Asian Drama

7 huge holes suddenly appear in locations around Japan. The holes appear in random places like in the sky, in the middle of a road, in a field, or in the middle of the city. Citizens are confused about the holes, and different investigations are carried out about the holes, but the true nature of the holes remains known. As time goes by, people begin to live with these holes. Many people go into the holes, but nobody has returned from the holes.

Then, a man named Ozawa appears who worships the holes as a god. He insists that salvation can be found in the hole. Eight people who are followers of Ozawa gather at a resort facility. The eight people are Kawabata, Sugaya, Matsuoka, Aoyama, Watanabe, Shingo, Iguchi, and Okamoto. Following Ozawa's rule, they must talk about why they want to go and record themselves before they enter the hole.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Miwa Kubota is a 29-year old movie fanatic who just got fired from her dead-end job. She saw that her favorite actor, the world-renowned Takahashi Yakai, is looking for a housekeeper. Even though she is totally unqualified, she goes there anyway. When she saw the new hire get into an accident outside his door, Miwa steps in to become the "pretend" housekeeper for her idol.

(Source: MangaUpdates)

Adapted from the manga series "Miwa-san Narisumasu" (ミワさんなりすます) by Aoki U-hei (青木U平).

Episodes: 32

Duration: 15 min.

Aired On: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

The "first penguin" is the courageous first penguin that dives into the sea filled with enemies. Iwasaki Nodoka is a young single mother with no money, no house, and no work. While Nodoka decides that she will do anything to eat, she meets a fisherman who offers her "10,000 yen to rebuild the coast". Thus, Nodoka now carries the dreams of the local fishermen whose lives are on her shoulders. Despite her limited knowledge of the fishing industry, Nodoka does her best working with the stubborn sea men, breaks through the old common sense and customs with her boldness, and creates a revolution in the industry.

A story that begins when a husband and his daughter, who lost their beloved wife 10 years ago and lost the meaning of life, unexpectedly reunited with their wife (mother). As his wife is reborn as a 10-year-old elementary school student, the family is reborn.

Akira is the legendary killer known as the Fable. Following the order of his boss and due to being overworked, he lives peacefully with his partner Yoko as ordinary siblings. Akira still works part-time at design company Octopus with CEO Takoda and employee Misaki. CEO Takoda and Misaki are unaware of Akira's background as an assassin.

Meanwhile, Utsubo is a representative for an NPO. But, Utsubo works with contract killer Suzuki to set people up for extortion purposes. They target someone at design company Octopus.

Kiyozumi Hamada is a 3rd grader in high school. He possesses a strong sense of justice. One day, he sees first grade student Hari Kuramoto being bullied. He helps her. Since that time, Kiyozumi Hamada tries to save Hari Kuramoto from bullies. While doing that, they grow closer.

Adapted from the novel by Takemiya Yuyuko.

Shibusawa Eiichi was born in 1840 to a farmer’s family. He grew up helping his family with work, which was to manufacture and sell indigo production and also silk farming. He left his hometown at the age of 23 and began working for the government. He later traveled to Paris and learned about banking. Upon his return to Japan, he helped build up the first modern bank in Japan. He eventually became a founder or supporter to about 500 companies and was involved with about 600 public services, including education for women.

Nanase Nobata is in her final year of University. She lives with her father Kei despite their strained relationship. Her father is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. One day, her father takes a drug which is supposed to temporarily kill him and bring him back to life after two days. His aim was to figure out who is trying to steal key company secrets. However, something goes wrong and Kei comes back as a ghost. Nanase tries to restore his life with the help of Taku Matsuoka who works at Kei's pharmaceutical company.

Ishikawa Kazuto is a first-class architect. He is married to Kiyomi. They have a son, Tadashi, who attends high school and a daughter, Miyabi, who attends middle school. They live together in a refined home, designed by Kazuto.

An injury causes Tadashi to quit playing soccer. Since that time, Tadashi often stays out all night without permission. One evening, Tadashi leaves home and does not return. Kazuto and Kiyomi become worried about their son and consider going to the police. News then reveals the murder of Tadashi's classmate. The police suspect that Tadashi might be involved in the murder.

Adapted from the novel "Nozomi" by Shusuke Shizukui.

Obuchi Takashi was a high school baseball coach well known as the "Red Demon Teacher" because of his tan red face and energetic instructions. He is now a tired, middle-aged man.

