Tuesday, February 18, 2025

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.

Monday, February 17, 2025

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.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

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.

Saturday, February 15, 2025

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

Friday, February 14, 2025

2025's Top 10 ranking of male celebrities who you want as a boyfriend (Oricon)


Oricon conducted its annual Valentine's Day survey on 500 female respondents in their teens to 50s between 9 January and 20 January 2025 where they selected the male celebrity who they wished to have as their boyfriend. 

Some observations from this ranking:
  • This is the first time that Matsushita Kouhei grabbed the No.1 spot in this ranking. He was No.2 last year.
  • This year marks the first time that Meguro Ren entered the top 3 in this ranking. He was No.4 last year.
  • Takenouchi Yutaka is the oldest celebrity (54 years old) in this ranking for this year and last year.
  • Meguro Ren is the youngest celebrity (27 years old) in this year's ranking. He will turn 28 in 2 days' time.
  • Nakamura Tomoya is the only married celebrity in this year's top 10 ranking.
  • Yamada Ryosuke and Matsumura Hokuto are tied at No.4 this year.
  • Yamada Ryosuke, Matsumura Hokuto, Yokohama Ryuusei, Nakamura Tomoya & Sato Takeru were outside of the top 10 last year.
  • Last year's No.1 Ohtani Shohei is not in this year's top 10 probably because he announced his marriage in Feb 2024 and the survey was done in Jan 2024.
  • Similarly, Yamada Yuuki who was No.5 last year, did not make it to this year's ranking. He announced his marriage to Nishino Nanase in Mar 2024.
  • Yoshizawa Ryo who was No.7 last year, did not make it to this year's top 10. His drunk-trespassing incident late last year probably had a part to play in this.
  • Michieda Shunsuke and Nagase Ren who were in last year's ranking, did not appear in this year's top 10 list.
The numbers in the brackets indicate their rankings last year. Dashes indicate that they were not in the top 10 in 2024:

1) Matsushita Kouhei (2)

2) Meguro Ren (4)

3) Hirano Sho (3)

4) Yamada Ryosuke (-) / Matsumura Hokuto (-)

6) Sakaguchi Kentaro (7)

7) Takenouchi Yutaka (6)

8) Yokohama Ryuusei (-)

9) Nakamura Tomoya (-)

10) Sato Takeru (-)

Over-reliance on the unusual? - A look at FujiTV's perceived dependence on dramas featuring characters with special or supernatural powers

Amid the media frenzy surrounding FujiTV's troubles from the Nakai Masahiro incident, this article from FLASH caught my attention for highlighting an interesting observation about their dramas of late.

Apparently, FujiTV has been dishing out quite a number of primetime dramas featuring characters with special or supernatural powers and/or the use of special technology to the extent that there is concern expressed over their over-reliance on this genre and the supposed lack of creativity. In particular, the concentration of such dramas in the Winter 2025 season was highlighted as too coincidental to be true i.e. 3 out of 5 primetime offerings:

  • "Aishii ~ Shunkan kioku sousa Hiiragi han ~" - the lead character played by Haru has the "camera eye" ability which allows her to make use of her photographic memory i.e. remember everything she sees to solve cases.
  • "119 Emergency Call" - the lead character played by Seino Nana has the ability to remember everything she hears and uses it for her work as a command centre officer in the fire department.
  • "Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~" - a special MRI technology is used to create images of the deceased's brains while they were still alive.

In addition, the previous season i.e. Autumn 2024 featured two dramas of a similar nature:

  • "Usotoki Rhetoric" - the lead character played by Matsumoto Honoka has the ability to differentiate lies from the truth based on what people are saying.
  • "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" - the gods make use of their special powers to solve cases related to strange phenomenon.

In view of these examples, this has led to comments wondering about FujiTV's dependence on this "fantastical or deviating from reality" genre and its tendency to portray women as those who can't get ahead in life unless they have a special power. To be fair though, we should also consider if the dramas are original productions or adaptations from existing material in other formats. In the case of "Himitsu" and "Usotoki Rhetoric", they are adaptations while the others are original stories. As such, this trend may have been due to one or a combination of two factors i.e. deliberately creating originals in similar formats and/or consciously picking original material with such elements. 

One reason cited in the article to explain this tendency of FujiTV was said to be the use of directors who have been in the industry for a long time and them relying on tried-and-tested formulas to play safe. For example, the director for "Aishii" is said to have about 30 years' experience since being active from the 1990s. Even with creative input from the younger staff members on the production sets, the overall direction of the work still depends on the directors so the likelihood of duplicated themes and styles is assumed to be higher. In contrast, FLASH quoted the example of TBS' highly-praised Sunday dramas and noted that the directors tend to be different people thus resulting in varying directing styles and a more refreshing slate of content offerings.

Although it does look like FujiTV has a higher concentration of dramas featuring special or supernatural abilities of late, that's not to say that other TV stations are not serving up dramas of a similar nature. Fairly recent examples which I can think of include:

  • "Eye Love You" (TBS - Winter 2024) - the lead character can hear people's real thoughts.
  • "Gifted" (FujiTV & WOWOW - Summer & Autumn 2023) - A senior high school student who can see whether someone is a murderer and teams up with a police detective to solve cases.
  • "Okutou ~ Kanjou sousakan Shinno Akari ~ Season 2" (NTV - Autumn 2024) - A police detective can see the colours of emotions in people and uses this to help her solve cases.
  • "Oichi Fushigi gatari" (NHK - Summer 2024) - The lead character in this period drama can see how the deceased looked just by hearing their voices.
  • "30-sai made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni narerurashii" (TV Tokyo - Autumn 2020) - A salaryman acquires the ability to read people's thoughts just by touching them when he turns 30 years old.
  • "Kishibe Rohan wa ugokanai" (NHK - 2020 onwards) - The lead character has the ability to read people's thoughts and life history through a book

And of course, there are the oldtime classics like the "SPEC" series (TBS), "BORDER" (TV Asahi) or "Psychometrer Eiji" (NTV).

While I think that the argument about the recent concentration of this genre in FujiTV's dramas may be true to a certain extent, to say that the competitors aren't doing it at all is also not entirely correct. However, if such stories can be spread out more evenly across the seasons, it might reduce the perception of over-reliance on super powers in the dramas.

