Recap - Massan Week 1, Ep1

Massan

Week 1: "Even the hardest of hearts can be moved to tears"

Episode #1 (aired 09-29-2014)

Massan premiered today on NHK and it looks like it's going to be one of my favorite "asadoras" so far! The relationship between Massan and Ellie is undeniably cute and we can see that they are definitely in the "honeymoon" phase at this point in the story. I look forward to the next 149 episodes to see how they can persevere through all the hardships to come!





*********************************************************************************
Recap:

The first episode opens in 1971 in Yoichi, Hokkaido to the sound of bagpipers playing as they march into the venue where award ceremony is being held for the whisky named “Super Ellie.” We see Masaharu Kameyama (Massan) on the verge of tears as he silently reminisces about his beloved late wife, Ellie, during a speech by the ambassador of Jones English Whisky. 

As he reminisces, we are brought back to Scotland as Massan and Ellie decide to marry and Ellie asks Massan to take her with him to Japan. In May of 1920 they are aboard a ship as Massan returns to his home country with his new wife, Ellie, after two years of being away. Ellie starts to see Japan from the ship and the two look hopeful as they anticipate their arrival. After a very long journey by ship, train and bus, they finally make it to his hometown in Hiroshima. 

(There is a little side note here that should be mentioned. Once they get off the train, Ellie becomes very excited to meet Massan’s family and mentions that his mother must be excited too since she mentioned so in her letters to Massan. However, this is not the actual case and is something Massan has been and is still trying to hide from Ellie.)

As they are walking through town Massan is immediately recognized by the keeper at his family's sake brewery and his sister. He tries in vain to avoid them and ends up introducing Ellie to them but Ellie mistakenly takes the store clerk to be Massan’s father. She is warmly welcomed by both and his sister (Sumire Kameyama) even tests out her English saying “How do you do?” to Ellie. Ellie is overcome with happiness and hugs Sumire, which is quite different from how greetings are done in Japanese culture and Massan is quick to remind her of that.

Once they reach Massan’s home he shows her their family sake brewery but as she tries to walk inside to take a look, she is suddenly stopped and told that women are not allowed inside the brewery. At this time, Massan’s older sister (Chikako Okazaki) shows up and tells them that his mother is waiting for him to greet her. She seems to be quite cold towards Ellie.

Ellie is shown inside the house and since she has only a limited knowledge of Japanese culture, she mistakenly walks into the house without removing her shoes. She then accidentally knocks over Massan’s mother’s vase of flowers. 

Of course it is at this time that his mother (Sanae Kameyama) walks in to see what has happened and she is not thrilled in the least. Ellie almost tries to greet his mother with a hug as well but Massan then grabs her and has her sit next to him as he formally introduces her as his wife to his mother. 

His mother responds by saying “I refuse to accept any marriage with a foreigner!”

They both cringe in confusion and fear at her words... (to be continued)

*********************************************************************************

Okay this recap turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated but since it is the first episode, I will let it slide this time. I also would like to note that I am recapping this show as a hobby so while there might be some errors here and there, please forgive me! And feel free to leave comments! I would love to hear what you think!