Mop Girl モップガール – Release Oct 07

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

Hasegawa Momoko (Kitagawa Keiko) 北川景子was transferred to a special cleaning department due to the trouble that she causes in her job. She is a hard working employee but is a bit clumsy around things. The special cleaning department that she was transferred to is actually a small department that handles funeral ceremony, dead body and cleaning up blood pool of death crime scene. During her first day work in the new department, the special ability that hidden inside her was awaken. She was able to travel back in time when she came in contact with the evidence or corpse left by the dead people. This enables her to change the future that she knows and save the people around her.

Feelings and Comments:

This drama includes time traveling and crime solving into one. I can see that Kitagawa Keiko 北川景子 works very hard on her plot. You can say that she is treated like a little girl instead of a woman. Each episode has a unique story line that Momoko has to go back in time to save a person. The intro of this drama is quite interesting and attractive but the story line after that is not so impressive. You might get bored once you get to episode 4~5.

Things that caught my eyes:

The long hair of Kitagawa Keiko 北川景子 sure is beautiful. I think it must be hard to act with your long hair. Also Ohtomo Shotaro (Tanihara Shosuke) 谷原章介 gets a different foreign girl friend from Chinese, Italian, French, Russia and other countriesin each episode.

Japan Drama Rating:

Nice to watch. It’s nice to watch Kitagawa Keiko 北川景子 in this drama.

Purchase:
Not available yet.

Japan Drama Preview:

Dragon Zakura ドラゴン桜 – Release July 05

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
A lawyer Sakuragi Kenji (Abe Hiroshi) 阿部寛 takes up a case to help a private high school from bankruptcy. In order to do that he must first regain the reputation of the school by getting 5 students pass the entry exam of top university Japan– Tokyo University (Todai). He then set up a special class aiming to prepare the entry exam. With the help of the school director and the teacher Ino Mamako (Hasegawa Kyoko) 長谷川京子, he then found 6 students willing to take on the challenge. The lawyer not just work on the students, he also reeducates the whole faculty about the true meaning of becoming an educator. He also met up with the parents of his student to have them support their children to reaching their goals. If Sakuragi Kenji able to get the students into Tokyo University then the school will be famous and parents will send their children to study here. Thus the school will be free from bankruptcy and the lawyer will become famous. That is the main reason that Sakuragi Kenji takes this case.

Feelings and Comments:
The drama has a very strong cast that act as the students. Yajima Yuusuke (Yamashita Tomohisa)山下智久, Mizuno Naomi (Nagasawa Masami) 長澤まさみ, Ogata Hideki (Koike Teppei)小池徹平, Kosaka Yoshino (Aragaki Yui)新垣結衣, Okuno Ichiro (Nakao Akiyoshi)中尾明慶 and Kobayashi Maki (Saeko)サエコare very familiar around Japanese drama. Having to watch all of them acting together in a drama is enough to make me continue watching non-stop.

Education is business. If the school able to prepare their students to enter top university, then the school will get many students and this earns money. Thus we have schools that preparing for exams and schools that for learning. Given the fact that getting a degree from university is a basic ticket to get a better job and have a better life, many students don’t have a choice but to follow the trend of the society. Most of the time students are unable to see that. How many of us really understand that when we graduated from a famous university will help us get a better life? I only know that I reached there just because I’m interested in the subjects. That’s all.

Going through exams in school makes you become a better person. It prepared yourself to overcome the problems that you’ll face after entering the society. There is not much difference between trying to complete a task given by your boss and an exam given by the school. You learned to handle it, solve it, accept it and prepare for it. In the exams, results matter and not the effort that you put into it. That’s goes the same when you’re working or doing business, results is what your boss or customers look for.

Things that caught my eyes:
Lots of study strategy can be found. I think most of it makes sense and are true. You may try it out and see if the strategy works for you.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching it. You’ll never know study is that interesting until you watch this drama.

