was a long-running prime-time popular television detective series in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:54 p.m. time slot on the

Tokyo Broadcasting System (formerly ) is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as ...

(TBS) network from May 24, 1975 to April 3, 1982. A sequel, ''G-Men '82'', followed, as did the specials. It had also been broadcast in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Since Hong Kong was one of the filming locations, it was very popular there. With several updates and cast changes, it ran for 7 years. Selected episodes are available on DVD.

Plot

The story revolved around a special detective agency, the eponymous G-Men. The principal character, who spanned the entire series (and continued into the sequel and specials), was Superintendent Tetsuya Kuroki, who was portrayed by Tetsurō Tamba. Kuroki directed the members of the group. The original cast also included Yasuaki Kurata as Detective Yasuaki Kusano, trained in karate. Gō Wakabayashi joined in Episode 105, and remained to the end of the series (and the sequel). His character, Lieutenant Goro Tachibana, replaced a detective who was written out of the script.

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 princi ...

wrote the opening theme songs. Various artists, including some cast members, wrote and performed the closing songs. For most years, the lyrics were by Junya Sato, set to Kikuchi's music. Veteran announcer Takayuki Akutagawa narrated the series.

Ending songs

*"Omokage" by Yuri Shimazaki (Episode 1-58) *"Tsuiso" by Yuri Shimazaki (Episode 59-144) *"Michi" by Kaori Shima (Episode 145-174) *"Omokage" by Yuri Shimazaki (Episode 175-204) *"Requiem" by Isao Sasaki (Episode 205-229) *"Requiem" by Yuri Shimazaki (Episode 230-233, 235) *"Wing" by Mari Natsuki (Episode 234, 236-248) *"Harukanaru Tabiji" by Popla (Episode 254-306) *"Again" by Yuri Shimazaki (Episode 307-354)

Opening sequence

The opening sequence featured the main cast walking along a runway with a "75" placed at the bottom, with an arrow beside it, as their characters were viewed in separate close-ups (with the name of their actors accompanying). The placement of the arrow and the "75" logo were changed as the series progressed. It was intended to film the opening at

Haneda Airport , also known as and sometimes abbreviated to ''Tokyo-Haneda'', is the busier of the two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary domestic base of J ...

, but permission was not granted, so it was filmed instead at Yashio, a district of Tokyo's Shinagawa ward, and later openings at the

JMSDF Tateyama Air Base is a military aerodrome of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. It is located outside the city of Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, at the southern tip of the Bōsō Peninsula.It also has a shorter runway because the airbase is only use ...

''G-Men '75'' cast

* Tetsurō Tamba as Tetsuya Kuroki (ep.1-355) * Yosuke Natsuki as Noriyuki Odagiri (ep.1-223) * Yasuaki Kurata as Yasuaki Kusano (ep.1-202) * Yū Fujiki as Hachibe Yamada (ep.1-204) *Daijirō Harada as Ichiro Sekiya (ep.1-33) *Fujita Okamoto as Shinichi Tsusaka (ep.1-104) *Mihoko Fujita as Keiko Hibiki (ep.1-103) * Gō Wakabayashi as Gorō Tachibana (ep.101-355) * Maria Mori as Ryoko Hayami (ep.105-203) *Gō Ibuki as Takeshi Nakaya (ep.105-306) * Mari Natsuki as Keiko Tsugawa (ep.205-251) *Hiroshi Chiba as Akio Taguchi (ep.205-330) *Toshihiko Yuuki as Tatsuya Murai (ep.205-226) * Yūsuke Kawazu as Yoshiaki Nagumo (ep.227-305) * Hiroshi Miyauchi as Kazuhiko Shimaya (ep.227-306) *Harumi Nakajima as Kyoko Fubuki (ep.253-306) *

Takeshi Kaga , real name , is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show ''Iron Chef'' produced by Fuji TV. Biography Kaga was born on October 12, 1950, ...

as Shigeru Kusaka (ep.307-355) *

Kyoko Enami was a Japanese film and television actress. Career Enami was the daughter of the actress Kazuko Enami. She joined the Daiei Film studio in 1959 and made her screen debut in 1960 with ''Ashita kara otona da''. Her first starring role as Noboriry� ...

as Saeko Tsumura (ep.307-355) * Bunjaku Han as Yoko Kagawa (ep.307-355) *Sarah Lowell as Mariko Teraoka (ep.307-330) *Masahiko Tanimura as Hajime Furuta (ep.331-355) *Kiyohiko Fujikawa as Daichi Kazama (ep.331-355)

''G-Men '82'' cast

*Tetsurō Tamba as Tetsuya Kuroki *Gō Wakabayashi as Gorō Tachibana *Kyoko Enami as Saeko Tsumura *Bunjaku Han as Yoko Kagawa * Saburō Shinoda as Hayasaka * Kentaro Shimizu as Sawada *Koichi Miura as Shima

TV specials

*''G-Men '75 Haru Dai Ikyou Satsujin no Onna'' (1993) Tetsuro Tamba, Masatoshi Nakamura, Mari Natsuki,

Show Aikawa is a Japanese actor. Career Show Aikawa was born in Tokushima Prefecture, Tokushima and raised in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kagoshima. Aikawa has appeared in a number of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films, including ''Eyes of the Spider'', ''Serpent's Path' ...

*''G-Men '75 Special Kaettekita Wakashishitachi'' (2000) Tetsuro Tamba, Nenji Kobayashi, Junichi Haruta *''G-Men '75 Special Tokyo-Hokkaido Trick Satsujinjiken'' (2000) Tetsuro Tamba, Nenji Kobayashi, Junichi Haruta, Raita Ryū

References

External links

DVD Selection
from Toei *{{IMDb title, 0185802

音楽録音・映像資料の部 (Audio recordings and film materials) Japanese detective television drama series 1975 Japanese television series debuts 1982 Japanese television series endings Japanese drama television series Shunsuke Kikuchi Detective television series Japanese crime television series