TELEVIEWS / Yet another political leader bows out

Wm. Penn / Daily Yomiuri Columnist

This week: Two new Aya Ueto dramas, a surprise comeback and a fond farewell to Bakusho Mondai's Friday night NTV talkfest Hikari Ota's Watashi ga Soridaijin ni Nattara...Hisho Tanaka (If I were prime minister...Secretary Tanaka).

Ota's program was an opportunity for the sharp-tongued host to joust with visiting politicians from the major political parties.

For almost five years, Ota and his guests proposed and debated about 177 manifestoes. Many were silly, but some were eventually taken into consideration by the political parties themselves, such as age limits for serving in the Diet and attempts to limit powerful families from holding on to Diet seats for two or three generations. On Aug. 27, Ota tendered his resignation and presided over his last show. Not one to go out halfheartedly, his topic for the finale was: Is there such a thing as a just war? Ota did not think there was and hotly debated the topic with former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who disagreed.

Also on hand for the final installment was Kuniko Inoguchi. former state minister in charge of gender equality, who wore a sky blue dress. Her reward for participating was to have Ota chide her for showing up in a Doraemon costume. To the credit of the many politicians who were regulars on the show, one had to be a good sport to appear and take a tongue-lashing from Ota.

The veins in his brow throbbing visibly, Ota never let up on his guests no matter how prominent they were as he showed in his scathing finale interview with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ota confronted Abe on his support for the Iraq War. He asked Abe how he felt about the at least 150,000 people who have been killed, considering weapons of mass destruction, the premise on which the war was based, were never found. Abe said it was "zannen na (unfortunate) koto" and Ota countered: "That's all, just zannen." It was a very effective moment.

Ota went out in full force even though the once wildly popular show's ratings have taken a dive of late. In his closing remarks, Ota noted he had lasted more than 4-1/2 years--not a bad run compared to some real-life politicians. That's for sure. When the show started in 2006, Junichiro Koizumi still occupied the top post. We have had five more prime ministers since then. The month of September in TV land will be devoted to non-stop coverage of the drama surrounding whether we might even have a sixth before the year is over.

And so, a sad farewell to another of the fast-fading group of established shows with clear themes and content. What will replace it? From October, NTV's Friday 7 p.m.-9 p.m. slot will be filled with more of the same old thing--a potpourri of variety specials with tepid talents ad libbing wildly.

Ironically, on the night Ota bowed out, his Fuji network competition was yet another Akira Ikegami special titled Oshiete Mr. News. In light of budget constraints, it seems the networks have just decided to subcontract all their current events work to Ikegami. He's good, but there should be plenty of room for some new faces and opinions, too. Ironically, as the new digital TV sets have grown thinner and thinner so also have our viewing options.

There is a bit of good news this week--the arrival of a promising six-week NHK drama to fill the gap until the autumn season arrives. Junen Saki mo Kimi ni Koishite (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) began on Aug. 31. Rika (Aya Ueto) is suddenly confronted by a mysterious stranger (Masaaki Uchino who played Sakamoto Ryoma in Jin). He claims to be her future husband who has traveled back in time from 2020 to tell her they are about to meet and she should not get involved with him; but, of course, she does. Two good actors in an unusual plot, this one looks worth tuning in.

Ueto also stars as singer-songwriter Satoko Tatemichi in tonight's Fuji TV special drama, Ai wa Mieru (9 p.m.-10:52 p.m.). The Fuji news department has spent four years chronicling the lives of Tatemichi and her husband, who have been blind since birth and are raising a son.

The amazing comeback story this week belongs to Bu-chan. The porcine star of NHK's increasingly popular morning info-variety program Asaichi (weekdays at 8:15 a.m.) has spent the past three months at an undisclosed pet shop location sitting out the foot and mouth disease outbreak. We have been instructed to call the mascot "Bu-san" now as the little piglet has grown into an increasingly chubby pig while on summer vacation.