NHK's serial drama Hanako and Anne, which kept high ratings, ends with episode 156 on Sept. 27. The Mainichi Newspapers reports that at end of last month the cast wrapped up; heroine Hanako Yuriko Yoshitaka, best friend Renko Yukie Nakama, husband Ryo Suzuki and others attended a ceremony at the Yokohama Aoba studio—deeply moving =photo.
The tumultuous story ends with Hanako finishing her translation of Anne of Green Gables and her publishing dream within reach. She begins final revisions; only the Japanese title remains. The provisional title was A Girl Leaning by the Window... The publisher proposes Red-haired Anne. Hanako was unconvinced, but when her 20-year-old daughter said "Isn't it Red-haired Anne, Mom?" she replied "Wonderful! Definitely Red-haired Anne, Mother!" Hanako realized young readers matter, hurriedly called the president, and had the printer change the manuscript title. That title may have caught young sensibilities—when Red-haired Anne published in May 1952 (Showa 27) it became a huge bestseller.
Miss Shaw, who entrusted Anne of Green Gables to Hanako, died in Canada the year after returning home; author Montgomery also died during the war. Yet Canadian feelings were entrusted to Hanako. Though materially poor times, Anne's joy of imagination and family won through hardship captivated young women across Japan.
When I last covered Hanako and Anne here, I noted that Hanako Muraoka interpreted Helen Keller of The Miracle Worker on her third Japan visit in 1955—deep ties with The Mainichi Newspapers. The NHK drama did not reach their meeting, but Hanoko signed her afterword to At Omori sincerely in that era. After Red-haired Anne she translated Montgomery's Anne, Emily, Jane of Lantern Hill, Serenade of the Orchard, Pat of Silver Bush series; her last translation Emily's Quest was published posthumously in 1969.
Recently Muraoka Hanako's biography Helen Keller was reissued in Kaiseisha bunko—welcome news =photo.
As a Christian she attended Omori Megumi Church of the United Church of Christ in Japan (now United Church of Christ in Japan) =photo=. She also translated English hymns; two appear in the 1954 hymnal.
Omori Megumi Church still stands quietly south of Ikegami Honmon-ji in Ota Ward. A gentle slope before it is "Megumi-zaka." Hanako surely climbed it on wings of imagination.