On a personal note, I am not really a fan of stories featuring people with extraordinary powers especially if the story setting doesn't really call for it. For example, the overall settings in "SPEC" and "Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu" do warrant having lots of characters with special powers so I'm generally fine with these. If not, my acceptance of such stories is comparatively higher when we are talking about more "believable" powers such as people's five senses being more sensitive than others or that they are just more observant. That being said, things which border on exaggeration can turn me off.

As for the point regarding how "normal" people or even women cannot get ahead in life without such special powers, I think it reflects how real life is like to a certain extent. You do have to display something different from the rest in order to distinguish yourself from the competition which is especially evident in "Aishii" because of the male-dominated environment which the lead character is in. However, having special powers that seem way too good to be true does reduce how realistic a story comes across and can alienate viewers to a certain extent if it's too far-fetched. How to strike a balance between logic and fiction is not an easy task at all.

In relation to this point about over-reliance on a single genre or story setting in dramas, one other thing which actually annoys me more these days is the overuse of the term "genius". It does seem like in order to make a character more appealing or charismatic, the person has to deviate from the norm by being much smarter than everyone else or achieve things beyond the usual person in the same age group. And every time I see the term "genius-XXX", it gets on my nerves so much because the over-concentration of geniuses in Japanese dramas and movies makes it feel as if ordinary people have become the rarity in dramaland. Especially if the description of how genius-like the person is gets too ridiculous, I tend to avoid such stories from the onset. It makes me wonder - most of us do not encounter that many geniuses in real life at such a high frequency so why does the J-dramaland feel like it's overflowing with so many of them?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Quick Review #100: Ienai Himitsu Secret (movie)


Title: Ienai Himitsu Secret / 言えない秘密 Secret

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for
Those who like pure love stories set in schools with a tinge of sadness and/or are fans of the leads Kyomoto Taiga and Furukawa Kotone

* Disclaimer: I have not watched the original Taiwanese movie.
* Potential spoilers ahead, proceed with caution!

Liked:
- The refreshing tone of the lead couple's love story (until the secret was revealed) filled with youthful energy peppered with little moments of romantic excitement - this should be something suitable to be watched during the upcoming Valentine's Day. In particular, the scenes where they played the piano together e.g. sitting side by side, hands touching each other's inevitably as they moved across the keys and the lingering gazes into each other's eyes may not be so exciting for Kyomoto's fans but these moments were quite nice to watch from the perspective of an onlooker seeing how a memorable first love developed between the characters.

- The pairing of Kyomoto and Furukawa was better than I initially expected. Not just in terms of appearance compatibility but their onscreen chemistry also made it believable that the couple had fallen deeply in love with each other through the building up of little moments over a relatively short period of time. It also made the anguish and regret unleashed at the end more engaging and moving although the ending was admittedly quite rushed.

Disliked: 
- I had no idea what the storyline for the Taiwanese version was until I went to do some research after watching this movie. As such, while I cannot comment on the good and bad things or similarities vs. differences in the original vs. the remake, the Japanese remake may not be so satisfying to those looking for happily-after-ever endings. I personally felt that it was better in this way to make the story seem more realistic and finish on a poignant note.
As for the secret in this story, part of it was too predictable from the start (the sick heroine part) while the fantastical part was a bit too coincidental to be true (just my personal view though). The role of the red toy piano also stood out like a sore thumb. Those who don't like time travel stories might want to give this a miss especially if you don't believe the "coming-and-going-at-will" logic.

- Frankly speaking, anything outside of the lead couple's love story was a bit bland so I sped through those parts at 1.5x speed because they were really draggy. Perhaps it was meant to be like this so that the focus could be on the love story. That inevitably placed the burden of keeping the viewers engaged solely through the efforts of the lead actors so it can feel somewhat underwhelming for people wanting a more "complete package" which provided other elements beside the romance.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Netflix Japan's key drama series and movies to be released in 2025


Demon City Onigoroshi (Demon City) / Demon City 鬼ゴロシ (Movie)
To be released on 27 February 2025
Cast: Ikuta Toma, Onoe Matsuya, Higashide Masahiro, Takashima Masanobu, Tanaka Miou, Touma Ami, Suruga Taro, Kiryu Mai, Takenaka Naoto & Otoo Takuma etc.
Official Trailer: here


To be released on 27 April 2025
Cast: Kusanagi Tsuyoshi etc.



To be released in July 2025
Planned and co-produced by Sato Takeru
Cast: Sato Takeru, Miyazaki Yu, Machida Keita, Shison Jun & Suda Masaki etc.



To be released in August 2025
Cast: Isomura Hayato, Ok Taec-yeon etc.






Tokumei no koibitotachi (Romantics Anonymous) / 匿名の恋人たち (drama series)
To be released in October 2025
Cast: Oguri Shun, Han Hyo-joo, Akanishi Jin & Nakamura Yuri etc.



To be released in November 2025
Producer & Action Planner: Okada Junichi
Cast: Okada Junichi, Fujisaki Yumia, Kiyohara Kaya, Higashide Masahiro, Sometani Shota, Saotome Taichi, Endo Yuuya, Jou Kairi, Yamada Takayuki, Ichinose Wataru, Tamaki Hiroshi, Ito Hideaki, Yoshioka Riho, Ninomiya Kazunari



To be released in December 2025
Cast: Takeuchi Ryoma & Machida Keita etc.

Updates and new information from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 12 Feb 2025


- According to NTV's news feature programme "Shinsou Houdou Bankisha!" aired on 2 Feb 2025, it did a special on the Nakai & FujiTV incident which included coverage of the Fuji Media Holdings board of directors meeting on 30 Jan and the effects of the sponsor pullout and replacement with AC Japan's ads. Based on their investigation for the day of 31 Jan, 52 out of 942 ads shown during the 24 hour period were from companies, 140 ads were PR CMs for FujiTV's programmes, movies and events while the remaining of 750 were AC Japan ads. It is expected that FujiTV will lose at least JPY 23.3 billion in advertisement revenue. Production staff from external companies working with FujiTV were interviewed and said that they have to think of ways to lengthen the shows so as to cover for the reduced number of CMs and be extra careful with the use of words in things such as narrations while keeping a close eye on responses to the shows on social media.


- Gendai Business' report on 7 Feb 2025 revealed that more than 100 companies had pulled out their ads from FujiTV since 20 January based on internal documents it had obtained. These also included ads placed on BS FujiTV and FujiTV-related shows on TVer. A portion of the list was included in the report which included many major domestic and international companies.


