The 105th episode of the NHK Asadora drama "Omusubi " (General TV, Monday to Saturday 8:00 AM and others), starring actress Kanna Hashimoto, was broadcast on February 28. In the episode, the wake of Nagayoshi (Ken Matsudaira) was held, and viewers were drawn to a certain person who rushed over in the middle of the night.
At the wake for Nagayoshi, who always helped people during his lifetime, people who had been "helped by Nagayoshi in the past" came one after another. Among them were famous people such as enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi and former soccer player Rui Ramos, surprising Yui (Hashimoto) and her family.
Late at night, when the saint (Kitamura Yukiya) was saying, "I guess no one's coming anymore," a man came up to him and introduced himself as, "Sorry it's so late. My name is Komatsubara and I live in Gifu."
The man was the son of Komatsubara (played by Ootsuru Yoshitani) (played by Ootsuru in two roles) who had lost his house and property in a flood that had occurred in Gifu and had borrowed money from Eikichi. Komatsubara had died from overwork six months after the flood, and Komatsubara's son happened to find the IOU among his father's belongings and visited Eikichi's house in Itoshima to repay the loan. Hearing about Eikichi's death there, he came all the way to the venue for the wake.
Komatsubara's son bowed his head and said, "I'm truly sorry for the delay!" and tried to repay the debt, saying, "It may be too late now, but..." but the saint refused to accept it, saying, "Please use this for your family."
Komatsubara's son insisted, "That's not possible!", but the saint replied with tears in his eyes, "If I received it, my father would come out of the coffin saying, 'Hey! Saint, what are you doing?'" He added, "I think my father would be happy just to have you here, Mr. Komatsubara."
Comments on social media included, "It was a good comeback," "He really did make a comeback. I knew it wouldn't be just a one-off appearance," "This is truly Oozuru's repayment of his debt. It took 50 years, but it's the result of Nagakichi's virtue, and the saint who didn't accept it was a real man," and "What a good guy he is, rushing over with the money ready when he found the IOU."
