Details
Title: 日本のこれから~ドラマ幸福2020
Title (romaji): Nihon no Korekara - drama: Koufuku 2020
Title (English): The future of Japan - Happiness in 2020
Format: Tanpatsu
Genre: News dramatization
Episodes: 1
Viewership ratings:
Broadcast network: NHK
Broadcast period: 2005-Jun-25
Air time: Saturday 19:30-21:00
Synopsis
Japan, 2020. The declining population has led to economic contraction and the looming bankruptcy of social security. The government is feeling the sense of crisis, and decides to introduce the "Singles Tax" to increase its finances and redress the low birth rate. The ruling party bases the policy push on the popularity of the first female prime minister of Japan they back, Endo Noriko.
The heroine is Akizuki Yukino, a 35-year-old divorced single mother. She works at a nursing care business as a contracted worker. Raising her daughter Aya and paying for her education is her reason for living.
Invited by a friend, Yukino reluctantly goes to an omiai party [omiai: arranged marriage meeting] sponsored by the government, and there she meets Takasugi Ryuta. He is 40, single and teaches science part-time in a primary school. He lives with his parents and grandfather, but as his father is bedridden, he needs someone to care for him.
Although Ryuta asks to go out with Yukino, she has no interest in remarriage - neither marriage nor Japanese society has any real future for her. Burdened by his work and family commitments, Ryuta too becomes passive. Although Yukino now promotes her company's nursing system to Ryuta, and Ryuta comes to teach at Aya's school, these connections do not translate to any advance in their relationship.
Just when it is announced that the previous year's birth rate has finally broken above 1.0, calls to abolish the Singles Tax arise. Moreover, while the opposition party is asking tough questions in Parliament about the tax, PM Nobuko finds out that she herself is pregnant, leading to a huge commotion all over the country.
As Yukino visits a hospital for work, she happens to see the PM and unthinkingly drew closer to her. "Prime Minister! I have something to say to you!"
This show is about how we of the near future seek our own happiness, wavering as we go around. It illustrates the choices between conflicting goals as well as the various economic and social changes that a declining population leads to. -NHK, translated by Lzydata
Cast
Nagasaku Hiromi as Akizuki Yukino
Takahashi Katsumi as Takasugi Ryuta
Kiuchi Midori
Muta Teizo (牟田悌三)
Oohashi Ayaka (大橋彩香)
Katahira Nagisa as Endo Noriko
Production Credits
Screenwriter: Fukuda Takuro (福田卓郎)
