Asian Drama

When Kirisawa Shogo was a high school student, he was a brilliant amateur boxer. He won 4 boxing tournaments and he seemed to have a bright future in the sport. During his university student days, he quit the sport of boxing. Life went on for Kirisawa Shogo. But, after his beloved wife died, has life has now become a total mess. He doesn't have any hope or desire to live. He just spends his days working part-time jobs to make a living. One day, his friend asks him to coach the boxing team at the high school where they attended. Kirisawa Shogo accepts the coaching position. Being around the young boxers, who work extremely hard, Kirisawa Shogo begins to feel alive once again.

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Adapted from the novel of the same name by Minato Kanae (湊かなえ).

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.

Set in the 1990's, high school student Ayu lives with her mother and grandmother in Fukuoka. She works as a model, but, to pursue an acting career, she goes to Tokyo with her grandmother. While attending a high school, she picks up acting work, but only minor roles. One day, Ayu meets Masa, who is the executive director of record label A Victory. He decides to make Ayu into a singer. According to Masa, Ayu prepares to make her debut as a singer. Meanwhile, she encounters jealousy from rivals at her record label. Trusting Masa, Ayu endures her problems. She also develops feelings for Masa and Masa also holds feelings for her.

Based on novel by Yamasaki Toyoko, screenplay by Habara Daisuke and directed by Tsuruhashi Yasuo. The era setting is changed from the Showa 30's to the year 2019.

Himokura Tetsu is a scientist who specialises in the study of parasites. He loathes people and is very sadistic. Tetsu bought a huge botanical garden in Hakone which he converted into his home and lab. He holes up in the conservatory where he researches his favourite parasites. His right arm is fitted with a black robotic hand. However, it is not known how this artificial hand came about. He is an eccentric genius who solves a series of difficult cases with astounding scientific methods.

Police Officer Enami Atsushi was a capable detective with MPD’s First Investigation Division. For a certain reason, he was demoted to Okutama Police Station’s Mizune Police Substation and is now well-liked and known to the local people of Okutama as “Chuzai-san.”

Yuri Ishikawa and her team try to crack unresolved cold cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

In 1895 (Meiji 28), Nonaka Chiyoko prays for the safety of her husband Itaru who is attempting to climb Mt Fuji in midwinter. If he accomplishes what no one has done before, he would finally build an observatory on the mountain’s summit with the intention of staying there alone in the winter. He will be able to observe the weather in order to advance meteorological studies even though it may be at the cost of his own life. Burning with a conviction that the country cannot be changed if no commoner demonstrates it first, Itaru has the support of his parents and younger brother but Chiyoko is absolutely anxious. She is convinced that her husband will certainly die of such recklessness if she lets him go alone, and decides to climb Mt Fuji together with him. However, this is vehemently opposed by her mother-in-law Tomiko who berates her that her place is at home, and Chiyoko apparently reconsiders. In order to join Itaru, she hides this plan from the people around her, deceives Tomiko and does everything possible to finally carry it out. On the summit of Mt Fuji in midwinter – a feat no one has yet achieved, husband and wife battle the cold and altitude sickness as they begin their observations.

Episodes: 6

Duration: 58 min.

Ratings: 7.2

Aired On: Saturday

The son of the second generation owner of a traditional Japanese confectionery shop ‘Kururiya’ in Tokyo’s Kototoibashi, Kururi Takuzo was born and raised in Tokyo. He received a strict education from his father, who was a man with an old-fashioned way of thinking, and his skills in making the shop’s signature dango have surpassed his father’s. But in his personal life, he has divorced thrice and is a rather sloppy man to women. Now at the age of 55, he leads a carefree life. His hobby is to go for walks in town with the antique single-lens reflex camera that his father bought for him when he was a child, and capture the scenery of the good old-fashioned Tokyo which will change someday. In the middle of such days, Takuzo encounters women whom he is attracted to. He spends a time with each woman, talking over delicious alcohol and food while having a fleeting love. Will love work out for him?

Makita Takahiro works in the Public Relations (PR) Department of Nagawara Seiyaku, a major pharmaceutical company in Japan. One day, on his way to work, he witness someone committing suicide by jumping onto the railway tracks, into the path of an oncoming train. A few days later, he is called into the Vice President, Anjo Takao's office, where he is told that the suicide may have something to do with one of the drugs manufactured by the company. Anjo then assigns Takahiro to work with the police on their investigations. As Nagawara Seiyaku is currently undergoing talks with a major foreign equity group on a possible merger, any bad publicity will put an end to that. The company will definitely go under then, as they are in the red due to the economic crisis. Takahiro has been told to not breathe a word about the investigations to anyone, not even his fiancee, Morita Mayumi, who is working as Anjo's secretary.

When the autopsy records the said drug to be found in the deceased's body, Anjo instructs Takahiro to approach the family, to persuade them on an out-of-court settlement, while they are writing up reports for the Ministry of Health. Torn between his obligation to the public and to the company, Takahiro approaches the company lawyer, Takafuji Tatsumi, for advice and help.

In the end, will Takahiro ignore his conscience in order to protect the company's profit?

Adapted from the 2014 novel "Godan" by Dōba Shunichi.

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.

