There's probably not a single lesbian left who has not yet seen (or would at least admit to not seeing) that infectious drama, The L Word - released on DVD here in Japan just this past February. Now, while the women in Japan love LA lesbians just as much as anybody else, you gotta admit - we are ready to see some lesbian dramas set right here in Japan!

Some people may guess that never lesbian characters have never rightly appeared in Japanese dramas but, truth be told, quite a number of Japanese dramas from the 1990s featured lesbian characters. Putting aside for a second exactly how well or badly these characters were portrayed, we must admit, it was unusually early for the media to make such a move.

With that in mind, I would like to go ahead and introduce a handful of these valuable, vintage programs.

Sono Toki, Haato ha Nusumareta (And Then My Heart Was Stolen) (1992)

●Screenwriter: Eriko Kitagawa
●Featuring: Sae Isshiki, Yuki Uchida, Takuya Kimura
●Station: Fuji Television

In this bittersweet love story, a high school student in love with love, Yuko (Sae Ishiki) has her first kiss stolen from her by Saki (Yuki Uchida) - and she finds herself feeling increasingly drawn to this seemingly mature classmate of hers.

The fact that the program showed two quite typical high school girls positively accepting their feelings for each other was quite revolutionary for its time. It's also quite a treat to be able to watch Uchida and Ishiki - two of Japan’s top idols at the time - together with SMAP's own Takuya Kimura.

translated by rayna rusenko