Crime-fighting concierge; “We Rent Out Families”; CM of the week: Daihatsu

Atsuko Asano plays the title role in the mystery special “Okinawa Rizoto Konsheruju Gushiken Yoko no Meisuiri Ibitsu-na Misshitsu” (“Okinawa Resort Concierge Yoko Gushiken’s Excellent Deduction of the Irregular Locked Room”; TV Tokyo, Wed., 9 p.m.).

Hotel guest Maiko (Akiko Ogata) calls the front desk when she is unable to access her room. The assistant manager goes up and unlocks the door to discover Maiko’s husband, Ishikawa, dead. The room connects to an adjoining room through another door, but that one is locked also. It has been rumored that Ishikawa, a company president, was carrying on an affair with a woman named Eiko, and later her dead body is found as well. Police detective Oshiro (Shin Takuma) can’t figure out how the killer dispatched the victim in a room that was completely locked, but eventually it is the concierge, Yoko, who comes up with a theory.

The drama special “Kazoku Kashimasu” (“We Rent Out Families”; Nippon TV, Fri., 9 p.m.) looks at the issue of social atomization. Yamamuro (Hiroshi Tamaki) is the president of a company called Family Romance, which provides stand-in “family members” for any occasion.

Nijiko (Reina Tanaka) sees a help-wanted ad for the company and goes in for a job interview. Yamamuro likes her immediately and hires her as a probationary employee. He explains her first assignment: She will pretend to be the best friend of a bride at her wedding ceremony and reception. Nijiko is taken aback, since this task is completely at odds with the job description she saw in the ad, but she’s been hired, so it’s too late to back out.

CM of the week

Daihatsu: Comedian Pe Hayashiya has one joke. He and his constant companion, wife Pa Hayashiya, always dress in shocking pink, and with his mop of curly hair he strikes quite a figure.

Actor Jo Odagiri is the paragon of hip and thus the antithesis of Hayashiya. In a new commercial for Daihatsu’s Tanto mini-car he plays the comedian as super cool, but still in shocking pink and sporting a huge Afro. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been so popular,” he purrs to an interviewer. “What changed?” she asks. “My car?” he wonders. The Tanto’s sales point is that it can be “customized” to the owner’s needs, just like Pe Hayashiya’s sense of style, apparently.