the same working position for several years. She often goes to Post for advice on her situation. Hiroshi Mikami as Tomonori Sasaki Fumino Kimura as Kana Mizusawa Yu Shirota as Yuki Tōjō Reception Ashita, Mama ga Inai garnered a viewership rating of 14% in the Kanto region for its first episode. However, due to the controversy it was embroiled in, the viewership rating for its second episode fell to 13.5%. Overall, the series garnered an average viewership rating of 12.85% in the Kanto region. The cast's performance was well received by viewers, with 50.8％ of the viewers expressing high satisfaction with the performance of the main cast in the series's first episode in a survey carried out by Oricon. Controversy After the first episode of the drama aired on January 15, 2014, there were widespread complaints from foster care associations, orphanages and Japan's only hospital that accepts abandoned children via a baby hatch, Jikei Hospital (慈恵病院). Jikei Hospital criticized the depiction of such abandoned children, and in particular, against the naming of an abandoned child character "Post" because this constitutes "mental abuse" against children who were actually left at a baby hatch. The controversy escalated on January 21, when Japan's national association for orphanages and other related organisations requested that NTV cancel the series. The series was also mentioned during a session of the Japanese legislature, when then-Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura mentioned that "There were reports about a girl living in a children's home having hurt herself (after watching the drama)". Due to the controversy, Japanese advertisers such as Mitsubishi Estate and Kao announced that they would withhold their sponsorship of this series. Thus, on January 22, the second episode was aired with none of the usual sponsorship credits. while the third episode was shown with public service announcements in place of commercials. The controversy was resolved when Nippon Television offered to "give greater consideration to children" by making unspecified changes to the drama's script in a statement made to the nursing home council on February 4, 2014. The next day, the president of the national council for children's homes, Koichi Fujino, acknowledged the broadcaster's statement, and hinted that he will watch the series until its last episode. See also Coin-operated-locker babies References External links Nippon TV dramas Japanese drama television series 2014 Japanese television series debuts 2014 Japanese television series endings Television shows written by Shinji Nojima Television controversies