One day, Obuchi Takashi meets his former student Saito Tomoyuki. Tomoyuki played on Takashi's high school baseball team. He was talented, but did not have patience and eventually dropped out of school. Tomoyuki is now a responsible adult and married to Yukino. Takashi learns that his former student only has 6 months left to live due to having terminal cancer. Takashi regrets that he was so strict to his students. He plans something for Saito Tomoyuki.

The Yorozuya need money to pay their rent. They decide to do several small jobs but in each place, they meet the Shogun. Meanwhile, the Shinsengumi is facing divisions. The internal conflict of special forces is linked to shenanigans that involve the Shogun.

Kanda is a producer of a popular quiz program. When he wakes up, he finds himself wearing a mysterious necklace and there a lot of business cards scattered on the floor. His daughter daughter is there and wearing the same necklace. Kanda and his daughter are locked up in a secret room.

Mysterious man X (Masaki Okada) appears in front of Kanda. X suggests to him the “Meishi Game” ("Business Card Game") with a 2 hour time limit. The rule of the game is for Kanda to find the business cards he received and return them to the owner of the business, but, if Kanda makes a mistake, his daughter will blow up. Kanda accepts the challenge to save his daughter and there is also a hidden secret.

“The God of Risk” is a sensational social entertainment drama that revolves around Saigyoji Satoshi, a legendary expert in the field of crisis management who is known as "The God of Risk.” Satoshi worked in crisis management for General Electric in the U.S. and for the Japanese government. Trusting in Satoshi's exceptional skills and professional talent, Sunrise, one of the largest general trading company in Japan, hires Satoshi to deal with the company's numerous problems and scandals. Meanwhile, the heroine Kagari Kaori is an intelligent, career-oriented woman who fluently speaks several foreign languages. After graduating from Tokyo University, Kaori has been working for Sunrise for 10 years. Despite her young age, Kaori earns an executive position of the new product development department. However, she soon faces a crisis: a recall on a next generation battery product. Now Satoshi and Kaori must work together to deal with the company’s recall nightmare

Three Koda sisters, 29-year-old Sachi, 22-year-old Yoshino, and 19-year-old Chika live at their grandmother's home in Kamakura, Japan.

When the Koda sisters were young, their parents divorced and they were abandoned. Not having seen their father in 15 years, they receive news of his death. Sachi asks her sisters, Yoshino and Chika, to attend the funeral where they meet 13-year-old Asano Suzu, their half-sister. Yoshino is aware that her father's widow, Yoko, is not Suzu's real mother and finds her to be unfit as a guardian. Concerned for Suzu's well-being, Sachi attends the funeral and invites Suzu to live with them, Suzu gladly accepts.

There are three sisters: 29-year-old Sachi Kouda (Haruka Ayase), 22-year-old Yoshino Kouda (Masami Nagasawa) and 19-year-old Chika Kouda (Kaho). They live at a house in Kamakura, Japanese. Their house was left by their grandmother.

One day, they receive news of their father's death. When the sisters were young, their parents divorced and their father left them. They haven't seen their father in 15 years. Upon hearing the news on their father's death, the sisters attend their father's funeral.

At the funeral, they meet their stepsister Suzu Asano (Suzu Hirose). She is 14-years-old and there are no one to take care of her. Oldest sister Sachi invites Suzu to live with them.

A salaryman, a drug addict and a yakuza go on a breathless three man chase through the streets of Tokyo, each for a different reason and fighting demons.

Sawaki is a postman who's not quite thrilled about his boring way of life. But his life is about to change when he delivers mail to his old schoolmate Noguchi, who's now a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, and just finished cutting his little finger off.

Up-tight salaryman Asakura (Shinichi Tsutsumi) goes to the doctor about his severe tension headaches, but gets car-jacked by bank robbers, who order him to pursue one of the gang that has betrayed them. Unfortunately, Asakura never breaks the rules, won't drive over the speed limit, or run a red light, even if threatened. The frustrated gang stops at a café to make plans, but word is out about their "successful" robbery, and "karmic fate" begins to unfold.

The story is set in the late Edo period when the divorce rate was two times higher than the present.

In the feudal Japanese society, men could easily divorce their wives whereas wives had great difficulty to exercise the same act. Many women found solace at a women’s Buddhist temple in Kamakura named Tokei-ji, where, after two years of servitude, their husbands were forced to sign divorce papers. The three inns located in the area beneath the temple functioned as the front offices, with Tokei-ji accepting only women who have been approved by them first.

