From about the 1960s, serial dramas began to be watched on television.
It was still common for families to watch them together, and they were known as ‘ocha-noma dramas’.
NHK's morning dramas and historical drama series gained national popularity.
From the 1970s to the 1980s, dramas based on the theme of family ties appeared.
The famous ‘Oshin’ was also made around this time, and it is said that Iranians in faraway lands cried more than Japanese.
But already at that time, family ties were rapidly disappearing in Japan.
Families no longer gather together in the tea room itself.
I wonder if people were watching Ochanoma TV in order to feel nostalgic for the lost place of the Ochanoma.
Today's young people may even wonder why their families gather in the ‘ocha-noma’.
In Japan, not only families, but even human bonds are steadily and rapidly disappearing.
It is commonplace for people not to socialise with relatives, and many people do not even socialise with other family members.
The trend of people not interacting with each other in their neighbourhoods has also accelerated rapidly in the wake of Corona.
People living in apartment blocks do not know what kind of people live in their neighbourhoods and how they live.
They are afraid of inadvertently getting involved with a troublesome person and getting into trouble.
What if he is a psycho... So they try not to get involved.
As a result, people are spending more and more time alone in their own rooms.
They have TV and internet, so they are never bored.
Even if they occasionally go for a walk outside and meet someone, they don't even say hello to each other because they don't know each other.
Every time a major earthquake strikes, there is a cry for ‘bonding’, but when the heat dies down, things are back to normal.
Isolation has deepened in the disaster-hit housing, there is no social interaction and there is no end to the number of lonely deaths.
In depopulated areas, residents do not return, adding to depopulation.
Why have people lost the will and desire to interact with each other, even among family members?
It is because the world has become a place where people can live well enough on their own.
This is because there is no need to join forces with each other in a community such as a village.
People can live well enough on their own without the help of family and relatives.
However, the truth is that people can only live meaningfully and truly in relationship with other people.
The drama, colour, richness, interest and depth of flavour of life can only emerge when people come into contact with each other, and sometimes in conflict with each other.
Otherwise, it is little different from the life of a chicken on a poultry farm.
This is how dramatics has been lost and disappeared from the lives of modern people.
Since people no longer interact with each other, it is only natural that drama disappears.
Is that why we watch deformed drama stories produced on television programmes?
When there were upheavals and wars, people's lives were taken more and more unreasonably.
In the past, it was difficult to survive and thrive, with people dying easily from pneumonia.
But ironically, although tragic, there was drama in people's lives back then.
Are Japanese people today forced to accept a boring and drama-free life at the cost of enjoying a peaceful and prosperous life and world?
There is an elderly lady in my neighbourhood who waves to me every time I drive past.
Perhaps she has advanced dementia.
However, when we wave back, it makes us feel relaxed, even though it is meaningless.
Even if you don't say anything, even if it's not dramatic, it's good to start interacting with people from small things like that.