nagai nagai tabiji wo iku nara

takaraka narase sono shinzou wa 

saigo no hitouchi made kimi no mono da

namida namida afureru ga ii

furu shizuku ga kimi no mori wo sodateru darou

sore wa sennen no houmushikku deshita

mugen sae mo kazoe oete

kaibutsu no you na sekai no sumikko de tatakai tsuzukeru hito

kimi wa erufu erufu

(itoshiki) tabi wa tsuzuku

wasuretakoto mo wasureteshimae

kanashimi mo nukumori mo kiechimae

saredo ima mo ima mo mimi ni nokoru wa

kataku saikai wo negau you na

[Sayonara]

Adieu Adieu

Love You And you?

Adieu Adieu