Asian Drama

Endo Ai is an office lady and she is about to turn 30-years-old. She has enjoyed posting about herself on social media, but she has grown tired of that. One day, she happens to see underground idol Kurimoto Hana perform live. Ai is touched by her, who is not good at performing, but eager at what she is doing.

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.

Nagatsu Ryoko, who belongs to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, is found dead in the mountain. One month ago, she discovered a Buddha statue at a mountain shrine. Her death seems accidental, caused by Ryoko slipping, but Itomura Satoshi determines that her death was not accidental.

Members of the Science Research Institute including Sakaki Mariko from the Kyoto Prefectural Police Crime Lab try to solve cases by using forensic medicine, physics and chemistry. Sakaki Mariko goes by the motto "Science never lies."

During the Sengoku period, the Ii family governs the Totomi region. Due to many past wars, there are no more male successors left to become a lord. Naotora Ii (Kou Shibasaki), the only daughter of the lord, now becomes a lord. She faces a difficult period. The constant love from her fiance, whom she became engaged with at a young age, helps her to keep moving forward.

The 95th NHK Asadora is about Sumire, a girl born in the uptown of Kobe in the early Showa period. In the wake of wartime devastation, she works hard toward making children's clothes for a living, and later establishes a first-ever children's goods store in Japan. -- NHK