Asian Drama

This is a love story between Akira Kuroiwa, a 15-year-old boy who knows nothing of love, and Hijiri Suenaga, his new 25-year-old homeroom teacher. One fated summer, Akira begins to realize he has feelings for Hijiri, but Hijiri has a long distance fiancee. The story follows the pair over the course of several years.

Natsuko Miyamoto (48), a full-time housewife and mother of two (daughter Hana, 20, and son Kotaro, 17), is shocked when her husband Akira (54) announces that he will quit his job to explore his long-term interests in agriculture. In turn, Natsuko decides to seek employment of her own, but faces rejection due to inexperience and age. After a confusing mishap, she finds new hope for her life skills in an unexpected place -- a poorly managed supermarket.

Adapted from the book Sengyou Shufu ga Shuushoku Suru made ni Yatteoku beki Yatsu no Koto by Cynthia Usui

Rosuke Narumi (Sho Sakurai) works at a trading company and he is pretty good at his job. He dates Satoko Matsubara (Mikako Tabe). The trading company has a business relationship with a private high school experiencing some difficulties. One day, Rosuke Narumi is appointed as the principle of the private high school. Rosuke Narumi soon discovers how different the work environment is from his previous job.

So the school can run in the black, Rosuke Narumi implements cost cutting measures. School staff members including Chihiro Mashiba (Yu Aoi) oppose his plan.

When Shoutarou Tatewaki first meets Sakurako Kujou, he knows his life will never be the same. Initially believing her to be responsible for a disappearance in the neighborhood, he later learns of her true talent: analyzing bone specimens. Sakurako has quite the collection of reconstructed animal bones, but she wishes she had more of the human variety, much to the chagrin of those around her. Soon, Shoutarou begins accompanying the eccentric osteologist on the many different unsolved cases she comes across—usually in the form of decomposing bodies. But with so many incidents happening around them, could there be a larger mystery at work in their lives?

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru is a story of two unlikely partners, each showing in their own way that bones can tell how one died, but only people can tell how they lived.

Toyoko doesn't know how to love her daughter Terue and subjects the latter to physical abuse when she was a child. As a result, Terue was hungry for love but didn't know how to be loved. Years later, Terue grows up and has a daughter Migusa who is in senior high school when she reunites with her brother Takenori who was separated from her at birth. Due to the reunion, memories of her miserable childhood come flooding back. With the support of Migusa, Terue decides to head to Taiwan to look for her late father's grave and finds out the truth behind her mother's behaviour after meeting Toyoko there.

Based on the novel "Ai wo kou hito" by Harumi Shimoda.

Drama series depicts the lives of three men born in 1987 and oppose irrational things of the world through work, love and friendship. The men are from the Yutori generation when the Japanese government reformed the education system emphasizing a pressure-free environment referred to as Yutori education.

Since Masakazu’s (Masaki Okada) father passed away, he lives with his mother, older brother, older brother’s wife and younger sister. He studied hard in his school days and began working for a good company after college. He has worked in different divisions. This spring he is assigned to a bar franchise his company owns.

Kazutoyo (Tori Matsuzaka) is a elementary school homeroom teacher. His teaching style, derived from his own Yutori education, draws the ire of the school and parents. He is connected with a female university student who arrives at the school for teaching apprenticeship.

Maribu (Yuya Yagira) was born from an elite family. In his school days, he did well in his studies and sports. He applied for admission to Tokyo University, but was denied. 10 years later, he is now married and has a baby. His family still lives in a small place. Even though he is in a difficult financial situation, he is still trying to gain admission into Tokyo University.

Michio (Kyoko Fukada) is 30-years-old. She keeps looking for a job after her previous employer went bankrupt, but she is unable to find work. Michio still supports her younger boyfriend and her savings is almost gone. Then, Michio meets her ex-boss Ayumu (Dean Fujioka). She was scared of Ayumu when they worked together. Ayumu now runs a tearoom which his grandmother ran. Michio decides to work part-time at Ayumu's tearoom.

There, she various troubles everyday. Ayumu helps Michio, which allows her to see a different side of him that she never noticed before.

Heisuke Hara (Ryo Nishikido) works as a teacher at an all boys high school in Shizuoka Prefecture. 15 years ago he had an unfortunate accident which made his life go crazy. He has since become obsessed with his hometown and the school where he graduated from.

Due to declining enrollment at the all boys high school where Heisuke Hara works, the school plans to merge with an all girls high school next year. Prior to the merger of the schools, a culture festival is held for the students from the two schools. Heisuke Hara struggles to make the culture festival a success.

Zenzo Shinozaki (Kenichi Endo) made a fortune in his lifetime working as a company president. Due to his bad temper, he has been isolated from people. Saori Yamane (Rena Matsui) works as a hostess at a bar. In her past, she killed her mother to protect her younger sibling. Zenzo Shinozaki then proposes to pay Saori 100 million yen for 100 hours of her time. Their lonely trip begins.

The new season begins with a special case that leads the duo to the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong. It’s the first time for ‘Aibou’ to expand its setting to a foreign location since they went to London in the second season. Mizutani commented that it perfectly suits inspector Sugishita Ukyo, since Hong Kong used to be a British colony and Ukyo is interested in everything British. His new partner is called ‘Kai Toru’. He’s played by Narimiya Hiroki and is going to breath new life into the series. More details about him can be found here and here, but we will have to wait until the first episode to find out how they end up as partners.

The 42nd NHK Taiga Drama is MUSASHI. Many Japanese history buffs are familiar with The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi in the 17th century. Musashi's treatise on strategy and the way to lead instantly became the business executive's bible when the translated version hit the bookstores more than three hundred years later.

In 2003, the story of this legendary swordsman-philosopher-painter comes to life in the NHK Taiga Drama MUSASHI. Based on the famous biography written by Yoshikawa Eiji, this taiga drama boasts a list of stars that reads like a Who's Who of screen and television.

Orphaned before he was ten years old, Musashi (his real name is Takezo, so you'll hear his childhood friends call him by that name) grows up skilled in the martial arts. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he fights on the side of the losing Toyotomi forces, but eludes the enemy as they hunt down the vanquished soldiers. He then spends years wandering the countryside mastering the sword, becoming a stronger samurai. As his fame spreads throughout the nation, men seek him out to test their skills against him--most notably Sasaki Kojiro who faces Musashi in the ultimate Duel at Ganryujima.

The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, come from Tokyo to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly.

However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko and her sons came to Okinawa to spend his last moment together in beautiful nature. Fumiya, Kazuya’s younger brother, and Eri promise to marry each other someday. However, after Kazuya’s death, Fumiya and his mother leave the island to go back to Tokyo. Years later, they are reunited, Eri as a nurse and Fumiya, a doctor, working at the same hospital in Tokyo.

The story's settings include Okinawa, Naha, and Tokyo.

In 30th Television Academy Awards, the Drama won awards for Best Scriptwriter, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress.