The legendary drama 'Oshin' is very popular overseas and was broadcast in 68 countries and regions | viewership rating in Egypt was 80%, and in Iran it was 90%.
Legendary drama broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world
"Oshin" was a hit not only in Japan but also in many countries overseas, and it is surprising how many countries and regions it was aired in. It was broadcast in 68 countries and regions.
"Oshin" is a hit NHK drama that aired for one year from 1983. This is the story of a young girl who leaves her home as a servant and goes through various hardships to live and succeed in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, and is a vivid depiction of life in Japan's poor rural villages at the time. Oshin was written by Sugako Hashida, and became her most famous work.
In Japan, it has recorded an astonishing average viewership rating of 52.6% and a maximum viewership rating of 62.9%, which is the highest viewership rating ever for a TV drama. Sugako Hashida has worked on countless works including "Wataru Sekai wa Oni Dake", NHK TV drama series, and taiga dramas.
Singapore and Egypt record viewer ratings of 80%
The first overseas broadcast recorded an audience rating of 80% in Singapore and 80% audience rating in Egypt. When the drama begins, everyone goes home. A power outage occurred during the broadcast and the broadcast was interrupted. Angry Egyptians who cannot watch the drama storm the broadcasting station and riots ensue. In addition, large quantities of food have been sent to broadcast stations to feed poor people.
Read it together
Sphinx and Nagaoki Ikeda. Samurai takes a commemorative photo of Egypt and visits the Suez Canal
Mysterious group of samurai in front of the Sphinx
Goes to France to apologize for Idogaya Incident
The Suez Canal is a huge waterway for the colonization of Asia
Edo shogunate that canceled the Paris Agreement
Edo shogunate's country opening theory
The first photo was taken by a samurai in front of the Sphinx in Egypt. It is often introduced as a humorous image. In the scorching heat of Egypt, wearing a crested hakama seems to convey the heat. The second photo is Nagafuku Ikeda, a foreign magistrate of the Edo Shogunate who was participating in this group.
In 1863, the Idogaya Incident occurred in Japan, where three ronin, believed to be members of the Joi group, murdered a French military officer near Yokohama. A 34-person delegation, including Nagafatsu Ikeda, traveled to France to apologize and make peace with the incident.
The group arrived in Paris, had an audience with Emperor Napoleon III, apologized to the French government for the incident, and paid 195,000 francs in support to the family.
The 34-member delegation arrived in Cairo from Suez via India from Shanghai on their way to Paris, where they posed for a commemorative photo in front of the Sphinx. This is a picture of a samurai in front of the Sphinx.
The Suez Canal is an bypass built by France to allow ships from Europe to go to Asia without passing through Cape Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Ikeda and his colleagues inspected it.
Afterwards, reconciliation with France was reached in Paris, and the group, recognizing the power of Western civilization, signed the Treaty of Paris, which promised the opening of three ports, including Yokohama, as free ports.
The Edo shogunate ordered a mission to negotiate the closure of Yokohama Port, but this was difficult due to French resistance. Nagafuku Ikeda, seeing the strength of Western culture, abandoned negotiations and concluded the Treaty of Paris.
After returning to Japan, Nagafuku Ikeda appealed to the shogunate about the importance of opening the country, but it was not accepted, and the shogunate, which had a policy of closing ports, canceled the Treaty of Paris, and as punishment, Ikeda's stone allowance was cut in half. Although Ikeda was later forgiven and returned to politics, he soon resigned from his post and died at the age of 42. What kind of truth did Ikeda see during this trip?
Ikeda Nagafuku, as a member of the Edo Shogunate, called for the opening of the country. He was a member of the shogunate, which was on the opposite side of Sakamoto Ryoma, Katsu Kaishu, and Saigo Takamori, who started the Meiji Restoration. It can be said that the scale of the Western Industrial Revolution was shocking.
The Meiji Restoration side looked overseas and considered the future of Japan, but the Edo shogunate tried to maintain isolation and the shogunate system. Ikeda, who saw the West with his own eyes, felt the same feeling as the young people on the Meiji Restoration side.
90% viewer rating in Iran, chosen as the ideal woman
In Iran, 90% audience rating was recorded. When asked on a radio broadcast who the ideal woman is, Oshin is chosen over Supreme Leader Khomeini's daughter. This became a major problem and led to the dismissal of four people in charge of the radio station. In addition, when asked who the ideal next leader of the country would be, Oshin, who is not a Muslim, was ranked 4th .
Also broadcast in China, but in Korea...
Oshin is famous in China as Asin, and the audience rating in Beijing at the time of the broadcast was 75.9%. China was an enemy country in the past, with whom she fought a war, but when she saw Oshin, tears covered her eyes. Many say that the image of Japan has changed. It was rebroadcast in China in 2007.
As you can imagine, is unfortunately not broadcast in Korea. The 1998 Japan-Korea Joint Declaration lifted the ban on Japanese dramas and culture in South Korea, but for some reason Oshin is not being broadcast. This may be the drama that most people don't want to see because it changes the image of Japan.
Oshin achieved great achievements in Cool Japan
Currently, various Japanese contents such as anime are exported overseas under the framework of Cool Japan, but in the 1980s, a full-length TV novel with 297 episodes was broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world. Even today, this can be considered a great achievement.
After the end of the war, the image of Japan was hardly known overseas, and people were only aware of it as samurai, geisha, and ninja, but Japanese culture, the Japanese way of thinking, and the way of life in Oshin's time were introduced to the world. It happened.