ABSTRACT
Japanese morning drama series (asadora) are considered one of the “flagships” of Japan’s state broadcaster NHK, because this format has barely changed since its start in the 1960s and still attracts millions of viewers every morning. In this chapter, we investigate the origins of tourism induced by these morning drama series, its first peak in the 1980s, and its development until today, while drawing on the case studies of Oshin (1983/1984) as an example of the analogue age and Amachan (2013) as an example of the digital age, which both are widely regarded as two of the most successful and popular morning drama series. We will show, however, that media convergence and fandom activities were already very common before digitalization. Furthermore, both series transformed their rural filming location into a touristic resource and established a long-lasting connection to the respective media content. Besides their popularity in Japan, the two series were also spread outside of Japan as a means of soft power, and while Oshin gained attention even in the United States, Amachan became very popular in East Asia.
