Family TV dramas have been a key genre in the history of Japanese television. Ishii Fukuko ought to be considered a major contributor to this genre. Ishii has produced numerous dramas as a television producer since the TBS Toshiba Sunday Theatre’s (東芝日曜劇場) The Seven Bridges (『橋づくし』; hashizukushi) in 1958 until today at the age of 95. It would be no exaggeration to claim that Ishii’s work is about the history of TV Dramas.
The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University, will be hosting a special exhibition entitled ‘Family Portraits: Ishii Fukuko’s TV Dramas’. We hope that this exhibition will allow you to feel Ishii’s warm gaze she continuously directed at Japanese families, communities, and women.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Ishii Fukuko for her generous cooperation with this exhibition as well as everyone at Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. (株式会社TBSテレビ) and elsewhere who has supported us.
Okamuro Minako, Director