- While many believe that FujiTV has the financial power to sustain itself for the time being despite what is happening, the same may not be possible for the production companies which rely on the TV station for work:
  • There is increasing worry from the production companies about how the programme budgets will be reduced further or they may end up having no work at all if the situation continues worsening.
  • There are no specific measures nor compensation plans communicated from FujiTV to these production companies other than repeated apologies for the inconvenience caused to them.
  • Some production companies have started reviewing the amount of manpower allocated to FujiTV programmes in view of the tough working conditions for the time being at least until the third party investigation committee's report is out. 
  • Some graduating students have also expressed concern about working in the TV industry now and asked the production companies about the current situation but there isn't much that they could share. As such, some students who received job offers have asked to cancel these even though it's already February. Typically, graduates join companies at the start of the financial year in April.
  • With regard to having their revenue cut by the TV station, the Free Trade Commission's freelancer protection law and FujiTV's guidelines for partnerships with production companies should prevent huge cuts in principle. However, if the programmes get terminated, it would result in the total loss of income.

- Criminal journalist and former police officer Ogawa Taihei did an interview with former Metropolitan Police Department detective Sato Makoto where they shared various points about potential investigations by the police with regard to Nakai's case:
  • While there is an existing settlement reached between Nakai and X-san, if this arrangement was forced upon the victim by anyone such as FujiTV executives, the settlement would not be valid legally. In such a situation, as long as the victim files a police report, the police can then begin investigations.
  • As such, it is important for the chain of events and whether there was consent and intimidation involved to be established during the third party investigations.
  • Things that should be done during the investigation include interviewing the parties involved and those related to them including the staff at the hospital where the victim had undergone treatment at. All communications records should be restored. Given the extent of information and effort required, they didn't think that FujiTV's investigation simply based on interviewing the parties involved would be sufficient in establishing the truth and that the police should get involved instead.
  • However, if the victim doesn't file a report, the police cannot initiate an investigation on its own initiative.

- Meanwhile, the third party investigation committee's investigation has begun:
  • A questionnaire from the committee was sent to FujiTV employees on 3 Feb 2025 via email.
  • Only employees of FujiTV and its parent company i.e. Fuji Media Holdings received the questionnaire.
  • The questionnaire's aim was stated as "to investigate the current problem and identify cases of a similar nature".
  • There was also a disclaimer stating that content provided in the questionnaire may be quoted in the findings report prepared by the committee but these responses will be reported anonymously.
  • There was a question asking if the employee was ever made to participate in any gathering with cast members, staff from talent agencies, production companies, sponsors, advertising firms etc. at the orders of executives and against their own will. 
  • There was also another question asking for the identity of the person who gave the orders in relation to the above question.
  • However, the questionnaire indicated that it may be difficult to investigate very old incidents so the answers should pertain to incidents that happened after April 2016.
  • There will be a second round of questionnaires to be sent out which will focus on investigating the corporate culture of FujiTV.
  • However, some have wondered why external production companies and freelancers who work with FujiTV were not included as the recipients of this questionnaire despite them being on the ground and should know the situation better than the TV station's employees especially those who are tasked with managing such external parties and do not get involved in the productions.
  • On 10 Feb 2025, the committee announced the set-up of a hotline for external parties to provide information. The collection of responses will be conducted from 10 to 24 Feb and those who were former employees of FujiTV and Fuji Media Holdings or have business dealings with both companies can make use of this hotline.

- Fuji Media Holdings announced on 5 Feb 2025 that it has set up a FujiTV Rebirth Team (tentative name) which is under the direct control of the president and made up of "next-generation employees" in their 20s to 40s who are expected to lead FujiTV into a new era. There will be 2 to 3 representatives from each department. This team will not be waiting for the findings from the third party investigation committee and instead formulate and implement its own improvement measures proactively. 


- Association of All Japan TV Program Production Companies (ATP) released its request letter addressed to FujiTV's new president via its official website on 5 Feb 2025:
  • It expressed the grave concerns from its member companies about the ongoing situation.
  • The impact of having to re-edit completed programmes, cancellations of location shooting arrangements etc. will not only affect the production companies but also spillover to those involved in the photography and editing processes.
  • Many ATP members are small-and-medium enterprises so any show or work cancellations can lead to them facing the prospect of immediate bankruptcy.
  • It called upon FujiTV to ensure fairness in dealing with and take reasonable steps to compensate the companies it works with as a result of these changes without resorting to blanket and drastic cuts to the budgets.

- Recent media reports have suggested a potential link between FujiTV's move to its new Odaiba HQ in 1997 and the increasing disconnect between its management and the ground especially the production side of its business. This is said to be a key factor leading to various things such as the coup led by Hieda Hisashi in 1992, the management's poor handling of the current crisis, inaccurate reading of the public sentiment and worsening performance especially in the last decade or so:
  • The HQ building was designed by the late Tange Kenzo and features two towers i.e. the office and the media towers. Total construction cost was about JPY 135 billion and the move was completed in 1997.
  • A key difference between the Odaiba HQ and the former HQ at Kawada-cho in Shinjuku was the office layout. Back then, in order to promote a sense of unity and boost collaboration across different departments, everyone worked together in an open-office concept. 
  • However, in Odaiba, departments were now segregated into different floors e.g. the programming side is on level 12 while the production side is on level 13. This then restricted communications between the departments and created silos within the organisation.
  • According to Nomura Shuya, a lawyer and professor at Chuo University Law School when he appeared on ABC TV's "Oshiete! News Life Seigi no Mikata" on 1 Feb 2025, the new Odaiba HQ building was used an excuse to facilitate efforts in ousting the founding Shikanai family. Back then, in order to dilute the shareholdings of the Shikanais, there was a need to issue more shares but this required a proper justification. As such, the plan to create a huge and new HQ building for the TV station was conceived. When Nippon Housou, the parent company of FujiTV back then, went public and issued more of its own shares, this led to the further weakening of the Shikanais' control of FujiTV and the subsequent monopolisation of power by Hieda.

