"Tetsu Ota Michiko, 2 Man Kiro" drama, episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: January 8th until March 26, 2022 on TV Tokyo, Saturday nights at 12:52 pm

 Also goes by the title Tetsu Ota Michiko, 20,000 kilometers

Episodes are 24 minutes in length and subs were done by aoinousagi at DA

Main Cast: Tina is in 100% of the scenes so she's the only character, if any guest stars have a decent amount of screen time will add their names in for that episode.

 Tina Tamashiro as Michiko Ogane.... Woman about 25 in age who works as a sales rep for a very prestigious furniture company in Tokyo and appears to be doing very well at it. Michiko's passion is trains and that's where the title of the drama comes from, Tetsu Ota can mean a train otaku or huge fan of railways. Have only viewed this first two shows so will need to update this bio but it seems Michiko will be spending all of her free time in these shows travelling to different locations in Japan on a train and she really knows the history of Japan's railway system.

 Railroad lingo: Here's a few words or acronyms that were in this first episode and think they'll be in future shows too, will probably be adding to this list.

JNR- Stands for the Japanese National Railway system which was in operation from 1949 to 1987.

DECMO- Diesel Electric Car with Motors, aka H100.

Ekiben- Boxed lunches(Bento) which are sold at railway stations.

Tetsu Ota- As mentioned it refers to someone being a complete railroad fanatic.

 

 The above is always the most difficult part in beginning a series, luckily just have to edit a bit here and there after the first post. My top dramas are ones that are in the horror, suspense and mystery genres and end up recapping more of those kinds of series. But after that my fave ones are shows like this which is really quiet and laid back yet so interesting and also a bit quirky. Don't know if it'll remain that way but after viewing this first show it really reminded me of the "Yuru Camp" series which I enjoyed. These will definitely be short recaps but that's okay as I have a feeling this will be one fun and educational drama. The main character of Michiko will be travelling all around Japan using their railway system and you're going to see some really superb screenshots of Japan in these posts. It was also about time to view a drama with Tina as I've only seen her in one other show.

 Episode title: Hifafu Station

 Japan is a small country area wise so surprised how many miles it was from Tokyo to this first episode's setting. The title of the the show is Hirafu Station which is set in the small city of Kutchan that's only 35 miles from Sapporo. But it's 628 miles by car from Tokyo or by train it may be 800 miles as it doesn't go in a straight line and stops at Sapporo first. Not too cheap to travel via train either as it's around $250 for a round trip ticket but sure it's peaceful with some nice scenery.

 Money doesn't seem like an issue for our 'heroine' Michiko who works as a sales rep for a very prestigious furniture company in Tokyo and seems to be their #1 sales person. Unknown to everyone there Michiko is a Tetsu Ota aka railway fanatic or railfan. No day was mentioned but presumed it was the weekend and it also must have taken place in December as Hokkaido was already buried in snow. That second part of the title '2 man kiro' also means 2,000 kilometers or 1,245 miles so wonder if that's how far Michiko will be travelling in each episode? Say that as that's the exact mileage back and forth from Tokyo to the Hirafu Station. You can see a few pics of the area above and as mentioned that part of Hokkaido was already buried by snow.

 It's only been one 24 minute episode but have I learned so much about the Japanese railway system. That's courtesy of Michiko who for some reason is such a fanatic about trains, we haven't learned why but presume we will in future shows. For instance the first regular train service in Japan began in 1880 which was the Hakodate Main Line which goes all the way to Sapporo and that's the train Michiko took on her journey. Don't think there's any specific purpose in these treks across Japan for Michiko, seems she just loves being on trains and at their stations but sure we'll learn more as time goes on.

 Michiko's passion for trains may seem like a rare thing but it really isn't as there's also magazines and web sites devoted to Japan's railway system. The Hirafu Station is the only one in Japan to have an Inn located at the station and of course after such a long journey Michiko had to spend the night. She had a roommate who was a much older woman and her husband had died many years ago so she wanted to try doing some adventures that would have never happened while he was alive. This woman's name was Yumiko and she came all the way from Kagoshima, that's a long trip at over 900 miles. There's one other guest at the station's Inn who is the man on the left above and right below. His name is Kai and while he's also a train fanatic seems he has more of a passion of taking photos of them.

 As Kai says in the top screenshot he does love trains, so much that he's quit his job to pursue his passion even more! He is making some cash by selling photos to magazines and sites which doesn't give him enough income but to him who cares as long as there's trains in the world! He's not the only photographer and more on that that coming right up. Short visit to Hirafu Station and the small city of Kutchan for Michiko as she had to travel back to Tokyo the following day but it is over an eight hour train ride. But she did have a few hours to scout out the area but really couldn't go too far with all of the snow, some superb scenery shots are right above.

 As mentioned think there was another photographer besides Kai and that would be Michiko. She kept mum about that to the man and never came out and said it to us viewers but Michiko did send a text message with photos to an editor of a magazine. So while Kai takes better photos of trains he doesn't sell that many of them, Michiko though does and she goes by an alias for the magazine which is Yumi, that's the name in the above bottom screenshot. And with that this first episode came to it's conclusion and what a fun show it was. Haven't viewed the second show yet but that's the next post.