Asian Drama

Hiroshige Akihisa works for a karaoke company. When he is interviewed about the past 30 years of Japanese music industry, he gets confused when he is asked about his high school student days. An incident happened 29 years ago that caused him to suppress his memories that have now come back.

On March 20, 1995, the Tokyo subway sarin attack took place. At that time, Akihisa was a high school student who got good grades and was well mannered, but the Tokyo subway sarin attack led him to face the death of someone he knew and shook his world. Around that time, he was suddenly called out by his classmate Suzuki Shotaro, whom he wasn't very close to. Shotaro asked him if he wanted to live vacantly into his adulthood and then die? Would he be happy living that type of life? Akihisa then joined Shotaro’s group and hanged out with them in Shibuya. One day, Shotaro is attacked by someone. Akihisa decides to take revenge on the attacker and begins to search for him.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Adapted from the novel "95" by Hayami Kazuma (早見和真).

Episodes: 10

Duration: 49 min.

Airs On: Monday

The newest installment in Fuji TV's "Ooku" series is about the women linked to the Tokugawa shogun line. This time, the focus is on Isonomiya Tomoko and her political marriage to the 10th shogun, Tokugawa Ieharu.

Episodes: 10

Duration: 54 min.

Airs On: Thursday

Depicts the lives of three generations of women who have close links to the English lessons on radio which began in 1925.

Depicts the lives of three generations of women who have close links to the English lessons on radio which began in 1925.

Japan's emergency medical care system suffers from a severe labor shortage. Overtime work per doctor in emergency medical care rises, with a lack of experienced doctors being the cause of the problem. Night time emergency medical care is worse than daytime.

The Hakuoukai Asahi Kaihin Hospital, which is a hospital branch of the Hakuoukai Group, starts a reform of the emergency medical care system at their hospital. They create a night doctor system. The night doctor is an emergency medical team that only works during night duty. Thanks to this system, the shift system is abandoned and the hospital is able to appropriate care 24 hours a day.

Asakura Mitsuki, Naruse Akihito, Fukazawa Shin, Sakuraba Shun and Takaoka Yukiho are members of the night doctor team. These five doctors differ in personalities and age, but, under the motto of never refusing a patient, they begin their work.

Japan's emergency medical care system suffers from a severe labor shortage. Overtime work per doctor in emergency medical care rises, with a lack of experienced doctors being the cause of the problem. Night time emergency medical care is worse than daytime.

The Hakuoukai Asahi Kaihin Hospital, which is a hospital branch of the Hakuoukai Group, starts a reform of the emergency medical care system at their hospital. They create a night doctor system. The night doctor is an emergency medical team that only works during night duty. Thanks to this system, the shift system is abandoned and the hospital is able to appropriate care 24 hours a day.

Asakura Mitsuki, Naruse Akihito, Fukazawa Shin, Sakuraba Shun and Takaoka Yukiho are members of the night doctor team. These five doctors differ in personalities and age, but, under the motto of never refusing a patient, they begin their work.

Shin Karino is an unpopular manga writer and he is single. He lives in an apartment complex that has a rule forbidding children from living there. One day, Shin Karino's doorbell rings. When he opens his apartment door, he sees a small boy. The boy is 5-year-old Kotaro Sato. Kotaro Sato tells Shin Karino that he moved into the neighborhood. Shin Karino makes a weird face, because of the rule of his apartment complex. Kotaro Sato says that he lives by himself. At first, Shin Karino is annoyed by Kotaro Sato, but residents of the apartment building, including Shin Karino, become attached to Kotaro Sato.

Adapted from the manga series "Kotaro wa 1-ri Kurashi" (コタローは1人暮らし) by Tsumura Mami (津村マミ).

Third season of Cold Case: Shinjitsu no Tobira.

Remake of the U.S. drama "Cold Case" (2003).

When Momoko Adachi was in high school, her parents died in an accident. She was left with her 3 younger siblings. To support her family, Momoko Adachi gave up on going to a university and picked up a job at a hardware store. 9 years later, she is now 27-years-old. Her 3 younger siblings are 20, 17, and 14-years-old. Momoko Adachi places her sibling's happiness before anything else. One day, she meets Yoshioka-san at work. She is attracted to Yoshioka-san, who smiles all the time, but he has a secret.