- The Nakai incident has also indirectly renewed scrutiny and interest into how TV stations are making money through other businesses despite the reduced advertisement income and how media outlets from different sectors are closely intertwined with one another:
  • According to Dentsu's report of the Japanese advertising market in 2023, total advertisement income for that year was about JPY 7.31 trillion. Although this was higher than the previous year, TV commercials actually decreased by 3.7% to JPY 1.7 trillion. In contrast, Internet commercials jumped by 7.8% to JPY 2.6 trillion.
  • From Fuji Media Holdings' financial report for FY 24 (the year ended Mar 2024), while the media contents business accounted for 74.5% of its revenue, its contribution to the operating gains was less than half i.e. 43.4%. However, the city development and tourism business segment contributed the second highest revenue at 22.1% yet accounted for 54% of the operating gains.
  • Other TV stations also have their "sidelines" such as NTV's affiliation to Studio Ghibli to strengthen its media business, TBS's tie-up with Yaruki Switch Group which is in the education business and TV Asahi owning multi-purpose halls in Ariake and operating Tokyo Dream Park.
  • All of the TV stations also have links to various newspapers because their establishments were made possible after WWII through the expertise and experience of these news publishers. However, the principles of eliminating mass media concentration under the Broadcasting Act prevent the TV stations and newspapers from coming together to become one company. In order to get around this rule, news publishers typically become minority shareholders in TV stations and/or hold shares together with other local companies which are largely led by alumni from such newspapers.
  • As such, the current affiliation situation is: Yomiuri Shimbun - NTV, Asahi Shimbun - TV Asahi, Mainichi Shimbun - TBS, Sankei Shimbun - FujiTV and Nikkei Shimbun - TV Tokyo.
  • However, as newspapers face a more difficult situation than TV stations nowadays in terms of their operating environments, there is more resistance from the TV stations when alumni from the newspapers are transferred to TV stations to take up executive positions. Their influence on TV stations have also weakened due to developments such as Mainichi Shimbun's bankruptcy in the 70s and having to sell its TBS shares for the sake of making a comeback and Asahi Shimbun having to get TV Asahi to buy its shares due to heritance issues of its shareholders. As such, the tables have turned now and newspaper agencies are sometimes reduced to merely being the "news department" of the media company as seen in Sankei Shimbun's role in Fuji Media Holdings.
  • Nevertheless, as newspapers still command a huge influence and hold strong ties with the government and financial sectors, it is still essential for TV stations to provide support to these newspaper publishers since they need the broadcast rights from the government to operate.

- The Yokohama City Government requested for its name to be removed in the credits section of FujiTV's drama "119 Emergency Call" from Ep 3 onwards (shown on 3 Feb 2025). Up till then, the city government and Yokohama City Fire Department had been named in the credits for having provided support in the form of filming locations in the city, acting advice, lending equipment and premises for filming. Despite this development, it looks like the city will still continue with offering its support till the end. The decision to remove any mention of Yokohama City and its related organisations was first revealed on 28 Jan by the city mayor.
On 10 Feb, Oricon managed to secure confirmations from the Yokohama City Government and Yokohama City Fire Department that their support for this drama will remain until the end of its run although the decision to remove mentions of these organisations in the credits still stands.


- However, things may not look so good for the dramas in upcoming seasons:
  • While this has not been officially announced as yet, the Spring 2025 season is said to see a sequel of "Saigo kara nibanme no koi" starring Koizumi Kyoko for the first time in 10 years which is expected to be aired in the Mondays 9pm timeslot. As the story is set in Kamakura City and had gotten support from the city government back then including getting its employees to be extras during the filming, whether the same arrangement can continue for this sequel is questionable as local governments are more reluctant to be working with FujiTV now.
  • A reported collaboration with a major airline for the Summer 2025 timeslot is said to be facing difficulties and at risk of being cancelled. However, FujiTV refused to comment on this matter.
  • There are also rumours about Suda Masaki refusing to appear in a FujiTV drama (said to be a sequel of "Mystery to iu nakare") and Matsumoto Jun possibly rejecting his lead role in a Summer 2025 drama where he is reportedly playing a police officer. However, the authenticity of these news have not been confirmed as yet.

- Variety shows and anime are also not spared from the impact of increasing reluctance from companies and government bodies to work with FujiTV:
  • "Tousouchuu" which aired its pilot in 2004 and has become a regular fixture of FujiTV, is said to be facing difficulties in securing suitable places for the filming. This hide-and-seek style show features celebrities running away from "hunters dressed in black" within a designated time in order to win prize money and the setting of the game is usually in a large scale commercial facility like theme parks and shopping malls usually on the days when they are closed to the public. It used to be that the filming was done on the streets in places with a lot of human traffic such as Odaiba, Asakusa, Yokohama Chinatown and Ikebukuro. In the past three years, the show has been aired on a seasonal basis and won in the game show category of "Asia Television Awards" in 2009. It has since spawned other versions such as novels, movies and games and its remake rights sold to countries such as the US and China. However, the show also had its fair share of controversies such as the trouble it caused in March 2024 in Tokyo when a male resident found the entrance of his apartment building blocked by the filming crew without the residents' permission. After the resident posted about this on X, FujiTV and the production company's handling of the situation was viewed unfavourably and attracted a lot of criticism. As such, the current situation facing the show may also be partly due to the bad press it got in the past.
  • The variety specials in spring are also at risk of being cancelled. Last spring, FujiTV made more than 20 variety SPs and more than 25 for the autumn season. These numbers look set to drop drastically this year.
  • Popular anime series "Sazae-san" was left with no sponsors from 2 Feb onwards when the last sponsor i.e. baby-and-children goods maker Nishimatsuya stopped appearing in the credits list. It had announced its decision to pull off the ads on 28 Jan following FujiTV's second press conference on the previous day and its name as the sole remaining sponsor was last seen at the end of the anime broadcast on 26 Jan.
  • "FNS 27 Jikan Terebi" which is a regular variety SP during summer, looks unlikely to go ahead. According to Sponichi, although this year's main host is supposed to be members of a popular idol group, insiders revealed that some of the celebrities scheduled to appear have already been informed about the situation since the lack of sponsors has resulted in difficulty to secure funding for the large number of celebrities appearing in this show and multiple location shootings. This show is an annual event since 1987 and was cancelled once before in 2020 due to COVID-19 and replaced with "FNS Love & Music" in 2021 and 2022. It was resurrected in 2023 as a pet project of previous president Minato Koichi.
  • As reported by Sports Hochi on 5 Feb 2025, the February and March broadcasts of BS FujiTV's mini programme "Oishii kioku kikasete kudasai" sponsored by Kikkoman will be cancelled. Another programme sponsored by the same company on FujiTV i.e. "Kuishinbo Banzai!" also had its February broadcast cancelled. Kikkoman's ad placement on FujiTV will remain suspended until further notice as it reviews how the situation develops.

