Hachiro Sato, who died in 1973, is one of Japan's most beloved writers of lyric poems and children's songs. His life, however, was far from gentle, as shown on the current nine-part NHK drama series, "Hachiro: Haha no Uta, Chichi no Uta (Hachiro: Songs for Mother, Songs for Father") (NHK-G, Mon., 9:15 p.m.).
Hachiro's works were popular both before World War II and after it. "The Apple Song" was virtually the anthem of the immediate postwar recovery period. He was the archetypal free spirit, and the drama, based on a memoir written by half-sister Aiko, centers on his domestic troubles. In episode five, which airs this week, Hachiro (Toshiaki Karasawa) learns that his younger brother has committed suicide in Sendai. Enraged, Hachiro blames his mother, who divorced his father and raised the younger brother by herself.
Hachiro's father, however, is a notorious womanizer, and Hachiro appears to have inherited his ways. His wife, Kumiko (Akiko Matsumoto), resigns herself to the fact that Hachiro is not going to leave his mistress, Ruriko (Mayu Tsuruta).