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Paper short abstract

This paper analyzes the male and female characters featured in a TV drama”, which addresses the theme of balancing work and household duties in a contemporary context, and discusses the gender situation in Japan as presented by the drama.

Paper long abstract

This study examines the TBS drama series “Taigan no kaji. Kore ga watashi no ikiru michi!” The title of the drama “Taigan no kaji” is based on the saying “The fire on the other side of the river is none of my concern.” However, instead of fire (kaji), the word for household (kaji) is used here, implying that one does not have to worry about other people's household chores. However, this is precisely what is questioned in the drama.

The drama's main characters are men and women in their 20s and 30s striving to balance work, housework, and childcare while pursuing cutting-edge lifestyles. The protagonist is Shiho, a full-time homemaker with a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Reiko is a dual-income woman with two young children, Tatsuya Nakatani, a career bureaucrat at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is raising his one-year-old daughter after taking two years of childcare leave. Shiho is criticized by the two as a “threatened species” and told that “housewives who don't work are a luxury in an era of declining birthrates and aging populations”, yet she steps in to help with housework and childcare when they face difficulties. Furthermore, contemporary topics are woven throughout: an elderly woman developing dementia and requiring care, a young wife struggling with societal pressure to “have children soon,” and a single mother pushed to the brink mentally.

I will analyze this drama from my perspective as someone engaged in media literacy research and practice. First, I will select symbolic scenes and conduct visual analysis to examine the characters' beliefs and values, as well as their approaches to resolving care work such as housework and childcare. Additionally, I aim to interpret the drama by considering the gender policies underlying it and incorporating critical feminist discourse on these policies.