Strawberry Night

I've been amusing myself by watching Japanese movies and TV dramas that I get mainly from jpdorama.com.

The TV series Strawberry Night has been really enjoyable. It's a cop show, and like all cop shows, it's about work. In a dysfunctional hierarchical bureaucracy. Just my sort of thing.

This one is centred on Reiko Himekawa, a lone woman Assiustant Inspector (Shunin) in a very male environment. There's something about her that reminds me of a boss I used to have (yes, THAT boss). As you can imagine, life is pretty frustrating for her, but she manages to inspire extreme loyalty from her team.

I've been quite amused by the way that despite being quite a slight woman, she can be quite bloke-ish. This does help with fitting in with the culture, and (as in life) we are left to guess whether this is a deliberate strategy or not. It's just the way her character is, drinking beer with the lads etc..

And her boss has this way of cutting off conversations once he's got over what he wanted to say. I think I've commented on this trick of senior managers before, but I can't remember seeing it in drama.

Anyway, I'd really recommend this one. And because cop shows are cop shows the world over, the cultural differences really stand out.