Kui-tan

[Daily Yomiuri, January 19, 2006, Wm. Penn]: For a silly alternative to all this hard crime, there is always Kui-tan (Saturdays, 9 p.m., NTV network) starring Noriyuki Higashiyama as a clever, cello-playing sleuth who solves crimes while gobbling up everything in sight.

He wields his golden chopsticks like a samurai sword but always remembers to say "itadakimasu" and "gochiso-sama" before and after eating. He can also tell what people had for lunch by taking a whiff of their breath. In Episode 1, he solved a murder by eating a piece of the takeout tuna sushi left at the scene in the victim's living room. He detects it is the kind made to be served in a restaurant rather than for takeout and soon figures out the murderer is a sushi chef who hauled the body home in a delivery van. No stars, but pass the sushi, hold the wasabi and tune in if you enjoy vicarious eating in Yokohama.

STARRING: Higashiyama Noriyuki, Morita Go, Shiro Sano, Ito Shiro
NETWORK: NTV
Theme Song:  
DURATION: January through March 2006