Kōkō Kyōshi (Japanese: 高校教師; literally meaning "High School Teacher") is a Japanese television series that was broadcast from January 8 to March 19, 1993. The series was written by Shinji Nojima, and the main characters were played by Hiroyuki Sanada and Sachiko Sakurai. It was shown on TBS Television every Friday at 22:00.
Background
The TV series discussed several social issues, including relationships between teachers and students, same-sex relationships, sexual assault, family relationships between close relatives, and self-harm.
The high school scenes were filmed at Japan Christian Junior College. The final scene was filmed at Ōmigawa Station on the JR Shin'etsu Main Line, which became a well-known location for fans of the series after it aired.
In May 1993, a 6-disc laser disc version of the series was released. On September 19, 2001, a DVD box set containing all episodes and additional content was released. On March 20, 2019, a Blu-ray box set was released.
Dōji Morita's 1976 song "Bokutachi no Shippai" was used as the main theme. Usually, a popular modern song would be chosen for such a role. Morita was not widely known at the time, but the writer, Nojima, and the producer, Itō, were fans of her music and selected her song. The song became popular again because of the series. It had previously been unavailable but was re-released and included on a best-of album. This success influenced future works to use older songs that were no longer well-known.
Five other songs by Morita were used in different episodes of the series.
Cast
- Hiroyuki Sanada plays Takao Hamura
- Sachiko Sakurai plays Mayu Ninomiya
- Hidekazu Akai plays Tōru Shinjō
- Masaki Kyomoto plays Tomoki Fujimura
- Maki Mochida plays Naoko Aizawa
- Emiko Nakamura plays Asami Saeki
- Tōru Minegishi plays Kōsuke Ninomiya
Sequel
A follow-up movie was made ten years after the first one in 2003, with actors Naohito Fujiki and Aya Ueto. Even though the story took place at the same high school, Masaki Kyomoto was the only actor who played the same character again from the 1993 version.