[Discussion] CHANGE - Kimura Takuya's Spring 2008 drama

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

i'm hanging in there with the drama since the politics is getting a bit interesting - the prime minister exceeding the expectations and turning the puppeteer on this head. sure the ep 5 was messy but it seems everytime i stuck it out to the last few minutes of the episode - it redeems itself and i forget the poor parts.
i think the show is not well received because it is not a topic of interest - politics. and they even try to throw comedy into it. which is probably a unusual mix.

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm really enjoying this drama...I must admit I'm a huge KimuTaki dorama fan...the series up to ep6 has been great with the exception of ep5...I seriously wanted to skip the chapter or fast forwrd parts of it but I did finally watch it all and episode 6 was great again...I can't wait to watch more...love to see how the prime minister will handle into conflicts...whereas before he was proving himself to the public and his closer workers..now he'll have to face the bigger political crowd!!

We all need a prime minister who can make a difference!! salut

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:41 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:59 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

ive just started watching this and my husband teases me to death for liking (i dont dare say love) kimura. He mimicks kimura's smiling/frowning/smiling technique and does it really bad which annoys me so much. I think he's just jealous of how i go ga-ga over kimutaku..haha

anyway, im enjoying the series so far. I wonder if there's a long angle here, i mean a serious one -- like he's gonna end up with the girl in the end. hope so. Smile

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:10 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

>>> until EP.06

I hate next episodes previews and I do skip them most of the time!
but until now I could argue that:

1. sometimes I really go like.. come on, that is so silly!
but afterwards i replay that scenes because I believe that we need to carry some memories of the drama to enjoy.

2. i enjoy Kanbayashi's mystery and such character is important in every drama I guess ( the character that we want to enter his mind!).

3. The theme song is good, but I didn't fully understand why using an American song in a japanese politics drama!! unless it has some indirect speech.

4. I don't know why the Ratings are decreasing! but I'm sure that people there are losing lots of logic and reality which we need the most in this life! (a)

that's it for now, and I wonder how will be the end of the drama. but I'm pretty much sure that we "as viewers" gained a lot.

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:19 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:30 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:39 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

i was shocked that she was 37....she looks way way younger that that

Anyway just watched episode 7...damn it made me wanting for more...should have wait till episode 8 then only watch it. Sad

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Just finished watching ep.7.. Am so dying for (subbed) ep.8.. Bring it on, Massuki!! Tongue

This dorama is so good!

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

we're still waiting for the raw.

I started reading the Japanese script already because I can't wait for it.

I've also started downloading from clubbox but it's not cooperating. 9 hours!

Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Just watched Ep 08 and I am sure Kudo Shizuka ( Kimura's wife ) blew a gasket.
Last three episodes promise to be high tempo.

Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

this is the best drama for this season in my opinion ... i didn't really anticipate this but once i watched the first and second episodes i'm totally hooked ... i always hated politics because no politicians are honest, earnest, or hard working

so it's very very refreshing to watch this series ... although it's only a make-believe, it makes me think, yes ... he's the kind of prime minister that i want Laugh

ratings don't really mean a lot to me ... this kind of drama and gokusen have different targeted audience i think ... nothing against gokusen it's an entertaining drama and i'm a miura haruma fan but the stories get boring after awhile ... and i think once i even thought to myself i should watch something that's better suited to my age w00t

looking forward to next episode eagerly Roll Eyes

Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Really really enjoyed ep 8, next eps promise to be really interesting Smile

And i totally love Hiroshi abe and the bodyguard pinch

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:41 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121487438346517985.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Fukuda's Low-Key Style
Frustrates Japanese
On Eve of Hosting G-8 Summit, Prime Minister
Struggles to Get Basic Laws Passed at Home
By SEBASTIAN MOFFETT and HIROKO TABUCHI
July 1, 2008; Page A11

Tokyo

In the hot new Japanese TV drama "Change," Prime Minister Keita Asakura is a dynamic 35-year-old with charisma. He nixes pork-barrel construction projects in favor of more money for child care. After a deadly storm hits, Mr. Asakura rushes to the scene, barking orders to bungling bureaucrats. And he stands up to the U.S. in agriculture trade talks. "I have the responsibility to protect the Japanese people," Mr. Asakura tells enthralled voters. "I am one of you."
[fukuda]
Getty Images
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hasn't succeeded in winning much public support.

Meanwhile, Yasuo Fukuda -- Japan's actual prime minister -- has described himself as "a shadow." When he hosts the Group of Eight summit in Japan next week, he will be the oldest of the group's leaders, turning 72 this month. Since he took office in September he has been thwarted or held up in almost everything he's tried to do -- from renewing a mission to help counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan to appointing a central bank governor.