Michiko lost her dad in a car accident when she was 10 years old. After the car accident, Michiko has lived with her mother Kyoko. Michiko, now in her 2nd year of high school, gets a cell phone from her mother as a birthday present. Michiko is so excited to have her very first cell phone. Soon afterwards, she is forced into joining social networking site "AvaQ" by classmate, and queen of the classroom, Awano Taeko. Initially, Michiko is not interested in the site or the world of avatars as she thinks of avatars as nothing more than a doll. But by chance, she becomes hooked on decorating her own avatar. In order to collect virtual money to dress her avatar Michiko blackmails a salary worker. During the annual AvaQ contest for the best dressed avatar, Michiko wins the prize. She now becomes queen of the classroom. Michiko sets up an avatar club of odd gas masks. She also has plastic surgery to make herself look more like her avatar and becomes prettier. Michiko's personality also changes. Trouble soon brews for Michiko when her home room teacher Mizokuchi (Kato Toranosuke) threatens her and fellow classmate Yamanouchi betrays her. Meanwhile, Michiko doesn't even blink her eyes. She starts getting revenge.

Kazusa Onodera is in the first 1st grade of high school. She is also a member of the literature club at her school. The literature club has a total of 5 members, with the other members being Niina Sugawara, Rika Sonezaki, Momoko Sudo and Hitoha Hongo. The five girls all have unique personalities, but they are also not very popular and even ridiculed by other students. They are far from having any romantic relationships. When Kazusa Onodera reads books with explicit stories, she feels embarrassed, but also interested. One day, members of the literature club talk about what they what want to do before they die. Thinking about those explicit stories, Niina Sugawara blurts out ...

Adapted from the manga series "Araburu Kisetsu no Otomedomo yo." (荒ぶる季節の乙女どもよ。) by writer Okada Mari (岡田麿里) and illustrator Emoto Nao (絵本奈央).

Two versions available: 8 episodes (TV) || 10 episodes (online).

Not long after twin brothers Ryuichi and Ryuji were born, they were abandoned by their own parents. They were then adopted by the Yoshie couple, who ran a small shipping company. Sometime later, the Yoshies gave birth to their daughter Misa. Ryuichi and Ryuji enjoyed pleasant days with their adopted parents and younger sister Misa. When Ryuichi and Ryuji were 15-years-old, their parents experienced extremely dark days because of Genpei Kirishima, who ran a competing shipping company.

Genpei Kirishima tried to expand his business nationwide at this time and he tried to deprive business of the company owned by the Yoshies. Due to Genpei Kirishima, the Yoshies fell into heavy debt and eventually killed themselves. Ryuichi and Ryuji vowed to get revenge on Genpei Kirishima.

7 years later, Ryuichi has become a new person through plastic surgery and using someone else's identity. He takes part in the criminal world. Meanwhile, Ryuji works for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, to supervise shipping companies.

Adapted from the novel Ryu no Michi by Shirakawa Toru.

An Kazutaka (Emoto Tasuku) is a young, bashful psychiatrist whose jazz piano skills are as good as a pro. He also has a love for records and books. He searches for his place in the world in his youth. But when he meets the cheerful Shuko (Ono Machiko), who becomes his wife, he finally feels at peace with himself. Right after they have their first child, the Great Hanshin Earthquake strikes. Although his family is affected by the disaster, he begins to search for what he can do as a psychiatrist. As he listens to the stories of disaster victims, he realises that he can help not by treating them, but restoring their capacity to heal. Later on, he compiles his observations of the disaster-hit area as a psychiatrist into a book, and wins a prize for social sciences. He sees this as a positive sign. However, one day when he is 39, he discovers that he has cancer.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

Architect Ayukawa Itsuki is paralyzed from waist down. Although he was the ace of the basketball team back in high school, he injured his spinal cord in an accident while in the third year in university. After that, he decided that he would not play basketball or fall in love ever again because he is wheelchair-bound. Itsuki was Kawana Tsugumi’s classmate and her first love. Tsugumi liked drawing and her ambition was to get into art college. But she lacked confidence and gave up on the exam. Even though she got into an interior design firm, it is a clerical position. Itsuki and Tsugumi happen to meet again at a work-related drinking session. The two of them are attracted to each other. However, they face problems including disapproving parents, the appearance of a love rival and illness as they search for the meaning of happiness

A few months before a law is enacted that requires the recording of all police interrogations, police officers gather at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and they receive instruction on how to treat suspects better. They observe, Yukiko Makabe (Yuki Amami) from the special interrogation team Kintori interrogate a suspect who does not show any signs of remorse. Yukiko Makabe uses sharp words and shows a lack of respect towards the suspect. Due to her behavior, Councilor Reiko Kikuchi orders Yukiko Makabe to train newcomers.

