The past and present of the world's highest-rated Japanese drama "Ashin"

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You Do you still remember Axin ?

NHK "Ashin" TV series poster

If we want to talk about the Japanese drama that has the most far-reaching impact on the world, it is very likely that we will think of "Ashin" for the first time, the little girl who trekked in the snow, even if the front is hard, she must be serious If there is a name for living and enduring hardships, it is Ashin. "Ashin" screenwriter Hashida Shougako passed away in April 2021. "BBC" made a series of special reports to commend the far-reaching influence of "Ashin". For Europe and the United States, this is the first Japanese drama they deeply fell in love with. The story of

is very simple. Ashin, a girl born in the early 1900s, grew up in impoverished rural Japan and experienced countless tragedies, including the death of her family, wars and betrayals, but she was still able to maintain her original intention and eventually became the owner of a supermarket chain.

Childhood Ashin

"Ashin" is a morning novel series broadcast by NHK from April 4, 1983 to March 31, 1984. It is one of the most sensational TV series in the 1980s, with a total of 297 episodes , 15 minutes per episode, is the 30th anniversary commemorative drama of NHK TV.

Japan's economy was taking off at that time, everyone was living an extremely luxurious life, conspicuous consumption was flooding the whole Japan, and Japan's status in the world was very important. The appearance of this TV series immediately became a contemporary echo. When this thrifty, kind and hard-working national woman appeared on the stage, it reminded Japan not to forget yourself and the past.

Not long after, Japan is about to enter the 1990s. After the bubble economy, the existence of "Ashin" has become a symbol of healing. She is a gentle mother who will always tolerate us, so that we will not despair of life. But it's not just Japan that is affected. At least 60 countries around the world have been deeply moved by Ashin's spirit. "The universal values ​​of love, sacrifice, patience and forgiveness have made this play a successful export around the world."

Professor Arvind Singhal of the University of Texas in the United States told the BBC , put forward his own views: To be honest, Ashin's life was indeed very miserable. When he was a child laborer, he was abused and wanted to escape. He was rescued by a kind deserter Junzuo, and Junzuo was immediately shot and killed by the military police who searched the mountain. Betrayal, bullying and war, her son passed away, but she still worked hard to live, and finally made her life extremely exciting.

Young Ashin

author Hashida Shougako later mentioned Ashin in an interview with " Nikkei Shimbun ". She was asked about this story, in addition to being based on the founder of the Japanese shopping mall 800 and , she also frankly stated : "Ashin represents all Japanese women who have survived suffering". Ashin is not a person, but a group.

Hashida Shougazi, the author of "Ashin"

Today, when Hashida Shouhezi passed away due to lymphoma , the whole world remembers them. For them, "Ashin" lived the most wonderful life, whether it was childhood , young, middle-aged, or old Ashin, we can all learn different attitudes in life, this scarred woman will never give up. I will also think of those dear and brave women in my life. When I see them, I think of Ashin.

The average viewership rate of the show during its premiere in Japan was 52.6%, making it the highest-rated Japanese drama in Japanese history. The highest ratings for a single episode was 62.9% on November 12, 1983 (episode 186). The play has since been broadcast in 63 countries and regions around the world, including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran, and Egypt.

1984 "Ashin" animated film

In addition, the first story about Ashin's childhood was filmedThe film was released in Japan on March 17, 1984. Hashida Shougako and Wada Kazu (the founder of Yaohan in Japan) are neighbors, so Hashida Shougako wrote the experience of Wada Kazu selling vegetables into the script of "Ashin". In June 2009, Wada Kazu's son and Kazuo Wada accepted an exclusive interview with "Today Weekly" in Tokyo, saying: "Not all of my mother's life is exactly the same as Ashin in the play." On the other hand, in 1985, Sharp and Konica jointly sponsored China CCTV to premiere the play. The broadcast version is the dubbed version of Mandarin translated by CCTV, titled "Ashin"; The original Japanese version is retained, and there is no theme song and ending song that have been made by ourselves. The mainland voice actor Zhang Guilan who dubbed Ashin won the Feitian Award Best Dubbing Award for this, and the narration was performed by Lin Ru. When the play was broadcast on CCTV, it almost reached the level of tens of thousands of people, and the ratings were as high as 80%. In 2007, Hunan Satellite TV replayed the play. The broadcast version was the Mandarin dubbed version of China Television. The theme song was changed to the re-arranged version of "Always Believe" by Ji Minjia 's lead singer.

