2014 . Bring it ON!

Happy New Year 2014!

NHK announces the new morning drama for housewives: Okaasan and Me.

Starring a young(ish) British girl who falls in love with a Japanese man.

And has to share her bed of roses with his mother.

Okaasan.

Week by week she learns how to be a perfect Japanese daughter-in-law.

She cooks tofu, she measures miso, she folds up old newspapers into perfect piles...

And - miracles! - she slowly becomes Japanese.

Her creamy British complexion turns a ghastly white.

Her wide, laughing mouth becomes pouty.

Her merry eyes become sad and mysterious.

And she can do amazing things with a big ball of yarn.

And on the evening of January 1st she rips open some supermarket packages and does amazing things with some chicken stock, seaweed and rice cake.