Asian Drama

Two unemployed men started a "service business" out of desperation - it was a "religion".

(Source: TMDb)

Episodes: 10

Shiratama Sayako has never experienced much good luck. Since she was a child, she dreamed of becoming an architect. She studied hard, but she repeatedly failed her university entrance exams. Now, she is 30 years old and works in a field far away from her ideal job. One day, she happens to meet mysterious university student Ogasawara Taku. She tells him about her past dream of becoming an architect. Ogasawara Taku tells her that it is never too late and that she can still get accepted into a university. Inspired by their talk, Shiratama Sayako decides to study once again for her university entrance exams. After she studies so hard, she finally gets accepted into a university. There, Shiratama Sayako meets Ogasawara Taku again, who is a senior in the architecture department.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Episodes: 10

Adapted from the manga series "Hatsu Koi, Zarari" (初恋、ざらり) by Zaku Zakuro (ざくざくろ)

In his early years, Oda Nobunaga picked up the nickname of "The Fool of Owari" due to his bizarre behavior. He later married Nohime, but their relationship was not very good. Their marriage came about as a political marriage between hostile neighboring regions. Oda Nobunaga accepted Nohime as his wife with an arrogant, authoritative attitude. Meanwhile, Nohime has an unabashed attitude and easily clashes with her husband. They are like oil and water.

One day, Oda Nobunaga’s enemy Imagawa Yoshimoto attacks Owari with his vast army.

Oda Nobunaga is devastated by the overwhelming gap in military strength, but Nohime encourages Oda Nobunaga to not despair and fight against his rival. Oda Nobunaga and Nohime draw up a tactical plan to take on the much larger army. They soon make plans to unify the entire country, which has never been successfully done.

The drama depicts the exploits of the “Ichigeki Hishikkitai”, a special combat unit formed by farmers to deal with the "Imperial Robbers" and the "Imperial Thieves" of the Satsuma Clan who were causing a stir in Edo at the end of the Edo period.

Adapted from the manga series “Ichigeki” (いちげき) by Matsumoto Jiro (松本次郎).

Writer Tsutomu lives alone at a mountain cabin in Nagano. He collects fruits and mushrooms from the mountain. He also raises vegetables in a field. Everyday, he cooks his meals with these natural ingredients. Doing that, he can feel the flow of the seasons and he writes his book. Sometimes, his editor/girlfriend Machiko visits him. They cook with seasonal ingredients and eat together. They have a good time together. Tsutomu seems to be enjoying an easygoing life, but he is still unable to bury his dead wife’s ashes in a grave. His wife died 13 years ago.

Adapted from the essay "Tsuchi wo Kurau Hibi " by Mizukami Tsutomu.

Adapted from the novel "Tsumaranai Jutakuchi no Subete no ie" (つまらない住宅地のすべての家) by Tsumura Kikuko (津村記久子).

Shiino Tomoyo has stood by her friend Mariko through years of abuse, abandonment, and depression. However horrific her circumstances, their friendship has been the one reassuring constant in Mariko’s life—and Tomoyo’s too. That is, until Tomoyo is utterly blindsided by news of Mariko’s death. In life, Tomoyo felt powerless to help her best friend out of the darkness that ultimately drove her over the edge. Now, Tomoyo is determined to liberate Mariko’s ashes for one final journey together to set free her dear, broken Mariko.

Adapted from the manga series "My Broken Mariko” (マイ・ブロークン・マリコ) by Hirako Waka (平庫ワカ).

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Yasuo grew up as an orphan. He married a woman he loved and they had a son Akira. Yasuo's life seemed great at the time, but his life totally changed after his wife died in an accident. Since that time, Yasuo, who never experienced his parents' love himself, has to raise his son Akira alone.

Adapted from the novel "Kite" (とんび) by Shigematsu Kiyoshi (重松清).

Satoko, a librarian is not confident with herself because she has never been in a relationship although she is 30 years old now. She encounters a gentleman named Ryosuke and falls in love with him instantly. A man who proclaims he is "Stendhal", the author of the French literature "Love Theory" suddenly appears in front of Satoko who hopes to change herself every day. It is a good thing for Satoko who is surprised at seeing this "illusion" which, in her mind, appears because she is so worried about her love. What's more, to make Satoko and Ryosuke have a blossoming love, Stendhal guides Satoko with love secrets and gradually changes her! In this way, they two will become closer. However, Satoko has a "certain past secret" she does not want to be known by anyone...

Adapted from the novel "Unmei no Koi wo Kanaeru Stendhal" (運命の恋をかなえるスタンダール) by Mizuno Keiya (水野敬也).