"I don't feel that he has any leadership whatsoever," says Tomoyuki Matsumoto, 42, who works for an insurance company in Tokyo.

Mr. Fukuda's passive tenure is increasingly frustrating the Japanese, as the world's second-largest economy struggles with a falling population. To avoid this leading to declining living standards, economists say Japan needs bold measures, including more deregulation to promote faster growth, as well as an overhaul of its social-security system. But with a divided parliament and a leader who isn't inclined to take action, Japan could continue its drift until parliamentary elections well into next year.

Mr. Fukuda's struggle stems largely from the split parliament, which he inherited. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, or DPJ, dominates the Upper House, which has significant delaying and veto powers. But Mr. Fukuda hasn't come up with imaginative solutions to the bind, and the public mostly blames him and his low-key style: His approval ratings were just 26% in a poll published Monday by the Nikkei newspaper.

But even the most basic laws are getting held up in Japan's parliament. Japan has fallen behind its Asian neighbors in free-trade agreements. While the government mulls steps to promote Tokyo as a regional financial center, Singapore and Hong Kong are snatching business away.

Mr. Fukuda could hang on for a while because the opposition DPJ is also unpopular. Earlier talk within his Liberal Democratic Party of dumping Mr. Fukuda after the G-8 summit appears to have died down recently, as the LDP party has become slightly more popular than the DPJ in polls. He might still lead his party into the next Lower House general election, which must be held by September 2009.

The current jam derives from a political upheaval in Japan earlier this century. After years of weak, short-lived governments, Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister in 2001 amid banking problems and an economic slump. He used dramatic appeals to the public to push through controversial initiatives -- from cutting public spending to clearing up banks' bad loans -- which helped pull the economy out of its slump and set a new standard for Japanese leadership.

When Mr. Koizumi stepped down in 2006, Shinzo Abe, then 52, took over, and failed to live up to the post-Koizumi expectations. Voters turned against him, and in an election a year ago the LDP lost control of the Upper House.

The LDP chose Mr. Fukuda to take over in part because he represented an older style of politics that had worked in the past. He was inoffensive, inclined to gather consensus and as the son of a former prime minister, Takeo Fukuda, he knew the ropes.

Mr. Fukuda wasn't born a politician. After graduating college, he became a "salaryman" at Maruzen Oil Co., the predecessor to Cosmo Oil Co.

But after his younger brother fell ill, Mr. Fukuda went to work as an aide to his father, who had become prime minister. Later, when his father retired, he became a parliamentarian. "He wasn't the type to push for anything himself, or to trample on other people," says Sakutaro Tanino, a former ambassador to China who was pitcher on Mr. Fukuda's elementary school baseball team.

Today, Mr. Fukuda is known for being cerebral and affable. In his free time, he listens to music by Bartók. His motto is "radiant without being glorious," a saying from ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi.

"He doesn't put on a performance," says Seishiro Eto, an LDP lawmaker close to Mr. Fukuda. "He stands back from people and gives way."

As prime minister, Mr. Fukuda called his first administration the "back against the wall" cabinet, and immediately struggled with the hand he has been dealt. His government has run into trouble over legislation that in the past would have been routine. The opposition temporarily stalled the renewal of a three-decade-old gas tax, making gas prices dip for April, then shoot back up as the administration forced the tax through parliament. Trying to avoid such impasses, Mr. Fukuda has approached the DPJ numerous times for a truce, but so far has failed.

Mr. Fukuda has racked up some diplomatic successes. Relations with China had been thorny for years, but in May Mr. Fukuda received Chinese President Hu Jintao in Tokyo, the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Japan in a decade. In June the countries made a breakthrough in a long-running dispute over sea territory, when they agreed to jointly develop offshore natural-gas fields. Still, critics say Mr. Fukuda should be doing more to prepare Japan for the future.

That may be why Mr. Asakura's fantasy government is so popular. The weekly show, which starts with an image of dawn rising over Japan's parliament building, has attracted about 20% of TV households in the Tokyo area since it began in May. In an episode before Mr. Asakura's elevation, a young lawmaker talks excitedly of the rise of Sen. Obama, 46, and U.K. Conservative Party leader David Cameron, 41. Japan's stodgy politicians, by contrast, are steeped in backroom politics and out of touch with the nation, he says. "World leaders are getting younger and younger, but look at Japan!" he says.

Some Japanese politicians are taking notice. Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba -- at 51, the youngest cabinet minister in a major post-said he was a fan of the show. "There are honestly some parts I empathize with," he told reporters last month. "Politicians need to rethink what they stand for."

Write to Sebastian Moffett at sebastian.moffett@wsj.com and Hiroko Tabuchi at hiroko.tabuchi@wsj.com

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0