- US investment company Dalton Investments which holds more than 7% of Fuji Media Holdings, revealed its letter to the latter on 3 Feb 2025 where it pointed out faults with FujiTV's corporate governance, requested for the implementation of governance reforms to restore trust and called for Hieda's resignation. The investment company also demanded that Fuji Media Holdings should appoint external directors to form more than half of its board.


- The press conference for the April programming renewal has been cancelled as reported on 5 Feb 2025. The event scheduled on the first Monday of March was supposed to be attended by the media. It is expected that announcements of new programmes in spring will be made through individual press releases in time to come.


- FujiTV's vice chairman Endo Ryunosuke resigned from his post as the chairman of The Japan Commercial Broadcaster's Association as reported on 5 Feb 2025. He began serving as the chairman from Jun 2022 and was in the midst of his second term which would have ended in June 2026.


- Sushiro retracted its decision to take down Shofukutei Tsurube's CMs as reported on 6 Feb 2025 and apologised for its previous decision which it had taken based on "customer feedback" and news reports about his attendance at a barbecue in Nakai's house that was said to be the prelude to the incident. However, the backlash over their premature decision had caused inconvenience and unhappiness to Tsurube, his agency and the public so after negotiations with the related parties and internal discussions, a decision was made to resume the displaying of his ads.


- Bucking the trend of FujiTV's advertiser exodus is Kinliser, a gas-powered water heater producer, which updated its official X on 7 Feb 2025 to announce that it will resume placing ads on the scandal-plagued TV station. Upon seeing that there was a correction made to the media report (referring to Bunshun) and that it had spoken directly to FujiTV and understood that the current situation still has debatable points to be clarified, it decided that it will continue its relationship with FujiTV on account of its honest attitude and earnest handling of the issue. It hoped that the belief in FujiTV's future will help it to change for the better and move forward. While it acknowledged that there may be differing views about its decision, it wishes to look on favourably at FujiTV's journey going forward.
Responses to Kinliser's decision were mixed as expected. It subsequently put up an announcement on 10 Feb to address two key doubts and contention points raised by the public:
  • Its decision should not be interpreted as condoning sexual violence and assault. As the facts have not been made known, it did not think that there was reason to attack FujiTV and its employees based on speculation and hearsay. It had decided to go ahead with the CMs because it was convinced by the honest interactions with FujiTV's staff who are trying to face up to the issue and resolve it. As such, this is a decision with the future in mind.
  • It refuted allegations of having received entertainment favours from FujiTV and insisted that there was nothing fishy going on between both companies.

- Prior to Kinliser, Yume Group, a mail order company, had also voiced its support for FujiTV on 31 Jan by continuing to place ads with them. Surprisingly, while Kinliser got a lot of flak for its decision, Yume Group emerged from this relatively unscathed and actually got positive responses along with Takasu Clinic which also decided to stay put. As such, the same decision could be interpreted differently by the public which is why it's a difficult decision for companies to make.


- Another major project "Odaiba Boukenou" which was a pet project of former president Minato, also looks unlikely to proceed this year . Due to the popularity of the event which is held during the summer vacation, it attracts large crowds to the Odaiba area and had recorded total visitor numbers of about 2.5 million in 2024. With the potential cancellation, there is also a risk of nearby facilities being hit with low business. Especially since FujiTV is located in the Odaiba area which is essentially an "island" where you need to cross the Rainbow Bridge to get to, people are often reluctant to head there unless there is a major event or attraction. The area has also lost much of its shine due to the dwindling popularity of FujiTV itself as seen from the closure of facilities such as Venus Fort in 2022 and replaced by Immersive Fort Tokyo in March 2024 which is still struggling to attract visitors.


-  It was reported on 10 Feb 2025 that TV Asahi will be showing a new programme "Wide! Scramble" to replace the cancelled "Nakai Masahiro no douyoubi na kai" from April onwards. This show is the weekend edition of "Ooshita Yoko Wide! Scramble".


- A new crisis seems to be lurking in the background as "Bunshun Online" reported a past scandal involving FujiTV on 9 Feb 2025.
About 20 years ago, there was a late night variety show called "Taikutsu Kizoku". In a Jan 2004 broadcast, a man was shown walking on cardboxes drenched in kerosene which were then set on fire at a riverbank. However, during the shooting, the man had only walked about 10 steps due to the extreme pain and then stepped away from the fire. Despite the severe burns he suffered, staff members did not send the man to the hospital for treatment and instead sent him home via a taxi. The man who was 74 years old at that time, later passed away even after undergoing multiple surgeries. It was found that his burn injuries to his feet and thighs caused renal failure in the end.
The problem was how FujiTV dealt with the aftermath. After the footage was aired, there were complaints from viewers which then led to former president Minato and the programme's producer to visit the deceased man's brother and sister-in-law to apologise for the inadequate measures taken after the filming. However, the incident was never revealed to the public and those responsible for the programme were not punished in any way. In fact, Minato himself was promoted 6 months after this incident.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Preview of "Anpan" - NHK 2025 morning drama


Title: Anpan / あんぱん
Official website: here
Official Instagram: here
Official X: here
O.A. Start Date: 31 March 2025
Timeslot: Mondays to Saturdays at 8am
Broadcast by: NHK
Theme Song: "Tamamono" by RADWIMPS
Cast: Imada Mio, Kitamura Takumi, Kase Ryo, Eguchi Noriko, Kawai Yumi, Hara Nanoka, Yoshida Kotaro, Asada Miyoko, Hosoda Kanata, Abe Sadao, Matsushima Nanako, Ninomiya Kazunari, Nakazawa Motoki, Himari Hitomi, Toda Naho, Takenouchi Yutaka, Takahashi Fumiya, Shida Sara, Sonin, Takiuchi Kumi, Yamadera Koichi etc. (in order of announcement)

Monday, February 10, 2025

Quick Review #99: Kishibe Rohan wa ugokanai Seasons 1 & 2 - Autumn 2020 & 2021


Title: Kishibe Rohan wa ugokanai Seasons 1 & 2 / 岸辺露伴は動かない

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for
Those who like suspense stories with a supernatural and/or horror vibe but don't mind the lack of conclusions OR are fans of Takahashi Issei & Iitoyo Marie (or just want to look for signs of their developing romance over the years)

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.
* I did not watch Seasons 3 and 4.
* All 4 seasons are available on Amazon Prime Video (availability subject to geographical location)

Liked:
- While each season featured only 2 to 3 episodes, it appeared that there was no effort spared in the production as seen from the main set i.e. Kishibe Rohan's house and the outdoor shoots in some places which were very nice to look at but obviously remote and difficult to get to. Even the costume design for Rohan and Izumi Kyoka were noticeably very different from the other characters who were wearing pretty "normal" clothes. As such, this aspect of the drama does warrant special mention and commendation.

