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The story
Following the passing of screenwriter Sō Kuramoto on September 18 at age 91, Fuji TV announced it will air a tribute special, “From the Northern Country ’83 Winter,” on October 9 at 9 p.m. The broadcast marks the 45th anniversary of the original series’ debut. On 5ch, users reminisced about nostalgic scenes — like the old man Matsukichi Sawada (played by Chishu Ryu) who turns up in Rogo — and shared memories of the cast, while others noted that instead of a fan-favorite episode like “First Love,” the choice of ’83 Winter felt “plain,” with comments like “they should’ve aired a more famous episode,” and plenty of posts speculating about the reasoning behind the pick.
Sanspo
Fuji TV Decides to Air Tribute Program for Sō Kuramoto, “From the Northern Country ’83 Winter,” on October 9 — Marking 45th Anniversary of the Series’ Debut
Fuji TV announced it will broadcast “From the Northern Country ’83 Winter” on October 9 starting at 9 p.m. as a tribute special for screenwriter Sō Kuramoto (who passed away on September 18 at age 91).
Source: sanspo.com / Original article here
What people said
Plenty of people still rent it at Geo or TSUTAYA (Japanese video rental chains).
It's never explained in the show, but Nakachan has a line like 'I've got a good idea,' so maybe that's how it got sorted out.
Or was it 'we've got a good idea'?
Everyone pitched in with Nakachan leading the charge, I think — and Goro took out a loan for his share.
Nope.
The fire one is the episode with 'The kids are still eating, damn it!'
Probably because the most popular one, 'First Love,' just got rerun on regular TV recently, and the only other one short enough to fit the time slot was '84 Summer.'
Probably wouldn't hold up watching it now, though.
Well, that's fine too.
Why'd they pick this dud when the actor who played Shokichi already retired?
The Shokichi actor had already retired by the time he came back for the follow-up (the one where he marries Hotaru) — they dragged him out of retirement for it.
They should rerun that sketch from 'Minasan no Okage Desu' (a classic variety show).
That one's got the 'the kids are still eating, damn it' line too.
Worth watching for that alone.
We watched it live back in the day lol.
They'll probably cram some comedian's reaction-cam into the leftover space from the 4:3 aspect ratio.
First time 'From the Northern Country' has hit terrestrial prime time in a while.
At this point I can't even keep track of whether Yoshioka's playing Jun, Mitsuo, Ryunosuke Chagawa, Dr. Goto, or Sen no Rikyu.
He gets beaten up in 'Minus 0.0' or something too, doesn't he.
They'll probably air that one before long too.
A son who knocks up someone else's daughter, and a father who tries to settle it with a bag of pumpkins — that alone makes them both trash.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
‘From the Northern Country’ kept spawning specials at milestone moments even after the original series ended in 1981 — ’84 Summer,’ ’87 First Love,’ ‘2002 Testament,’ and more — making it a long-running franchise, and this ’83 Winter’ entry is one of the earliest of those specials. The thread’s recurring question of ‘why this episode’ seems to trace back to the fact that the fan-favorite ‘First Love’ had just been rerun on terrestrial TV, plus ’83 Winter’ being a length that fits neatly into the broadcast slot — though that’s purely viewer speculation, not a reason ever stated by the production side. It’s also worth noting that while the series carries a strong image as a heartwarming drama about Hokkaido’s great outdoors, it actually depicts plenty of heavy human drama too, including affairs and money troubles — several commenters pointed out this gap, which may come as a surprise to readers who haven’t watched the series.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread ‘[Tidbit] Fuji TV Decides to Air Tribute Program for Sō Kuramoto, ‘From the Northern Country 83 Winter,’ on October 9 — ‘An old man named Matsukichi Sawada (Chishu Ryu) wanders into Rogo…’.’
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