Asian Drama

A treasure appears in front of antique dealer Norio Koike and potter Sasuke. The treasure is Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s chawan (procelain tea bowl) called Houou, that has been missing.

Nasuda Ayumi is a young travel nurse who gives a bad first impression. In fact, he had been an excellent nurse practitioner in the US. He has the qualifications to carry out certain medical procedures and assist doctors in surgeries. However, some circumstances trigger his return to Japan where nurse practitioners are relatively unknown and nurses are still expected to do what doctors order. Ayumi ends up working at Amano General Medical Centre where he encounters a mysterious, legendary nurse Kuki Shizuka who will become his partner. Shizuka cleans “quietly” just like his name suggests and gets mistaken for a cleaner by the hospital staff including Ayumi. But he is actually a super nurse with boggling skills. Although Shizuka does not defy doctors and is too soft, when it comes to the crunch, he would boldly take decisive action with scathing words. He is quite a “liar” and has a huge secret. With their respective skills and philosophies, Ayumi and Shizuka are different types of unsung nurses who repulse each other but also collaborate to slowly bring about changes in not only the patients but also the healthcare professionals around them.

This series depicts the battle between the Kumoichi party, led by Nizaemon Kumo, and the fire thief's secretary-general, Abe Shikibu. The rare thief, Nizaemon, aims at the hidden money in Ooku, targeting Takiyama, who has great power in Ooku. Meanwhile, Shikibu approaches the secret hidden in Takiyama.

Adapted from the novel "Kumokiri Nizaemon" (雲霧仁左衛門) by Ikenami Shotaro (池波正太郎).

Daisuke Manpyo is the owner and president of the successful Hanshin Bank. He also owns several other companies and some real estate. His son-in-law is a bureaucrat at the Ministry of the Treasury, who tips him off that there is a move afoot to reorganize commercial banks. Manpyo is in for difficult times as he attempts to block the merger between his bank and another.

Toyama Eiji became popular and his star was on the rise in his mid-20s. Back in the day, he played the lead in the hit drama Deeper than Love. His passionate romance with his co-star Ozono Hitomi made waves but he was discovered to be two-timing her and they broke up. He was iced out of the industry for three years as a result of a press conference that Hitomi held. It has been an open secret that the two of them will not act together. However 25 years after they split up, Toyama, who is now an A-lister, and Hitomi, who continues to top the rankings as the female actress that people want as their boss, find themselves co-stars of a major drama titled Love You to Death that TV Toyo is staking its fortunes on. Will the two of them be able to put aside their years of resentment and deliver performances in tune with each other?

Keisuke Kuroda wakes up in a hospital bed unable to remember who he is. While sneaking out of the hospital, he sees a glimpse of the news and realizes that he is the Prime Minister of Japan. His approval rating was the lowest in the history of modern Japan. During a recent speech, a citizen had thrown a rock at him causing him to lose his memory. Keisuke Kuroda’s subordinate takes him to the official residence of the prime minister where he tries to implement changes to the country. The only people aware that he has lost his memory are his three secretaries.

Antique dealer Koike Norio flounders around as he goes after a big break. He heads for Sakai, Osaka to find a treasure and meets down-and-out potter Noda Sasuke. A prominent appraiser dupes them and the two losers collude to make a pile of cash by faking "Rikyu's lost tea bowl."

A man arrives in the city upon news of a potential terrorist strike in Italy. He is Japanese foreign diplomat, Kosaku Kuroda, and he’s here under orders of his supervisor at the Foreign Ministry, Hiroshi Kataoka (Kiichi Nakai), to aid...

Kenta Sakaguchi was a yakuza member and he spent 13 years in prison for killing a rival yakuza boss. Hidehiko Hirohashi was a secretary for a politician. He took the blame for the politician’s act. Isao Okawara was a self-defense official, but he took in arms against the government. The three men gather under retired ex-detective Gonzaemon Mukai and they get even with the people who betrayed and deceived them.

Hayakawa Vito has a Filipino father and a Japanese mother, but he was born and raised in Japan and has never visited the Philippines. The ever-smiling Vito works at Machimura Foods during the day, and at night, he works a part-time job trying to make his dreams come true. One day during an incident at a bookstore, he meets a girl named Mishima Hana, who lost her ability to speak due to an accident. But even though she can't speak, Vito is drawn to her beautiful smile. However, Vito becomes wrongly suspected by the police for a crime, and after meeting the lawyer Kazuma, the issue begins to grow... Together, Vito, Hana, and Kazuma will go through challenging times and have to overcome many obstacles. --Tokyograph

Mie’s father died during the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. One day, she finds a bundle of unsent New Year’s cards, which languished there for 28 years. To find out why the cards were never sent, Mie tracks down Haruhiko Sakacho. Haruhiko played on the same high school baseball team with her father. Mie eventually gathers together her father's former teammates to play in the Masters Koshien (a senior league baseball tournament). Mie also uncovers a truth about her father and the baseball team. ~~ Based on the novel "Kiroi Jou" by Kiyoshi Shigematsu.

