Asian Drama

Sakuma Shunsuke works with numerous clients as a planner for an advertising agency. He is somewhat of a mysterious man and popular with women. He deals with his work and his personal life in the same manner, like he is playing a game. He is currently working on a large project involving a car company. The project is progressing well, but he is suddenly excluded from the project by the car company's vice president, Katsuragi Katsutoshi. Shunsuke's pride is wounded from his exclusion and he becomes extremely upset at that. He happens to meet Katsuragi Juri, who is Katsutoshi’s daughter. She also holds a grudge against her father. Shunsuke and Juri decides to team up to get revenge. They take part in a kidnapping game.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Adapted from the novel "The Name of the Game Is a Kidnapping" (ゲームの名は誘拐) by Higashino Keigo (東野圭吾).

Episodes: 4

Duration: 60 min.

Airs On: Sunday

Takara Keisuke was a detective who chased after a major scammer. Now, he works as a police officer at a police box located along a shopping street. He appears like an ordinary police officer who is friendly with the people in the neighborhood, but Keisuke Takara has a hidden side. He is also Scammer K who targets bad people that are able to avoid the law.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Episodes: 10

Duration: 54 min.

Aired On: Friday

Following the ascension to power of Taira no Kiyomori, the Minamoto clan is exiled. Minamoto no Yoritomo meets Masako, the sister of Hojo Yoshitoki and later marries her. Following this marriage, the gears of Yoshitoki's destiny begin to turn.

Adapted from the manga series "Gibo to Musume no Blues" (義母と娘のブルース) by Sakurazawa Rin (桜沢鈴).

The financial health of Japan has fallen into a crisis. The country has accumulated more than 1 quadrillion yen of debt. Prime Minister Takamori Ejima gathers 4 elite finance bureaucrats and tells them for the benefit of Japan's future, they need to reduce the country's annual expenditure in half. The 4 elite finance bureaucrats work under the name of Operation Z and tackles the almost impossible mission of reducing the nation's annual expenditure by 50%.

The story is set during the high economic development time of the Showa period. Natsu lost her parents during the war so she moves to the Tokachi region in Hokkaido with her foster father who is a dairy farmer. While growing up, Natsu meets a boy at primary school who draws a very beautiful picture of a horse so she becomes interested in animated movies. Upon graduating from senior high school, Natsu moves to Tokyo and joins the budding animation industry in order to fulfill her dream of becoming an animator.

Mitazono Kaoru is a superb housekeeper who belongs to Musubi Housekeeping Agency. Although he is a male in an industry dominated by females, he handles housework such as cleaning, laundry, cooking and babysitting perfectly. However, it is not just the dirt in the house that Mitazono cleans. He learns the family secrets and exposes the family for who they really are. Then he gives the last push that breaks up relationships. However, this becomes the catalyst for the family to start again and solve the problems they have. This time Mitazaono is in the service of a family that drills for oil in Arabia. He is summoned back to Japan by Musubi Yoriko and is tasked with teaching her newphew Murata Hikaru to stand on his own two feet. And so Mitazono takes Hikaru and the young housekeeper Onda Moe and act as a trio.

Higashiyama Yui works as a director at Net Heroes, a web production company. Due to her workaholic father and bad experiences in the past, she loathes working overtime. Even 2 years ago, she broke off her engagement to Taneda Kotaro because he was a workaholic. At her job, Higashiyama Yui always leaves at the end of the regular working day and never works overtime. She tries to be efficient as possible and productive during her normal working hours. After she leaves her office, Higashiyama Yui normally drinks beer at her regular Chinese restaurant. Her peaceful days begin to change after a new department head arrives at work.

Higashiyama Yui works as a director at Net Heroes, a web production company. Due to her workaholic father and bad experiences in the past, she loathes working overtime. Even 2 years ago, she broke off her engagement to Taneda Kotaro because he was a workaholic. At her job, Higashiyama Yui always leaves at the end of the regular working day and never works overtime. She tries to be efficient as possible and productive during her normal working hours. After she leaves her office, Higashiyama Yui normally drinks beer at her regular Chinese restaurant. Her peaceful days begin to change after a new department head arrives at work.

Himekawa Reiko became an assistant inspector with the Tenth Homicide Section at the young age of 27 even though she was not on the career track. As the only female section chief in the First Investigative Division, she leads Team Himekawa, armed with her intuition, dramatic ideas and energy, and has solved many challenging cases. Her older subordinate Kikuta Kazuo , a sergeant, is initially skeptical of her when he is transferred to the team. However, he gradually comes to realise her competence and charm, and special feelings begin to grow. Reiko’s nemesis is Katsumata Kensaku , an assistant inspector with the Fifth Homicide Section. Although he boasts an overwhelming lead in the number of arrests, his illegal investigation methods have also drawn suspicion.

Kaede (Nozomi Sasaki), Kaoru (Natsuna Watanabe), Michiru (Shoko Nakagawa) and Emi (Eri Tokunaga) are childhood friends. The four women meet again on Emi's wedding day. But on that day, the company Kaede works for goes bankrupt and her boyfriend dumps her. She is about to turn 30-years-old. Kaede decides to follow her childhood dream and become a baker. She gets a job at bakery, but making bread is not easy and the senior baker is strict.

Meanwhile, Kaoru work at a luxurious massage salon. Michiru makes handbags, but she is poor. Emi is experiencing newlywed life. What will tomorrow hold for these women?

Saito Hiroshi is a kind-hearted young man who grew up in a loving family. He is to start working in a long-established insurance company. Waiting for him on the first day is the strict HR employee Tsubaki Mako. The new employees start their 2 weeks training and the first thing Mako imposed on newcomers on the first day is to write "retirement wish". Mako declares that 50 new recruits will be narrowed down to 10 people on spot while training.

In a society in which justice is awfully subjective, and the possibility of finding the truth is so complicated, detective Yugami simply chases after the facts of various cases. He will casually approach potential suspects and talk to them in order to attain new information. All he is looking for are the facts. He feels that there is no point in following the rules, nor trying to read the atmospheres of the environment he's in. For him, resorting to unique and illegal investigations is not out of the ordinary. To assist him, he also has a sidekick, Torao Hanyu, who's a serious detective with a completely different personality. For Yugami, he simply wants to arrest as many criminals as possible through his illegal investigation style, so Torao's existence becomes a bother for him. Two detectives with absolutely nothing in common, somehow try to combine their skills in order to combat the enemies of society.

Itomura Satoshi is back again, but in Kyoto and with a new team. He begins work at the 1st Investigation Division of the Kyoto Prefectural Police Station. The 1st investigation division with deals with the most difficult cases.

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.

With four years left before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics, housing sales are fiercely competitive. At this time, an excellent real estate agent appears. Her name is Machi Sangenya (Keiko Kitagawa). She is single and 30-years-old with an attractive appearance. With any of her clients. Machi Sangenya must get a purchase. Machi has her own unique way to get her customers to buy the homes. Her unique method include getting involved in the problems of her clients and their families. She then solves their problems. With her ingenious ways, all of Machi Sangenya's customers purchase homes from her.

Sakisaka Kento is a lawyer with an outstanding career. He seems cool and handsome, but he is a zealous person who will confront things that are unreasonable and wrong head-on. There are times when he values the words of a single person and not a lawyer. Sakisaka is regarded as the ace of the law firm, but his only weak point is a lawyer at the same firm who also happens to be his ex-wife Natsume Yoshie. He has been raising their daughter Mizuki as a single father since their divorce. A stylish lawyer who holds her head high, Yoshie is down-to-earth and a perfectionist. These two rival lawyers often have well-reasoned legal arguments regarding the cases of their clients. However, when they wander off topic, they will call each other “papa” and “mama” the moment they lose their cool and start quarreling like a couple.

Episodes: 9

Duration: 42 min.

Aired On: Thursday

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.

Hanzawa Naoki works for Tokyo Chuo Bank as the head of the Loans Division at their Osaka Nishi branch. The overbearing branch manager, Asano, forces him to award an unsecured loan of 500 million yen to Nishi Osaka Steel. On the surface, Nishi Osaka Steel seems like a very reputable company, but in actual fact it is a company in deep trouble. Debt-ridden, the company accountants resort to window-dressing the financial statements in order to hide the truth from the public. Three months after the loan, Nishi Osaka Steel goes bankrupt and the ambitious and power-hungry Asano makes Hanzawa the scapegoat for the 500 million loss. Hanzawa is called to Tokyo to answer to the internal investigations team, where he vehemently denies responsibility for the loss, and swears to recover the 500 million yen. That is the only course of action for Hanzawa, if he wants to survive in the banking industry.

