Japanese television gets around to the difficult subject of autism in the new drama series "Boku no Aruku Michi" (The Road I Walk; Fuji, Tuesday, 10:15 p.m.). SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi plays Te-ruaki, an autistic 31-year-old man whose emotional development is that of a 10-year-old boy. Teruaki lives with a large, loving family, but he has problems holding on to jobs. Though he's a hard, conscientious worker, he invariably upsets his co-workers, who aren't equipped to handle his situation.
In episode 2, which airs this week, Teruaki gets a new job at a zoo through the help of a friend. He is assigned to the rodent exhibit, and while he has no trouble with the animals, Teruaki finds it difficult to deal with the visitors to the exhibit. His colleagues try to help him, but again they never feel comfortable around him.
This fall, TBS has adapted one of last year's big box office hits, "Kiraware Matsuko no Issho" (The Life of Hated Matsuko; Thursday, 10 p.m.), as an 11-part drama series.