Kimura Takuya returns to Monday nights at Fuji TV as an ordinary salary man, Kindaichi Fumio, who is loved by colleagues and trusted for his ability to protect subordinates. One day, however, things take a 180 degree turn and his life becomes completely flipped upside down. His superiors fix their eyes on him and concoct a plot to bring him down. He is held responsible for a crime he has no recollection of, and is forced to leave his position. More unfortunate events follow as Kindaichi loses literally everything from his cellphone to his home, ending up without a penny in his pocket. Shocked by his losses, he one day meets two children in the park by chance who teach him how to get by without any dependency on money. The greatest thing about Kindaichi's character is that his character never fails him. He always has a carefree attitude and is driven by those people he meets, who love and support him, not by inflicted pain or grudge against others. Despite being the man who has lost all his possessions, Kindaichi continues to move forward, inspiring his former boss, Moai Kengo, and conservative office co-worker, Nikaido Aya, resulting in a big turning point for each of them. What is it that money can't buy? What is the most precious thing in life? A man tells the story of finding that "priceless" something in life, through unpredictable turns and twists with a light comedy touch. --Fuji TV

Chiaki has now been promoted to the position of Deputy Director in the drama production arm of JMT. Her job now is to guide and coach the younger staff under her. She especially recognises the talents of scripwriter Mariko and the assistant producer Mitsui. On the other hand, back in Kamakura, Wahei is bearing the brunt of the failure in getting Kamakura to be officially recognised as a World Heritage site. He now has additional responsibilities of managing the secretarial department too. He is also being marked by the new mayor, Isayama Yoko, and is told to not cause any more trouble to the City Hall management.Shinpei has converted the ground floor of their home into a small cafe, and his relationship with Tomomi is going smoothly. While Wahei's other sister, Noriko, is suspecting her husband of having an affair, and she seeks advice from both Wahei and Chiaki. Wahei's daughter, Erina is now dating a man one year older than her, Harada Souta. Erina introduces Souta and his mother, Harada Kaoruko to Wahei.One day, Wahei is told to go to France with the city mayor, due to some news from Kamakura's sister city there. Coincidentally, Chiaki also has to go to Paris, as they are facing a problem with an ongoing drama, and she needs to clarify some details with the original writer who is living there.

Set in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. The romance of Chiaki Yoshino and Wahei Nagakura continues.

11 mysteries, 11 actors. Japan's favorite mystery author, the world of Higashino Keigo comes to life on screen through an assortment of short stories.

For every episode, there will be a different lead actor and story, it's themes varying from mystery to comedy to horror to human drama. Nakai Kiichi is the navigator as he takes you on a journey through each episode, seasoned with Higashino's authentic spices, failing your assumptions with vivid story composition and an even bigger betrayal before the finale. It's a weekly drama that will keep you hungry from episode to episode, like a special holiday event each and every time.

Koizumi’s last lead role in a drama series was in 2001 in TBS’s “Koi wo Nannen Yasundemasu ka.” This time, she will play a 45-year-old single woman who works as a TV drama producer. Starting to feel anxious about her health and her future, she visits an old house in Kamakura where she intends to live with her friend when they reach old age.

Nakai plays a 50-year-old government worker at Kamakura’s city hall whose wife has passed away. With both of them at a crossroads in their lives, their fateful encounter leads to romance.

Tokyograph.

During the late Heian era, a youth who did not know his birth parents was raised by the Heike (also known as the Taira), a samurai clan of emerging influence. Taira no Kiyomori (Matsuyama Kenichi) was in truth the illegitimate son of Emperor Shirakawa. With his adoptive father, Tadamori (Nakai Kiichi), he got rid of the pirates in the Seto Insland Sea, and was trained to be a samurai. In a period where the samurai were being discriminated by the aristocrats of the upper echelons of society, Kiyomori, who was adept at winning hearts and minds, controlled the pirates. He worked to reform the aristocracy, persisted with the way of life of the samurai and built up the mighty Taira clan (Nakamura Baijaku, Kamikawa Takaya, Fujimoto Takahiro, Daito Shunsuke). Before long, he rose from a senior courtier of the third rank to become the chief minister and the ruler of Japan.

Emi Hosho (Eri Fukatsu), a not so successful lawyer, is assigned to the one of the most unusual of cases. Her client is accused of murdering his wealthy wife and he his alibi is that he was staying at an inn while suffering from "kanashibar" (sleep paralysis). The only witness able to corroborate his alibi is the 500-year-old ghost of the Sengoku period military commander Rokubei Sarashina (Toshiyuki Nishida) - who sat on the accused's chest all night long.

Attorney Emi Hosho travels to the inn to investigate further. Emi Hosho also falls into "kanashibar" and soon discovers the 500-year-ghost sitting on her chest. Knowing that the ghost is the only witness who can support her client's alibi, she grabs his hand and pleads with him to testify in court.

