Asian Drama

Drama series depicts the life of Ieyasu Tokugawa (January 31, 1543 - June 1, 1616).

Takechiyo (later becomes Tokugawa Ieyasu) was born as the son of a poor and powerless daimyo. Takechiyo lost his father during a war. He grew up lonely and away from his mother. Takechiyo didn't have a clue about what his future would hold. He then has a dramatic meeting with young Oda Nobunaga.

Ishizawa Hajime works as a sales department chief for a trading company. The younger employees complain about the company, including having to work overtime and a lack of innovative working methods. Ishizawa Hajime looks at them with an intimidating glance and the young employees run away from him.

One rookie employee, Mugita Ayumi, begins to work in Hajime Ishizawa’s sales department. Mugita Ayumi tries to adjust to her new work environment, but it isn't for her. The only time she can feel comfortable is eating her lunch box at her desk alone. One day, while she is eating her lunch box alone as usual, Ishizawa Hajime appears in front of her.

Adapted from the web manga series "Imadoki no Wakai Mon wa" (今どきの若いモンは) by Yoshitani Kouhei (吉谷光平).

Seven years ago, a mysterious monster was found deep in a rural coal mine. Since then, rumors of a plague spread through the small town, and people experience an unexplainable mental illness. A young Shugendo practitioner goes missing only to resurface transformed, intent on exorcising the world from the monsters haunting it.

Japan, 1944. Trained for intelligence work, Hirō Onoda, 22 years old, discovers a philosophy contrary to the official line: no suicide; stay alive whatever happens; the mission is more important than anything else. Sent to Lubang, a small island in the Philippines where the Americans are about to land, this role will be to wage a guerrilla war until the return of the Japanese troops. The Empire will surrender soon after, Onoda 10,000 days later.

Shin Karino is an unpopular manga writer and he is single. He lives in an apartment complex that has a rule forbidding children from living there. One day, Shin Karino's doorbell rings. When he opens his apartment door, he sees a small boy. The boy is 5-year-old Kotaro Sato. Kotaro Sato tells Shin Karino that he moved into the neighborhood. Shin Karino makes a weird face, because of the rule of his apartment complex. Kotaro Sato says that he lives by himself. At first, Shin Karino is annoyed by Kotaro Sato, but residents of the apartment building, including Shin Karino, become attached to Kotaro Sato.

Adapted from the manga series "Kotaro wa 1-ri Kurashi" (コタローは1人暮らし) by Tsumura Mami (津村マミ).

N/A

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.

Sawamura Masahiko is a reporter with a local newspaper, Shin Kanagawa Nippo. One day, he gets an scoop on a hit-and-run case. Morimoto Atsukoa, the grieving wife of the man who died, is reportedly the culprit. Masahiko is excited by this scoop which is the first he has had in a long while. However, it is false information planted by his colleague Kirino Hiroshi. Masahiko’s university schoolmate Mitazono, who is now the chief editor of an online news website, points this out. Masahiko pursues Kirino who has disappeared. Meanwhile, Oga Masakazu, a former journalist of a national newspaper and a old friend of Masahiko’s father Ippei, visits Masahiko. Oga has started investigating whether the suicide of a former colleague Kakiuchi Tomonari was due to an incorrect story that Kakiuchi published 15 years ago.

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.

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.

High school girl Hayakawa Yui (Kuroshima Yuina) was sent back in time to 1560 during the Sengoku Period through a time machine built by her younger brother Takeru. She risked her own life to help out the Hagi clan and fell in love with Hagi Kuhachiro Tadakiyo (Ito Kentaro), the heir of the feudal lord Hagi Tadataka (Ishiguro Ken). Tadataka is a typical warlord of the period who believes in winning battles. But his mindset gradually changes because of Yui and Tadakiyo, and he even permits their marriage. Yui is betrothed to Tadakiyo. However, the clan’s arch enemy Koyama Munetsuru (Murata Takehiro), whom they were supposed to have made peace with, launches yet another battle at the instigation of Oda Nobunaga’s vassal Ouga Kazunari (Nishimura Masahiko). Ouga’s true aim is to make Koyama and Hagi fight and capture the country. Tadakiyo leaves Yui behind and heads to the castle where the advance guard is in order to stop this senseless war. Yui tells his father that Tadakiyo believes it is true victory to live. She escapes from the Hagi clan’s stronghold and goes after him …