Around this time, Yuta Nomoto, who received a 12 year sentence, escapes while being transferred to prison. He breaks into a house and takes a housewife as a hostage.

Police Officer Enami Atsushi was a capable detective with MPD’s First Investigation Division. For a certain reason, he was demoted to Okutama Police Station’s Mizune Police Substation and is now well-liked and known to the local people of Okutama as “Chuzai-san.”

When Hikari Morimura was 11-years-old, she dreamed of becoming a musical actress. She was close with a musical actress, but the actress was murdered. Her older brother Kunihiko was dating the actress and he was arrested for her murder. Hikari Morimura left her hometown and changed her family name from Morimura to her mother's maiden name of Kitazono.

Hikari is now 26-years-old. She still dreams of becoming a musical actress, but her life is tough. She works at a bar and also takes care of her mother. She hears that her older brother Kunihiko has been released from prison. She wants to say goodbye to her brother for the last time as he ruined her life. When Hikari meets her brother, he tells her "I am innocent" and disappears.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Episodes: 8

When Hikari Morimura was 11-years-old, she dreamed of becoming a musical actress. She was close with a musical actress, but the actress was murdered. Her older brother Kunihiko was dating the actress and he was arrested for her murder. Hikari Morimura left her hometown and changed her family name from Morimura to her mother's maiden name of Kitazono.

Hikari is now 26-years-old. She still dreams of becoming a musical actress, but her life is tough. She works at a bar and also takes care of her mother. She hears that her older brother Kunihiko has been released from prison. She wants to say goodbye to her brother for the last time as he ruined her life. When Hikari meets her brother, he tells her "I am innocent" and disappears.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Episodes: 8

Wakaba is a 2nd-grade high school student in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. When Saki was little, she admired the cheerleading club "JETS” from Fukui Chuo High School in Fukui Prefecture. She dreamed of joining the "JETS,” but she thought it was impossible for her to join and enrolled at another high school. One day, a transfer student from Tokyo talks to her and proposes cheer dance together. Together with their friends, they setout to become a top cheer team.

"Miss Sherlock" is set in modern day Tokyo and both lead characters are Japanese women – Dr. Wato Tachibana, a surgeon recently returned from a volunteer doctors’ mission in Syria and Sara Shelly Futaba, an investigation consultant to the police department who solves bizarre and difficult cases. Throughout the series, the pair solves mystery after mystery with Miss Sherlock’s extraordinary observation and reasoning skills.

(Source: IMDb)

Adapted from a collection of short stories and novels "Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Episodes: 8

Duration: 49 min.

Content Rating: 15+ - Teens 15 or older

Aired On: Friday

Ratings: 8.0

The 69th NHK Asadora Drama is Teruteru Kazoku. Locations include Ikeda, Osaka and Sasebo, Nagasaki. The story, based on Rei Nakanishi's novel, is about the Iwata family living in Ikeda, Osaka City between 1950's and 1960's. The story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, Fuyuko (16). The family runs a bakery. The mother, Teruko, is a very energetic woman who is determined to make her dreams come true. Responding to Teruko's expectations, the eldest daughter becomes a figure skater and the second daughter becomes a very famous professional singer. In contrast, Fuyuko finds her joy in bread making..

The 69th NHK Asadora Drama is Teruteru Kazoku. Locations include Ikeda, Osaka and Sasebo, Nagasaki. The story, based on Rei Nakanishi's novel, is about the Iwata family living in Ikeda, Osaka City between 1950's and 1960's. The story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, Fuyuko (16). The family runs a bakery. The mother, Teruko, is a very energetic woman who is determined to make her dreams come true. Responding to Teruko's expectations, the eldest daughter becomes a figure skater and the second daughter becomes a very famous professional singer. In contrast, Fuyuko finds her joy in bread making..

