Asian Drama

This special drama follows the lives of Mineko and her friends in 1970, 2 years after the ending of "Hiyokko."

Makino Satoshi is a genius classical guitarist. One day, he meets journalist Komine Yoko. They become attracted to each other, but Komine Yoko has a fiancé.

Continuation from season 1.

Saionji Hajime serves the wealthy Ijuuin family. He graduated at the top of the London school for butlers. As the perfect butler, housekeeping skills and management of the mansion go without saying. He mastered martial arts and also has knowledge of all sorts of genres including science and history. Saionji has established a firm relationship of trust with Yuriko, the widow of the head of the Ijuuin family. He abides by the wishes of the inquisitive Yuriko and independently investigate difficult case. No matter how capable he is as a butler, he should be an amateur at investigating cases. However, nothing is impossible for Saionji who brilliantly figures out the mystery with his knowledge and skills.

Hajime Saionji (Takaya Kamikawa) is the perfect butler and he works for a madame who is elegant. The madame is full of curiosity and has a pure personality. Hajime Saionji began to work for the madame before her husband died and they share a deep level of trust.

One day, they a face murder case. The madame holds doubts about the murder case. Hajime Saionji uses his great reasoning powers in an attempt to solve the mystery.

The 17-year-old Yatabe Mineko grew up in a family of seven in a mountain village in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture. Her father Minoru has gone to Tokyo to work in order to earn extra money. However, her life completely changes when her father does not come back for the New Year. Mineko asks her family to let her go to Tokyo to find him and promises to send money home. In the autumn of 1964, she and two childhood friends Tokiko and Mitsuo are hired to start working at a small factory in Tokyo’s working class neighborhood. After work each day, Mineko searches for her father and gets disheartened at times. Mineko overcomes challenges and starts to lay down roots in Tokyo as she experiences many meetings and farewells amid the laughter and tears with regulars, people of the shopping street, friends, and colleagues. But will she be able to find her father?

On the advice of Professor Tsukuba (Furuya Ikkou), a physician she respects, houseman Togano Makoto takes training at forensic medicine classes. She gingerly steps into a classroom with a strange atmosphere. The eccentric but outstanding forensic professor Matsuzaki Tojiro gives her a polite brush-off and leaves the place. Makoto trains under Kosaki in a story that throws the ethical conflict surrounding autopsies and human relationships into sharp relief.

Adapted from the 2015 novel "Hippocrates no Chikai" by Nakayama Shichiri.

Assistant Inspector Fukuie (Dan Rei) does not look like an assistant inspector but once she starts an investigation, she takes no notice of anyone as she searches for the key to find out the truth. She does not care for the hierarchical relationship of the organisation or career advancement. If she has doubts, she will not listen to her superior and will persist in investigating to the end. Fukuie’s boss Inspector Ishimatsu (Inagaki Goro) is completely different from her. He places importance on the organisation and discipline, is rigid and strait-laced. Ever since Fukuie became his subordinate, his pride has been in tatters because she loves to disregard his instructions and investigate on her own even though this eventually results in success and he gets credit for her achievements. His principle is to investigate using orthodox methods, but the results that Fukuie delivers goes against this and makes him feel ashamed.

Inspector Sugishita Ukyo, head of the Special Missions Division, returns from London and goes home in the sports car of Assistant Inspector Kanbe Takeru, who has come to meet him at Narita Airport even though Ukyo did not ask him to. However, on the way home, Ukyo notices police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department conducting a crackdown outside the agency’s jurisdiction in Chiba Prefecture and gets suspicious. The police officers that Ukyo had seen were riding motorcycles. He lies in wait in a street with a dead end, but the motorcycle police have vanished into thin air. Ukyo is mystified and begins a thorough investigation. The Head of the National Police Agency’s Secretariat, Onoda Koken, appears before Ukyo, who has a bad feeling about what is going on. He tells Ukyo that Honda Atsuto, a revolutionist and senior leader of the leftist radicals “Red Canary”, has secretly returned to Japan.

Kato Rosa stars as Tachibana Ayaka, a young woman whose life has been ruined after she lost her boyfriend then her mother became gravely ill. Looking for revenge, she starts out as a hostess with the goal of rising to become the "empress" of the Osaka nightlife scene. Matsuda Shota plays a member of the underworld who becomes Ayaka's ally.

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.