Aki Yashiro is known as the Queen of Enka, or ¡°Japanese ballads,¡± according to the standard translation. However, Yashiro started out singing jazz in hostess clubs and didn¡¯t make her enka debut until 1971, when she was 21 years old. Last year she finally released an album of jazz standards.

NHK followed Yashiro to New York, considered ¡°the world¡¯s jazz mecca,¡± where she performed at the famed Blue Note club. In ¡°Enka no Joo Jazz wo Utau¡± (¡°The Queen of Enka Sings Jazz¡°; NHK-G, Mon., 10 p.m.), we see her rehearsing with local musicians and working with Grammy-winning arranger Kurt Elling, who also reconfigures a few of her enka hits for jazz ensemble. To top it all off, the great jazz singer Helen Merrill joins Yashiro on stage during her New York debut.

Dementia is a condition that can affect anyone, but it¡¯s usually women who take care of the afflicted person, either a wife or a daughter. In the documentary ¡°Te wo Hanasanai¡± (¡°Don¡¯t Let Go of My Hand¡°; TV Asahi, Tues., 3:10 a.m.), the helper is the husband of a woman with dementia, who was diagnosed six years ago.

The couple, 70-year-old Makoto and 69-year-old Hiroko, live in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Makoto does all the cleaning, cooking and washing. He even applies Hiroko¡¯s makeup when they go out, which is often. And when they do go out, they are always hand-in-hand, not so much out of a feeling of connubial affection but so that Hiroko doesn¡¯t wander off and get lost. In the last year her condition has worsened more rapidly. Though the documentary shows the physical burden of taking care of a senile individual it also brings up the importance of maintaining ¡°a human connection.¡±

CM of the week: g.u.

The discount clothing retailer g.u. (or jiyu?which means ¡°freedom¡°) has again snagged ultra-kawaii idol singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as the mascot for its latest ad campaign, ¡°Oshare Invader¡± (¡°Fashion Invader¡°). Kyary started out as a fashion blogger before becoming a pop star, and the commercials portray her in stereotypical ¡°space alien¡± mode, which essentially means giving her pointy ears. She swoops down on a foreign scene ¡ª a street in Paris or a beach in Santa Monica ¡ª and transforms the natives into aliens like her, so in addition to pointy ears they now sport g.u. apparel. Does such a marketing strategy fall under the TPP negotiations?