is a Japanese serialized morning television drama series that was broadcast on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

. It aired a total of 156 episodes from April 1 to September 28, 2002. Each episode of the series was 15 minutes long, airing every morning except Sunday. It chronicles the life of Matsushita Sakura, a

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asia ...

from Hawaii who moves to a small town in Japan to be an

assistant language teacher An Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) is a foreign national serving as an assistant teacher (paraprofessional educator) in a Japanese classroom, particularly for English. The term was created by the Japanese Ministry of Education at the time of the ...

for Japanese middle-school students.

Premise

Sakura Matsushita, a

Sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world such as South America and North America to specify the children of children born to ethnic Japanese in a new country of residence. The ''nisei'' are considered the second g ...

(third-generation)

living in Hawaii, who comes to Japan to live with her grandparents. Later, she moves because she has to teach English to Japanese middle-school students as an

. There she learns many valuable lessons and makes new friends.

Cast

Shiho Takano is a Japanese actress who is represented by the talent agency, Tom company. Takano's husband is actor Yukiya Kitamura is a Japanese actor represented by Tom company. His father is actor Kazuo Kitamura and his wife is actress Shiho Takano. Bi ...

- Elizabeth Sakura Matsushita (primary character) *

Hideji Otaki Hideji (written: 秀治, 秀司 or ひで次) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese writer and playwright *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese actor {{given name Japane ...

- James Takero Matsushita (Sakura's grandfather, narrator) *

Yukiyoshi Ozawa is an American-born Japanese actor. Biography His father is conductor Seiji Ozawa. His mother is former model and actress Miki Irie. His sister is essayist Seira Ozawa. His cousin is musician Kenji Ozawa. He graduated from Seijo Gakuen Primar ...

- Keisuke Katsuragi * Ken Teraizumi - Ichiro Matsushita *

Hiromi Ōta Hiromi Ōta (太田裕美 '' Ōta Hiromi'', born on January 20, 1955, in Kasukabe, Saitama Saitama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese female singer. She is a popular singer who is considered an idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and ...

as Kyoko Matsushita (Sakura's mother) *

Keiko Tsushima was a Japanese actress, whose real name was . She was notable for her prominent role in Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film ''Seven Samurai''. She also starred in Japanese television series such as ''Sakura'' and ''Kimi ga Jinsei no Toki''. Born in Nag ...

- Toshiko Matsushita * Kaori Itakura - Momo Matsushita (Sakura's sister) *

Thane Camus Thane Alexander Camus (; born November 27, 1970) is an American TV personality and actor in Japan. Biography Camus was born in New York on November 27, 1970. Camus arrived in Japan in 1980 and graduated from a board school in Fujisawa, Kanagawa ...

- Robert Hoffman (Sakura's fiancé)

Alphabet Words Taught

Episodes

Episodes 1–13

Robert proposes to Sakura and she accepts...only in one condition. She wants to go to Japan first before she gets married. It has always been her dream to go to Japan and see her Japanese side. Her father doesn't want her to go at first, but later he decides that she may go as long as she goes to teach English to the Japanese students. When she gets to Japan she sees her grandparents. Her grandfather acts like he doesn't want Sakura there at his home, but actually he does. She can not stay at their house for long though because of her work. The principal of the school that she is supposed to be working at claims that she must go to another school and teach English there. Since she promised her father that she will go to Japan and teach, she kept her promise and moved out of her grandparents house and left to go to the other school. There she will meet many new people. The male health/Gym teacher will be living in the same house that she will be living at which is free for them to stay at because the school lends it to them. Sakura also goes to a small restaurant owned by American people. They all speak Japanese and Sakura and the people there become good friends. The other English teacher at her school is fake. He barely knows English and Sakura does not appreciate the fact that he teaches. She wants to teach the English language in a more interesting way so all the students will have fun while they are learning. All the other teachers does not accept that way of teaching so Sakura gets very upset and leaves the school. She lies to her grandparents that school is closed and stays at their home. Soon the health/Gym teacher calls to see where she is and discovers that she was lying to her grandparents. Her grandfather tells her that she will go back to the school whether she quits or stays.

Episodes 14–17

Sakura goes back to the school, apologizes for missing school and gets back on schedule. She becomes very close to the health/Gym teacher. A rumor gets around that Sakura and the health/Gym teacher are going out and the students even draw hearts on the chalk board. The nurse actually likes the health/Gym teacher and is upset of this situation. The rest of the teachers are upset also. Not because they like him but they believe that if they are going out, then they will not concentrate on the work that needs to be done. Sakura tells everyone that she has no interest in him by showing everyone the picture of Robert and her. The Gym/Health teacher and Sakura must go talk to the student's parents, so they go together at first but later decide that they would finish much quicker if they went to each house separately. So they do and of course Sakura gets lost. But with some help of the town people she finds the first house she is supposed to go to. The first house is a candle shop. She meets the entire family and enjoys the big old fashion house. She loves it there. Then, an offer came for her to come live with them and Sakura definitely agrees to stay.

Episodes 18–25

Sakura is enjoying her stay but seems like her student and his mother doesn't. At school the info gets out and the other students talk about it. Not only is there trouble at school, but there is trouble also stored for them at home. The younger sister comes back home saying that she is getting a divorce with her husband and she is expecting to stay at her parents' house back in her old room until she notices Sakura in there...

External links

* {{Asadora 2002 Japanese television series debuts 2002 Japanese television series endings Asadora