When I was six years old, I lived in New Zealand for a year. Besides falling in love with something called Big Ben’s Meat Pies, I learned that the BBC makes historical dramas that really delve into the past, which was interesting to me since it’s not something Americans are used to seeing. Japan’s NHK follows the BBC model very closely, making many jidai-geki or “period dramas” — this is incidentally where we get the word “Jedi” from — that bring various episodes of Japan’s long past to life for modern TV viewers. There are many productions shown over the course of the year, but the best is always the Taiga (“Big River”) Drama, which runs from early January to the end of December and has the biggest budget and the most beautiful costumes. This year was the 47th Taiga Drama since the series started in 1963, and it told the story of Atsuhime, a girl who married the 13th Tokugawa Shogun. The period was an especially tumultuous one, which saw the arrival of Admiral Perry and his “Black Ships” then culminated in the Meiji Restoration, when the 250-year rule of the Tokugawa clan ended and a modern government was founded around the Japanese Emperor. It stared the popular actress Aoi Miyazaki, who gave a brilliant performance and won many fans for the show, which pulled in ratings of 28% last night.
