Japanese TV show debuts

Actors play out a scene on Main Street in Colfax where a Japanese man is attacked by an angry American after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in this Gazette file photo. The former Sandbagger Tavern building is decorated to represent a Japanese-owned grocery store.

The Tokyo Broadcasting System’s mini-series on Japanese Americans, which included scenes shot in downtown Colfax last May, had a U.S. debut before an audience of 250 Saturday at the Nisei Veterans Hall in Seattle. Showings are scheduled to continue in Seattle and Los Angeles for this month, according to a Seattle Times report Wednesday, Jan 12, by Kristi Heim, business reporter. Showings in Seattle are sold out.

Titled “99 Years of Love: Japanese Americans,” the 10-hour miniseries attracted 20 million viewers, a fifth of the population, when it aired over five nights in Japan last November.

The series tells the 100-year story of Japanese Americans by following generations of a fictional family, the Hiramatsus. Scenes shot in Colfax depicted the angry crowd response family members encountered after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Colfax Main Street scenes were selected because it offered the production crew pre-World War II era scenes. The former Sandbagger Tavern building was converted to depict a Japanese family’s store.

Heim’s account said Tokyo Broadcasting is attempting to assess the potential market for its mini-series on television or DVD.

Tatsuya Juni, TBS vice president in charge of programming, visited Seattle for the showing and said he didn’t expect the strong response it has received.