Asian Drama

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to...

This renzoku follows four women in the "around 40" generation. Shifumi is an attractive woman who stole her classmate's boyfriend in high school, and despite criticism from others, she got married and had a child. However, she soon divorced and currently keeps a younger boyfriend. Three of Shifumi's former classmates: ordinary housewife Makiko, work-focused doctor Neri, and housewife Miwa. Miwa is having an affair with Shifumi's ex-husband Keishi (the boyfriend Shifumi originally stole from her.) Eventually, the various secrets and lies kept by the four women all come to light.

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.

This drama pits two protagonists against each other. On the one hand there's Makoto, a woman who believes that the TV program is a product and that viewer ratings are the proceeds, and who believes any method is fair in getting those ratings. On the other hand there's Hiromi, a flashy sort of guy who claims that life is to enjoy and boasts that the program is simply a tool in that process. He loves wine, women and gambling. Such a pair is bound to mix like oil and water, but following a fateful reunion, they come to understand each other in the midst of confrontation.

The 35th NHK Taiga Drama is Hideyoshi, the story of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of the samurai class could bear arms. Hideyoshi is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier".

The drama won 11th Television Drama Academy Awards (1996-Dec-20) for best drama.

When the Inoue family just moves into their new residence, they are shocked to see everyone there so anxious about getting their children into good schools. In order not to be the one left out, they also join in the crowd and train their child hard to score well in the primary school entrance exam. Interestingly, their next door neighbor has a kid same age as theirs and always likes to compete with them. This makes the whole exam process more exciting and stressful, of course.

(Source: wiki.d-addicts)

Episodes: 12

The life story of Ashikaga Takauji, the founder and the first Sei-I-Tai-Shogun of Ashikaga Shogunate. He was born in the late Kamakura Period, during the time of discontentment with the Hojo clan's monopoly in the Shogunate administration. Emperor Go-Daigo took this opportunity to restore back Emperor's power. After some failed earlier attempts, he succeeded eventually with the help of a few independent Samurai Lords and Takauji's betrayal of the Hojo clan. However, it was not long before the Samurai class revolted due to unfair treatment and discontentment with the Nobles' domination in the new government. As the head of Minamoto descendants, Takauji took responsibility to confront Go-Daigo and establish Ashikaga Shogunate.

Adapted from the novel "Shihon Taiheiki" by Yoshikawa Eiji.