Recently I have been watching some Japanese drama shows. Netflix uploaded a bunch of hit dramas from TBS (one of the commercial TV stations in the Tokyo area). TV shows in Japan rarely get a second season and that's great. What you will notice when watching these shows is how much plot development happens in a in single episode. Story wise Japanese dramas have a lot of meat and not much fat when compared to the average American production, which tends to spread out its plot developments over 5 season story arcs in order to keep us binging. The second thing I noticed is that all these shows really stuck with me and made me reconsider parts of my personal life or the society we live in. It’s great when a show can both entertain and stimulate critical thinking!
Let’s dive in!
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If you have some interest in Japanese pop-culture, chances are you will have seen the Koi dance back in 2016. The dance went viral and while the clip itself is already irresistible, it’s even better once you’ve seen the show. The song is a huge earworm and I caught myself constantly singing it while I was watching this show.
Wife Escapist looks like a generic rom-com so when first starting I was pretty sceptical, but the plot, the quirky characters and excellent scenario quickly won me over. Mikuri (Yui Aragaki) is a 25 year old university graduate who hasn’t been able to get her career off the ground. She works an unfulfilling office job for which she is clearly overqualified, but gets fired from nonetheless. Desperate for money, Mikuri enters the life of pro-bachelor Hiramasa (Gen Hoshino). While working as his housekeeper, she comes up with the idea of a contract marriage, where they would have all the financial perks of being married, and none of the emotional hassle. Although this arrangement works for both parties, convincing their environment that the marriage is real is more difficult than they anticipated.
Wife Escapist starts off pretty wacky but evolves into a very sincere story about people who protect themselves from pain. While Mikuri and Hiramasa are the stars of the show, all the supporting actors are amazing as well and everyone has their own interesting story arc. The show addresses a lot of the problems modern Japanese society faces, like how women are still not being taken seriously as professionals and how the institute of marriage is still to many Japanese a social contract where the wife takes care of the house and kids while the husband bring home the bills. A contract marriage then can be viewed as criticism on how the institution of marriage is actually the reality for a lot of couples. The show is also about Mikuri gaining confidence because as Hiramasa's housekeeper she finally feels appreciated for the work she does. The show also features a story line between two gay male characters, which is quite progressive for Japanese mainstream television.
In conclusion, the full-time wife escapist is an excellent starting point into the J-drama scene. Funny, touching and often empowering. Definite must-watch!
This drama is considerably older than the other two. It aired in 2000 and stylistically it’s the most outstanding. The show has a very distinct 90s feel to it. This goes down to the editing, soundtrack, cinematography and outfits worn. This must have been a gamble at the time because it feels very indie. Dialogues are off-beat, plots move slowly, giving a lot of room for atmosphere. Even though IWGP is in essence a crime drama, it was very soothing to watch and I fell asleep several times while watching because of all the good vibes. IWGP sometimes acts as your typical asian gangster show but the quirky characters, often intentionally overacting, make IWGP anime-ish at times. Storywise this show reminded me the most of “The Big Lebowski” which was produced around the same time.
This show is ultimately Makoto Majima's coming of age story. He is a juvenile delinquent hanging around Tokyo's Ikebukuro district. After the murder of a girl he just met, but was starting to have feelings for, Makoto gets pulled into a series of investigations for people who found him through word-of-mouth. Makoto has no qualifications for solving crimes, but his no-nonsense attitude, his strong sense for justice and his natural likeability make him a great problem-solver. Makoto is the kind of guy many guys aspire to be. Not the juvenile delinquent part, but he is a perfect anti-hero. His catchphrase is "mendokusai!" (hassle!) everytime he has a task to do, but Makoto turns out to be very trustworthy and will never let his friends down. Besides all that, he is just a bad-ass.
IWGP is filled with interesting, quirky, off-beat characters like G-Boys gang leader Takashi (I wonder if The 1975 singer Matty Healy stole his public persona from him) and Sadao Abe as the perverted cop. IWGP is famous for almost all its cast members, being relative or complete unknowns at the time, making it big in the Japanese film industry. Whoever did the casting had an amazing eye for talent. Ken Watanabe, Yosuke Kobuzuka (Giri/Haji and Martin Scorceses “Silence”), Koyuki (The Last Samurai) and Sadao Abe are just a fraction of all the talent that came out of this show. What I also liked is how stylistically coherent this show is. The soundtrack is very chill and Makoto’s polyphonic “Born to be Wild” ringtone will forever remind you of this show.
Quartet was my favorite out of these three shows. I described it to my friends as a “Japanese Seinfeld” because the first episode features a scene where people argue over whether it is OK to pour lemon juice over fried chicken without asking first. Quartet however is so much more than that. A show with heart and soul that changed the way I look at my life. Quartet is about four aspiring musicians who accidentally cross paths and who decide to form a string quartet band together hoping to turn it into a steady source of income. Main character Maki (Takako Matsu) is trying to build up her life after her husband mysteriously disappeared a year earlier. She doesn’t know that Maki’s mother in law is spying on her because suspects Maki of being the murderer of her son. The story takes off from here, but without spoiling anything I can tell you it goes way beyond a whodunnit murder story.
Quartet fundamentally deals with the question of how to be happy with yourself in a society where being able to capitalize on your skills is perceived by many as the only way to be taken seriously. Can you call yourself an artist, a musician or an actor if you are ‘merely’ doing it as a hobby? This is a question I have asked myself numerous times in my life. As a child I wanted to be a cartoon artist and I spent a huge chunk of my childhood either drawing cartoons or watching them. After high school I had the opportunity to go to university and being the pragmatic, risk avoiding person that I am, I did. I forgot about my childhood dream and never really picked up drawing to this day. I also love to write and there was a time when I wrote a lot of poetry. One of my poems even got published in a local literary magazine. Yet I never dared to call myself a poet. I never called myself a cartoonist either. To the four main characters of Quartet, the ultimate goal of forming the quartet was being able to turn their hobby into a profession, but during the run of the show the members start question whether this goal is realistic or even desirable. They enjoy the time spent together, making music for small audiences, on the street or just together.
Quartet also plays with the idea of communal living. The four members decide to live together in a cottage in mountainous Karuizawa to be able to practice regularly and through this experience develop strong emotional bonds. It seems very unconventional for 4 thirty something year olds who ‘should be looking to settle down’ to live like this. However, in a society where people increasingly make the conscious decision to stay single, it think communal living could be a strong antidote to loneliness and depression.
I would argue that Quartet is a show with a subversive message as it promotes a more anticapitalistic way of living. It encourages us to enjoy hobbies or lifestyles that don’t benefit us financially, but bring us pleasure and community. It helped me during a time when I was feeling stuck and made me realise that I was missing a creative outlet in my life.
