After it was revealed last year that at least a dozen Japanese were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s, the Japanese government was criticized for not aggressively pursuing the disappearances of these people as abductions. But the truth is that thousands of people disappear every year in Japan and the majority are not kidnapped. They are people with financial problems, married people who fall in love and walk out on their spouses without saying a word, and young people who can't take their parents any more. The police can only do so much to locate these individuals, especially if they are adults and have not committed any crimes.

These people are the main subject of "TV no Chikara" ("The Power of TV," TV Asahi, Monday, 8 p.m.). This is a show that, based on requests from the families of people who have vanished, tries to find missing persons.

Such shows have been a staple of Japanese television for decades. However, in the past they were specials and took a mostly passive approach -- stories about missing persons were related live on the air, and station employees manned the phones to take calls from anyone who might have information about them.