Asian Drama

The Fuccons began as a series of comic sketches on the Japanese TV program Vermillion Pleasure Night: A family of Americans, James and Barbara and their son Mikey, move to Japan "to live as Japanese." The brief skits consist of still photographs of window store dummies in Kennedy-era outfits juxtaposed with over-the-top vocal performances and lots of forced laughter. The humor is labored and inane; the dummies--obviously a Japanese take on Caucasians--recall the American cartoons of the 1930s that trafficked in ethnic stereotypes. Graduate students in sociology may someday write theses about what The Fuccons reveals about Japanese attitudes towards Americans; connoisseurs of outré cultural phenomena may revel in the series' we're-so-dumb-we're-hip charms. Episodes run the gamut from the silly to the surreal, sometimes ending with a joke and sometimes not. Episodes invariably end with the characters laughing hysterically, even if the episode ends on a serious note. Occasionally the series diverts from following the Fuccons and instead focuses on a destitute Japanese family, the Kawakitas.

Katayama Yoshitaro became a police detective after having followed the will of his father who had been known as a great detective. However, Yoshitaro can never step into murder scenes because he faints whenever he sees blood, and criminals are able to easily slip away because he is afraid of heights. He also has phobias of women and ghosts. Moreover, he hates to doubt people more than anything, so he happens to believe whatever people say. Thus, Yoshitaro has tried, in vain, to quit his job a number of times in the past, but his brother Hiroshi, who loves mystery novels, and his super active sister Harumi always manage to convince him to remain as a detective. One day, hopeless Yoshitaro finds a calico cat that somehow understands what people say and sometimes shows great reasoning power. With the help of strange hints given by this cat, Yoshitaro luckily succeeds in solving the cases. --NTV

Taizo Kitazawa (Baijaku Nakamura) works as a middle school principal. He has three children. His first child, Hirofumi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa), is 38 years old and works as a heart surgeon. His second child, Chiaki (Haru), is 27 years old and works as a lawyer. The youngest child, Shusaku (Ryosuke Yamada), is 25 years old and works as a police officer. He is ambitious and has a strong sense of justice.

In order to keep happiness in the Kitazawa family, the family uses any means they can. Shusaku comes into conflict between love for his family and professional ethics.

Taizo Kitazawa (Baijaku Nakamura) works as a middle school principal. He has three children. His first child, Hirofumi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa), is 38 years old and works as a heart surgeon. His second child, Chiaki (Haru), is 27 years old and works as a lawyer. The youngest child, Shusaku (Ryosuke Yamada), is 25 years old and works as a police officer. He is ambitious and has a strong sense of justice.

In order to keep happiness in the Kitazawa family, the family uses any means they can. Shusaku comes into conflict between love for his family and professional ethics.