- For those who like suspense stories with a supernatural or horror vibe, there were two episodes in particular which I thought were really well-done and created a lingering creepy aftertaste i.e. "Kushagara" (Ep 2 in Season 1) and "The Run" (Ep 1 in Season 2). In particular, Kasamatsu Sho nailed his character so brilliantly that he easily stood out among the guest stars in both seasons.

Disliked: 
- I headed into this without knowledge of the original material nor was aware of the fact that there were some horror and supernatural elements in the stories. As such, I was surprised when I watched this and actually had the intention of dropping it as soon as I was "spooked" by the Kushagara episode. "The Run" further cemented my belief that I didn't want to continue with this drama any longer.
While the production quality was indeed good, this decision was just a matter of my personal preference since I no longer have the stomach for horror (I used to like the "Ring" series and would watch it in the middle of the night in my teens) and I also didn't like the lack of "conclusions" for suspense stories. Unlike a straightforward horror story where the supernatural being jumps right in front of you, a lot of the horror here actually is insinuated, implied and for the viewer to imagine which I personally feel does linger in your mind longer. Granted that these cases are largely related to supernatural phenomenon, having answers is also not a given so if you can accept this and form your own conclusions without being given an official answer, you should be fine with this.

- Among the episodes I watched in both seasons, the two episodes I highlighted above were the ones which I felt really satisfied with, albeit also the scariest. The others were comparatively bland and I was especially bored with the finale in Episode 1. I thought that there might be something more interesting about Nakamura Tomoya's character but it was so underwhelming and predictable. Likewise, Uchida Rio's story was somewhat been-there-done-that so it didn't invoke that much fear or offer anything particularly new. As such, this was also why I took a long time to get through just two seasons and had no desire to continue.

- This isn't really a bad point but I guess if you are in this to look for traces of Takahashi and Iitoyo's romance which led to their marriage in real life, the first two seasons might not offer much to satisfy you. While it did come across that their chemistry and collaboration seemed a bit smoother in Season 2, I guess their characters not being romantically linked in these two seasons meant that you won't be able to find the elusive romantic signs both onscreen and offscreen. Perhaps the subsequent seasons and movie might be a better bet.

Sunday, February 09, 2025

Quick Review #98: Umimachi diary (movie)


Title: Umimachi diary / 海街 diary

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for
Those who are interested in family stories played out at a leisurely pace with a relaxing vibe in Kamakura and the Shonan area and/or are fans of the cast especially the actresses who played the sisters

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

Liked:
- The movie progressed at a leisurely pace with a relaxed vibe and was quite mellow and subdued even when depicting conflicts and emotional scenes. As such, it was a relatively stress-free experience watching this.

- The cast lineup would be considered very impressive not just back then i.e. 10 years ago but even more so now. Not only were the four sisters played by leading actresses Ayase Haruka, Nagasawa Masami, Kaho and Hirose Suzu (pretty new at that time), the supporting cast also featured Ootake Shinobu, Tsutsumi Shinichi, Suzuki Ryohei, Fubuki Jun, Lily Franky, Kiki Kirin, Sakaguchi Kentaro and Kase Ryo of which some have become bigger names now. It would be hard to replicate such a lineup today especially since Kiki had already passed away.
While the tone of the story was relatively calm in its portrayal of the underlying emotions, I thought that Ayase, Nagasawa and Hirose really stood out and made their characters come to life amid the "peacefulness".

- The story being set in one of my favourite places in Japan i.e. Kamakura and the Shonan area was a big plus in enhancing my enjoyment experienced while watching the movie.

Disliked: 
- You probably need to be in a certain mood and mindset to enjoy this. While the mellowness of the movie worked well in making this less dramatic and easier to digest, the downside was that it might be a bit underwhelming and lacking in excitement for some viewers. There were indeed a few scenes which I thought could be wrapped up faster rather than linger on and on.

- Given that the original material spanned a number of volumes, I assumed that the movie had to be quite selective on what to include so there were some parts and characters who I felt were somewhat incomplete and would like to see more of and find out more about. In particular, I thought that Kaho's character Chika didn't get enough scenes unlike her other sisters so it felt as if she became an afterthought and faded into the background. That was a pity though because Kaho is a capable actress and Chika's story should be more interesting than what the movie depicted.

Saturday, February 08, 2025

Preview of "Hana Noren" (Drama SP)


Title: Hana Noren / 花のれん
Official website: here
Official Instagram: here
Official X: here
O.A. Start Date: 8 March 2025 at 9pm
Broadcast by: TV Asahi
Original novel by: Yamasaki Toyoko
Narrator: Ooshita Yoriko
Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Ito Hideaki, Kamikawa Takaya, Komoto Masahiro, Bandou Ryouta, Izumi Pinko, Tamayama Tetsuji, Babazono Azusa, Shibuya Nagisa, Sasano Takashi, Fukikoshi Mitsuru, Kanayama Kazuhiko, Tsukitei Housei, Milk Boy & Honda Chikara

Friday, February 07, 2025

Updates and new information from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 7 Feb 2025


- While "Shuukan Bunshun" is also under criticism for its correction and timing of this announcement to its original article about A-san's involvement in the Nakai incident, some FujiTV insiders have also expressed dismay and disbelief at seeing how some people in the TV station interpret this as "vindication" and are on the offensive to attack the tabloid. However, the correction was not a total reversal of the facts reported so far. Unless FujiTV is cleared of the suspicion of having infringed on human rights and violated compliance and governance rules, the current fire raging in its backyard is unlikely to be put out anytime soon.

