Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Alice Irrazari.
Speaker 2: And I'm Colin Lauva. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Sasei San's life has not changed for almost eighty years.
Speaker 1: She her husband, and children live together with her parents.
Speaker 1: She spends most of her time keeping house, as most
Speaker 1: postwar Japanese women do. Her children have not aged. She
Speaker 1: will stay twenty four forever.
Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight is on Sasai San. Sasai San is the
Speaker 2: main character of the longest running cartoon or animated drawing
Speaker 2: television program in history. Her name Sasaisan gives the program
Speaker 2: its title Sasai San. She represents a simpler time for
Speaker 2: Japanese people, but the main character's history is anything but simple.
Speaker 2: Created during a difficult time in Japan's history, Sasai San
Speaker 2: was part of a wave of changes that transformed the
Speaker 2: country itself.
Speaker 1: Machiko Hasegawa was a Japanese artist. She made manga stories
Speaker 1: with drawn pictures and words. She also created Sasai San.
Speaker 1: Born in nineteen twenty Hassegawa was a strange girl in
Speaker 1: Japanese society, most women were expected to be gentle. Their
Speaker 1: mothers trained them that men were in charge, but Hasegawa
Speaker 1: did not like to obey the rules. By the time
Speaker 1: she was fourteen, Hassegawa had decided she would have her
Speaker 1: own career. She was going to make a living creating manga.
Speaker 2: Hasse Gowa's courage helped her succeed. She published her first
Speaker 2: manga or story cartoon, called Badjamasque, when she was still
Speaker 2: a teenager, but Sasaisan was her first major success. First
Speaker 2: published in nineteen forty six, the manga explores the home
Speaker 2: life of the main character. Unlike the sasaisan of today,
Speaker 2: Hassegwa's first manga explored life in modern Japan.
Speaker 1: Sazai San's Japan was a very complicated place. Much of
Speaker 1: the country's traditional culture held great importance, but the Second
Speaker 1: World War had just ended. Japan was on the losing side.
Speaker 1: Its defeat forced many changes in Japanese culture. The United
Speaker 1: States and Europe brought different technology and ideas. Philip Lu
Speaker 1: studied these changes and taught about them.
Speaker 3: He said, the nineteen fifties were very disorganized, changing times.
Speaker 3: They subjected the Japanese people to shifts in beliefs and
Speaker 3: changes in old ideals.
Speaker 2: One of the greatest changes was a shift toward democracy.
Speaker 2: The new Japan promised that everyone would have the right
Speaker 2: to vote on their government. This included women, who had
Speaker 2: very few rights in traditional Japanese culture. Though Sazai San
Speaker 2: was still traditional in many ways, its main character was
Speaker 2: a good example of a free Japanese woman. Sometimes she
Speaker 2: worked outside of the house to make money. She made
Speaker 2: her opinions known, especially to her husband.
Speaker 1: Hasegawa's original manga also examined other changes in everyday life.
Speaker 1: In one Sasai San is waiting in line for rations,
Speaker 1: a small amount of food given to people in times
Speaker 1: of hardship. This was a real situation many Japanese people
Speaker 1: lived through during the war.
Speaker 2: While Sazai San contained many of these situations, it was
Speaker 2: not about them. At its center. The manga was about
Speaker 2: f family and the humor that comes from it. It
Speaker 2: showed the difficulty of everyday life in Japan, but it
Speaker 2: also gave readers a way to laugh at themselves and
Speaker 2: their situation. Hassegwa worked through the seriousness of her age,
Speaker 2: but she understood it through laughter.
Speaker 1: Hassegwa's manga changed her life. Soon after she first published
Speaker 1: Saseei San, the manga became a national sensation. Everyone knew
Speaker 1: about and read Sasei San. By the time Hassegawa retired
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six, she was the best known female
Speaker 1: manga artist in the country. Sasei San is still one
Speaker 1: of the best selling manga of all time.