The story follows a family of Japanese immigrants who crossed over to America 99 years ago. Kusanagi plays both the young Hiramatsu Chokichi (later taken over by Nakai) and his son, Ichiro. When the war breaks out the Japanese immigrants face racism and segregation. Ichiro pledges his alliance to America and gets sent to Europe, second son Jiro stays back with Ichiro's beloved Shinobu (who he has a crush on) and tries to protect his parents' farm. Their two sisters Shizu and Sachie are sent back to Japan and have to experience the horrors of war, one in Hiroshima and the other in Okinawa.

Kuryu Kohei is an unconventional prosecutor at the Josai branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. One day Kuryu is asked to take on a case which his colleague, Shibayama, prosecuted. The case looks simple with a confession by the accused, but the accused changes his plea at the first hearing and now claims his innocence.

Kuryu is faced with Gamo Kazuomi, an attorney who prides himself with the highest number of winning acquittals for criminal cases in Japan. While Kuryu is puzzled by the appearance of such a high profile attorney for a relatively minor case without publicity, Gamo steadily drives Kuryu into a corner with his unperturbed and varied tactics.

Meanwhile, Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office is conducting the special investigation on the a bribery case of Hanaoka Renzaburo, a major Diet member. Unbeknownst to Kuryu, it turns out that the adjudication of the case holds the key to a bribery case of Hanaoka Renzaburo. Kuryu and Hanaoka had an encounter in the past, but Kuryu concentrates on bringing out the truth of his case and with his legal aide Amamiya.

Five years after leaving Josai bureau, Kuryu Kohei, who has been working in Sapporo, Hokkaido, is transferred to Nijigaura, Yamaguchi (a fictitious town, its real name is Nijigahama), a quiet place on the seaside where he arrives precisely when the first murder in eleven years has been committed. Soon, Takita Akihiko, the most beloved and influent person of the town, is suspected and Kuryu has to deal with this problem, as the other members are too frightened to take any action.

An SP in which the atmosphere of the renzoku series is kept, even though the cast has been almost entirely replaced. The fact that the story is located in the countryside gives the little bit of originality this episode needed. And it is with great pleasure that we meet again several characters of the renzoku series who make an apparition as guests.

The 42nd NHK Taiga Drama is MUSASHI. Many Japanese history buffs are familiar with The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi in the 17th century. Musashi's treatise on strategy and the way to lead instantly became the business executive's bible when the translated version hit the bookstores more than three hundred years later.

In 2003, the story of this legendary swordsman-philosopher-painter comes to life in the NHK Taiga Drama MUSASHI. Based on the famous biography written by Yoshikawa Eiji, this taiga drama boasts a list of stars that reads like a Who's Who of screen and television.

Orphaned before he was ten years old, Musashi (his real name is Takezo, so you'll hear his childhood friends call him by that name) grows up skilled in the martial arts. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he fights on the side of the losing Toyotomi forces, but eludes the enemy as they hunt down the vanquished soldiers. He then spends years wandering the countryside mastering the sword, becoming a stronger samurai. As his fame spreads throughout the nation, men seek him out to test their skills against him--most notably Sasaki Kojiro who faces Musashi in the ultimate Duel at Ganryujima.

Tales of the Unusual: A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertently caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

"Falling into the Evening" tells the story of a young woman’s confusion when her boyfriend starts a relationship with another. Rica and Kengo have been living together for the past four years. It’s been a very happy time for Rica; the only dark spot being an accident she caused during a shoot for a commercial in which Kengo’s good friend, Shibata, nearly lost his life. The memory of this event weighs heavily on Rica’s conscience. One night Kengo tells Rica that he has fallen in love with a charming but „inscrutable“ woman named Hanako. Kengo moves out of their apartment and, although Rica is terribly hurt and confused, she cannot bring herself to hate Kengo. Nevertheless, she suffers a great deal as a result of their separation. She cannot believe her eyes when Hanako suddenly appears at her door, but this is not nearly as baffling as when Kengo also turns up at Rica’s apartment looking for his new lover. For a while this threesome co-habit in a kind of Ménage à trois, but then Hanako starts staying away for nights on end – without telling either of them where she goes. Kengo soon tires of the situation; Rica, however, decides to find out what’s going on once and for all.

Natsuko lives her dream as a copy writer for an advertising company in Tokyo. But when she hits a slump in her career, she returns to her family's sake brewery in the countryside. There she discovers her older brother has been hunting down a phantom rice called tatsunishiki, believing it to be ideal for creating a new sake. He finds the rice seeds he needs to begin his new sake, but right after Natsuko returns to Tokyo with her spirits renewed, he passes away suddenly. Despite new success at her job, she decides to quit and return home to continue her brother's dream. What begins is a several years long journey, first to cultivate the notoriously difficult to grow tatsunishiki, and then to perfect the brewing process of her new sake.