The year is 1841. Tokugawa Shogunate has issued sumptuary regulations as part of Tempo reforms, making the lives of common people even worse. Nakamura Shinjiro is a literary writer and doctor-in-training, residing in Edo. In light of the recent events, Shinjiro escaped to an inn at Tokei-ji temple which is run by his aunt, Kashiwaya Genbei.

Jogo is aiming for Tokei-ji in search of a divorce from her abusive husband who is exploiting her for the family business. Ogin is a former courtesan who has abandoned the love of her life, a wealthy merchant, for some unknown reasons. The two women come across in their journey to Tokei-ji. There, Jogo and Ogin meet Shinjiro, his aunt and the others who are trying to help the women with various ideas to start a new life.

High school student Hoshi Izumi (Nagasawa Masami) loses her father suddenly in an accident. One day, Sakuma (Tsutsumi Shinichi), the waka gashira of a small and weak Yakuza gang in Asakusa – the Medaka Gumi – pays Izumi a visit along with the gang members. The death of their former kumicho (Boss) puts Medaka Gumi on the verge of a breakup. Therefore, Sakuma begs Izumi, the former boss's only distant relative left, to succeed to the kumicho position. Izumi is taken by surprise and keeps refusing at first. However, she ends up becoming the 8th kumicho of the Medaka Gumi! The police tell her that her father's death may possibly be a homicide case. There's also Mayumi (Koizumi Kyoko), a mysterious woman staring closely at Izumi's father's photograph at his funeral. The situation becomes complicated when the drug-dealing vicious yakuza, Hamaguchi Gumi, comes into the picture as well as Sandaiji Hajime (Ogata Ken), a politician whose public stance is to eliminate drugs. --TBS

Muto (Jun Kunimura) and Ikegami (Shinichi Tsutsumi) are two gangsters who hate each other, but Ikegami is in love with Muto's actress daughter Michiko (Fumi Nikaido). Meanwhile, Muto attempts to make his wife Shizue's (Tomochika) dream come true which is to have their daughter appear in a movie.

Koji (Gen Hoshino), who is just a passerby, is mistaken for a movie director. Koji then requests to independent film director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) to cast Michiko as the leading actress in his film. Their situation soon goes completely wrong.

1. Screenplay for "Why Don't You Play in Hell?" was first written by Sion Sono 15 years ago as an action film.

The film revolves around two men, Mutoh and Ikegami, who are fierce enemies who feel nothing but hatred for one another. However, Ikegami unexpectedly falls in love with Mutoh’s daughter, aspiring actress Mitsuko.

Mutoh wants to celebrate the release of his wife Shizue from prison by giving their daughter her debut, so he decides to produce his own movie specifically to that end.

Soon, a movie buff named Koji is hired to direct after being mistaken for a filmmaker and an actual indie film director named Hirata is recruited to help.

Complicating matters even further, Ikegami soon injects himself into the chaos of his hated rival’s production.

When Kaoru Inoue (Junichi Okada) opposes Soichiro Ogata (Shin'ichi Tsutsumi), Soichiro makes the cryptic remark "It couldn't be helped. It was for a greater cause ...".

One month later, at an event hall in Roppongi Hills, there is a charity event for landmine eradication. Kaoru does security with Security Police officers Soichiro Ogata, Eri Sasamoto (Yoko Maki), Takahumi Yamamoto (Satoru Matsuo) and Mitsuo Ishida (Yu Kamio). Kaoru Inoue senses a threatening existence and starts to suffer a severe headache and becomes dizzy. When Kaoru was young, his parents were killed by terrorists and that incident has had an traumatic effect on Kaoru since.

Inside the event hall, Kaoru Inoue replies to Ogata calls that everything is fine. The Secretary of Japan then appears on stage and Inoue again senses a threatening existence. Kaoru has a premonition of what will happen in the future. Right after, Kaoru finds a man in a suit holding an umbrella, even though the weather is clear, and starts running towards him. The man approaches the stage and Kaoru is blocked from reaching him by other spectators. Kaoru Inoue warns Eri Sasamoto about the man. As the man attempts to push a button on the umbrella, Kaoru and Eri are able to restrain him and take the umbrella away. The man slips away and runs off.

