Asian Drama

Shinmachi Ryotaro is a 37-year-old professional soccer player. He devoted his life to the sport and he was a member of the national soccer team. After an injury, his play has been in decline. This led to him playing for the J3 League. Now, he is forced to retire as a soccer player. All he knows is soccer, but, at the age of 37, he must find a regular job like other people and work like them. His daughters are extremely proud of him because he plays soccer, so he isn't able to tell them about his retirement. Shinmachi Ryotaro then finds sports management company Victory. He decides to work there and work hard for the company, but, in his mind, he still has a hard time accepting his playing career is over. He faces a big problem at work.

Yuko is a high school student and she lives with her stepfather Morimiya. Morimiya is her third father. Her mother, Rika is a free spirited person and has remarried several times. She disappeared from Yuko's life at a certain point. Even though Yuko and her stepfather are not blood related, she is fully loved by him.

Adapted from the novel "Soshite, Baton wa Watasareta" (そして、バトンは渡された) by Seo Maiko (瀬尾まいこ).

Aoi Minase is in her 40's. She works as a popular writer of romance novels. She is also a single mother, who raised her daughter alone. Her daughter is now 20-years-old. Due to Aoi Minase's success as a romance novelist, Aoi lives with her daughter in an upscale high-rise apartment building. Aoi is worried about her daughter. Her daughter doesn't have a boyfriend. Aoi Minase believes this is because her daughter is an otaku, who enjoys manga and cosplay. Her daughter does want to fall in love.

Meanwhile, Aoi’s daughter is worried about her mother. Her mother has a girl like sensibility and oblivious to the ways of the world. Somehow, Aoi and her daughter decide to meet someone to fall in love with.

Taeko Sugimoto moves in with her daughter Natsuki and granddaughter Mizuki. They begin a lively life together. In the midst of it all, Taeko sees her former self in Mizuki. The bitter taste of the first pineapple she ever ate, the disastrous score on a math test, the awakening of her acting spirit at a school performance. As Taeko recalls her elementary school days, she unleashes a dream that she had long given up on and sealed away. I'm going to be on stage! Taeko immediately auditions and devotes herself to rehearsing for a Shakespeare play. But just then, the theater where she was planning to perform goes bankrupt. But just then, the theater where she was going to perform goes bankrupt, and she is forced to give up on her dream again!

Adapted from the manga series "Only Yesterday" by Okamoto Hotaru.

Ryoichi Yoshimori is a university student. His girlfriend Kyoko Sawada is older than him, but he enjoys his time with her. After Ryoichi Yoshimori proposes to his girlfriend, she suddenly disappears one day. Several days later, he finally sees her again but she has no memory of him. Ryoichi Yoshimori is stunned, but he suspects her memory loss is related to the Kiokuya rumor. A person named Kiokuya is reputed to erase the memories of people. He talks to Chiaki Takaharu, who is a lawyer and attended the same university as him, about his situation. Ryoichi Yoshimori searches for the cause of Kyoko Sawada’s memory loss and gets help from childhood friend Maki Kawai and Chiaki Takaharu’s assistant.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

Daichi served time in prison for attempted murder. After his release from prison, he spends his time doing nothing and he doesn't see any hope for himself. One day, Daichi hears that a woman, whom he once loved, had a daughter Hana that was his. Hana is now 8-years-old and has leukemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant surgery or she will die. Daichi goes to the hospital where Hana is staying and meets her for the first time. Daichi takes a blood test and learns that he is match with Hana. A bone marrow transplant surgery is scheduled to take place in two weeks, but a conspiracy causes Daichi to get arrested for a murder.

Remake of Korean drama of the same name.

Igarashi Iori is a talented radiographer who believes the “truth” is definitely captured in CT and MRI images. He and radiologist Amakasu An work at a hospital’s radiology department where they determine the causes of patients’ illnesses and injuries.

Kazumasa and Kaoruko are in a troubled marriage and have agreed to divorce once their daughter's elementary school entrance exams are over. However, just before they are to rehearse for the family oral interview, they are informed of their daughter drowning in a pool. Rushing to the hospital, Kazumasa and Kaoruko are met with a heartbreaking situation.

Adapted from the novel "Ningyo no Nemuru Ie" by Higashino Keigo.

A story-a-week episodic medical mystery that treats the theme of reality changing when faced with imminent death. Mystery and exhilarating human drama unfold against the backdrop of the “unnatural death institute”, or “UDI”. For example, the body of a young man is brought into the UDI lab one day; his cause of death attributed to ischemic heart disease in which blood fails to be conveyed to the heart. But the victim’s parents are puzzled by the freak nature of their son’s death and turn to medical coroner Mikoto, to find out why. Together with her lab technician partner, Yuko Shoji, and rookie medical recorder, Rokuro, they examine the body for a possible drug poisoning and then learn that another female colleague of the deceased man has just died suddenly.

