(Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

program on the

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

''. The program started in 1978 under the title ''Yoshimune Hyobanki: Abarenbo Shogun'' (''Chronicle in Praise of Yoshimune: The Unfettered Shogun'') who went after rogue councillors and ''daimyō'' who were abusing their power. After a few seasons, they shortened the first two words and the show ran for two decades under the shorter title until the series ended in 2003; a two-hour special aired in 2004. The earliest scripts occasionally wove stories around historic events such as the establishment of firefighting companies of commoners in Edo, but eventually the series adopted a routine of strictly fiction. Along with

Zenigata Heiji , usually called and formerly Heiji Zenigata VII, is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series ''Lupin III'', which debuted in ''Weekly Manga Action'' on August 10, 1967. He is named after the famous fictional Japanes ...

and

Mito Kōmon is a Japanese ''jidaigeki'' or period drama that was on prime-time television from 1969 to 2011, making it the longest-running ''jidaigeki'' in Japanese television history. The title character is the historic Tokugawa Mitsukuni, former vice-''sh ...

, it ranks among the longest-running series in the

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—'' Portrait of H ...

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

. Like many other jidaigeki, it falls in the category of ''kanzen-chōaku'', loosely, "rewarding good and punishing evil".

Repeating characters

Regulars

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimu ...

:Disguised as Tokuda Shinnosuke—Shin-san to his friends—the third son of a

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as '' gokenin.'' Howev ...

, the shogun roams freely about his capital, using the Megumi fire company as his base. The captain of the company knows his identity, but others are unaware that he is the shogun. Yoshimune-as-Shinnosuke is portrayed as the nearly invincible samurai warrior who seldom loses a fight no matter how many enemies opposing him there are. Ōoka Echizen-no-Kami Tadasuke :Like Yoshimune, Tadasuke was a historical personage. Yoshimune appointed him to the position of Minami Machi Bugyō, one of the two chief administrators of Edo. In this office, he was mayor, police chief, judge and jury. He instituted and oversaw the operations of the commoners' fire companies. He also oversaw the Koishikawa "City Hospital" ( Koishikawa Yōjōsho, another Yoshimune innovation). He was aware of Yoshimune's secret activities and originally did not approve, but grew to accept them as necessary and was a loyal accomplice. In the first episode, it was revealed that when he was Yamada Magistrate he had once reprimanded Yoshimune for illegal fishing when the shogun was younger, proving both his integrity and his devotion to the law. :

Tadashi Yokouchi is a Japanese actor. Born in Dalian, Manchuria, he graduated from high school in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. A member of the 13th group of actors and actresses trained at the Haiyū-za, he counts Tetsuo Ishidate, Toshiyuki Hosoka ...

played Tadasuke for nearly twenty years;

Ryō Tamura is a Japanese actor from Kyoto. His father was silent-film star Tsumasaburo Bando. With his elder brothers, the late Takahiro and Masakazu, he is one of the Three Tamura Brothers. Ryō graduated from Seijo University and made his cinema debu ...

replaced him in the closing seasons. Goyō toritsugi :The ''goyō toritsugi'' (御用取次) or ''soba yōnin'' ( 側用人) was the person who scheduled appointments for the Shogun. He is generally a man of advanced years. In the first two casts, the character's name was Kanō Gorozaemon (played by comic

Ichirō Arishima was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'' (1962). Arishima's real name was Tadao Oshima. He was bor ...

). Next came Tanokura Magobei (

Eiji Funakoshi was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in '' Fires on the Plain''. Biography Born Eijirō Funakoshi on 17 March 1923, in Tokyo, Eiji Funakoshi ...

), and a few followed in the cast changes of the last years of the show. Megumi (Abarembo Shogun TV Series)

Fire captain :Tatsugoro, originally the boss of a construction gang, was the founder of the Megumi fire company and thus reported directly to Tadasuke. In the first episode, it was revealed that he was a former drinking and fighting companion of Yoshimune's before the young lord's elevation to the shogunate.

Enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than '' ryūkōka'' music, ...

singer

Saburō Kitajima is a Japanese enka singer, lyricist, actor and composer. Background He was born Minoru Ōno (大野穣), in Shiriuchi, Hokkaidō, to a fisherman. He was very poor due to the effects of World War II, and was forced to work while he studied. ...

played in the series from beginning to end. Although somewhat short-tempered and never one to shun a brawl for a righteous cause, this short, stocky character was altruistic to a fault, stubborn, and fiercely loyal to Yoshimune. :Kitajima also sang the closing theme songs for several years. :Later, Tatsugorō retired from the Megumi and assumed a different occupation; the writers of the series brought in

Jōji Yamamoto was a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', lit. year name) of the Northern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after ''Kōan'' and before ''Ōan''. This period spanned the years from September 1362 through February 1368. T ...

, another singer (and a disciple of Kitajima) to play Chōjirō, the successor to Tatsugorō. In all, there were three captains during the series. Women of Megumi :Three actresses played Osai, the feisty wife of Tatsugoro. Later, when Tatsugorō left the fire company, the new captain Chōjirō married Obun, the young fishmonger/beat cop. The third captain was unmarried; his widowed sister Okyō was the lady of the Megumi. Firemen :The cast always included half a dozen firefighters ( 火消 ''Hikeshi''). While the roles were minor, together they were a prominent presence in the series. Character actors and comics played these parts. :The fire companies were named with a single

kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most p ...

such as め followed by the word ''-gumi''. The show featured the ''Me-gumi'', whose auspicious name could also mean "blessing"; the squad was formed in the third episode "The First Fireman's Banner". :In the first several years, a retired sumo wrestler named Ryūko was a member of the cast. He played a retired sumo wrestler named Ryūko, who was initially a guest of the captain. He later became a bone-setting doctor, and finally joined the crew of the fire company. Long after leaving the series, he made an appearance as a guest star.

Oniwaban The or was a group of government-employed undercover agents (''onmitsu''), established by the 8th Tokugawa ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684–1751). They were under the direct command of the shōgun and were in charge of undercover intellig ...

(ninja) :The show always had a male and a female oniwaban who acted as both spies and bodyguards for Yoshimune. A few of the actors and actresses have gone on to starring roles in other series. The original female, Osono, was played by

Yōko Natsuki is an actress, born 24 October 1952 in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. She started her career in the 1977 movie Karate for Life. One of her television roles was as Osono, a ninja in the jidaigeki series ''Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun.'' ...

. Her successor,

Asaka Mayumi (born September 6, 1955) is a Japanese actress. One of her television roles was as the ninja Sagiri in the jidaigeki '' Abarenbo Shogun.'' As of 2005, she is still active in television commercials. On August 31, 2006, she played a guest-star rol ...

, is currently active. In the third series, Reiko Sugano played Hayate; then

Takashima Reiko is a Japanese actress. Career Takashima starred in Shinji Aoyama's 1999 film, '' EM Embalming''. She has also appeared in films such as '' K-20: Legend of the Mask'', ''Railways'' and ''Space Battleship Yamato''. Filmography Film * ''Like a Ro ...

, who has gone on to star in television and film, succeeded her, with the name Kozue. Mayuko Irie (Akane), Akiko Andō (Koyuki), Hitoe Ōtake (Ayame), Chika Kochihira (Satsuki), Kaori Yamaguchi (Nagisa), and Kaori Matsunaga (Azami) followed, with Miki Murai appearing in the final special as Kaede. The men include Sukehachi (portrayed by

Hiroshi Miyauchi is a Japanese actor and singer from Chiba Prefecture. Miyauchi graduated from Nihon University. In 1969, he signed with Toei Company and made his film debut with ''Nagasaki Blues''. He first attracted attention after landing a role in a televisio ...

) and Ōtsuki Hanzō ( Shun'ya Wazaki, opposite Osono), the first Saizō (Shigeru Araki, paired with Hayate), Sagenta ( Kiyotaka Mitsugi) and the second Saizō (played by

Takayuki Godai is a Japanese actor best known as the ''shōgun''s ninja Saizō in the long-running prime-time television ''jidaigeki'' ''Abarenbō Shōgun''. Godai first appeared as Saizō in Episode 57 of Series III, and continued through Series IV and V, about ...

). Hayami Saheiji ( Toshihide Wakamatsu), Jūmonji Hayato, and finally Gorōta followed. Narrator :

Genzō Wakayama was a Japanese actor, voice actor and DJ. He moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido as a youth and graduated from Sapporo South High School. Due to his low bass voice, Wakayama often voiced villainous or calm characters. He is the official Japanese dub-o ...

narrated the show from the first episode to the last.

