Thursday, January 8, 2009

1970s Japanese crime drama


Pondering my career prospects this morning, I thought of the gangsters I used to watch on Japanese crime dramas growing up. Taiyo ni Hoero ( 太陽にほえろ) or "Howl at the Sun" broadcast from 1972 to 1986, was the king of those shows. It's probably one of postwar Japan's most beloved and popular television programs.

The heroes are macho cops who pursue guys resembling the gentleman above.

I remember rushing home from third grade summer school, which got out at midday, just so I could catch the reruns on daytime TV.

I found a rare, short clip on YouTube. (The copyright holder, Toho, appears to be aggressively making sure episodes are removed. This is the only one I was able to find.) Check it out if you want a glimpse of macho 1970s Japan...



I still get a thrill when I hear the theme music!! Seriously. The song was running through my head all day.

2 comments:

Demon said...

What? Gritty crime dramas!? No Dai Sentai Goggle V or Mahou no Princess Minky Momo? (both of which sound awesome..) From Wikipedia's 1982 in TV listing. I was probably busy watching Magnum or Gimmie a Break!

odori said...

Yes, I watched "Maho no Princess" a little bit. And I loved "Mahotsukai no Sally" and "Rupan Sansei." But I may have enjoyed the good guy-bad guy cop dramas the most! Looking back, I'm not sure the girls in my class watched the same stuff I did. I don't remember talking about it...