The housekeeper who cleans the homes of dead people, Aiko Tanizaki (Atsuko Takahata), returns in the special two-hour drama ¡°Ihin Seirinin: Tanizaki Aiko 5¡± (¡°The Cleaning Lady of Things Left Behind: Aiko Tanizaki 5¡°; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.).
Aiko is hired to tidy up the home of an elderly man who died of a heart attack. The police don¡¯t know who he is because they can¡¯t find any ID. As she goes through the house she comes across a child¡¯s red backpack in the closet. Inside is a notebook that purports to explain all the ¡°unsolved incidents¡± of the Showa Era (1926 to 1989), and a woman¡¯s business card.
Aiko tracks down the woman, whose name is Kazumi (Hikari Ishida). She says she hadn¡¯t seen her father for more than 30 years, since they had a falling out. On Kazumi¡¯s bookshelf, Aiko spies the exact same kind of notebook she found in the backpack.
The variety show ¡°Pekepon Plus¡± (Fuji TV, Tues., 7 p.m.) makes a habit of coming up with some of the most useless quizzes imaginable. One of the regular features is the ¡°Castle of Riddles¡± hosted by comedian Kanako Yanagihara, who asks ridiculous riddles of three teams of celebrities that are ¡°trapped¡± in the Castle of Riddles. Only a correct answer will set them free.
Then there¡¯s the Aritaya Department Store Basement Food Court, where competing guests are presented with a series of dishes to sample. The object is to line up the dishes from most to least expensive. This week the competitors are weather man Yoshizumi Ishihara and competitive eater Natsuko ¡°Gal¡± Sone, who will tuck into some chilled delicacies in honor of summer.
CM of the Week
Family Mart: For months now kaiju (giant monsters) from the long-running Ultraman superhero series have been featured in ads for convenience store chain Family Mart, promoting the store¡¯s lottery, wherein anyone who makes a purchase of at least ?700 can pick a lot from a box with a chance to win a prize on the spot. Three of the creatures are fighting because each one wants to be the one to pick a lot. A fourth suggests they play rock-paper-scissors to determine the contestant. As it happens, however, one of the creature¡¯s hands are scissors. He wins, but he can¡¯t get his hand out of the box.
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