Introduction to Japanese drama

by **matsumoto** Sun Oct 31, 2010 11:11 pm

I'm Niamo Nakashi, a boy, not a girl, as many people think from the name. Of course, this is only my "online name". I don't feel comfortable with my real name hanging around on the internet, so its just a personal thing. I live in Hong Kong, and not in Japan. My name actually sprung from my interest towards Japan, which started from a Japanesedrama, Love 2000.

Love 2000 actually came tome as an accident. I was unable to sleep one night, so I went into the living

room to watch a little TV. The usual channels were showing commercials, so I stopped at an English channel. (I usually watch the Chinese one) As you would have guessed, the theme song of Love 2000 was playing. Something about that drama had me hooked from the next two months. I either stayed up late or taped the drama every weekend.

At first, it was only the drama which was attracting to me. Then, Miho's acting skills got me wondering. This curiosity led me to typing Miho Nakayama into major search engines. However, the data found on her was small. Even if there were some, they were in Japanese. Therefore, I set out to create my own, with no knowledge of HTML at all. The final result? Not great, but I'm still learning!

Japanese dramas reflect a lot about the Japanese's way of work. As most people know, everything in Japan is prefect. If a train is said to arrive at 8:00, you can be sure it will be there at 8:00. The Japanese are determined to making the most out of what they do. Even if a person took cutting beef as his job, he will probably spend most of his life researching how to cut the thinnest piece of beef possible. Some people say this is over doing it. Personally, I feel this is the thing which allows them to be so successful. The dramas watched by the Japanese people, therefore, are expected to have the most out of the actors, directors, scriptwriters, and everybody else. Full emotional skills are put into a character to implant the character into its viewer's heart. There is a certain closeness to the character, as if he or she is your friend, your rival, or your family. Only by doing this, can a person feel the actual situation of the character.

The casting is important to a Japanese drama, just like all dramas around the world. However, I think as long as the actor can act and fit the character well, then the drama is successful. It might not have high ratings, but everybody who watched it will be touched by this actor, who fitted in so well. It doesn't make much sense, but think about it this way. If somebody popular like Kimura was chosen to play the role which Takeshi played in Love 2000, the ratings might have been higher. However, would the view actually feel the right atmosphere? I don't agree that shows should be rated by their ratings. Its what the audience gets from it which really counts.

The careful planning of a Japanese drama is what seperates it from other dramas around the world. For example, the position of a chair in a living room will not be set in a position so it looks like its never been sat on. Instead, it will look like its placed in such a way so people have actually been using it. This attention paid to detail sets Japanese dramas apart from dramas world wide. Only rarely will you see sets setted up in the filming studio of Japanese dramas. If the story takes place in a house in Tokyo, then the Television studio will actually rent a house, unlile the stations here, which just sets up a place in their recording studio. (sorry, but its the truth...I'm not saying Hong Kong dramas are bad though!)

I cannot answer the question of rather Japanese dramas describe the characteristics of Japanese, as I am not a Japanese. Only the Japanese will know turely about this question. However, from a forgeiner's point of view, I would say it does. The behaviour of the characters do show us what life in Japan is like.

Japanese dramas are sold to television companies who are willing to buy them. For example, here in Hong Kong, the television companies TVB and ATV do buy series from Japan. These dramas don't rate high, but they do catch the attention of teens and youths. Recently, even older people have took an interest in these dramas, due to their air time on saturdays. Japanese dramas are no longer a "young" thing. Its spread across the family in Hong Kong.

Even if your local television station doesn't buy these dramas, most video rental places have started purchasing and renting these dramas, as there is a special aspect of them which other drama series around the world cannot offer. Most of them have English subtitles added to them, so more and more people are being introduced to Japanese dramas, especially some of the classics, like Beautiful Life, Tokoyo Love Story, and Love Vacation.

My personal favorite drama is Love 2000. I like Miho because of Love 2000, not I like Love 2000 because of Miho. Don't get that mixed up. =) I can't really say why I like this drama so much. Everyone I know seems to hate it. "Boring plot" "Slow" However, Love 2000 had me more addicted then Long Vacation, which I dropped out halfway. Sorry Kimura. Other favorites are "Great Teacher Onizuka", "Food

Fight", by Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, a member of SMAP, and "She is a News Maker". I can't remember who the last drama was filmed by. I know her Chinese name, but I can't remeber her English name. Anyhow, she is now married and has dropped out of the entertainment business. The drama was a classic though. It talked about the life of a news anchor and her achieving her dream. This drama made you laugh, it made you sad. (it made my eyes water) It was, however, great.

Another great drama is Food Fight. This drama was rather unrealistic, as it talked about people having eating competitions to see who can eat most. (however, the Japanese do have TV shows with competitions like this!) This drama, though, had nice music to back it up, such as its theme song, Lion Heart, sang by SMAP. It also has a nice moral behind it, and the characters are so touching. What I learnt? "Give without asking for anything in return"

I currently have three websites. One for Miho, one I did for my friend, and a third one linking all of these together. Before these, there was one more, which I built completely using the "instant webpage building tools" offered by some Webhosting company. Now, I have learnt quite some more about HTML, as my newest website, niamo.net (http://niamo.hk.st) is built completely out of my knowledge of HTML. Web designing, however, will never make me rich. I know this, as I can see my skills are not in this particular field. It will only be able to kill some spare time. However, web designing has made me many new friends from around the world, from Finland to Bosnia to Taiwan to Indonesia to Japan. I am proud to have these people have my friends. What more can I say?

I remember, from Love 2000, a quote said by Miho. She thought and saw the internet differently from everyone else. Where as everyone thinks the world is getting smaller, she saw the internet as something which is making the world larger. The relationships between people are growing further apart. We spend most of our time staring at cold, lifeless machines. In a way, this is true. The internet is forcing the gap between relationships to widen.