Semi-regulars

Tokugawa Muneharu was a ''daimyō'' in Japan during the Edo period. He was the seventh Tokugawa lord of the Owari Domain, and one of the ''gosanke''. Biography Muneharu was the 20th son

(徳川宗春) :The historical Yoshimune came to power when the main line of succession to the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end. He was chosen from the second of the three cadet branches of the Tokugawa clan, and the head of the senior branch, Muneharu, was passed over. The television series frequently presented Muneharu as a rival who tried to assassinate Yoshimune and take over the shogunate. Even when he did not appear, many villains acted in his name, or planned to receive their reward from Muneharu when he became shogun. First played by

Akira Nakao is a Japanese actor, TV personality, and artist from Kisarazu, Chiba. Nakao is represented by the Furutachi Project agency. Biography Nakao attended Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School from 1958, and entered Musashino Art University from 19 ...

and later by Tokuma Nishioka.

Yamada Asaemon Yamada (山田, ) is the 12th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese model, actress and idol *, Japanese field hockey player *, Japanese illustrator and manga artist *, Japanese rugby union player *, Ja ...

(山田朝右衛門) : Nicknamed Kubikiri Asa. An executioner for the shogunate, he quits and becomes a ''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master ...

'' and ally of Yoshimune.

Asahi Kurizuka Asahi Kurizuka () (born May 9, 1937) is a Japanese actor. He made his film debut with "Bukinaki Tatakai" directed by Satsuo Yamamoto in 1960. In 1966, he received the Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year. He specializes in ''jidaigeki'' . Espe ...

played the role in many episodes. O-Yuri no Kata (お由利の方) : Also known as Jōen'in (浄円院). Yoshimune's mother. Sons of samurai overlords were often separated from their mothers at an early age to develop sternness in them, and Yoshimune was no different. Although Yoshimune offered Oyuri room and board in Edo Castle, she refused, living instead an austere life in a house often seen nearly falling apart. They love each other as an ordinary mother and son, but they conceal their relationship to others as this is part of the Shinnosuke myth used by the Shogun. Played by

Tamao Nakamura (born July 12, 1939 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese actress. Her father is kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjirō II. She was scouted by director Teruo Ogiyama and made her film debut with ''Kageko to Yukie'' when she was a junior high school student. A ...

Guest stars

Over the course of a quarter of a century, the show featured a parade of celebrities. Singers, actors, and athletes of all ages played various roles, in some cases including themselves: Ryūko appeared as a guest several years after leaving the regular cast.

Hibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posth ...

, the famous singer, also appeared in the series. Former and future regular characters occasionally made guest appearances. Among the guest stars were the following: *

Yoshio Inaba was a Japanese actor best known for his role as Gorobei in Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai''. In addition to his career in film, Inaba was also a prolific theater actor and a member of the prestigious Haiyuza Theatre Company. He died of a heart ...

Hiroyuki Sanada is a Japanese actor and martial artist. He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Genbu in ''Ninja in the Dragon's Den'' (1982), Ryuji Takayama in '' Ring'' (1998), Seibei Iguchi in ''The Twilight Samurai'' (2002), Ujio in ' ...

* Tetsuro Tamba * Rika Miura *

Nobuo Yana is a Japanese film actor. He is most famous for playing villains. Before he started his acting career, he was a professional baseball player of Toei Flyer's. In 1956, he joined Toei Flyer's but in 1958, he retired because of an injury. He jo ...

Masashi Ishibashi Masashi Ishibashi (Japanese: 石橋政嗣 ''Ishibashi Masashi'', October 6, 1924 – December 9, 2019) was a Japanese politician who served as chairman of the Japan Socialist Party from 1983 to 1986. Biography Early life Born in colonia ...

Stories

The show was frequently topical, and touched on many themes of present-day life, the most common subject being political corruption. Many shows covered include topics of current interest such as drugs, unequal power relationships, poverty, urbanization, the generation gap,

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

, prostitution, inflation, and the tension between Japanese and foreign knowledge.

