Menstrual Uncle and His Daughter
生理のおじさんとその娘
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A sanitary-products PR man becomes famous through a viral video as the 'period uncle' — his high-school daughter has thoughts.
Yukio Hikaribashi does PR for MESORA, a maker of sanitary products, and a single father raising a high-school daughter, Hana, and a younger son, Arashi. His wife, Kaede, died young of a gynaecological illness he failed to notice in time, and he has since devoted himself to teaching people about periods, down to packing Hana's pouch himself. A viral video has made him famous as the period uncle, a guest on a live lunchtime programme. Hana, teased at school as his daughter, is fed up with him. Arashi turns everyday talk into rap.
On air, the commentator Urara Kitashiro, a marriage-hunting adviser, tells Yukio he understands nothing about women. Stung, he blurts out that he even keeps track of his daughter's cycle. The internet erupts, and his bosses tell him to calm the storm or leave PR. Meeting him by chance, Urara admits she cannot back his campaign but respects him for carrying on without his family's approval.
Hana runs away to a classmate, Tsukisaka. At dinner Tsukisaka's period leaks; her brother makes a show of disgust and her father blames her mother. When Hana objects, the father sneers at her, Tsukisaka loses her temper, and Hana takes her home. That night in a park Arashi sees Yuzuha, the rapper he idolises, struggling through her period. He offers her pads from home and stands up to the boys who jeer at him for it.
Everyone ends up at the Hikaribashis', where Yukio and his junior colleague, Masaki Tachibana, are preparing an apology video. Hana promised her dying mother never to fight with her father; Arashi tells her rap is not fighting, and father and daughter have it out in a rap battle. Masaki, Yuzuha and Tsukisaka join in with their own truths, and Yukio learns that no two people live with periods alike. With Urara's help he makes a surprise apology on air: men should learn about periods but must never assume they understand them. The critics multiply, then fall quiet. Hana now chooses her own pads and packs her own pouch. Tsukisaka tells Hana she likes her, and the two start going out. Yuzuha promises to teach Arashi to rap. Yukio keeps his job and, with Masaki, puts out a video on when to see a gynaecologist.
Starring
Taizo Haradaas Yukio Hikaribashi
A widowed PR man for a sanitary-products maker, famous as the period uncle, who knows a great deal about periods and has never had one.
Yukio Hikaribashi’s story
Yukio was a researcher at a sanitary-products maker until his wife, Kaede, died of an illness he had not noticed in time; moved to PR, he now lectures everyone on periods and packs his daughter's pouch. Goaded on a lunchtime show, he blurts out that he tracks his daughter's cycle, the internet turns on him, and his bosses tell him to calm it or leave PR. Hana, fed up, leaves home and comes back with a classmate. In a living-room rap battle she tells him what she has kept in, and he hears from Tsukisaka and the rapper Yuzuha how differently each of them lives with periods. With Urara's help he apologises on air, saying men should learn but must never assume they understand. He keeps his job and puts out a video on when to see a gynaecologist.
Juri Kosakaas Hana Hikaribashi
Yukio's high-school daughter, teased as the period uncle's daughter, who promised her late mother never to fight with her father.
Hana Hikaribashi’s story
Hana says nothing while her father packs her pouch. When his remark on television sets the internet alight and his company looks for ways to use her to calm it, she walks out and stays with a classmate, Tsukisaka. At dinner there, when Tsukisaka's brother recoils at her period and their father blames their mother, Hana objects, and takes her friend home. Her brother tells her rap is not fighting, and in a rap battle she finally tells her father what she thinks. Afterwards she chooses her own pads and packs her own pouch. Tsukisaka tells her she likes her, and the two start going out.
Jun Saitoas Arashi Hikaribashi
Hana's younger brother, a middle-school student who turns everyday talk into rap and stands up for the rapper he admires.
Ryoki Miyamaas Masaki Tachibana
Yukio's admiring junior at the company, quick with social media, who suggests the apology video.
Rinko Kikuchias Urara Kitashiro
A marriage-hunting adviser and television commentator who clashes with Yukio on air, then helps him make his apology.
Kumiko Asoas Kaede Hikaribashi
Yukio's late wife, who died young of an illness he failed to notice in time, and who narrates the story.
Why it matters
Written by Erika Yoshida, the writer of Two People Who Don't Fall in Love, this one-off NHK drama puts periods at the centre of a family comedy and makes its hero a man on purpose. Its director has written that she had never once shown a character on her period, and began this after learning that Japan ranked 121st in the World Economic Forum's gender gap index. She chose a man who knows all about periods but has never had one, to show that knowledge alone does not change things; the subject is communication between people who have periods and people who do not. The tone is light, with animation and a rap battle, but the contrast is pointed: one household talks openly, while in another the men treat a girl's leak as an outrage. A romance between two schoolgirls is simply part of the story. It won an Encouragement Award at the 60th Galaxy Awards.