Chie (Ryoko Hirosue) enjoys happy days with her boyfriend Shingo (Kenichi Takito), but she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Chie is shaken with anxiety, but her boyfriend asks her to marry him. Chie gives up hope of having a baby due to the drugs she takes for cancer treatment. Nevertheless, she gets pregnant. Even though she is risking her life giving birth, Chie gives birth to a healthy baby. Their baby is named Hana. Chie, Shingo and Hana live happily as a family, but ...

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department creates a new division which consists of 5 female detectives. The new division is called Higanbana which is a flower with a poison root. The 5 female detective have their own specialties and sensitivities. The women try to solve a murder that took place at the wedding of a female doctor.

Detective Nagisa Kinomiya is a member of Higanbana. She has the special ability of sensing a criminal’s murderous intent and ill will.

Yoshito (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) becomes famous in Kyoto because of his ability to solve cases. The special investigation unit receives a request to investigate. The case revolves around the kidnapping of a costumed performer. His plays a non-official character of the Arashiyama area, located on the western outskirts of Kyoto. Nobody takes the kidnapping case seriously, but Yoshito says the case could be real and it might be related to a crowdfunding site

Sakata Sadato (Kamikawa Takaya), who has his law practice in Tokyo, was a public prosecutor until 12 years ago. He resigned from his job at the District Public Prosecutors’ Office in order to carry out his own “justice”. His justice is to “let crimes be judged properly”. He specialises in criminal cases and has a reputation as a man of ability. One day, Sakata accepts a sudden and unexpected request, and sets foot in Yonezaki for the first time in many years with rookie lawyer, Kosaka Chihiro (Kurashina Kana). The person Sakata has been asked to defend is Shimazu Kuniaki (Osugi Ren), who was arrested and charged with a murder that occurred at a Yonezaki hotel. The start of the public hearing is the next day. Shimazu has extensive business in Yonezaki including a construction company, and is an influential man in the area. The victim is Hamada Mitsuko (Konno Mahiru), a woman whom he was rumoured to be having an affair with. All evidence including the fingerprints, bloodstains and security camera footage indicate that Shimazu is the criminal. He considered their relationship fooling around. Everyone believes Mitsuko pressed Shimazu to marry and that he stabbed her to death during a quarrel. However, Shimazu declares his innocence at a meeting with Sakata and Chihiro. He seems to have been searching for a capable lawyer and arrived at Sakata after indignantly dismissing his previous lawyer for wanting him to plead mitigating circumstances because that is unassailable. Chihiro assesses the case as a completely hopeless one, but Sakata has an intuition that something is being hidden behind the case and readily agrees to defend him. In truth, Yonezaki was once the district where Sakata worked as a public prosecutor and is also the place where the case that led to his resignation occurred. His superior at that time, Tsutsui Yoshio (Ibu Masato), has now been promoted to head of the Trial Division. The person in charge of this trial is Sakata’s peer, the ace public prosecutor Shouji Mao (Matsushita Yuki). The trial begins the next day. Mao reveals Mitsuko’s divorce with her husband, the general practitioner Watase Koji (Ishiguro Ken) after being immersed in the affair with Shimazu and skillfully corners the defence. She advices Sakata that it would be prudent for him to alter his tactics to seek a reduced sentence instead of recklessly insisting upon Shimazu’s innocence. Meanwhile, Sakata learns that Mitsuko’s son, an elementary school student, died in an accident seven years ago. He begins to reconsider the victim’s past in order to get through to the truth. However, there is no change in the situation which is not in his favour. Then, at the closing argument, the “last witness”, whom Sakata had summoned, takes the stand at last and an astonishing truth emerges … ..

The hero, Satoru Nomura (Yuji Oda), is young, with most of a brilliant career still ahead of him, but has little feeling, save condescension, for the people he is supposed to serve. Instead he has been slaving on a huge seaside development for the elderly that, if given the green light (or rather, the right hanko), will put him on the inside track to the top, where he knows he belongs. He is also preparing to marry the beautiful daughter of a construction company president who holds all the keys to the political and bureaucratic kingdoms.

Some of the locals, however, have been raising a rumpus about the project and, to keep the peace, the prefectural powers-that-be set up a sort of exchange program for elite young bureaucrats, who are dispatched to local businesses to observe, learn and even serve.