Climax

At the end of about eight hundred episodes, Yoshimune confronts the corrupt official or officials in their safehaven. The official calls his men, but Yoshimune stands firm to reveal and criticize his crimes without hesitation. At first, the official behaves rudely and insultingly as he believes Yoshimune is just a man of low social status, but then after looking closely at Yoshimune's face has a flashback leading him to recognize Yoshimune as Shogun and kneel down in obeisance. However, on hearing Yoshimune's demand that he commit

harakiri , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

, he declares Yoshimune to be an impostor and orders his men to kill him. Always outnumbered, Yoshimune ends up easily defeating his attackers with the help of his male and female oniwaban. Using the unsharpened back side of his sword so as to injure without killing the corrupt official, he orders his oniwaban to execute him with the words, ''sei bai''. In the premiere episode "The Star of Edo", Yoshimune confronts the main villain as himself inside Castle Edo and the villain recognizes him as the ''hatamoto''; after attempting to flee, being disarmed by Yoshimune and surrounded by Yoshimune's ninja and the palace guards, he is allowed to kill himself.

Lines of rebellion

In confronting Yoshimune, the official declares his rebellion with a variety of reasons, including the doubt of the appearance of the Shogun at that place and time or losing his respect to Yoshimune, etc., and it's one of the enjoyable points in the climax. Example:
*Sir Tokugawa cannot be here *He is an insolent person calling himself Sir Tokugawa *It's fine if the person were Sir Tokugawa *Everything ends, kill, kill him *Sir Tokugawa, I will fight with you *We lob your life, sir Tokugawa *You are just Shinnosuke Tokuda dying now *I decorate the last minute as an evil (to defeat you) *You are like a moth flying into the flame *Your Highness exists because of us, subordinates' dedication (not because of your ability) *The eighth shogunate will end *Now is the time *Shame on you *Bring his head to our lord Muneharu *I have forgotten the face of Sir Tokugawa *There is no reason to obey the order of sir Tokugawa *It is you who cut your own body, not I *We have planned to make you die *You must give up your life *I am a person who should have died at once (so, I'm not afraid if you try to execute me) *If you know the situation completely, in for a penny, in for a pound *How stupid saying who you are, it's the best timing that you show up here (to be killed)

Cast

Ken Matsudaira is a Japanese actor and musician from Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. His real name is . Career In 1974, he joined Shintaro Katsu's production company and made his debut with the television series Zatoichi as a guest. For a quarter of a century, he ...

(first),

(second) as Ōoka Tadasuke *Megumi **

as Tatsugorō, the first captain **

Masumi Harukawa , born , is a Japanese actress. Filmography * 1963: ''The Insect Woman'' * 1964: '' Unholy Desire'' * 1964: ''Kunoichi Keshō'' * 1967: ''Zatoichi's Cane Sword'' * 1968: ''The Human Bullet'' * 1968: '' Curse of the Blood'' * 1974: '' Pastoral: T ...

(first), Yōko Asaji (second), Ryōko Sakaguchi (third) as Osai, wife of Tatsugorō **

as Chōjirō, the second captain **

Akiko Ikuina is a Japanese singer, actress, tarento, and politician. She joined the Japanese pop idol group Onyanko Club in 1986. Biography She was born in Setagaya, Tokyo, but moved to Koganei when she was a little girl. She has an elder sister and an eld ...

as Obun, wife of Chōjirō **

Yūki Matsumura Yuki, Yūki or Yuuki may refer to: Places * Yuki, Hiroshima (Jinseki), a town in Jinseki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yuki, Hiroshima (Saeki), a town in Saeki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yūki, Ibaraki, a city on Honshu island in Japan * Yuki, ...

as Eigorō, third captain ** Yōko Ishino as Okyō, sister of Eigorō *Advisors to Yoshimune **

as Kanō Gorozaemon **

as Tanokura Magobei **

Tadao Takashima (27 July 1930 – 26 June 2019) was a Japanese actor and jazz musician. He appeared in more than 100 films, including the Toho productions '' King Kong vs. Godzilla'', ''Atragon'', and ''Frankenstein vs. Baragon''. He also performed in stage ...

as Shishido Kanbei **

Akira Nagoya was a Japanese actor. Nagoya was an actor who specialized in playing comical roles. He is known for playing the role of Yūtarō Asahina in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Ultraman Taro''. Filmography Films * ''Non-chan Kumo ni Noru'' (1955) as ...