The drama is based on the best-selling same-titled novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi. It tells the story of how a widower brought up his only son, after the death of his beloved wife. Ichikawa Yasuo, or Yasu as he is known, is a baka, with no paper qualifications to his name. However, like all normal parents, he dotes on his only son, Akira. Having grown up without his parents around, Yasu himself knows next to nothing of what parenting is about. With his wife, Misako, by his side, he had spent many happy days together with his little family.

However, when Akira was 3 years old, Misako passed away suddenly from an accident. Heart-broken, and filled with regrets, Yasu pulled himself together, in order to care for his little son. Together with the help of his friends, Yasu overcame it all, and Akira grew up to be a bright and successful young man.

"With nothing but love for his son... that's all there is"

It is April at Kokubunkan Public High School which is known for being good at both studies and sports. Aoyagi Haruka, the rookie form teacher of Class 3D, swells with hope. However, the assistant form teacher is Takakura Yuko, the biology teacher with a poor reputation in school. Furthermore, the transfer student Toda Toshio suddenly accuses the class prefect Mochizuki Ryohei and others of bad deeds. There is a lot to sort out for the new school term. One day, Class 3D’s Yamagishi Rio is instructed by her boyfriend, Tatsuya, to collect the email addresses of her friends. Tatsuya attends a first rate university and has also passed the bar exam. He belongs to the “winners”, but is in truth a peddler who sells unregulated herbs. In order to keep her relationship with Tatsuya going, Rio caters to his demands even though she knows is it wrong. Before long, there is a spam email that starts the rumour of Rio offering email addresses and encouraging unregulated herbs. An inspection of Rio’s bag is carried out without warning. Rio seeks Haruka’s help and Haruka promises to keep it a secret from the school. However, Yuko points out that Rio is a mere tool of the peddler. In addition, there is a call about the collapse of the students of Class 3D after smoking the unregulated herbs. In an attempt to save an embattled Rio, Haruka asks Yuko for help. But Yuko coldly says that she will save Rio in exchange for Haruka’s first paycheck. Yuko, the classics teacher Uchida Sumire and art teacher Fujii Aya wear different faces from daytime. They are “black teachers” who solve problems in return for large sums of money.

Emi Hosho (Eri Fukatsu), a not so successful lawyer, is assigned to the one of the most unusual of cases. Her client is accused of murdering his wealthy wife and he his alibi is that he was staying at an inn while suffering from "kanashibar" (sleep paralysis). The only witness able to corroborate his alibi is the 500-year-old ghost of the Sengoku period military commander Rokubei Sarashina (Toshiyuki Nishida) - who sat on the accused's chest all night long.

Attorney Emi Hosho travels to the inn to investigate further. Emi Hosho also falls into "kanashibar" and soon discovers the 500-year-ghost sitting on her chest. Knowing that the ghost is the only witness who can support her client's alibi, she grabs his hand and pleads with him to testify in court.

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.

Koji is a college student and aspiring photographer. One day, while Koji is taking pictures of families in a Tokyo park, a man suddenly appears within his camera's view and interrupts his shot. However, he's later contacted by the man with an odd request. Without revealing the purpose of the job, he asks Koji to take photographs of a woman who walks through the park with her young daughter. Koji agrees, but the strange task leads to changes in the relationships he has with the women in his life.

Those women include a longtime friend that Koji can talk to about anything and his step-sister, who offers both kindness and firm encouragement when he needs it. As Koji photographs the new third woman in his life, he feels as if she reminds him of someone from a distant memory.

Adapted from a novel by Yukiya Shoji.

10 years ago Hide (Hiroki Narimiya), a college student, meets Yuki Gakuko (Yuki Uchida), an older woman, through work. They become lovers with Hide falling hard for Yuki Gakuko. The following year, Yuki abruptly announces one day that she is going to marry another man. This devastates Hide. Hide eventually finishes college and finds a job, but his yearning for Yuki leads him into depression and alcoholism.

Meanwhile, Yuki is involved in a car accident and suffers a life altering injury. Now, 10 years later the two former lovers come across each other once again. They are both shells of their former selves ...

Kaoru dreamily gazes from her bedroom window each morning just before dawn. She can see a stretch of the beach in front of her parent's house on a hill in Kamakura but focuses upon the activity at the bus stop where Koji and his two best friends meet before going surfing. The appearance of the sun causes her to lowers the blinds and go to sleep for she suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) and exposure to the sun's rays has had the potential to kill her. At night, she walks to the train station, plays her guitar and sings songs she has written, commonly returning home just a few minutes before it starts getting light. One morning, she is at the bus stop singing when Koji arrives.