Nomura is sent to Mantendo, a third-rate supermarket sliding into oblivion. His trainer, Aki Ninomiya (Ko Shibasaki), is a hard-shelled part-timer in her mid-20s who takes an immediate dislike to him. Clearly, someone has made a mistake.

Rather than try to make nice with his new colleagues and customers, Nomura stays as rigid as the manuals he lives by. He knows better than these peasants, even though he knows nothing. Ninomiya, on the other hand, is a straightforward, down-to-earth type who kowtows to no one, not even Kencho-san (Nomura's moniker among the store employees, which translates as Mr. Prefectural Government). These two butt heads from day one -- and it soon becomes obvious the entire store agrees with Ninomiya: The new guy is a cross they have to bear and keep, as much as possible, out of the way.

The story continues from the previous season, with Eri and Makoto now staying at a nearby mansion and commuting to the restaurant daily. With Yoko busy with her studies and Sho with his job as an illustrator, Aya has to hire new staff. Asking her sister Kuni to help in recruiting, Aya employs Nakano Kaoruko, a girl with an attitude problem, and she moves into Eri’s old room.One day, Yoko receives news that she has been accepted into a university in Kyoto. In the midst of everyone happily cheering, an elderly woman named Tatsu takes the opportunity to try and leave the cafe without paying. She was stopped in time, but claiming to be homeless and penniless, she requests to pay off her bill by working at the cafe. Sensing that there is more to her story, Daigo offers her to stay at their home, and thus begins her journey as a live-in employee of "Aya". Tatsu is an outspoken woman and she doesn't hesitate to tell Kyoko off for her sloppy attire and bad attitude. Although Kyoko couldn't stand her at first, she soon has a change of heart as she begins to realise that Tatsu is only doing all of it for her own good.

Nagashima Daigo and his wife, Aya, have three grown-up sons. Upon her youngest son, Takeru's marriage, Daigo is unhappy that his sons all choose to move out with their wives. Worrying that his wife will feel lonely, going through the empty-nest syndrome, he decides to retire from his job and take his wife around the world. When he tells her his plans, he is surprised to find out that Aya has plans of her own. To her, she is finally her own woman and can now do the things that she wants. Aya, who comes from a restaurant-running family, soon tells Daigo that she intends to convert their home into a little cafe-cum-restaurant. Although he was initially unhappy with her decision, after realising that it is Aya's dream, he gives in to her wish. As they start preparing for their cafe's opening, through unusual circumstances, they come to employ their 3 new staff. Uchida Yoko is a runaway that Daigo saved from the streets. Otake Sho is Aya's family friend's grandchild who wants to rejoin society after one year of self-imposed home imprisonment. Nakatsu Eri is running away from an abusive husband.

Dan is a first year high school student. He isn't so good with his studies or sports. He spends most of his free time at home. One day, his father's spirit enters Dan's body. His father originally died in an accident. It just so happen's his father is the type that excels at everything and now Dan possesses the same gift. He starts to play well in basketball and begins to date a popular girl at school. Dan also becomes popular among his classmates. His school life is just going amazingly well. Because of his change in personality, the other students are surprised by him, but they become influenced by his adult like point of view. Soon, his friends realize the secret of his change.

Tsunoda Miki is a graduate of a second-rate university who manages to find a job at a top-notch company. But after a minor mistake, she becomes the subject of serious bullying by her superiors and other co-workers. Ultimately, she chooses to endure the harassment, not wanting to simply run away from it.

The story centers around three sisters living together, though they have very different personalities, leading them to believe they have different mothers. One day, they each receive a letter from their dead father, with each indicating the title of an erotic novel. Believing that the letters are hints about their mothers, they begin reading the books, and before they know it, they start imagining themselves as the novels' heroines.

Based on a popular comic, this hilarious comedy follows the chaos, troubles and friendship at a boys’ boarding school after a girl-disguising-a-boy joins. Ashiya Mizuki has just come back to Japan from California where she was raised. She fell in love with Sano Izumi, a hopeful high jump hero, who has quit after an accident. As she wants him to go back to the sport once again, she enters the same high school as a boy! With a short hair, flattened chest and lowered voice, she starts sharing the same room with Sano.