- Given FujiTV's history of not doing proper internal investigations or not even setting up a third party investigation committee, whether it will do what it promised this time for the Nakai incident is still viewed with sceptism:
  • In 1999, a cast member of its variety show "Aisuru futari wakareru futari" committed suicide. This led to the discovery that the programme was faked when the police investigated the case. The show initially started off as featuring ordinary couples who had to decide whether to continue with their marriages or get divorced due to issues like infidelity but gradually became one that featured the couples largely headed for the divorce path since this provided more compelling narratives for TV and attracted higher ratings. Since the show started, it had been flooded with comments that the content seemed faked and some programming department employees had even written complaints about it to the management. However, Ohta Tooru, the then-assistant director of the department still decided to continue with the programme that was made by an external company Japan Produce. When the suicide of the female cast member came to light, it was found in her suicide note that the woman was in fact not married to the guy she was featured together with in the show. The programme ended when sponsors threatened to end their collaboration with FujiTV and due to internal feedback that the show had too many issues for it to continue. After the show ended, the production company denied that it had deliberately created fake content and that it had believed that those who appeared in the show were indeed married couples.
  • It did not set up a third party investigation committee despite the public outcry when a cast member of "Terrace House" committed suicide in 2020 due to skewed editing that portrayed her in a negative light and subjected her to online bullying.
- FujiTV's OB-kai i.e. alumni gathering for former employees, an important event for the year, has been cancelled. The chairman of the alumni association is a former president of FujiTV. It has been said that only those close to the advisor Hieda Hisashi can take up this post and those who had opposed Hieda were not even allowed to join the association. It is not known why the event was cancelled this year.

