Change (TV series)

CHANGE
Genre	drama, politics
Starring	Takuya Kimura Eri Fukatsu
Ending theme	Miles Away (Madonna)
Country of origin	Japan
Language(s)	Japanese
No. of episodes	10
Production
Producer(s)	Hiroyuki Goto, Kazuyuki Shimizu
Location(s)	Tokyo
Running time	54 min./episode
Broadcast
Original channel	Fuji TV
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	May 12, 2008 – July 14, 2008
External links
Website

CHANGE is a Japanese television drama which aired on Fuji TV starting May 12, 2008.^[1][2]

Plot

Keita Asakura, an elementary school teacher who has no interest in politics, suddenly gets taken to the position of the prime minister. He was forced to campaign in the Fukuoka Prefecture for a seat in the House of Representatives when his father, representative of Fukuoka for the Seiyu Party, and his elder brother, his father's political successor, both died in an aircraft accident en route from Vietnam.

Episode 1: (2008/5/12)

Keita Asakura, who left home to pursue his love for astronomy and became an elementary school teacher, is forced to return home to become his deceased father's successor as the Fukuoka representative in Seiyu Party. He wins the prefectural elections and heads to Tokyo as a newly elected Representative in the House of Representatives.

Episode 2: (2008/5/19)

Asakura is officially sworn in at parliament in a quiet ceremony. He is dubbed the "Prince of the Parliament" (kokukai ouji) by the media and the people, especially the women, develop a keen interest in Asakura with the media attention he receives. The current Prime Minister is embroiled in a sexual harassment incident and announces his intention to step down from his post. Kanbaya sensei, one of the most senior politicians in the Seiyu Party makes a proposition to Asakura to run in an election to be the leader of Seiyu Party, which will also mean that Asakura will become Prime Minister if Seiyu Party wins the general election three months later. Nirasawa and Hikaru arrives in Tokyo from Fukuoka and stays over at his residence, in time becoming his trusted aides.

Episode 3: (2008/5/26)

Asakura deliberates on the decision to run in the Party elections. He goes back to the elementary school and comes to a decision after spending a day with the children he used to teach. Miyama prepares him for the pre-elections televised debates with intensive education about the political systems. He did not perform well in the first 2 debates with the other veteran politicians and comes off as looking silly on television. Supporting his campaign, 3 other politicians from the Seiyu Party comes to his aid by educating him in the various aspects of law, economics and politics before his final debate. In the final debate, Asakura looks confused when the 2 other candidates started discussing the topic in political verbiage. Finally, he brings out the point that he did not understand what they were saying, and probably the majority of the Japanese citizens as well. With this obvious point brought out, he wins the Party's internal elections by a landslide and is elected Prime Minister by becoming the Party's chairman.

Episode 4: (2008/6/2)

Asakura sets up his government as Prime Minister. Kanbaya sensei makes a suggestion for the new ministers under Asakura's government and Asakura accepts his suggestions without question when Miyama agrees that they were best candidates for the job. Miyama faces her own problems on the job when she is ignored by the rest of the secretarial team. When Asakura is asked to sign a document stating the government was denying responsibility for the issue on Yakushima that the marine life was affected due to a dam built in that area, he could not understand why the government was denying responsibility and sought to get a proper explanation so that he could make the right decision regarding the issue. As the previous prime minister had signed this document without question in the previous years, the members in the government were furious. The acceptance of responsibility for this issue could lead to the government having to pay compensation sums to the fishermen of Yakushima and did not go down well with Kanbaya sensei. Asakura escapes from the Prime Minister's residence at night and returns to his parents' house. He spends a whole night studying the research data on the Yakushima incident with the help of Nirasawa and Hikaru. He promises Miyama that he would not neglect his Prime Ministerial duties. Onoda sensei, one of the senior politicians in Seiyu Party involved previously in the Yakushima incident, is asked by Kanbaya sensei to dissuade Asakura when Asakura speaks of the government taking up responsibility for this incident when it becomes clearer to him that the cause of the incident was indeed due to the dam being built. Asakura gains the respect of Onoda sensei and gets his help in proving the incident did cause income loss to the fishermen at Yakushima. Asakura apologises to the public at a press conference and vows to compensate all those affected by the dam.

Cast

• Takuya Kimura as Keita Asakura
• Eri Fukatsu as Rika Miyama
• Hiroshi Abe as Katsutoshi Nirasawa
• Akira Terao as Masaichi Kanbayashi
• Rosa Kato as Hikaru Miyamoto

Reception

CHANGE started it off okay with 23.8% rating on its first episode. As the week progresses, the rating drops to below 20%, which is unusual for Japanese television drama starred by Takuya Kimura. It hit 31.2% at 22:15 during the 60-minute extended finale episode.^[3]

The single episode ratings are as follows: ^{[4] [5]}

Episode	Title	Kanto
01	Elementary Teacher Changes Japan?! An Amateur in Politics Becomes the Youngest Prime Minister of Japan!! (小学校教師が日本を変える！？政治の素人が最年少総理大臣に!！)	23.8%
02	Prince of the Diet's First Experience (国会王子の初体験)	23.0%
03	Tonight, the Prime Minister of Japan's Debut!! (今夜、総理誕生！！)	22.4%
04	The Prime Minister Is Bullied (いじめられる総理)	19.3%
05	Big Incident on the Prime Minister's Day Off (総理休日の大事件)	19.5%
06	Love Scandal (恋愛スキャンダル)	19.1%
07	The Prime Minister Disappears (消えた総理)	20.9%
08	Separation. And Counterattack (別れ。そして逆襲)	19.5%
09	Shock!! The Prime Minister's Collapse (衝撃！！　総理倒れる)	22.3%
10	Goodbye, The Prime Minister's Tearful Last Message (さようなら、朝倉総理涙のラストメッセージ)	27.4%
Average		21.7%

Special campaign

Takuya Kimura is currently appearing in Toyota's commercial. Collaborating with Toyota, there will be a quiz after every episode, and the "Change" original car "STAR Fielder" made by Toyota (model based on Corolla Fielder) will be given to one of the viewers. From May 12, 2008, Takuya will continue appearing in Toyota's commercial but as Keita Asakura, this drama's character. On May 10 and May 12, two specials will be broadcast prior to the premiere, and Takuya and Eri Fukatsu will appear live on Mezamashi Terebi, Toku Dane!, and Waratte Iitomo (only Takuya), promoting the drama.^[6]

External links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Change at the Internet Movie Database

References

1. ^ SMAP×SMAP - March 31, 2008.
2. ^ "キムタク内閣発足！所信表明は「ドラマ通じ政治に関心持って」" (in Japanese). 2008-04-10. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20080410192847/http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt200804/gt2008041000.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09. 
3. ^ "「CHANGE」31.2% 瞬間最高視聴率" (in Japanese). Sankei Sports. 2008-07-15. Archived from the original on 2008-07-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20080716203033/http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/080715/gnj0807151114019-n1.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
4. ^ "Show schedule and ratings" (in Japanese). Audience Rating Japan. http://artv.info/ar0804.html. 
5. ^ "CHANGE Episode Guide" (in Japanese). http://drama.chu.jp/08_04/change.html. 
6. ^ (Japanese)"木村拓哉主演月９ドラマで視聴者に車プレゼント". Sankei Sports. 2008-05-10. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080512103023/http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt200805/gt2008051008.html. Retrieved 2008-05-10.