TV drama about Japanese dictionaries

[Jim Breen <jimbreen@*********>]

The following on the Honyaku list today may amuse you.
(Yes, Mark Spahn is the guy who did The Kanji Dictionary
with Wolfgang Hadamitzky.)

Jim

   TV drama about Japanese dictionaries

"Mark Spahn" <markspahn@verizon.net> Jul 13 08:48PM -0400

This is mostly off-topic, but if you hang out here, you will want to know
about a forthcoming television drama about the the production of two
dictionaries that are probably on your desk: ShinMeiKai Kokugo Jiten, and
Sanseidou Kokugo Jiten.
What a strange topic for a TV drama! It will be a real challenge to a
scriptwriter to try to make a story about dictionary production that viewers
will want to watch. (What? No explosions? No カー・アックション?) 　Putting
together a dictionary is the opposite of exciting; "The Drama of
Lexicography" sounds like an oxymoron.

But maybe this is the start of a trend. Next, a miniseries dramatizing the
editing of the Kenkyusha Wa-Ei Dictionary ("Green Goddess", latest edition
GG5). To be followed by an series on the thrill-a-minute world of
accounting.
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)

Here is the announcement (U.S. broadcast on the Terebi Japan cable channel):
■　「ケンボー先生と山田先生　〜辞書に人生を捧げた二人の男〜」
　　　　１５日（月）　午後　１０：００　ＥＴ／午後　７：００　ＰＴ〜

独特の語釈と用例で多くのファンを持つ「新明解国語辞典」。その誕生の裏に
驚くべきドラマが！辞書界の革命児・山田忠雄が「新明解」を生み出す背景には
一人の男との決別があった。その男こそ「三省堂国語辞典」を生んだ戦後辞書界
の巨人・見坊豪紀。協力し理想の辞書作りを追求していた二人。しかし、ある日を
境に全く異なる二つの辞書を生み出し、改訂作業を続けた。辞書に人生を捧げた
二人の男の情熱と相克の物語を描き出す。ナビゲーター：薬師丸ひろ子

-- 
Jim Breen
Adjunct Snr Research Fellow, Japanese Studies Centre, Monash University