The Taiga Drama called Idaten (いだてん) has begun on NHK:
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20170404/p2a/00m/0na/005000c
“The first half of the drama will tell the story of marathon runner Shiso Kanakuri, who became one of the first Japanese nationals to participate in the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912. The second half will feature Masaji Tabata, the coach who laid the foundations of Japanese swimming and helped bring the games to Tokyo for the first time in 1964.”
The first episode, which introduced some of the characters and ended with Kanakuri, who was from Kumamoto, running a fast marathon in Japan, was broadcast yesterday but next week (Sunday 8PM, Jan 13th, NHK Sogo) the story of Kanakuri’s life begins in earnest. You’ll have lots of Kumamoto-ben to listen to. ;)
William has favored us with many posts about Kanakuri:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1395643790509049 In this post, William tells us about Kanakuri’s very, very long race in Stockholm and how the KK in Kumamoto’s “KK Stadium” is in honor of Kanakuri.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1805840712822686 More about that very, very long race (54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds) and other fun facts.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/1856555721084518 Filming in Kuamoto and the meaning of Idaten.
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/posts/2185660178174069 Kanakuri’s birth place: Tamana.
Enjoy!
– Summarized by Kirk
