Amachan

is a Japanese television drama series. It debuted on April 1, 2013, and was broadcast until September 28, 2013. It was scripted by Kankurō Kudō and starred Rena Nōnen as Aki Amano, a high-school girl from Tokyo who moves to the Sanriku Coast in the Tohoku region to become a female diver. She becomes a local idol, then returns to Tokyo to try to become a real idol, and finally returns to Tohoku to help revitalize the area after the Great East Japan earthquake. It is the 88th NHK Asadora. Amachan was not only a ratings success, but brought economic benefits to the Tohoku region and was considered a social phenomenon. It also won the Galaxy Award for best television program of 2013. Synopsis Hometown chapter (Episode 1 - Episode 72) Haruko Amano left the small northern seaside town of Sodegahama 24 years ago and has not returned since. When her childhood friend Daikichi emails her with news that her mother has collapsed, she rushes back with her 16-year-old daughter Aki in tow. It was all a ruse, however: Haruko's mother Natsu is fine. Sodegahama depends on the ama, the women who dive for sea urchins and shellfish, as a tourist attraction. With all the ama over 50, Daikichi was hoping to convince Haruko to start diving. Haruko refuses, but Aki, who was a shy and gloomy girl in Tokyo, suddenly brightens and declares she wants to be an ama. Despite her father's pleas, she decides not to return to Tokyo and instead enroll at the local high school, where she makes friends with Yui, who wants to become an idol. Success as an ama does not come easily: Aki cannot catch a sea urchin on her own. Yui wins a contest to become the publicity character of the Kitasanriku Railroad. When Yui's older brother Hiroshi takes a job at the local tourism bureau and uploads videos of his sister on the town website, train otaku begin flooding the town.