Nakagoshi Maho works as a wedding planner. She is in charge of the wedding for Isikawa Akihito and Nitta Haruka. On the day of their wedding, Nakagoshi Maho faces various problems like the appearance of Nitta Haruka's ex-boyfriend Yashiro Yuya at the wedding. Can Nakagoshi Maho, who never says no to her clients as a wedding planner, solve all the problems that come her way and have Akihito and Haruka enjoy the best wedding possible?

Natsuko has been in a cold relationship with her husband, Kensaku, for many years. One day he dies suddenly, leaving Natsuko alone with a wizard, Mari, who appears and offers to grant up to four wishes. Natsuko requests to go 50 years back in time to the past before she met her husband.

There, Natsuko meets young Kensaku, her young self, and her father Shintaro. Natsuko pretends to be someone she is not and attempts to uncover hidden truths while living in the past. What awaits Natsuko at the end of her time travel? And what will be her last wish to the wizard?

After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino which is strategically located between the East and West. His name is Akechi Mitsuhide. At this time, there is plenty of internal strife within the Toki clan which rules Mino. Surrounded by the Oda of Owari, the Imagawa of Suruga and the Asakura of Echizen, Mino has constantly faced the risk of invasion. Mitsuhide is pulled into battle and destroys the enemy. His bravery as well as stratagem catches the attention of Saito Toshimasa, the chief retainer of the Toki clan, and he is singled out. This man who is also known as Saito Dosan will go on to takeover the Toki and make Mino his own.

Kuwano Shinsuke, a successful architect, is well-to-do, knowledgeable and good-looking. He is now 53, still lives alone in the same apartment, which has the latest gadgets, and enjoys single life. Although he fell for Hayasaka Natsumi, the doctor who treated him and changed his perspective toward marriage, and even dated, they later broke up. So Kuwano’s heart is shut firmly to love again. He is even more eccentric now, and feels a little anxious when he thinks about the future. One day, the wheels of fate start to move all of a sudden after a chance encounter with some women.

Hiroshi Kataoka works at a bank. He receives a promotion to manager of the Kamata branch. He is also informed that the Kamata branch will be shut down and he does not have to work hard. After the branch's shutdown, he will work again at the bank's headquarters. Hiroshi Kataoka is embarrassed by the situation. He sees the branch employees work hard and they do not know the branch will close. Hiroshi Kataoka is conflicted between his job and his employees.

Dangerous hacker group “Phantom 20” is known internationally. They begin an attack on Hikari Bank in Japan. Kenjiro Namikoshi is the chief of the criminal investigation section at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. He leads the investigation into the group. Kenjiro Namikoshi thinks of Kogoro Akechi who holds vast knowledge on hacking and leads BD team hacker group. To ask him for advisor help on the investigation, Kenjiro Namikoshi sends Yoshio Kobayashi.

The murder of Sudo Isao, a used car dealer, occurs in Shizuoka Prefecture in 2008. Detective Kusaka Satoru of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police’s Susuno Precinct, checks his background. He learns that Sudo’s young son Obata Mamoru from a previous marriage, died in a kidnapping incident in Shizuoka in 1974. In 1988, with just one year before the statute of limitation on the kidnapping case ran out, a special investigation unit was formed under the instructions of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police’s police chief Hashibami Yasuhide. Shigeto Seiichiro, who rose to the rank of superintendent despite being a non-career officer, became the director and led a group of six capable detectives in the re-investigation. Kusaka cannot comprehend why Sudo, who lived in Tokyo more than 20 years after the death of his son, was murdered in Shizuoka Prefecture. He instinctively knows that delving into the kidnap and murder of the child will shed light on the case. Kusaka visits Shigeto who has left the police for a long time and searches for clues. He makes contact with Mamoru’s mother Saeko and her older sister Rie, and gradually draws near the real culprit.

Attempted murder, fraud and embezzlement, illicit drugs, tax evasion and even murder? Five women convicted of various crimes and a crime-loathing female warden put aside their differences to hatch a grand plot of revenge against a handsome but crooked company CEO. But the revenge plan keeps hitting snags. All of these mature women with interesting back stories meet in a female penitentiary and band together to clear each other of unjust sentences in this blockbuster female crime story rich in laughter and tears, brilliantly merging the comedy and cheerfulness of Kudo Kankuro storytelling with serious deeper questions of why we’re all here and what constitutes true happiness.

Hikuma Koichi, a former saxophone player who has turned his back on music due to the aftereffects of an accident, becomes the advisor of a small brass band at a run-down high school. He has to deal with problem students who have lost their dreams as well as the teachers’ opposition to a professional musician entering the classroom. The path is not easy for him. Even so, Hikuma rediscovers his dream, confronts the students head-on and starts to coach the band. Despite their bewilderment, the students begin to reciprocate his passion for music.

