Otona no Natsu-Yasumi

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Televiews, Wm. Penn, July 14, 2005]: I have saved the best for last. Miyuki, 34, of Otona no Natsu Yasumi (Wednesdays, 10 p.m., NTV network) is a cheerful, determined heroine that one can like from the moment you meet her. She makes you feel like coming back again to see whether she succeeds in turning her life around. Shinobu Terashima is excellent in the role, and there are plenty of thoughtful moments in this story.

Miyuki is a truly happy housewife working part-time as a home helper for the elderly to save up money for a house. She has a perfectly mannered young son and a husband who sends her romantic e-mail messages.

Fune, one of her elderly charges, spent her life running a beachfront cafe during the summer at Shonan. This is the first summer she is too frail to carry on, and Miyuki cheers her up by saying they could do it together. Fune dies three days later.
Fune's son wants to sell the rights to the spot so Fune has chosen instead to leave them to Miyuki in her will. Miyuki is shocked and not really interested. She is about to give the lucrative little spot in the sand back to Fune's son when things suddenly begin to happen.

First, her long-lost friend Sumiko appears. Climbing the corporate ladder has taken a heavy toll on her health and Sumiko is realizing it really wasn't worth it. Miyuki finds her super-polite son is actually suffering from a neurosis called "ii ko" (perfect child) syndrome in which he exhausts himself trying to make his parents happy. He needs to widen his horizons. Then Miyuki realizes her husband, who she thought was such a great, thoughtful partner, really thinks everything they have is the result of his efforts alone and has little respect for her abilities. And to top things off, he tells her the romantic e-mails he sends her are programmed into his computer to be sent every day ending in a 3--a trick he learned from a company friend who suggested it would keep his wife from becoming hysterical.

Well, his revelations have certainly succeeded in making her hysterical.
With their lives turned upside-down, Miyuki and Sumiko decide to run the beachhouse together. It is still too early to predict whether or not this one will be the summer's surprise success story, but Miyuki is definitely the most likeable of the first week's heroines. Three beach balls for Otona no Natsu Yasumi.

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Televiews, Wm. Penn, July 1, 2005]: The most original of the summer offerings looks like Otona no Natsu-yasumi starting July 6 at 10 p.m. on NTV, which features three women operating a beachside business during the summer season. The main attraction here will be watching talented film actress Shinobu Terashima make her small-screen debut.

STARRING: Terashima Shinobu
NETWORK: NTV
Theme Song:  
DURATION: June through September 2005