Salaryman Fukase Kazuhisa graduated from a famous university but his life is very ordinary and unremarkable. His only hobby – if it can be called that – is drinking coffee. Coffee, in fact, leads him to Mihoko Ochi, who becomes his girlfriend. Then one day, Mihoko receives a mysterious letter which consists of a single line, “Kazuhisa Fukase is a murderer.” Fukase’s instinct tells him that the time has finally come to face “that incident” 10 years ago. One winter 10 years ago, his good friend Hirosawa Yuki died in an unfortunate accident during a snowboarding trip with his university classmates Tanihara Yasuo (Ichihara Hayato), Asami Kosuke , Murai Takaaki and Murai’s younger sister Asuka. However, there is a big secret hidden in that accident. Letters are also sent to Tanihara, Tanihara and Murai who also share in this secret, and even they are hit by a series of incidents. Fukase decides to confront the truth of the past in order to protect the people dear to him.

Based on Reverse by Minato Kanae.

Kenichi Endo, Ren Osugi, Tomorowo Taguchi, Susumu Terajima, Yutaka Matsushige and Ken Mitsuishi all receive offers to take part in a big budget drama series with a famous lead actor and world famous director. To study their roles and relationships, the director asks the six supporting actors to live together for 3 months at a share house. The actors begin their temporary living arrangement. An incident from 10 years ago though causes the actors to hold resentment.

The eldest daughter of the Kohashis, Tsuneko, was 11 years old when her father Takezo died of tuberculosis. Taking her father’s teachings about the importance of ordinary life to heart, she became ‘Toto One-chan’, a paternal figure to her mother Kimiko and two younger sisters Mariko and Yoshiko. She struggles to sustain the family as the head of the household. Right after the war, she launches a lifestyle magazine created for the sake of females together with Mariko and Yoshiko in a devastated Tokyo. It is called ‘Your Life’ and was full of practical articles for readers. With the help of the genius editor Hanayama Isaji, the magazine grew to become essential to females living in the period of high economic growth.

The eldest daughter of the Kohashis, Tsuneko, was 11 years old when her father Takezo died of tuberculosis. Taking her father’s teachings about the importance of ordinary life to heart, she became ‘Toto One-chan’, a paternal figure to her mother Kimiko and two younger sisters Mariko and Yoshiko. She struggles to sustain the family as the head of the household. Right after the war, she launches a lifestyle magazine created for the sake of females together with Mariko and Yoshiko in a devastated Tokyo. It is called ‘Your Life’ and was full of practical articles for readers. With the help of the genius editor Hanayama Isaji, the magazine grew to become essential to females living in the period of high economic growth.

Toto Neechan (とと姉ちゃん?) is an upcoming Japanese television drama series and the 94th asadora on NHK. It will premiere on April 4, 2016 and will end on October 1, 2016. The theme song is "Hanataba wo Kimi ni", by Utada Hikaru.

A large real estate company’s social gathering is held on board the cruise ship ‘Poseidon’ as it goes around Tokyo Bay. Then the company president Kudo Ryoko (Nakano Yuta) is fatally stabbed. The ship never once stopped and it is impossible for someone to board from the sea. In other words, the murder scene is a “locked room aboard a ship”. The suspects are three employees Takase Minami (Takimoto Miori), Mitsumine Yoko (Nakagoshi Noriko) and Narita Koki (Tonesaku Toshihide) who were together with Kudo. They unanimously complain of being “put to sleep by sleeping pill” and “waking up after the murder occurred”. Detective Hagami Kyoko (Zaizen Naomi) of the First Investigative Division proceeds to investigate the case together with the young detective Kaburagi (Kiriyama Ren). However, a series of tragedies occur right in front of them. Mystery engenders mystery, darkness sucks in darkness. This is the “punishment” meted by Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, to those who do wrong. Internal trouble, baffling human resources and gruesome cases that vanish in the vortex of time. Then the perfect crime of a lifetime. Will Kyoko be able to get to the criminal?

The young, genius scientist Takano Ryuzo (Saito Yusuke) has died in his home. He was a leading authority on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells together with his older wife Misuzu (Shimizu Misa). The cause of his sudden death is determined to be a heart attack, but insurance agent Tomonaga Masahiko (Hamano Kenta) approaches his wife Kuriko (Ueno Juri), who is also researcher in iPS cells, about Takano’s sudden death that leaves questions unanswered. He had been insured for a large sum of money. Furthermore, the crime scene is a perfect locked room. These increases Masahiko’s suspicions that it was a murder. Kuriko, the research geek, corners the “invisible criminal” with a wealth of knowledge unique to a female scientist and feminine deduction.

Following the death of their mother Kyoko (Nakamura Yuri), three sisters Chiaki (Dan Rei), Haruna (Kimura Midoriko) and Natsui (Watanabe Makiko) gather at the home where they were born and raised for an all-night vigil. Third sister Chiaki recalls memories of the time she was a girl when she sees something that was inserted into the coffin. After the end of the war, their father Hiroshi (Mashima Hidekazu) brought Toru, their youngest brother who is not related by blood, home. Then one day, Toru suddenly disappeared as if he had been spirited away. Who was responsible and where did he go? As the three sisters begin to trace back distant memories, a young man (Nakajima Ayumu) comes. He greets them with the words, “It’s been a long time since I last saw you, sisters …” The sisters piece together their memories and what starts to emerge is their father’s betrayal and mother’s secret. The 40-year-old truth that their mother had kept to herself is about to be revealed.