- Former FujiTV commentator Abe Hiroyuki and FujiTV insiders commented on the Hieda management structure and its impact on the TV station over the years:
  • FujiTV's ratings and sales are the lowest among the key stations (excluding TV Tokyo) and its bonus is said to be even lower than TV Tokyo's. *Note that some media reports claim that base salaries are comparatively higher though.
  • Hieda holds the right to decide on key personnel appointments. The newly appointed president Shimizu Kenji is the 8th person in this post since Hieda left in 2001. All of the presidents were appointed by Hieda.
  • Since Hieda became FujiTV's president in 1988, he has also been the one to decide on positions at director-level and above for the past 36 years.
  • Due to Hieda holding actual power rather than the president, the environment within the FujiTV has evolved to become that of pandering to Hieda's preferences and going along with his opinions.
  • Those who held different views from Hieda were forced out of the organisation. For example, there was S-san who used to be the programming director and seen as a potential president candidate and he had pushed strongly for other media delivery forms such as CS broadcasting. However, Hieda objected to it because he didn't think that there was a future in CS broadcasting nor online/on-demand video viewing. As such, FujiTV was noticeably late to the game when its competitors NTV and TBS already made inroads into this market with Hulu and U-NEXT. In a constantly evolving TV industry, new views and different perspectives are essential to stay ahead of the competition but deviating from Hieda's preferences is said to be a big no-no in FujiTV.
  • Hieda is widely viewed to be unlikely to step away from FujiTV voluntarily for two reasons. First of all, the government cannot interfere in the personnel matters of media reporting outlets and can only "recommend" certain actions. Secondly, Hieda has strong connections and influence in the political arena. 
  • However, pressure from major shareholders might be the key to resolve this situation. As it is, US investment management firm Dalton Investments has already expressed its displeasure about the Hieda management structure since late last year when the scandal first broke. It owns about 7% of FujiTV's parent company i.e. Fuji Media Holdings. 
  • Bunka Housou which owns 3%, may be part of the Sankei Group but is seen as pursuing its own independent path and its president had openly called for swift investigations into FujiTV. Toho which owns 8% and NTT DoCoMo which owns 3%, are also unlikely to sit around and see further damage to its shareholder value if the scandal goes on for a long time.
- Yoshino Yoshitaka, a former FujiTV news producer, director and journalist and currently professor at Chikushi Jogakuen University, wrote a book about the decline of his former employer in a 2016 book. He had the following observations and comments about the TV station's various issues in the past:
  • Many employees have been putting in effort to identify problem areas and come up with measures to resolve them over the years. As such, it is not true that they have not been doing their best but the reality is, things are simply not looking up for the TV station as seen from the hardly improving ratings and financial performance.
  • FujiTV's corporate culture emphasizes a lot on the family atmosphere especially when the cast and staff members buily a strong comradeship bond over the long years that they worked together. For example, some staff members had worked with SMAP way back from 1992 when their first variety show on FujiTV aired in the late night slot until it went through a few renewals and got upgraded to become the primetime ratings hit "SMAPxSMAP" in 1996 before it ended its run in 2016.
  • However, this emphasis on the family atmosphere has also attracted cynicism and criticism such as the unusual move of allowing parents to attend the joining ceremony for new hires. As celebrities, the rich and the famous were often spotted in the audience, this led to suspicion over their offspring getting jobs in FujiTV through their parents' or family's connections. Celebrities who appeared in FujiTV's shows regularly were also invited to be surprise guests. When footage of such events were shown on TV, it attracted complaints from viewers about the abuse of public broadcasting to showcase and emphasize the so-called family bonds and working environment in the TV station.
  • When FujiTV was attacked for being pro-Korea content and anti-Japan back in 2011 for its significantly higher proportion of Korean shows in its lineup, there were protests that happened outside its Odaiba headquarters on top of the criticism in the media and online. Despite so, the management back then did not take this seriously so didn't bother to address these complaints. 
  • To begin with, Korean dramas were relatively cheaper to purchase at that time as compared to producing Japanese dramas from scratch and they also got pretty high ratings. As such, this was a profitable area for FujiTV which they could not let go off easily. The problem was that, the management misread this crisis as something limited to the online domain, it would not spill over to the offline world and thought that addressing the complaints inadequately would just fuel the fire so keeping quiet was preferred. Besides, it thought that this was a business decision after all and that the public should not have a say in influencing their management while overlooking the fact that the TV station had a public and social responsibility with regard to fairness and balance. Moreover, the "happy mood" that still went on in FujiTV's shows despite the stormy external environment showed a clear disconnect with reality and was said to be a key factor that fanned the flames leading to the protests in Odaiba.
  • One reason why there were a number of preconceptions and misunderstandings formed about FujiTV with regard to this Korean content saga was how it promoted shows. When it was the PR run for FujiTV's dramas and movies, the leading cast members would appear in various programmes from morning to night. That same method was applied to Korean content thus it further cemented the impression that FujiTV was trying too hard to promote these shows. As a result, it earned FujiTV the label of being a pro-Korean and anti-Japanese TV station and even led to unfounded rumours such as there was a high number of Korean employees working there so there was a push for Korean content. Such untruths when repeated constantly gradually became seemingly-true opinions and misconceptions about FujiTV which are hard to remove.
  • In this time and age though, that same approach of ignoring what happens online is not going to work. Besides, by adopting a perspective that looks down on opinions from netizens and the general public is likely to attract worse criticism for FujiTV. While there were indeed valid grounds for FujiTV to be criticised for its lopsided programming, how it handled the situation was probably what led to the situation getting out of hand.
- The FujiTV coup as told by the then-chief editor Kimata Seigo (currently guest professor at Osaka Christian College and chief researcher at OCC Education Tech) who was also involved in it and how he felt about the FujiTV of today:
  • Up till the early 1990s, FujiTV was controlled by the founding Shikanai family for three generations. However, the side effects of this one-man management system were starting to show.
  • In order to break this vicious cycle, Hieda who was the president then planned the coup primarily with Hazama Shigeaki who was the president of Sankei Shimbun.
  • The coup group was made up of people who worried about the future of FujiTV and the harm brought about by the authoritarian management.
  • "Shuukan Bunshun" was roped in to help in publishing a series of damning reports against third-generation leader Shikanai Hiroaki, thanks to leaked secrets from contacts within the TV station.
  • On the eve of the coup i.e. before the board of directors' meeting, the group gathered in a hotel room where "Bunshun" reporters were also at. 
  • As soon as the coup ended, what went on at that final gathering, who was in the coup group and the process leading to the coup was published in "Bunshun" 2 days later. That was considered very fast in that era where there was no electronic version of printed publications. Thanks to the insider information and the speed at which the report was published, "Bunshun" won hands down over the other media outlets for this coverage.
  • Even after the coup, the members got together regularly for a while due to their common affection for FujiTV. As such, he felt frustrated that the very company which they were so fond of back then had evolved to become like this and wondered those who were part of the coup had already forgot their initial intention of doing things in its best interests. 
  • In the 2 decades following the coup, FujiTV was able to claim that as the golden period of the TV station and was even the top TV station among the 5 key networks to boast of No.1 ratings for 7 years in a row (2004 to 2010). However, it has now become the "forever No.4" among the 5 with NTV even hogging the top spot for 5 straight years in the past decade or so.
  • He felt that the current situation was due to Hieda being even more authoritarian than the Shikanai family, putting only yes-men in the management and maintaining a Showa-era corporate culture till today.
  • FujiTV was mockingly known as a TV station which placed a lot of emphasis on its female announcers thanks to the annual New Year parade in the HQ building led by Hieda since it moved to Odaiba in 1997 and choosing at least one female announcer per year as in the new hire exercise based on his preferences.
  • The number of people who were hired through connections is also one factor that led to the stiff corporate culture which frowned on change and diversity. Examples quoted in the article include Fujishima Julie Keiko, the daughter of Mary Kitagawa and niece of Johnny Kitagawa who used to work in the directors' secretarial office and Kishi Nobuchiyo who was the late prime minister Abe Shinzo's nephew and son of former defence minister Kishi Nobuo. Besides the offspring and relatives of celebrities, politicians, sponsors and advertising companies, even those who were related to major publishers and tabloids which would write bad things about FujiTV were also hired. While not all these people could be proven to have been hired based on connections, it was true that hiring decisions were indeed influenced by the senior management.
  • Usually, when ratings are low, the morale would go down as well in TV stations. However, under the Hieda system, it didn't really affect the employees because there was a lot of revenue outside the TV business, its fundamentals were strong and the salaries were higher compared to the competition. For example, the average annual salary of a FujiTV employee was JPY 16.21 million compared to NTV's JPY 12.96 million even though the latter has higher ratings. With this kind of difference, even if the job is unfulfilling, the employees would be content to remain with this company and not bother joining the union.
  • On the other hand, since salaries could not be reduced, money had to be saved through cutting of production budgets. Even if the programmes were no longer as popular, they were still maintained for a long time. This was precisely the situation since 2010. People who didn't go along with Hieda were transferred to subsidiaries while only those who agreed with him got promoted. To make things worse, those who tasted success in the past insisted on doing the same types of shows thus leading to a high repetition of similar content over the years. For example, although the Monday 9pm timeslot used to boast of various "trendy dramas" especially love stories, younger viewers were no longer so keen on this genre since 2010. Even so, the proportion of love stories in this timeslot still remains high to this day.
  • Due to FujiTV's strong ties with Yoshimoto Kogyo, some of its shows like "Waratte Iitomo" and "Oretachi hyoukinzoku" had become testing grounds for unknown and new comedians and dragged down the overall quality of the programmes.
  • One of those in the coup group who is still an executive in FujiTV and a friend of Kimata revealed that even though Hieda had been persuaded to step down many times in the past, he always insisted that the group would collapse if he leaves. The irony was that, he was the one who led the coup in the 90s but he also became the one to eradicate those who could rise against him now.
  • Kimata revealed that he left "Bungei Shunju" as a managing director when the then-president had a love child with an employee and tried to become the chairman of the group. He didn't think that the company would survive under such management and left when his advice fell on deaf years. At that time, FujiTV executives held a farewell party for him and he still remembered what they said to him: "Even though you could have become the president, you gave that up to thwart the current president's rise to become the chairman and this was so gratifying to see. However, we don't have that kind of courage so we can only continue to leech onto the company for survival."
  • Kimata expressed understanding at the FujiTV's directors' dilemma then because the difference in salaries between Bunshun and them was very big and choosing to stay for the sake of themselves and their families was natural. However, FujiTV is one of the few companies which has broadcast rights awarded by the country and needs to be impartial in its reporting and transparent in its operations.
  • As for the blunder by "Shuukan Bunshun" about A-san and the seemingly played-down correction subsequently, Kimata felt that it should have been done properly and a formal apology should be issued. There was also a need to examine how the error could have arisen.