Kagurazaka - Dear Father/Hakei, Chichiue-Sama
Hakei, Chichiue-Sama / Dear Father
TV Series broadcast on Fuji-TV from January 11 to March 22, 2007
now available on an All Regions DVD - 3 Discs - 11 Episodes
Kagurazaka is an intriguing word. I mean it has 4 A’s, a K, and a Z. It is made up with 5 vowels and 5 consonants. A word like this would be great on a Scrabble board except for the fact that it has 10 letters and in Scrabble you only get 7 letter tiles. So forget that. As for saying this word, it is not as hard to say as it looks if you break it into syllables. Ka-gu-ra-za-ka. Easy.
Megumi Kagurazaka
For those of you who have read my columns either regularly or infrequently; you should recognize the name Megumi Kagurazaka. Back in 2003 she was discovered while working in a department store by a sharp-eyed talent agent who signed her up for gravure modeling. She had the looks, and the body to delight both serious collectors of the gravure genre, like me, and most of you, as well as many otaku or fan-boys whose interest in something, even bikini idols, could edge into an obsession. In any event, her Idol career did take off and Megumi-chan became quite popular. Between 2004 and October 2007 she appeared in at least 18 DVD’s, most of which were reviewed by yours truly. You can find some of the more recent reviews on my pages by using the search feature on the homepage.
Recently, in fact, very recently, I became aware that Kagurazaka was not only a model’s name but also a real place. I wondered if the fair Megumi was from Kagurazaka, and if she had adopted it as her stage name. That idea turned out to be incorrect. She’s actually from Okayama which is midway between Hiroshima and Osaka. Maybe she decided to live in Kagurazaka to be based in Tokyo to pursue her dreams. But the reality is that I don’t know for a fact, or even for a wild guess, whether her real name is Kagurazaka or not.
Anyway, after achieving success in the IV (Idol Video) world, her true desires surfaced. Megumi aspired to do more than be a model for photo-books and travel to various Asian beach resorts where, accompanied by film crews and staff of assorted DVD production houses, she would appear in a plethora of bikini bathing suits, and sometimes less than that, in front of digital video cameras. Her real desire was to become an actress in the lucrative world of TV Drama Series or movies. And to that end, in 2007, she would abandon the world of gravure modeling.
Her last Idol DVD was called Undress, was released in October of 2007. Unfortunately this DVD was more hype than anything else. Her producers, knowing this was to be her last Idol DVD, leaked out the word that Megumi would appear completely nude in this DVD. This news spread to otakus all over Japan, and following that, in the natural progression of things, this news hit the Internet, even reaching me in the USA.
Expectations were high, and this led to high sales figures for the DVD upon its release. But most of us who bought it or watched it were quite disappointed. Our hopes of seeing Megumi Kagurazaka totally nude were almost completely dashed. She did in fact appear totally naked, but all we saw were a few brief seconds, and a rear view at that. Blink and you might have missed it. So Megumi’s departure from the world of Gravure Idols left a sour taste in those of us who had supported her career by buying her DVDs.
Megumi has gotten work acting in feature films, like Spy Girls (above) but I’ve not seen any of them. But if you’re so inclined, you can have a peek at her acting career by checking her page on the AsiaMediawiki.com website .
And that brings us back to Kagurazaka itself. As recently as early November of this year, only a few weeks ago, when I was in Tokyo, I was still unaware that Kagurazaka was an actual neighborhood in Tokyo. This was unfortunate because Kagurazaka is a very popular area for foreign tourists like me. What’s more, I might have gotten there in a just a few minutes from Shinjuku, where my hotel was, via the JR (Japan Rail) Sobu Line.
Okay, I can see the question forming in your heads. If I hadn’t heard of Kagurazaka when I was in Tokyo, and only minutes away from it, how do I know of it now?
The answer to that is the Japanese TV Drama Series, Hakei Chichiue-Sama which translates to Dear Father. This TV series was shot on location almost entirely in Kagurazaka. As I watch many of Japan’s best TV series by means of subtitled DVD’s, you know I was going to buy this one immediately once I discovered it and read about Kagurazaka as the location in the Plot Summary. In short, by discussing this DVD, you will see and learn about Kagurazaka, the place, as well as something about this TV Series.
Kagurazaka is a popular neighborhood. It has many cafes and restaurants. There’s a decidedly French presence in the area due to the proximity of a major school, the Lycee Franco-Japonaise de Tokyo located in Kagurazaka. In fact, the theme song of Hakei, Chichiue-Sama is a very French styled song called Paper. Edith Piaf, the French chanteuse will certainly come to mind but this song is sung in Japanese by a Japanese singer.
Kagurazaka is also home to some of the finest Japanese restaurants, not only in all of Tokyo, but in the Kanto region as well. These elegant restaurants must be booked in advance, referrals are often needed to secure a booking, and they do not accept walk-ins from the street, nor do they accept solo diners. Some are located on small side streets, or alleys, often accessible only on foot. And one more thing, there are still some geisha houses in Kagurazaka.
