Japanese love watching historical dramas, and one of the most popular times portrayed is the final years of the Edo Period (1603-1868), when the nation went through dramatic change politically, diplomatically and socially with the fall of the shogunate.
In many cases, such TV shows, including NHK¡¯s popular period drama taiga, use prominent historical figures as the main characters. But for a drama set to air on New Year¡¯s Day, NHK will instead focus on British diplomat Ernest Mason Satow and the articles he contributed to The Japan Times, a newspaper established in 1865 in Yokohama, on the peaceful handover of power from the Tokugawa shogunate to Emperor Meiji.
Historically speaking, two key figures ¡ª Katsu Kaishu, the shogunate¡¯s army minister, and Saigo Takamori, head of the Imperial forces ¡ª negotiated the conditions of the shogunate¡¯s surrender, leading to the bloodless fall of Edo Castle and Emperor Meiji¡¯s restoration to power.
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