PROMISING REVIEWS FOR LOCAL TV DRAMA

Blossoms the Flower, the Fukuoka-set melodrama has swept onto Japanese national television, attracting rave reviews from local viewers and critics alike. The story centers around Umeko, a forty-something housewife struggling to cope with her absent, weak-minded husband and her overbearing mother-in-law and her sisters. Perhaps in an attempt to break into the Toyko-dominated melodrama scene, Blossoms the Flower's plot seems to closely follow the formulaic storylines of established classics Melody of the Pink Petals, Mother for All Time and F is for Family.

Local TV fan, Hanako Hori, from Ogori, said it is "very nice", and that the husband is "a lovely young man". Okawa resident, Suneko Tanaka said it is "very, very nice" and Yamato pensioner, Mariko Kaida, said that the husband is "a lovely young man with nice hair".

There was one negative review however. Kurume business owner, Norifumi Torininjin, was firm in his criticism of the show. "If I want to sit around and watch ugly women in aprons crying and eating, I'll stay with my inlaws," he said, rather bravely.