Long-life comics of Japan

■Sazae-San

"Sazae-San" is a comedy the every day which a Japanese traditional family weaves, and is one of the four-frame strip cartoons representing Japan.The author is Machiko Hasegawa.

Series are newspapers, such as Asahi Shimbun, and will be performed over 6477 times in 1946-1974, and 86 million or more parts of books sell.

From 1969, the television animation version is broadcast and broadcast continues for 37 years till the present. An audience rating records the 39.4 highest% in 1979, and is always maintaining 20% order still now. From the height of the popularity, it is called the "national program."

Daiwa Institute of Research (Japan) announced that correlativity is in the share index of Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the audience rating of animation "Sazae-San."

"Sazae-San" drops an audience rating, when business is good, and when business is bad, it is said that an audience rating increases.

It is because Sazae-San is broadcast on Sunday in the evening, so people's dining out will increase if business is good, and people will be in a house more often if business is bad.

■Doraemon

"Doraemon" is SF comics full of gags dealing with the cat type robot which came from the 22nd century in the present age, and a tool wonderful for the convenience of the future. The author is Fujiko F Fujio.

The series was started in 1969, and 1345 talks were drawn until the author passed away in 1996. 130 million or more parts of books sell in the world.

Animation is also popular all over the world, broadcast will be started in 1974 and the 3rd series is broadcast from April, 2005 in Japan.

Especially the 2nd series broadcast for 26 years from 1979 to March, 2005 was large-hit, and 25 movies were broadcast. The audience rating exceeded a maximum of 30%.

■Kochira Katsuhsika-ku Kamearikoen-mae Hashutsuzyo

"Kochira Katsuhsika-ku Kamearikoen-mae Hashutsuzyo ("Kochi Kame", in English, "Here is the police box in front of the Kameari Park") " is the thrilling comics full of gags which made the downtown area in Tokyo the stage and drew an unprecedented policeman's wayward every day.The author is Osamu Akimoto

A series will be started in the "weekly JUMP" paper in 1976, and it will become the 30th anniversary of a series in 2006.

This work has record of no not being published, over 1400 times or more, and 148 volumes and 130 million parts or more of a book sell well, and let it be the monumental work of boys' comics.

Animation was also broadcast from 1996 to 2004 and won popularity.

■GOLGO 13

"GOLGO 13" is a full-scale action graphic novel to which GOLGO which is a cruel sniper receives a request of the organization of each country, and shoots down a target. The author is Takawo Saito.

A series will be started in 1968 and it is under series still now. Since there is no stop of publishing, it may be admired in "the author itself is GOLGO."

The peculiar view of the world which surround a cool hero is supported, and it has become the comics work which continues for a long time in Japan.

■ Abusan

"Abusan" is baseball comics which Shinji Mizushima who is the authority of baseball comics draws.

It is the feature that the story of creation is developing based on actual professional baseball. It is serialized from 1973 and counted by the active-service long-term series 3 on a par with "GOLGO" and "KochiKame".

Red and White Singing Contest

There is a program of NHK Red and White Singing Contest　(KOHAKU UTAGASSEN). This is a large-scale music program that NHK is broadcasting on the New Year's Eve of every year. It counts 56 times this year.

The singer who represents one year divides into man and woman's team, it sings, and the judge decides the match in this program. At this time, a man is called the white team and the woman a red team.

Most Red and White Singing Contest is a program whose audience rating is the highest in Japan every year. The highest audience rating in the past of this program is 81.4%(1963). The audience rating in recent years changes by 40-50%. It is one of the most popular programs in Japan though recent popularity tends to slackness.