Tanoshii Yochien/Weekly Synopses

Weekly Synopses

Week 1

Episode 1

Hoshi Yukari, her husband Ryuichi and their daughter Ai are back in Japan after seven years. Ryuichi was working at the Kenya branch office but was called back to Japan to join the new project team at the home office. Ai meets her grandparents for the first time and she's so shy, she hides behind Yukari. Yukari and Ai go to a kindergarten to hand in an admission application and meet 2 tots named Ayano and Kazuhiro. Ai shows the two her dance when she steps on Ayano's sand castle and makes her cry.

Episode 2

Ai went to the front to pick up the newspaper and disappeared. She had seen a housewife drop her wallet and had chased after her. Ai finally reaches the kindergarten where she sees a chained dog. She releases the dog out of pity.

Episode 3

Ai's kindergarten admittance day is approaching and Yukari and Ryuichi are overjoyed. Ai's teacher is a new one named Yagi Junko. While Yukari are saying hellos to the other parents, Ai and Kazuhiro start a really loud fight.

Episode 4

Earlier, Ayano was crying because her shoes were too tight. Ai told her then just take off your shoes and showed her how, which Kazuhiro didn't like at all, and that's how the fight began. But Ai didn't mention Ayano in order to cover up for her. Yukari scolds Ai harshly; saying to lie is to betray your own family. Then they get a phone call from Kazuhiro's mom Oshima Momoko.

Episode 5

Ryuichi finally confesses to Yukari that a company's restructuring would apply to him. Ai wanted Misato to touch the rice bird which the kindergarten kept in a cage, but the bird escapes. To console the sad Misato, Ai says if you repeat a mantra the bird will return.

Week 2

Episode 6

Ryuichi was thinking of quitting his job. He secretly wanted to find the next job before doing this, but Yukari knew what he was up to. Ai was praised at school for showing individuality in her finger painting.

Episode 7

Ryuichi was irritated that work wasn't going smoothly. Even worse, his colleagues were picking on him and his mind was set on resigning. Ai finds out that Ryuichi is picked on at work and she heads towards his office all by herself.

Episode 8

Ai gets into a fight with another kid in school named Wakamatsu Shinya and ended up hurting him. Shinya claims a broken bone but in truth it's just a sprain. Eriko thinks this is a perfect opportunity to chase Ai from the kindergarten so she tells Shinya and Ikuko to keep pretending his injury is very serious.

Episode 9

Signatures are collected to chase Ai out of school. Ryuichi is making the round of interviews to get a new job but things aren't going well. Ai gets a visit from Yumiko who lectures her that Ai hasn't been taught any manners whatsoever. Ryuichi is found out that he quit his job. He's sick of Japanese life now and starts talking about returning to Kenya.

Episode 10

Kazuhiro and Ayano want to reveal the truth about Shinya’s injury so the duo makes a racket about a fire in progress. Shinya knows his sham is uncovered and genuinely apologizes to Ai . The homeroom teacher Yagi Junko uses this opportunity to teach the kindergarteners the difference between individualism and selfishness. Meanwhile, Hoshi Ryuichi still hasn't found a job and his wife Yukari suggests that he start a company of his own.

Week 3

Episode 11

Ai's very first Children's Day is arriving. But Kazuhiro and Ai get into a fight again, this time about whether the day is really for the boys or the girls. When Yukari does some research on it, she finds out some startling facts. Ryuichi's father Ryutaro brings news about a job opening but Ryuichi would like things to be on hold until the Golden Week is over.

Episode 12

While the song about flying carp banners is sung, Kazuhiro's mood gets worse. His mom Momoko thinks it's because the lyrics remind her son about his father whom she had divorced. Yukari has her hands full too, what with worries about Ryuichi and her concern about Ai who seems to think no one cares about her.

Episode 13

The kindergarten starts the Golden Week. When Ai comes home, she finds her grandma Yumiko waiting for her. Grandma had dropped by to discuss Ai's elementary school entrance exam. By coincidence, she finds out that Ryuichi had perhaps found work. Ryuichi and Yukari discuss selling wine but an unexpected obstacle arises.

Episode 14

It's Children's Day and Ai is overjoyed because Ryuichi (Tsuda Kanji) plays with her. And they're going to the family restaurant she had her eyes on from before and even Kazuhiro is invited along. Being the first time ever at a family restaurant, everything looks fresh and interesting to Ai. On the way back, they drop by a cafe owned by Ayano's father Shigeo and this leads to an idea — why not be in the business of selling black tea?

Episode 15

Ai urges Yukari to drop by Shigeo's cafe. As thanks for making Children's Day so wonderful, Ai will turn May 6 in an Adult's Day. Meanwhile, Ryuichi's plan for importing black tea is hitting a bump. The new company will need an office but a good building is hard to find.

Week 4

Episode 16

Both Ai and Kazuhiro's drawing of their dad is entered in the prefecture's contest. The two argue about whose dad is the coolest, and they decide to have a showdown on father's visitation day at school. But Momoko is placed in a bind. She had already divorced Kazuhiro's dad and he now lives in Osaka.

Episode 17

The company's name will be JAMBO. But Ryuichi is short on capital and he doesn't have enough to actually open up the business. Momoko still can't tell her son Kazuhiro that she had divorced his dad and he had married someone else. Her heart aches seeing how eager the boy is about seeing his dad at school. The teacher Yagi Junko has been warned by Reiko regarding Kazuhiro's dad but for the teacher he still is the dad divorced or not.

Episode 18

JAMBO is finally open for business and Yukari and Ryuichi are overjoyed. Meanwhile, Kazuhiro who had believed his dad would come for Father's Visitation Day overhears Eriko and Reiko sensei discussing how he will never see his dad again. Kazuhiro is crushed and on the rebound picks a fight with Shinya. Yukari tries to go over the exam with Ai but the results are.....

Episode 19

Kazuhiro asks his teacher Junko to take down the portrait of his dad he had drawn. He explains his mom will come on visitation day so he wants to change the drawing. Junko thinks it's a shame to take down something he spent so much time on and tries to find a way of keeping it up. A man shows up at the kindergarten. It's Kazuhiro's dad Oshima who was supposedly in Osaka.

Episode 20

It's Father's Visitation Day. In attendance are Ryuiuchi and Momoko and Oshima as well. Kazuhiro starts saying he wants to live in Osaka with his dad.

Week 5

Episode 21

For the July 7th festival, Ai (Nakahara Tomona) hears the myth of the lovers, the weaver princess and the cowherd, from Yukari. Soon Ai wonders why there isn't someone she likes like that. When Yukari tells her about her first love, Ai mistakenly thinks she's talking about teacher Takeshi and tells him all about it.

Episode 22

Now that he's heard the story about Yukari's first love, Teacher Takeshi has heron his mind. Suddenly Yukari's mom Mikiko (Uemura Kyoko) pays a visit all alone. Although she says it's to be at her school reunion.....

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