In Hong Kong , TVB broadcast the Cantonese dubbed version of "Ashin" in the afternoon women's program "Women's New Style" on Emerald Channel in 1984. I was moved, so I decided to introduce it and broadcast it as a short drama "Women's New Look"; later, due to its great popularity, it was rebroadcasted during the time slot of the evening variety show " Happy Tonight " on Emerald Channel, which caused the whole Hong Kong "Ah" letter boom".

The show was broadcast on the same channel twice in one day, setting a TV record for the year. TVB played the Cantonese theme song "Letter" of "Ashin", composed by Lin Minyi , lyric by Zheng Guojiang , lead singer of Taiwanese singer Weng Qianyu , in the lyrics "Who will cherish when you still have it, it will die Always want to keep" and "Fate is an opponent, never bow your head" are still popular in Cantonese society; the ending song is "Dedication of Love".

At the same time when the play started in Hong Kong (1984), Yaohan, the prototype of the play, used the "department store founded by Ashin" as a gimmick. Entering the Hong Kong market, it once became the department store with the highest market share.

In 1995, Asia TV purchased the Hong Kong broadcasting rights of "Ashin", so "Ashin" was re-broadcasted in Hong Kong, and it was broadcast at 6:30 pm as the first-line drama of Hong Kong TV station, and the theme song was changed to "Always Believe" by Weng Qianyu. In 2015, TVB once again purchased the Hong Kong broadcasting rights of "Ashin", which was rebroadcasted on Japanese TV, using the 1984 TVB dubbing version.

"Axin" Taiwan imported version theme song

Taiwan, "Axin" was premiered in Taiwan by China Television Corporation (China Television), and the premiere period was from May 27, 1994 to November 1, 1994. Bilingual broadcast, the main channel is dubbed in Mandarin, and the sub channel is the original Japanese sound; it was originally scheduled to be broadcast at 21:30 every Friday night in Taiwan time, and each episode broadcasts for 90 to 120 minutes. On July 14, 1994, China Television temporarily decided that "Ashin" would be exchanged with the American TV series "New Superman", which premiered at 20:00-21:00 Taiwan time every Monday to Friday night from July 18, 1994. The time period is changed to Taiwan time every Monday to Friday from 20:00 to 21:00 (ie, 8:00) for the first broadcast. The reason for this decision by

is: The Japanese TV 50 episode of the Japanese drama " Journey to the West ", which was originally scheduled to premiere at 20:00-21:00 Taiwan time every Monday to Friday from July 25, 1994 ( Sakai Masaki version) because only 26 episodes were received and there was no time for dubbing, and it took at least two working days from translation to recording of Mandarin dubbing for each episode; and as of July 14, 1994, there are still 65 episodes of "Ashin" that have not yet premiered. , if it is still scheduled to start at 21:30 every Friday night in Taiwan time, it will have to continue to be broadcast for a year before the broadcast can be completed. If it is broadcast at 20:00-21:00 every Monday to Friday night in Taiwan time, it can be added.Quickly digest inventory. "Ashin" has since become Taiwan's first bilingual 8 o'clock TV drama, and also the first Japanese drama to appear in Taiwan's 8 o'clock file. With its touching plot,

"Ashin", with the Mandarin theme song "Always Believe" by Weng Qianyu, and the Mandarin ending song "Grateful Heart" by Ouyang Feifei and , became a famous overseas TV series in Taiwan at that time. With the high ratings of "Ashin" in Taiwan, "Always Believe" and "Grateful Heart" have become familiar songs to every household; so Zhongshi suddenly changed the ending song to "" sung by Jiang Yuheng When I cried, laughed, loved ", it was once dissatisfied and protested by many loyal fans.

