The first episode of the drama series " Taigan no Kaji ~Kore ga, Watashi no Ikiru Michi~ " (TBS, Tuesdays at 10pm), starring actress Mikako Tabe Noriko Eguchi Nagano Reiko, a "working mom" who is almost entirely responsible for childcare, and this caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers
Reiko was transferred to the General Affairs Department after her maternity leave. Because her husband (Kenshiro Kawanishi) comes home late, she is almost single-handedly raising her child. She persisted, saying, "I don't want to give up on either my job or my housework," but in fact, it was on the verge of "game over."
At that time, Reiko was encouraged by full-time housewife Murakami Shiho (Tabe), who said, "It's just housework. It's okay to cut corners. We'll manage it. As long as Nagano is healthy."
She couldn't help but tearfully confess her feelings, "Someone help me. If this continues it's really game over," and Shiho encouraged her, saying, "There's always someone somewhere who will help you. For now, I'm here."
Reiko, who had previously mocked Shiho by saying, "Full-time housewives are an endangered species," apologized, saying, "I'm sorry back then. I've been meaning to apologize for a long time. But I was scared. I decided to do both work and housework. It's a normal choice in this day and age, and I'm not wrong. But I couldn't do it at all the way I wanted, and I got scared, thinking that maybe I'd made the wrong choice. So I said, 'Full-time housewives these days,' and looked down on you, trying to convince myself that I wasn't wrong."
Afterwards, Reiko is served the curry that Shiho made. She is shown tasting it and thinking, "Why is food made by someone else so delicious?"
On social media, there were many comments such as, "Noriko Eguchi is great as always! Her acting and expressions are great!", "It's so realistic. All the working moms in Japan are Noriko Eguchi. I have to keep watching this", "It was like Noriko Eguchi was looking at myself and it was painful", "I could understand Noriko Eguchi's feelings all too well", "The resolution of both the full-time housewife and working mom sides is too high", and "Whoever cast Mikako Tabe and Noriko Eguchi is a genius."
Furthermore, some people cited the TV drama "Recommendations for Solo Live Girls" (TV Tokyo) in which Eguchi plays the lead role, and the NHK Asadora drama "Anpan," with comments such as, "Noriko Eguchi has been working too hard this season! From housework on the other side of the pond to a Asadora and then solo active girls...is this even possible!?" and "This is a Noriko Eguchi festival!"
The show is based on the novel "Taigan no Kaji" (Kodansha Bunko) by Akeno Kayoko. It depicts the "endless work" of housework through the protagonist's interactions with "people on the other side of the river" who have different positions and ways of thinking. This will be Tabe's second time starring in the same time slot, five years after "My Housekeeper Nagisa-san" (2020).
