Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/drama10/silentpoor
Broadcast
Tuesdays, 10.00 – 10.50 p.m. from 8 April 2014
Station
NHK
Story
Silent poor are the needy who have no voice. This “invisible poverty” is now spreading throughout society. The job of a community social worker has appeared across the country in order to tackle this issue. Satomi Ryo, a community social worker for the Social Welfare Council of Tokyo’s old working class neighbourhoods, runs around her beloved districts as she coaches her junior Miwa Manaka. This is where Ryo meets people such as the garbage hoarder, reclusive, homeless and prematurely senile who are trying hard to live but have sunk into the abyss of social isolation in today’s world. Picking out their SOS, Ryo offers a helping hand to them and is exposed to their lives, but even she nurses an abject loneliness herself. One day, Ryo visits a house after local residents complain that the compound is overflowing with garbage from hoarding. However, the owner is an elderly woman called Eda Fusae. Ryo tries to persuade Fusae, but it is not easy to get her to open up her heart. Realising that it was the loss of her beloved son that made Fusae started hoarding garbage, Ryo focuses on a chestnut tree in the garden. She convinces Yamakura Yuichi, the head of the Welfare Division of the ward office, and attempts to get the neighbours to understand Fusae’s situation in the move towards removing the garbage. It is her belief that people can start their lives over as many times as they like that keeps her going. What Ryo discovers down the road, is that she has embarked on a new chapter in life with the support of the people and the neighbourhoods that she had reached out to.
Characters
Fukada Kyoko as Satomi Ryo
A community social worker for the Social Welfare Council of Tokyo’s old working class neighbourhoods. She struggles around the clock to restore the bonds of the people in this town where she grew up and listen to the voices of the silent poor. However, 19 years ago she watched helplessly as her younger brother died before her eyes in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and continues to be burdened by this past.
Kitamura Yukiya as Yamakura Yuichi
The head of the Community Welfare and Services Division of the ward office. He is businesslike in his work and admonishes Satomi Ryo against getting too involved in every case, but behind this is bitter failure from the time he was a newbie and was too committed to a homeless person. Realising that they each have unspoken regrets, he and Ryo are gradually drawn to each other.
Sakuraba Nanami as Miwa Manaka
A new community social worker whose trainer is Satomi Ryo. Because of her naivete, she sometimes helps Ryo’s emotions and also grows as a community social worker.
Sakai Maki as Ishida Keiko
Satomi Ryo’s good friend. A community social worker who runs a pub. Although she picks up the hidden SOS in the town and provides help to Ryo, she actually has worries about facing her mother who is prematurely senile.
Ichige Yoshie as Satomi Sachiko
Satomi Ryo’s mother. Her heart hurts for her daugher who is burdened by her younger brother’s death and wishes for her happiness more than anyone else.
Yonekura Masakane as Yoshioka Ichiro
Satomi Ryo’s grandfather who runs a laundry service. He tenderly watches over both his daughter and granddaughter who fell each other’s pain.
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