Ashita Tenki ni Naare (Let's Hope Tomorrow is Fair)

Mizuki plays a single mother who tries to get a job once her daughter enters school and she becomes a weather girl.

[An excerpt from "Channel Surf", Japan Times, Oct. 5, 2003]: On Saturday at 9 p.m., Nippon TV airs the first episode of "Ashita Tenki ni Naare (Let's Hope Tomorrow is Fair)," which, as its title indicates, is about a TV weather announcer -- though Hana isn't your usual
weather announcer.

She's a single mother who is also very unqualified to be an announcer, which may be the point. Divorced, Hana supports herself and her young daughter, Mimi, by working as a waitress in a cafe. She's poor, but happy; that is, until she's given her notice. Then she's just poor.

She starts looking everywhere for a new job, but since she has no skills she can't find one. Then, during the last day of work at the cafe, a regular patron, who happens to be a producer for a local news program, says he needs an emergency substitute for the station's "weather lady" and asks Hana if she's interested.

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, October 30, 2003, Wm. Penn]: And now back to the real drama lineup. A series that is neither a big winner nor a total loser is "Ashita Tenki ni Naare" (Saturdays at 9 p.m. on the NTV network). Arisa Mizuki is good as Hana, the devoted, divorced single mother who tries to talk sensibly and frankly to her 5-year-old daughter. This one might be a valuable primer for basic mother-child communication skills but it offers few surprises. It is all bright and sunny and blue skies full of fluffy clouds as one might expect from a story about a young woman who has lucked out and snagged a job as a weather announcer after a dreary career as a cafe waitress. Toru Nakamura plays the news show producer who notices Hana and offers her a chance, and on whom she soon develops a crush. It is simple, low-key, family viewing and for that alone it stands out from the crowd.

STARRING: Mizuki Alisa
DURATION: October through December 2003
NETWORK: NTV
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