Japan’s TV Ratings: Anpan Morning Drama Leads the Week
The Japanese live-action television ratings for September 22 to 28 were once again topped by Anpan, the latest entry in NHK’s long running morning drama franchise.
The Friday morning episode drew an 18.1 percent rating, comfortably the strongest figure of the week. The series is inspired by the life of Takashi Yanase, the creator of Anpanman, and his wife Nobuo Komatsu, which gives it a special resonance for anime fans.
Elsewhere, a rerun of the first live-action adaptation of Kaiji Kawaguchi’s The Silent Service aired on Fuji TV, earning ratings in the mid four percent range across two showings.
A marathon rerun of the tenth season of the gentle culinary series A Solitary Gourmet also charted, landing around four percent on Tokyo TV.
My take: It warms my heart that a drama about the creator of Anpanman is leading the morning ratings. Yanase’s work has comforted Japanese children for generations, and it feels right that his own story is now reaching such a wide audience.
