, literally ''Roar at the Sun!'', was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan, which ran from 1972 to 1986 for a total of 718 episodes. The lead star was Yujiro Ishihara. It also helped further the career of actors such as

Yūsaku Matsuda was a Japanese actor. In Japan, he was best known for roles in action films and a variety of television series in the 1970s as well as a switch to a wider range of roles in the 1980s. His final film appearance was as the villain Sato in Ridley ...

and Kenichi Hagiwara as well as

Hiroshi Katsuno is a Japanese actor.　He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. Katsuno's debut was as a detective Texas in the television series Taiyō ni Hoero! in 1974 and he won great popularity through the role. The episode his character Texas was killed ...

and Masaya Oki. It was a

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

set mostly in a police station. It was one of the most popular and iconic detective dramas in Japanese television history. A sequel was aired from 1986 to 1987, airing for 12 episodes.

Setting

The series takes place in the fictional Nanamagari police station in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

and portrays the investigations of Nanamagari's detective squad. Headed by Superintendent Shunsuke "Boss" Todo, it initially consists of Inspector Seiichi "Yama-san" Yamamura with Detectives Makoto "Gori-san" Ishizuka, Kimiyuki "His Highness" Shima, Taro "Chosan" Nozaki, and Policewoman Shinko "Shinko-san" Uchida. In the first episode they were joined by Detective Jun "Macaroni" Hayami, who later died in Episode 52. Macaroni was replaced by Jun "Jiipan" Shibata, who would also be killed in Episode 111, and starting a series tradition of having cast members killed off upon their actor's departure from the show. The drama recorded high audience rating, especially episodes which regular cast members were killed or died recorded high audience rating every time. While the Nanamagari squad's usual jurisdiction encompasses Tokyo, sometimes they are assigned cases that take them to various locales across Japan, ranging from

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

and

Sakurajima Sakurajima ( ja, 桜島, literally "Cherry Blossom Island") is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsul ...

, to name a few. Other cases involved detectives going abroad to prosecute fugitives in Paris, Canada, Australia, and Hawaii. 『太陽にほえろ!伝説-疾走15年私が愛した七曲署』（1996年、日本テレビ） P1-20

Regulars

Semi Regulars

* Yoko Machida as Takako Yamamura (Wife of Seiichi Yamamura) (1972–78) *

Kin Sugai (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 9th Hochi Film Award for '' The Funeral''. Sugai is famous for her role as Sen Nakamura in the jidaigeki drama Hissatsu series. S ...

as Taki Shibata (Mother of Jun Shibata) (1973–74, 78, 85) *

Takuya Fujioka was a Japanese actor. He is most famous for playing the role of Daikichi Okakura on the television drama series '' Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari''. Fujioka attended Kwansei Gakuin University but dropped out because of illness. His first starring r ...

as Samejima (1973–86) *

Akihiko Hirata (December 16, 1927 – July 25, 1984), born , was a Japanese film actor. While Hirata starred in many movies (including Hiroshi Inagaki's ''Samurai'' trilogy), he is most well known for his work in the ''kaiju'' genre, including such films as '' ...

as Nishiyama (1973–83)

Taiyō ni Hoero! Part 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taiyo ni Hoero! Japanese drama television series Japanese crime television series 1970s Japanese television series Japanese police procedural television series Detective television series Japanese detective television drama series Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in fiction