Based on true story of the wife of Ando Momofuku, the businessman who founded Nissin Food Products Co. Ltd. and the inventor of instant ramen, the 99th Asadora follows the life of Tachibana Fukuko, a young woman who tries to survive tough times in Osaka with her husband from before WWII to the rapid economic development era. Together they overcome various setbacks before they succeed in creating instant noodles.

17-year-old Aoi came to Yui Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic as a part-time nurse apprentice in Summer 1997. Right after her entry, she is shocked after witnessing an abortion surgery. However, she also met staff members like Yui, the head of the clinic who is careful about everything, Sayako, a reliable and experienced nurse, and Sakaki, the gentle head nurse, who face each pregnant patient and support them after surgeries. Fumika, Aoi's mother, is worried about her clumsy nature and poor communication skills, but Aoi's unique compassion and kindness draws patients' hearts. "I wonder what's life..." Aoi matures while looking at the newborn babies' overwhelming life and asking herself that question.

Hayakawa Yui is a 16-year-old girl whose only strong point is her ability to run fast. She accidentally goes back in time to the Warring States era where she makes use of her ability on the battlefield to protect her beloved young prince. Through finding a goal to work towards to, Yui finds a new world waiting for her as she uses her power to change the person she loves and move the people she meets.

Maki Maki, Sebuki Suzume, Beppu Tsukasa and Iemori Yutaka happen to meet and form a quartet. They even begin to live together in Karuizawa during the winter, but there is a big hidden secret.

Maki, who has a negative personality and barely gives her opinions, plays the lead violin in the quartet. She has family and only goes to Karuizawa on the weekends for performances. Suzume, who is unemployed, plays the cello, while Yutaka plays the viola in the quartet. The leader of the quartet and the one providing his grandfather's villa as a base for them is Tsukasa. He plays the second violin in the quartet and comes from a musical family. A man of many secrets, he also works at a donut company.

Takada Yu is an employee of a development firm. His father has favored his high-achieving older brother and been indifferent to Yu since young. So Yu craves for his father’s love and wants his recognition somehow. Then one day, Yu encounters a woman. Although it was the worst possible meeting, he gradually starts to have romantic feelings for her through work and an unexpected development. But ironically enough, she turns out to be the girlfriend of his older brother. Yu begins to realize what he truly treasures and matures as a person as he struggles with this complicated romance and with his older brother and father.

Yi Yi is an epic story about the Taipei Jian family seen through three different perspectives: the middle-aged father NJ (Nien-Jen Wu), the young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), and the teenage daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee). The three-hour piece starts with a wedding, concludes with a funeral, and contemplates areas of human life in between. The father, NJ, is unsatisfied with his work and the desire of his business partners to enter into a deal with a well-known Japanese videogame company. While his partners are only concerned about making money, NJ finds that his honest nature is unappreciated in the commercial realm. To his surprise, he finds a connection with the Japanese software mogul, Ota. A former old flame, Sherry, tries to walk into his life after a chance reunion. His youngest son has troubles at school with his teachers, while his daughter has to handle a love triangle involving her friend next door and her troubled boyfriend. All three try to deal with their problems while also caring for NJ's aged mother-in-law, who is in a coma, and in the absence of NJ's wife, who has left for a Buddhist retreat after facing a midlife crisis. In addition, A-Di, NJ's overweight brother-in-law who marries a starlet at the start of the film, has to wrestle with his demanding wife and a former love, complicating matters within this extended family. The other Taiwanese cast members include Elaine Jin as NJ's wife, Min-Min, Su-Yun Ko as NJ's former love Sherry, Hsi-Sheng Chen as A-Di, and Pang Chang Yu as Fatty. The film also stars Japanese comedian Issei Ogata as a Japanese software mogul, Ota.