Seigi no Mikata (2008) [Eng Subs] (Complete)

Ep01++
Ishikari Kumako - Ishikari (Hokkaido) is known for brown bears.
Ishikari Mountains are in the northwest of the Daisetsuzan National Park in central Hokkaido. You can find Japanese brown bears there. The population there is listed as an endangered regional population in the Japanese Red List.

Ep02:
The EF65-1000 N gauge model in the dorama (PS22B, Tokyo Railroad Depot) has really just been released at the end of June by Tomix. It's one of many N gauge models of the popular EF65 series. The real EF65-1000 series was created in 1969. Many are still in active service like for the "Blue Train" mentioned in the dorama as well. A "Blue Train" is a long-distance sleeper train, nicknamed as such for the color of the train cars. In 2008 they started to eliminate blue train services due to other faster ways to travel.

Ep03:
Choushu Koriki's imitations:
Not only does his name resemble the name of the famous wrestler Choushu Riki, but also his whole appearance. Therefore he didn't do anything when imitating him. His name as comedian is also a play on words like 'Kumako', so 'Koriki' means something like 'young Riki'.
Asada Mao is a popular young figure skater. The imitation he did with his head was because of her signature move. Her signature move is the 'cross-grab Biellmann' and her head is in such kind of pose when doing it.

Choushu Koriki and Para-Para isn't something that happened only in the dorama. The whole craze actually happened in 2005 when he added Para-Para to his comedy routine. The clip the Nakatas were watching was the music video of female J-Pop group 'Hinoi Team'. That song and DVD really featured Choushi Koriki back then in late 2005. The song "Night on Fire" Hinoi Team covered back then originally was from 'Niko', a musician from the 90's.

Ep04:
Obon or Bon Festival is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.
Traditionally, lanterns are hang in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples.

The Japanese consider unagi to be a powerful aphrodisiac and can be found as a part of many dishes. While it's true that sushi itself is a great love food because it's fun to eat (especially when you feed each other, try it! ^^), energizing and not such a heavy food, I came across an interesting note about the unagi/eel:
That rumor about the unagi was started by a guy selling unagi in summer. It wasn’t known as a popular summer food, his sales dropped every summer and so he started to market is as making you stronger. This fact then evolved into it being aprodisiac.
Even if might only be a rumor, just believing in it can make it true. ;)

Ep05:
Unryu is a camellia. It originated in Japan (japonica) and literally means "dragon in the clouds", because to the Japanese the plant apparently looks like a dragon climbing up into the sky. This is a relatively slow-growing shrub with slender, strongly contorted stems. The flowers are roughly trumpet shaped, opening to about 3" wide and soft rose-red in color.

Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris in France. It is located 19.1 km (11.9 miles) from the center of Paris.

Taian Kichitsu. Kichitsu means lucky day and in Japan there six special days that are supposed to predict good or bad fortune. Those days are called 'rokuyo' or 'rokki'. Taian is the most auspicious day and very popular for weddings, shop openings and so on. There'll be hundreds of weddings that day and at a popular shrine like Meiji Jingu you can see people getting married every 10 minutes. How to calculate it? Let's take August 2008 as in the dorama. I don't want to go into the Japanese Traditional Moon Calendar, so simply accept that 08.01 is "Sensho", the first of the six rokuyo in August. Taian is the 5th, so it's on the 5th. The 6th would be the last of the six days and the whole days would repeat themselves starting from the 7th. August has 31 days, so the first of September 2008 would be the 3rd rokuyo. This goes on and on.

Senshou - Good luck before noon (good for beginnings), bad luck in afternoon.
Tomobiki - Bad things will happen to your friends (no funerals that day), but also a lucky day except for noon. A good day for lawsuits.
Senbu - Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon. Avoid judgments or haste on that day.
Butsumetsu - Buddha's death. Most unlucky day. No weddings. Almost all Shinto shrines closed.
Taian - Most lucky day, many weddings.
Shakku - Bad luck all day, except at noon

Rajibandari is a very popular comedy routine that turned into a catchphrase by the comedian duo "Double Dutch". One of them (Nishii) plays a foreign woman called Junita Rajibandari and (most of the time) they act like on a date. The gag is that Nishii lines up various things with ~tari ~tari and always ends with "rajibandari". (~tari ~tari rajibandari!) It actually means something along the lines that no matter what actions you state first, it all comes to the same conclusion. When they first ever made the gag in "Bokushou Red Carpet", it became the most looked-up word in the Internet the next day!
In this episode it's like it's so obvious that she is angry about that she now has more excuses not to do overtime, but on the other hand tells her not do overtime.
However, take that explanation with a grain of salt. Today that "rajibandari" became merely a catchphrase without a real meaning. Many Japanese use it and when you actually ask them what it means, they have no real clue themselves. ^_^

Hayama is a town in Kanagawa. It's a popular resort area and is famous for having the Hayama Imperial Villa that belongs to the Japanese Imperial Family.