Purchase:
TV series

Japan Drama Preview:

My Boss, My Hero マイ★ボス マイ★ヒーロー – Release July 06

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

One of the sons Sakaki Makio (Nagase Tomoya) 長瀬智也 of mafia boss was force to go back to school and graduate in order to inherit his father’s position as the new boss of the mafia group. Sakaki Makio is 27 years old and has to pose as 17 years old. He is very tough when comes to fighting but very dumb in knowledge because he never likes school. His father forces him to graduate from high school to be eligible as the boss of the mafia group. Sakaki Makio was then secretly admitted to a high school where only the principal knows his true identity. He needs to study, get along with the classmates and keep his identity secret for a year in order to graduate. For the first time in his life, this is his toughest and greatest challenge of all.

Feelings and Comments:

This is a very funny school comedy where the main topic is how an uneducated adult mafia survived school. Nagase Tomoya is not bad at all in making this comedy a successful one. Having to see his face through out the drama is enough to make you laugh.

This drama also shows that education is very important even to the mafia. School is a simulation of the society for the youngsters to learn, interact, organize, lead and makes mistakes before truly entering the competitive world. Like Sakaki Makio, many of the students already have a responsibility of preparing themselves to inherit their family business. That’s a very heavy burden only those involved can understand.

Despite that, I think the most enjoyable time of our life is school time. That is the only time for being stupid, no worries and dream wild.

Things that caught my eyes:

The pudding looks delicious.

Japan Drama Rating:

Fun to watch. Good for a laugh, lots of crazy jokes from the main character.

Purchase:
TV series

Japan Drama Preview:

Yasashii Jikan 優しい時間 – Release Jan 05

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

This drama is a simple story about the relationship between a father Wakui Yukichi (Terao Akiraand) 寺尾聰 and the son Wakui Takuro (Ninomiya Kazunari) 二宮和也 after the death of the mother Wakui Megumi (Ootake Shinobu) 大竹しのぶ during a car accident. The accident happen when Wakui Takuro was driving and his mother sitting beside him. Wakui Yukichi was in New York when the accident happened. The father blames the son for causing the death of his mother and decided not to see his son again. The father Wakui Yukichi then quit his job and moves to Megumi's hometown Furano, Hokkaido. He opened a coffee house named "森の時計" meaning the forest clock. His son Wakui Takuro moves to Hokkaido as well. Feeling guilty and without his father knowing, he stays in a town name Biei close to Furano. There he works and study as a student of a pottery maker. Both father and son did not spoke or see each other. Things started to change when the lovely Minagawa Azusa (Nagasawa Masami) 長澤まさみ the employee of “the Forest Clock” coffee house met Wakui Takuro.

Feeling and Comments:

Having a hot cup of coffee and enjoying the white scenery during winter is just great. Able to open up such a coffee house just like the drama after retirement is one of the best things to do. The story line of this drama is pretty simple and straight forward. The main focus of this drama is to bring out the feelings of the father, the son and some other characters. Every customer that comes to the coffee house has a story to tell. We often assume that we understand the people around us, and that we know what people are thinking. That is just too simple minded. Every word we said and every action we take affected people around us. Sometimes we might just give out wrong signal or sign to others that we absolute have no intention of what so ever. Thus to avoid misunderstanding we must take times to sit down to talk and listen carefully. A few hours of conversation can prevent few years of misunderstanding. Those years are worth lot more then the few hours talk. But then who knows what we might get at the end. Learning to understand each other is a life time process. Even for people that are very close to each other, there is no excuse.

Things that caught my eyes:

The coffee house, the white snow, the yellow leaves of autumn and the hand grind coffee creates a very beautiful scene. The background music creates a very worm and peaceful environment that fits perfectly to the drama.

Japan Drama Rating:

Worth watching it. The scene, the music and the touching story are very satisfactory.

Purchase:
TV series

Japan Drama Preview: