NHK's long-running morning dramas have been viewer favorites for over 50 years. The current series, "Massan," was inspired by the lives of Masataka Taketsuru, the father of Japan's whisky industry, and his Scottish wife, Rita.
The show has been attracting attention from Japan's international community, largely due to the casting of American Charlotte Kate Fox as the first leading foreign actress in an NHK morning drama. Fox portrays the heroine, Ellie Kameyama. The show's title comes from Ellie's nickname for her husband, Masaharu, played by Tetsuji Tamayama.
One group with a vested interest in NHK's depiction of a foreign bride are the members of the Association of Foreign Wives of Japanese (AFWJ), a 500-strong organization with members of around 40 different nationalities.
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