as Hikozaemon Arima **

Shigeru Kōyama was a Japanese actor. Career Born in Kure, Hiroshima, Kōyama joined the Bungakuza theatre troupe in 1952, first as a directorial assistant and then as an actor. He made his film debut in 1953 in Tadashi Imai's ''An Inlet of Muddy Water''. He ...

as Yokokawa Kanjūrō *Oniwaban (ninja) **

as Yabuta Sukehachi **

as Osono ** Shigeru Araki as Koba Saizō **

as Sagiri ** Kiyotaka Mitsuki as Sagenta **

as Saizō **

Reiko Sugano Reiko (れいこ,　レイコ,　麗子, 怜子, 伶子, 玲子, 令子, 礼子, 禮子, 冷子) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese women's basketball player *Reiko Aylesworth (born 1972), an Ameri ...

as Hayate **

Reiko Takashima is a Japanese actress. Career Takashima starred in Shinji Aoyama's 1999 film, '' EM Embalming''. She has also appeared in films such as '' K-20: Legend of the Mask'', ''Railways'' and ''Space Battleship Yamato''. Filmography Film * ''Like a Ro ...

as Kozue **

Mayuko Irie is a Japanese actress and model. She has also written her name 入江まゆこ. Irie is represented by Blare International and Splash Model Agency. Her roles have ranged from historical-period parts to modern people, and encompassed ''tokusatsu'' ...

as Akane ** Tarō Iketani as Kirihara Sasuke ** Toshihide Wakamatsu as Hayami Saheiji ** Akiko Andō as Koyuki **

Takahito Ōmori Takahito is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Takahito, Prince Mikasa (1915-2016), fourth and youngest son of Emperor Taishō of Japan * Prince Takahito (尊仁) (1034-1073), later Emperor Go-Sanjō (後三条 ...

as Jūmonji Hayato ** Hitoe Ōtake as Ayame **

Chika Kochihira Chika may refer to: People * Chika (Igbo given name) * Chika (Japanese given name) * Chika (general name) * Chika (footballer) (born 1979), Brazilian defender * Chika (rapper), Jane Chika Oranika, American rapper Other uses * Chika (software), a J ...

as Satsuki ** Kaori Yamaguchi as Nagisa ** Miki Murai as Kaede *

(first),

Tokuma Nishioka is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, ...

(second) as

Tokugawa Muneharu was a ''daimyō'' in Japan during the Edo period. He was the seventh Tokugawa lord of the Owari Domain, and one of the ''gosanke''. Biography Muneharu was the 20th son

as Yamada Asaemon *

as Oyuri, mother of Yoshimune * Tsukasa Ito as Oyō, intern at the Koishikawa Yōjōsho *

Azusa Nakamura Azusa may refer to: Relating to California From a Native American language, likely Tongva ''Asuksagna:'' * Azusa, California, a city in the United States * Azusa Pacific University, a Christian-based institution in Azusa, California *Azusa Street R ...

as Tsuruhime/Chizuru, love interest of Yoshimune *

Megumi Matsushita is a Japanese actress. Biography Megumi Matsushita was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 16, 1981. Her mother is Rumi Sakakibara, a renowned actress in Japan, and her businessman father, Motoh Matsushita. She has no siblings. Her booking agent ...

as Chinatsu, niece of Ōoka Tadasuke

Music

Shunsuke Kikuchi was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working pri ...

wrote the opening theme, which is popular as a

ring tone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

. He also composed the incidental music.

sang the closing theme songs to various series. Late series omitted the closing theme, having instead introductory music by Kikuchi leading into an opening theme song sung by Kitajima. Due to the show's popularity in the Hawaiian islands where a large portion of the population is Japanese, the opening theme has become one of the official sports themes played at University of Hawaii sporting events.

Broadcasts

The original broadcasts were on the TV Asahi network in Japan. The ''Jidaigeki Senmon Channel'' has rebroadcast the series on cable and satellite. Also, full English-subtitled programs have been broadcast in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

via

KIKU KIKU (channel 20) is a multicultural independent television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside ABC affiliate KITV (channel 4). The two stations share studios ...

and have become very popular even among younger generations probably due to the large Japanese-American population and heavy Asian influence on modern Hawaiian culture.

References

External links

*
Abarenbo Shogun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unfettered Shogun Jidaigeki television series Shunsuke Kikuchi 1978 Japanese television series debuts 2008 Japanese television series endings TV Asahi original programming Fiction set in the 18th century Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Yoshimune