Kōkō Kyōshi

Kōkō Kyōshi (Japanese: 高校教師, lit. "High School Teacher") is a Japanese TV series that aired from January 8 through March 19, 1993. It was written by Shinji Nojima, with Hiroyuki Sanada and Sachiko Sakurai playing the lead roles. It aired on TBS Television on Friday nights at 22:00.

Kōkō Kyōshi
Genre	Drama
Created by	Shinji Nojima
Starring	Hiroyuki Sanada , Sachiko Sakurai
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	11
Original release
Release	January 8 (1993-01-08) – March 19, 1993 (1993-03-19)

Background

The TV series dealt with various social taboos such as teacher-student love, homosexuality, rape, incest, and suicide.

The high school scenes were shot at Japan Christian Junior College. The final scene was shot at Ōmigawa Station on the JR Shin'etsu Main Line, which became a popular pop-culture tourism spot following this series.

In May 1993, a 6-disc laser disc was released. On September 19, 2001, a DVD box set including all episodes and extras was released. On March 20, 2019, a Blu-ray box was released.

Theme song

Dōji Morita's 1976 song Bokutachi no Shippai was used for the main theme. Typically a popular contemporary song would have been used. Morita was no longer well known anymore, but writer Nojima and producer Itō were fans of her and selected her song as the main theme. The song once again became popular along with the series. The song had previously been out of release but was re-released, as well as appearing on a best album release. Due to this success, later works would use older and often forgotten songs, having a significant effect on theme music.

Five other songs of Morita were used throughout the episodes.

Cast

• Hiroyuki Sanada—Takao Hamura
• Sachiko Sakurai—Mayu Ninomiya
• Hidekazu Akai—Tōru Shinjō
• Masaki Kyomoto—Tomoki Fujimura
• Maki Mochida—Naoko Aizawa
• Emiko Nakamura—Asami Saeki
• Tōru Minegishi—Kōsuke Ninomiya

Sequel

A sequel was produced ten years later in 2003, starring Naohito Fujiki and Aya Ueto. Although it was set in the same high school, Masaki Kyomoto was the only cast member to reprise their role from the 1993 version.