NHK and the Morning Drama

So in order to explain my horrible morning today, this rainy Friday, I first have to explain the Japanese's morning drama. In Japan, there is a morning drama that plays all year long, 6 days a week, at 8:00 A.M., for 15 minutes. (A point to note, TV in the Kansai area is different than the Kanto prefecture/Tokyo area and others, and television differs in each region. The common thread is a few stations, one of which is NHK, the Japanese national channel. It shows everything from news to documentaries etc. ) The mrning drama is shown on NHK after the morning news. Up until now I have only watched the news, but since the new year started in Japan (new year such as September back to school etc. etc. is April in Japan) the new drama has begun.

The new drama named, "Gegege's Wife" is the story of the real author's wife, and it's her story growing up. It started out when she was 9 or 10 or something and it's going to show her progression through her life, growing up, learning new things, her first love, etc. I predict that it will be immensely popular. And here's my reasoning: 1. It is set pre/during war and gives the ageing Japanese population a nostalgic feeling of the past, of good times, their childhood. 2. The main character is the epitome of the perfect girl in Japan. She's gentle, sweet, kind, everything that Japanese school systems try to mold young girls into. This creates a feeling of attachment and admiration for her character already instilling an emotional link to the story. 3. I can tell because the trains are virtually empty on my line while the show is in progress and there is a mass exodus towards the train station as soon as the show is over.

This brings me to my horrible morning. I watched the drama today, mostly because I like the theme song it uses simple Japanese so I can understand most of it, and because I watch TV while I eat my breakfast anyway. Fridays I have my first class at 9:00 A.M. and we have a chapter test every friday. I left for the train this morning after the show was over and found myself in a sea of people walking to the train station. I was packed soooon tighly against people on the train today that a seemingly cool day turned really hot from body heat! Because of the increase in passengers the trains were a bit offtime and the busses were late and slow. I ALMOST MISSED MY TEST!! Rawr! That was my bad morning. And even though you don't know how I feel, believe me when I say, I... HATE.... CROWDED... PLACES.