

I'm not really sure if I'm convinced about this premise. But her passion and concern for her students apparently makes up for her shortcomings as a teacher.

Haruko is not a very good teacher in fact only one of her students passed the evaluation exam after finishing the course that she taught. Usually, one of Kano Haruko's students gets into trouble (more often than not, because she has influenced or encouraged them to do something crazy or out of ordinary) and then she goes to save the day, leading her to share an important lesson or two about the Japanese language and culture. However, the drama is quite formulaic and episodic that it sometimes seems too crafted and surreal. It's also interesting how modern Japanese perceive their own culture and how the traditional culture is practiced in modern times. One cannot really learn about a particular language without learning about a particular culture because these two definitely go hand in hand: the language is a reflection of the culture and the culture is a reflection of the language. It's very interesting to know about the different theories about how the different kanji and hiragana came about as well as how these characters evolved over time. Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo is a must-watch for all foreigners studying the Japanese language since it is about foreigners learning about the nuances of the Japanese language.