Speaker 2: Machiko Hasegawa died in name nineteen ninety two, but her
Speaker 2: creation would last much longer, and it would change in
Speaker 2: ways that Hasseigwa could never have expected. Shortly before she retired,
Speaker 2: the company Fuji Television talked to Hasseigawa. They requested her
Speaker 2: permission to make a television program based on the manga.
Speaker 2: The show, also called Sasai San, first aired in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty nine. It has been running ever since.
Speaker 1: At first, the Sasai San show was very similar to
Speaker 1: the manga, but it was different in one very important way.
Speaker 1: It stopped being about modern life. Its showrunners. The directors
Speaker 1: and creators of the show wanted Sasai San to be
Speaker 1: as close as possible to the original Jano manga, so
Speaker 1: its characters did not change much. Even today, Sasei San's
Speaker 1: main character has the same haircut that was popular in
Speaker 1: the nineteen forties and fifties. The show's family does not
Speaker 1: use modern technology. The family all still lives together. This
Speaker 1: is different than most current Japanese families.
Speaker 2: The Sasaisan show was most popular in the nineteen seventies,
Speaker 2: but even today it holds a wide viewership. Many of
Speaker 2: its viewers are older sixty years old or more. For
Speaker 2: many of these people, watching Sasaisan is like looking into
Speaker 2: the past. Japan has changed even more since the manga
Speaker 2: was published. The show offers comforting memories. It is a
Speaker 2: reminder of a time when things seemed simpler. Deborah Shamoun
Speaker 2: is a teacher at the National University of Singapore. She
Speaker 2: told The New York.
Speaker 4: Times Sasai San is like a box where you store memories.
Speaker 4: It has become a warm, colored memory of how things
Speaker 4: used to be.
Speaker 1: The Sazai San show is not just popular with old people.
Speaker 1: The television series makes the past seem like a pleasant place.
Speaker 1: Some younger viewers are drawn to the sense of happiness
Speaker 1: it gives. Watching this show is like comforting yourself with
Speaker 1: a warm blanket. But its current popularity can be explained
Speaker 1: by one Japanese word, natsuka Shi. Erika Hobart is a
Speaker 1: writer whose family is Japanese.
Speaker 5: She explains in Japan, nats Kashi is a reminder that
Speaker 5: you are lucky to have had the experiences you have
Speaker 5: had in life. You cannot return to those experiences, but
Speaker 5: this makes these memories even more touching.
Speaker 2: Sasai San's show creates this feeling of Natsukashi in viewers.
Speaker 2: It is recognizing the life you have lived. Japan's population
Speaker 2: is aging, Fewer young people are being born each year.
Speaker 2: Not as many people watch the show, but as long
Speaker 2: as there are people who remember, there will be people
Speaker 2: who watch Sasai Sa. This may be why the show
Speaker 2: is the longest running animated television show in history. It
Speaker 2: helps people feel happy about what they have done, and
Speaker 2: it lets younger people dream of a simpler, easier time.
Speaker 1: Midori Kato is a voice actor. She has been the
Speaker 1: voice of Sasai Sun since she was in her twenties.
Speaker 1: She has a different theory about why the show is
Speaker 1: so popular. She told The New York Times.
Speaker 4: This is the worst thing people are afraid of.
Speaker 3: All women say this is good. The characters live forever.
Speaker 2: Holding on to something which remains the same can be
Speaker 2: a comfort in a constantly changing modern world Sasai San
Speaker 2: and her story offers Japanese audiences the joy of an
Speaker 2: earlier time of life.
Speaker 1: What makes you happy about the things you have experienced?
Speaker 1: What creates natsukashi for you? A good memory of an
Speaker 1: earlier time in your life. We want to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1: You can leave a comment on our website at www
Speaker 1: dot Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us
Speaker 1: on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Blue Sky, and x. You can
Speaker 1: also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or
Speaker 1: Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer
Speaker 2: was Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is
Speaker 2: called Sasa is sa. Life never changes.
Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,