On October 30, 1997, China Television held a tea party for the 28th anniversary of its broadcast at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Taipei, hosted by China Television News anchor Shen Chunhua . The heroine Sun Cuifeng and the hero Weng Jiaming sang "Four Seasons Red" live in the 8 o'clock drama series "Big Sister"; , Zhang Ruizhu, Ge Lei , Ai Wei , Yizheng and other artists sang "Grateful Heart", representing the hope that the ratings of the eight o'clock series of China Television will be as old and popular as "Ashin".

Iranian families watch "Oshin"

In Iran , the highest viewership rate of the show exceeds 90%, making the word "Oshin" (Ashin) synonymous with Japan for a long time. In keeping with the ethics of Islam, , when the show aired in Iran, some clips about the encounter between men and women were cut out because they were considered "obscene". Iran and Afghanistan aired in Persian dubbed version.

Ashin has become an idol of many Iranians, an Iranian woman once hailed Ashin as a better role model than the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad , Tehran Radio has aired it on "Voice of the Audience" For her insights, thousands of TV station officials have been imprisoned; when Ashin couldn’t find enough food to fill his stomach, Iranian sympathizers sent their own precious food ration tickets to the TV station, demanding Forwarded to Ashin; when Ashin's father died, an Iranian newspaper published a full-page commemorative article, and condolences and condolences were sent to TV stations from all over the country; some major cities in Iran had to lose power for 6 hours a day, but on Saturday At night, "Ashin" was broadcast without interruption, and the noisy traffic of Tehran stopped abruptly.

The source of charm

"Ashin" has such charm, first of all thanks to the skill of script writing, condensing the joys and sorrows of a great era into a seemingly weak, but hardworking and persevering woman. Coupled with the superb acting skills of the three actors who played Ashin, Kobayashi Ayako (young-Ashin), Otowa Nobuko (older-Ashin) and Tanaka Yuko (teenage-Ashin), Ashin came from a humble background. The ill-fated performance of the struggle without succumbing to the constraints of fate and the environment made Ashin transcend time and space to become a model of women across the ages, and everyone was moved by her simplicity, sincerity and bravery.

It's worth noting that the show is unmistakably anti-war. From the age of 7 to Ashin's old age, Ashin's firm anti-war ideology is highlighted, which is quite bold in Japanese themes. Because of the nature of a mother, and because she was influenced by a big brother when she was young, Ashin was not perplexed by the clamorous atmosphere of militaristic education, and resolutely opposed her two sons going to the battlefield. Although this play did not show the injustice and brutality of the Japanese army's invasion of other countries, it vividly demonstrated the trauma of the war to the Japanese people. It also has the best educational significance for Japanese and Chinese children, that is, never war!

In addition, what people talk about is Ashin's spirit of not being afraid of difficulties and daring to fight, as well as her innate business acumen, hard-working and down-to-earth, and the vision to see the essence of things, and gradually grow from zero to one. stamina, optimism in the face of troughs. In addition to Ashin, all kinds of characters appear in the play, which one is not fresh, not someone who can be seen and touched in real life? How can such a TV series full of life, market and various flavors not catch the audience's attention, mobilize the audience's emotions, and lead the audience across the Japanese society of that era, to see the warm and cold human feelings and taste the ups and downs?

"Ashin" authors Hashida Shougako (first from left), Ayako Kobayashi (second from left), Nobuko Otto (third from left), Yuko Tanaka (first from right),

I think, revisiting the TV series "Ashin" will be able to Give us a moment to think about whether we can continue to have the motivation to advance for the Chinese nation's century-old goal, and whether we can continue to maintain the traditional Chinese virtues of frugality, integrity, respect for the elderly and love for the young, etc. Can you not forget your original intention and enjoy the ups and downs with the people you are with?

smiled and went to sing the song of life. Don't complain that life has given too many hardships, don't complain about too many twists and turns in life. If the sea loses the rolling waves, it will lose its majesty. If the desert loses the wild dance of flying sand, it will lose its splendor. If life only seeks two points and one line of smooth sailing, life will lose the charm of existence. Smile and play calm strings, face setbacks, accept happiness, savor loneliness, and overcome sadness.

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