TV drama shot in Seattle big hit in Japan

SEATTLE – Ichiro Suzuki slaps one of his signature hits at Safeco Field to the wild cheers of Seattle Mariners fans.

In the stands, an elderly Japanese-American couple get their first taste of America’s pastime. They marvel at how someone from Japan could become a hero in a culture that demonized them in their youth.

“It’s hard to believe how they used to hate us …” one remarks.

The opening scene of a groundbreaking TV drama in Japan, shot mainly in Seattle, tells the story of Japanese-Americans over the past century through the lens of one family.

The drama is stirring conversations in Japan and the U.S., online and in local community centers, about a painful topic that older generations on both sides had put behind them and that younger ones hardly know.

The 10-hour miniseries, “99 Years of Love: Japanese Americans,” attracted 20 million viewers – nearly a fifth of the population – when it aired on the Tokyo Broadcasting System in Japan over five nights in November.

The series has been subtitled in English and made its U.S. debut Jan. 8 before an audience of 250 at Nisei Veterans Hall in Seattle. Showings continue here and in Los Angeles this month.

The story follows generations of the fictional Hiramatsu family, immigrants who flee poverty in Japan and make a living as farmers in Washington state. They face discrimination and see their lives torn apart by World War II.

Their first U.S.-born child, named Ichiro, is incarcerated with other people of Japanese descent in detention camps after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. He later fights as a U.S. soldier in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the segregated, all Japanese-American unit that became the most highly decorated in Army history.

The show’s popularity surprised even its producer, Tatsuya Juni, Tokyo Broadcasting System vice president in charge of TV programming. Juni, who visited Seattle for the first U.S. showing, said he didn’t expect a large audience to embrace such a difficult, serious topic.

“There are people who experienced this era who are still alive,” he said. “These people typically don’t wish to talk about it.”

As a result, “many young people don’t even know such a war has existed,” he said.

Juni said he hopes to send a message to younger Japanese about the spirit and strength of those early immigrants, who overcame harsh conditions through perseverance and unity.

“The Japanese-Americans are inheriting more of the traditional Japanese spirit,” he said. “Japanese today know about such concepts. It’s somewhere in them. But they might be lacking confidence.”