And there you have the nexus of Hakei, Chichiue-Sama and Kagurazaka. This series is about the struggles both for and against the transition of Kagurazaka from being a small neighborhood that maintained its aura by means of its history and old world charm. Its lovely narrow side streets, with geishas still working there, and the fine traditional restaurants found there are only a part of it’s uniqueness and quaintness. As Kagurazaka struggles to both stay as it has been while becoming a community of high rise buildings that would add little charm and mostly block the sun, real life and this fictional story may overlap. These events are told through the story of one family owned restaurant called Sakashita, that was being sold-off to a construction company in order to be torn down and the land used to build a high-rise business/apartment complex.
This happens all over the world. Some call it gentrification. Some describe it as out with old, and in with the new. Whatever you call it, the net result is usually that the face of the community changes as older businesses close, rents go through the roof, and as younger people move in, older people are displaced. When the Starbucks, and other international retail chains arrive, they would replace the Ma and Pa small businesses. Therefore as these changes occur, you can be sure that this ‘progress’ aka gentrification which goes hand in hand with making a profit at the expense of the locals, comes only after great struggles. And this was the case in this drama too.
Let’s now have a look at some of the characters in the story and a look at Kagurazaka itself. The lead character is the 23 year old Ippei.
He’s an apprentice chef at Sakashita. He’s worked at the restaurant for 6 years. He lives in a small flat that’s barely big enough for one person, but he has been asked to share his room with the new trainee just hired by the restaurant. His name is Tokio.
Tokio is a big strapping 16 year old. He’s eager to learn and please his masters at the restaurant. But as Ippei’s roommate, we discover that he is prone to listening to the couple next door making love by holding a glass to the wall, and that he is obsessed by women’s breasts.
Ippei’s Mom is called Yukino She is now the owner of a bar, but before that, she was a geisha herself. She gave birth to Ippei as an out-of-wedlock baby, and as the story begins, Ippei still has no idea as to his father’s identity. He will pursue this as the story unwinds. Yukino is also privy to much information that is passed to her via her network of geisha friends who entertain big shots and their guests at elegant restaurants like Sakashita.
The Okami or head and owner of the restaurant is Yumeko Sakashita. She’s 79 years old, but she insists she’s ‘just’ 77. In her younger days, she too was a geisha. Long ago she became a mistress to one of Kagurazaka’s biggest politicians. We aren’t told this specifically, but you get the impression that this politician couldn’t divorce his wife to marry a geisha, so instead, he set her up with the restaurant.
Yumeko’s daughter is Ritsuko Sakashita, who is married to Tomatsu who is the second chef in the kitchen. Ritsuko is in fact the de-facto manager of the restaurant. It is she who has been secretly working to sell the restaurant to the construction company so it could be demolished. She plans to re-open a smaller Sakashita restaurant in the high-rise later on. Even her husband, as well as her mother Yumeko, were kept in the dark about these dealings.
Eri Sakashita is the beautiful daughter of Ritsuko and Tomatsu. She’s still in High School but she helps out in the restaurant. She has a beautiful figure and there are at least 3 or 4 instances in the series where mention is made of her large boobs.
The Head Chef of Sakashita is Ryuji. Not only is he the Head Chef, but he is also a confidante of the old lady Yumeko, who everyone calls Landlady which is a translation of the word okami. Ryuji is also the most centered or solid of all the characters of the drama, and is idolized by Ippei.
The last main character is the gorgeous Naomi. Naomi will serve as Ippei’s love interest despite the fact that the Sakashita family is doing it’s best to pair off Eri with Ippei. He however, only has eyes for Naomi.
She’s a bit of character herself. She works at a French Bakery in Kagurazaka and is studying to become a French Pastry Chef. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, she speaks only French. While on the other days of the week, she speaks Japanese. Her dream is to go to Paris to complete her studies.
Ippei’s dream is to go to Paris with her, and with her, he can do the only thing he hasn’t done yet to become a man. As he puts it, “With Naomi, I can conclude my youth.”
There you have it. These are the main people whose personal stories are blended in to be a part of the story of the Sakashita restaurant located in the heart of Kagurazaka. The title, Dear Father, refers to letters Ippei writes in his head to his unknown father. In reality, these un-written letters are voice overs spoken by Ippei as a technique to recap the prior episode or as the introduction to the new episode, to offer explanations as to what is going on, and to express his feelings to the viewers.
Though Ryuji is the one rock-solid character of the drama, the story is not told through him. Instead it is Ippei who is at the center of the story. We suffer with him, find our spirits soaring with him when he is with Naomi, and he is the one we are rooting for as he finds that choices involving life, love, and career are never easy, and may not work out exactly as planned.
Summary: There is one more star to this drama and that is the streets and sights of Kagurazaka itself. I’ve set this 11 episode, 3 Discs DVD drama in motion for you. I’ve given you a look at Kagurazaka and the characters in this story, and have not given you any real ’spoilers’. I loved this series and gave it a 4.75 rating as it is a lengthy investment of your time. But I believe it is well worth your time. Next time I am in Japan, I will surely spend time in Kagurazaka. And yes, I do miss the sexy Megumi Kagurazaka whose photos also make up a part of this article.
As for the luscious Naomi, let’s have another look at her to close out this article. The actress who played this role is Meisa Kuroki, and we hope to see more of her in the future.
If you don’t speak Japanese, you can buy this DVD at the Japanese Drama DVD Store out of California which sells Japanese language Drama DVD’s with English, Chinese and Malay subtitles.
