Hikari to Tomo ni (Along with the light...)

[From Japan Times, Channel Surf, April 25, 2004]: Ryoko Shinohara also stars in another new drama series. In "Hikari to Tomo ni . . . (Along With the Light . . .)," on Nippon TV, Wednesday at 10 p.m., she plays Sachiko, the mother of an autistic boy named Hikaru. Sachiko, who doesn't understand autism, lives a stress-filled life that only adds to her son's stress. A new special-education teacher at Hikaru's school, Hidemi (Satomi Kobayashi), realizes Sachiko's ignorance about Hikaru's condition and decides to help her understand the boy's world. In this week's episode, Hikaru is locked in a storage room at school by a cruel classmate and is injured. Hidemi takes him to hospital, but the frightened Hikaru resists the doctor's efforts to treat him. The doctor becomes angry and when Sachiko and her husband arrive, he scolds them for "spoiling" their son. The husband starts to apologize, but Hidemi breaks in angrily and tells him that he has no reason to apologize for his son's behavior.

[Excerpt From Daily Yomiuri, April 22, 2004, Televiews, Wm. Penn]: Not only are the tykes everywhere, but some are taking on roles that would be challenging even for their elders such as Takanari Saito, who is playing an autistic first grader in Hikari to Tomo ni (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on the NTV network).

STARRING: Shinohara Ryoko, Kobayashi Satomi, Takanari Saito
NETWORK: NTV
THEME SONG:
DURATION: April through June 2004
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