Kasahara Sachiko’s (Kitagawa Keiko) parents died young and she lives in a Tokyo apartment with her only sister Nobuko (Koike Eiko), a journalist for a newspaper’s cultural department. She has not found a job and has been interviewing at a number of companies. On this day, Sachiko bids farewell to Nobuko who is leaving for a holiday at Lake Towada in Tohoku, and sets off for another company interview. This should have been the usual scene of the two sisters who share a close relationship. But that night, Sachiko gets news that Nobuko was killed in an accident, and for some reason, Nobuko lost her life in Nagano which is a different place from what she had told her. Nobuko’s colleague and fellow journalist Yoshii Ryoichi (Mukai Osamu) suddenly shows up before a grieving Sachiko. He sets out to investigate the mystery of Nobuko’s death together with Sachiko, but she does not know his true intentions. Meanwhile, Sachiko starts to work at the newspaper as her sister’s replacement and goes to meet the cultural figures that Nobuko had been in charge of when she was alive. Among these people with habits which are unimaginable from their glamorous appearances, is the pediatrician Nishiwaki Mitsutaro (Sawamura Ikki) who writes a column for the newspaper. He seems to be the greatest philanderer in celebrity circles even though he has a wife (Nishida Naomi), and calls Sachiko out many times. But right after that, Machida Tomoe (Sakai Wakana), who had been her sister’s colleague in the same department, commits suicide. She leaves behind cryptic words for Sachiko regarding Nobuko’s death. “There is someone who should take responsibility”, “All the more if it is a famous person”. Sachiko’s hunch is that her sister’s death is connected to someone prominent that she had been dating while alive. However, the more she attempts to learn the truth, the more “suspects” meet suspicious deaths one after another until she no longer knows who is her friend or foe. Sachiko has unwittingly been sucked into a deep darkness as if she is wandering about in a dark, dense sea of trees with no exit.

9th-graders Kazuo (boy) and Kazumi (girl) take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they...

Nishiuchi Mariya stars as a novice concierge in a luxury hotel who strives to see her customers smile. The heroine with never-give-up attitude who doesn't say "no" to customers tries her very best to solve problems with support from her seniors. The drama brings heart-warming one-off episodes every week to viewers.

Toko has finally got her dream job as concierge at "Hotel Vollmond". One day, fashion designer and customer, Sachi, requests Toko to change the flowers at her party venue, which Toko promises to do without due consideration. With the help of her senior, Honjo, she manages to keep her rash promise, but Honjo starts to question why on earth Washio chose Toko as concierge in the first place. Toko, then, gets enthusiastic about supporting a customer who plans to propose to his girlfriend.

The Crime Victims Support Unit exists within each prefectural police. The job of the unit is to provide all sorts of information such as the progress of an investigation or trial, give advice as well as help out in the lives of victims, who have unwittingly ended up involved in crimes, and their family members. This work is not confined to specialised knowledge-based support, but covers a wide range from being there for scarred victims, assisting in funeral services to dealing with the mass media and arranging for taxis for moves. While unit members may visit a scene with investigators, they have not been empowered with the authority to investigate so far. However, Togakure Tetsuya (Takahashi Katsunori) who was once a detective of the Kyoto Prefectural Police’s First Investigative Division, has the conviction that what victims and their family want to know the most, is the truth. He would embark on his own informal investigations as an extension of the usual assistance, with the backing of Iwase Koichiro (Matsudaira Ken), the head of the Police Affairs Department, and guides cases to swift resolution.

Ando Natsu, whose dream is to become a patissiere, finds herself jobless after the shop owner’s sudden death. She goes to Tokyo in search of another job at a confectionery but the recruiting period has just ended and there are no available positions. This is when she makes her first encounter with the well-established Japanese confectionery "Mangetsudo". It is run by the veteran confectioner Umekichi, Takezo, and Mitsuko, and they happened to be looking for a part-time worker. A number of chance events follow and Natsu starts working at Mangetsudo. Although her job is to serve customers, Natsu becomes interested in the world of Japanese confection. Having only worked in cake shops, everything is new to her and she is gradually drawn into the deepness and profoundness of Japanese confection.

Hoshino Tomomi (Nagasaku Hiromi) is a 41 year old housewife with a darling son and a handsome husband, but whose life has become sexless. Hayakawa Kaoru (Ishida Yuriko) is a 41 one year old movie producer who is single, but feels uneasy about her life. Mikami Haruko (Sato Hitomi) is a 41 year old housewife happy with her ordinary husband and two children. These three women were all best friends once during high school, but have since drifted apart. Now, after meeting again at a class reunion, they find themselves drawing closer to one another. But as they draw closer, an incident from their past threatens to destroy their relationship once more; particularly between Tomomi and Kaoru. But before that happens, both Tomomi and Kaoru find themselves in a situation that will turn their worlds upside-down..