Kaoru Inoue chases the man to the center of the city and arrests him near the subway platform. The chase was covered by the media. The chief of SP, Yoshiharu Nakao (Shingo Egami), later stares down at Kaoru and tells him a pipe bomb was discovered in the umbrella which could have caused severe damage. Prime Minister Yuzou Asada (Kei Yamamoto) and other higher government officials gave Inoue favorable reviews, but Kaoru, nevertheless, crossed proper protocols and should refrain from such excessive behavior in the future.

That evening, a campaign fund raising event is held in support of of Secretary General Kunio Date (Teruyuki Kagawa). After the fund raising event, the secretary for the Ministry of Defense Takikawa (Takehiro Hira), who was a member of the same university political club that Soichiro Ogata attended at Tokyo University, chief international terror agent at the Ministiry of Foreign Affairs Anzai (Kazuki Namioka), Metropolitan Police Department member Mitsuhiko Kaziyama (Satoru Date) and Soichiro Ogata gather together in a suite room of the hotel with Kunio Date.

There Takikawa tells Soichiro Ogata that its time to perform the plan. Takikawa affirm that the soft landing way pushed by Yuji Nishijima (Kisuke Iida) will not be effective to build up the country. Anzai insists a crisis is needed to change people's values. Kunio Date promises to support them and orders Soichiro Ogata to carry out their plan.

Around that time, Ichiro Tanaka (Toru Nomaguchi) investigates the relationships between Kunio Date, Kunio Date, Kaziyama and the suicide of government official Yuji Nishijima. A few days later, Soichiro Ogata calls Kaoru Inoue at night to the meet at the park. The park was the same place where tragedy met Kaoru Inoue's parents some twenty years ago. Soichiro Ogata begins to tell a shocking truth, while Kaoru Inoue can't understand his intentions.

The next day Soichiro Ogata assigns to Security Police officer in the #4 Security Section an assignment to guard Kunio Date. After guarding Kunio Date that night, the terrorist plot finally begins attacking Kaoru Inoue and his colleagues.

SP, the duty to protect. Professional bodyguards that safeguard important people even if it at times means sacrificing their own lives.

In the 21st century, regarded as the century of terror, Japan's myth of infallibility is greatly threatened. With domestic and foreign terrorists active behind the scenes, and pleasure-seeking criminals with no political ideology able to easily obtain information from the internet, an era in which terrorism can be carried out has gradually dawned. The role played by the SP has become crucial; bodyguards who protect VIP by becoming "moving shields," locating blind spots beforehand, as well as anticipating unforeseen circumstances.

The SP has just been increased on an experimental basis. Inoue Kaoru is one of the recruits to be assigned to this role. Inoue possess special abilities, and is an entirely new type of SP. He will boldly take on the fight against terrorism, while his colleagues regard his abilities with skepticism.

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.

In the last months of the Second World War, the Empire of Japan receives a final gift from the collapsing Nazi Germany: the I-507, a highly-advanced submarine equipped with experimental technology.

The mission, as revealed by the grim Chief of Staff Asakura (Shinichi Tsutsumi) following the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is to intercept U.S. ships transporting a third nuclear weapon to Tinian Island, the principal base from which American B-29s Bombers are striking the Japanese home Islands. The man charged with the mission is Commander Masami (Yakusho Koji) - a brilliant destroyer of enemy ships relieved of his command when he opposed the navy's increasing reliance on suicide tactics. Given a last chance to redeem himself, he is burning with zeal, but is ignorant of the various secrets the I-507 carries on board.

Once at sea, Lt. Takasu (Ken Ishiguro), the owlish technician in charge of the imaging system, refuses to tell Masami what it is or how it works. Masami also discovers that two crew members belong to the "kaiten" suicide corps. He has no idea why they are there -- and neither, for the moment, do they.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is tracking the I-507 with more than usual interest. What, Masami wonders, is going on here? Enough to say that a sweet-voiced teenage girl (Yu Kashi) is part of the master plan and that one of the minisub pilots (Satoshi Tsumabuki) becomes her protector -- and something more.

Having achieved his life-long dream of being a pilot, Hajime is first officer on an international jetliner and is now working to become a captain. He can't seem to please Captain Koda, who has become an exacting taskmaster since an air incident many years ago. To complicate matters, he begins a relationship with stubborn and straight-talking mechanic, Ayumi, whose parents died many years ago in the plane crash for which Captain Koda feels he is responsible. What follows is a story of 21st century love, dreams, and passion.

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.