Ryujo Hoshiko comes to detective Kindaichi Kosuke’s office with a request. She would like him to investigate an attempt to poison her father, Baron Ryujo Kiyohisa. Hoshiko says this may have something to do with the issues of succession such as the peerage and fortune. Accepting the request, Kindaichi and Hoshiko are driven by a servant of the Ryujo family to the mansion in Nagano Prefecture. On the way, the car comes to an abrupt halt on a country road. They have stumbled across the dead body of Kazuma, the husband of eldest daughter Ryujo Hanayo. After assisting with the investigation, Kindaichi and Hoshiko finally reach the mansion. The police detective Hibino is questioning a grieving Hanayo, her mother Shimako, second daughter Yukiya and her husband Hoshino Natsuhiko. Then another man arrives. It is Akechi Kogoro. He received a warning from the 20-Face Phantom who is targeting the golden statute of a Buddhist deity which is in the Ryujo’s possession. Kindaichi and Akechi end up face to face again. Kindaichi is conscious of it, but Akechi acts relaxed. From the next day, Kindaichi searches for clues in the murder. On the other hand, Akechi pursues the whereabouts of the Phantom. Kazuma, who had been the possible successor of the peerage, had no reason to commit suicide. Everyone in the family believe he was murdered. In a search after that, it is discovered from a storehouse within the mansion that Kazuma vomited blood. There is a high chance it is the same poison administered to the baron. Meanwhile, Shimako has been hastening a proposal of marriage for her third daughter Hoshiko. The other party is Takuzo of Hishikawa Construction. Hoshiko makes an agonising decision in order to protect her family. And then, another incident occurs in the Ryujo family.

In 1895 (Meiji 28), Nonaka Chiyoko prays for the safety of her husband Itaru who is attempting to climb Mt Fuji in midwinter. If he accomplishes what no one has done before, he would finally build an observatory on the mountain’s summit with the intention of staying there alone in the winter. He will be able to observe the weather in order to advance meteorological studies even though it may be at the cost of his own life. Burning with a conviction that the country cannot be changed if no commoner demonstrates it first, Itaru has the support of his parents and younger brother but Chiyoko is absolutely anxious. She is convinced that her husband will certainly die of such recklessness if she lets him go alone, and decides to climb Mt Fuji together with him. However, this is vehemently opposed by her mother-in-law Tomiko who berates her that her place is at home, and Chiyoko apparently reconsiders. In order to join Itaru, she hides this plan from the people around her, deceives Tomiko and does everything possible to finally carry it out. On the summit of Mt Fuji in midwinter – a feat no one has yet achieved, husband and wife battle the cold and altitude sickness as they begin their observations.

Episodes: 6

Duration: 58 min.

Ratings: 7.2

Aired On: Saturday

Silent poor... the poor and needy whose cries for help are drowned out in today's busling society. Their existence is spreading rapidly across the nation, and as such, the government decided to set up a body to help them. Nationwide, there are now people called Community Social Workers (CSW), and their jobs are to attend to the poor and needy. One such person is Satomi Ryo, and she works at the Shitamachi area's Council of Welfare. The people that she meets in her busy working life are people afflicted with juvenile dementia, those who have shunned society and locked themselves up in their rooms, the homeless... generally people who are in despair over life and the fate dealt to them. Ryo herself had been down the lonely road before, and as a way to pull herself out of her depression, she decided to work as a CSW, in order to help others like her. She strongly believes that one can always start all over again, and it is her belief that helps her to move forward in life.

An extreme elitist, Ueba Kamo is a Tokyo University graduate and bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance. Due to her mother’s sudden passing, she is forced to turn herself into an okami, or proprietress at a ryokan (Japanese style hotel). Growing up she had loathed her hometown Kyoto as much as she hated her rare name. Uebaya, the ryokan, is smothered in debt and she cannot imagine letting go of her freedom and success she worked so hard to obtain. In a fever of resentment, she grudgingly takes on the family business, dead set and confident that she would be able to turn the business around in no time. But becoming an okami isn't as easy as she imagined. The ryokan’s reputation plummets and the entire crew of employees begin criticizing her... Trying to escape her critical situation, Kamo is greeted by a shrewd consultant in finance. The crafty man’s name is Kinugawa Shuhei and as they quarrel and try to deceive each other, they find themselves becoming partners. The two set their mission to rebuild the ryokan back to its normal state.

What was the relationship between Kamo and her deceased mother? Was the ryokan more important to her than Kamo? Why is Kamo the okami of a ryokan she thought she would never set foot in again?

Overcoming the obstacles set in front of her, Kamo gradually becomes attached to her position as okami. Had this been her vocation all along? Don’t miss the breathtaking heart-thumping chronicles of a born-again okami!

Esumi's character Tamami is the "bull doctor" of the show's title, which comes from the word "bulldozer." Ignoring any opposition from the people around her, she uses any means necessary to determine the truth behind the deaths of the bodies she examines. Because of her personality, she is constantly at odds with both Ishihara and Inagaki's characters.

A comedy featuring three single women working hard in a big city and one love counselor who gives them glimpse of their true feelings toward love, marriage, relationship, and ultimate happiness. The game of "love" begins with a gong!!

(Source: TV Asahi)

Episodes: 11

Duration: 54 min.

Aired On: Thursday

Ratings: 6.7

Nobuko Shimura is on duty for the first time at Gyoda Hospital. The duty doctor is Yosuke Naoe. After 9pm, Jiro Toda, a childhood friend of Nobuko's, is brought in with a cut to his forehead from a fight. But Naoe has gone out for a drink, and can't be found. Both Toda and the ambulance crew become angry and demand to know where the doctor is. Naoe returns and seeing the commotion, he orders Toda be locked in a toilet until he calms down. Nobuko is horrified by Naoe' s attitude but is later impressed with his ability as a surgeon when treating Toda's injury. This is their first fateful meeting.

The affair that Mahiro has been having with the married Yutaka has been the only escape from her troubled family life caused by her father's own extra-marital affair. Mahiro despises her father for his past infidelity but cannot bring herself to stop Yutaka from being unfaithful to his wife. However, an unplanned pregnancy triggers a series of events that promises to shatter the small bubble of happiness Mahiro has made for herself and bring the brewing dissonance in her family to a head.