Mizuno Asumi is a doctor at the University Hospital. Her only objective in life is to avenge the death of her father, a death caused by immoral and negligent doctors. She wants to reveal to the world their mistakes and corrupt behaviors, with the hope of preventing them from furthering their practise as doctors.

Based on the same-titled manga, this drama is set in the town of Minatocho.

Baba Hospital, the local clinic in a small port town, is closed for business. The clinic’s director Baba Kohei suddenly died and his only daughter Asuka, a nurse of one year, has been desperately searching around for a doctor to be his successor. Then Tsuruta Masayoshi, nicknamed Jumbo, suddenly shows up at Baba Hospital with an emergency patient in tow. He used to work with Asuka’s father at the hospital but left town because of some trouble 12 years ago. Although he saves the patient with admirable skill, he is not the fine young man he used to be but has transformed into a greedy, brutish and arrogant person. Furthermore, he is here with Baba’s IOU for the 100 million yen he loaned as well as deed to the land and property. To Asuka’s shock, Jumbo declares that the clinic is now his, and settles into the position of clinic director on this pretext. Asuka, who adored him in the past, is stunned by the complete change in his behaviour now that they are reunited after 12 years as well as resents his high-handedness. Although they are at odds with each other, Asuka gradually sees with her own eyes that Jumbo is a genuine doctor who not only considers a patient’s position more than anyone else, but also diagnoses difficult-to-treat illnesses that other doctors do not notice. Howevever, what is his true motive for coming back to this town?

Adapted from the manga series "Machiisha Jumbo!!" (町医者ジャンボ!!) by Koshino Ryou (こしのりょう).

Amano Aki goes with her mother Haruko to her hometown in Kitasanriku during a summer vacation. There, she meets her maternal grandmother, Natsu, for the first time. Natsu is a woman diver aka "ama", and Aki thinks that is just so cool. Aki is a second-year high-school student, and she struggles to keep up with the fast-paced life in Tokyo. Having been confined indoors most of the time, everything she sees in the rural town is exciting to her. But most of all, seeing her grandmother diving under the fierce surf along the coastline, leaves a huge impact on her. "I think I would like to be a diver too..."

Through the introduction of his friend Danma Ryuji, Onizuka Eikichi, the former legendary bike gang member, visits Meishu Academy to tend to the trees in the garden as a part-time gardener. Learning that Yoshikawa Noboru, a student in teacher Fuyutsuki Azusa’s class is being bullied by Uehara Kyoko and other classmates, Onizuka befriends and saves Yoshikawa. Seeing Onizuka’s unprecedented but visceral, powerful response to problem solving, the school’s president and principal, Sakurai Yoshiko, overrides resistance from her vice principal Uchiyamada Hiroshi and makes Onizuka a teacher. Onizuka goes on to tackle many issues as the teacher in charge of the most problematic class, Class 2-4.

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.

A man inadvertently kills his uncle. A woman witnesses this act. These two people fall in love and flee to Tokyo. A detective investigates their past.

Episodes: 8

Duration: 54 min.

Aired On: Sunday

Akari's birth mother is originally from Osaka. She moves to Osaka to live with her grandmother to learn more about her mother. She learns that her grandmother closed the okonomiyaki (a Japanese savory pancake) restaurant after Akari's teenage mother had ran away. Akari then re-opens the okonomiyaki restaurant and tries to start the business on her own.

Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other.

Kurosaki is a young man whose family was destroyed by swindlers. He gows up and become a swindler himself, known as Kurosagi. He swindles other con artists and returns the money to the original victim. He works with the master swindler Katsuragi Toshio even though Toshio had a hand in the destruction of Kurosaki's family.

He's life begins to change when he meets Yoshikawa Tsurara, a young law student who disapproves of his disrespect of the law.

Tomoyo Harada is an average student in high school. She has an old friend Toshinori Omi who goes to the same school, and Ryoichi Takayanagi who is also her classmate, but is not quite the old friend she thinks he is. One day after a routine cleaning of the school’s chem lab, she starts to experience a time warp in her life where she experiences the same event multiple times. Quite by accident, she is getting drawn into the plan that came from the future. She soon discovers why she is experiencing the time warp.

Ishihara Santaro is an electronics salesman with a knack for entertaining customers while wearing his trademark red nose. But his actual sales are poor, and he soon gets fired. Through his former teacher, he finds a job at a hospital as a junior high teacher for children who are unable to normally attend school due to their illnesses. Looking to cheer up the children, he tries using comedy, but he is unable to even draw a smile. The elementary school teacher, Tagawa, scolds him for not focusing on education. After some painful events, he becomes determined even more to bring laughter to the children, but it results in even more conflict between him, Tagawa, and the pediatrician Haruka. --Tokyograp