Asian Drama

A year after the celebrated cracking of "The Glorious Team Batista" case, the talented medical staff at Tojo University Hospital once again finds itself embroiled in a web of intrigue and scandal. The scandal occurs this time in the ER when a mysterious letter arrives for Dr. Kimiko Taguichi. The letter reads: "Chief Surgeon Hayami of the Emergency Center has a collusive relationship with a medical supplies maker. And the head nurse is in on it with him." An unimaginable truth then awaits. ~~ Adapted from the novel series "Team Batista" (チーム・バチスタシリーズ ) by Kaido Takeru (海堂尊).

The 61st NHK Asadora Drama is Asuka. Set in Kyoto in the home of a traditional Japanese candymaker, Asuka is the story of one young girl's dream to one day walk in her father's shoes and become a top candymaker in the male-dominated world of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). Asuka grows to be a healthy, adventurous young girl with a deep curiosity and, a desire to become a candymaker like her father. This NHK drama is one of the best in years with an excellent cast, a well-developed story based on extensive research into the traditional worlds of candy making and the tea ceremony in Kyoto, and beautiful scenery and settings in Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

Set in Langkawi, Malaysia, con artists Dako, Boku-chan, and Richard target the Fuu Family as their next mark. Raymond Fuu, the now - departed patriarch, has left behind 10 trillion yen, a formidable sum the enterprising trio scheme to inherit.

Shohei is now retired from his job as a middle school principal. On his 70th birthday, he tells his wife Yoko, first daughter Mari and second daughter Fumi that he has Alzheimer's disease. First daughter Mari is a housewife with a husband and a child. Second daughter Fum is still single and she agonizes over her life. The three women are embarrassed for Shohei who is losing his memory. One day, Fumi, Mari and Yoko realize that Shohei still holds onto fond memories which they have already forgotten.

The main character Himi Ko is a lawyer who is an expert in the field of crisis management. Her main area of activity is not in a courtroom but within the shadows of many of the big scandals. As a genius "spin doctor", she has managed to solve 99.9% of her client’s issues and requests. If need be, she would even manage to reverse falsehood into justice. And most of all, she has a strong belief in supporting women, especially those who are stuck in a crisis and will go all the way to solve some of the most tricky cases. This is a drama which depicts such a determined character who takes whatever step she needs to help people who are at the edge of their lives!

Due to circumstances Satoru is forced to find a new home for his cat Nana. Satoru, a gentle boy with a secret, boards a silver station wagon with his cat companion and they embark on a "final journey" to find a new owner for Nana.

"Miss Sherlock" is set in modern day Tokyo and both lead characters are Japanese women – Dr. Wato Tachibana, a surgeon recently returned from a volunteer doctors’ mission in Syria and Sara Shelly Futaba, an investigation consultant to the police department who solves bizarre and difficult cases. Throughout the series, the pair solves mystery after mystery with Miss Sherlock’s extraordinary observation and reasoning skills.

(Source: IMDb)

Adapted from a collection of short stories and novels "Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Episodes: 8

Duration: 49 min.

Content Rating: 15+ - Teens 15 or older

Aired On: Friday

Ratings: 8.0

If actresses Hirosue Ryoko, Igawa Haruka and Saito Yuki chose different paths at the turning point in their lives, what kind of life would they be leading? In this world, Hirosue did not appear in the big 1997 drama hit, Beach Boys, with Sorimachi Takashi and Takenouchi Yutaka and suddenly rise to fame. She is a struggling actress in her mid 30s who gets by on part-time housekeeping work and cannot bear to give up being an actress. Hirosue fantasises about newly married life with a handsome guy and is jealous of successful actress Takeuchi Yuko who is the same age. Although she struggles alone, she works hard at her housekeeping job every day. On the other hand, Igawa did not put out the photo book ‘Good Vibrations’ at that time and has been completely forgotten now after the end of the boom of “soothing” models. She dates actor Fujiki Naohito in an unexpected turn of events. Even though she has a taste of this little happiness, she starts to grow impatient when the relationship fails to progress toward marriage. Igawa impulsively tries to make a transition to acting despite being over 40 but... Saito was afraid to spoil her pure idol image and did not star in Sukeban Deka in 1985. She ended up a one-hit wonder and faded away. To regain her teenage years, she attends university and majors in physics with the aspiration to graduate as a female scientist. She mixes with youth around 20 and joins matchmaking parties, making the most of student life. At night, Saito runs a popular bar that even the actress Kaho patronises.

An author of mystery-novels helps a student to uncover the tragic story of the people who lived in her apartment before which is filled with anger, hatred, murder and suicide.

Residents in a town have a hard time due to the land tax and forced labor. 9 people worry about the future of their town and they set up a plan to save it. The plan is to lend large amounts of money to han (historical term for the estate of a warrior) and distribute the interest annually to the residents.

Strange cases of resurrections start occurring in a small isolated village, people being dead for days or decades, suddenly coming back to their families. The Ministry of Health decides to send a team to investigate the case, among whom is Heita, who was born in the region. He meets with Aoi, a childhood friend who was engaged to his best friend before this one died. Heita tries to understand what's happening in the village while Aoi hopes that her fiancée will also return.

Kaoru (Matsumoto Kana) is just a normal girl living with her annoying brother (Taniyama Takeru), harried mom (Suzuki Sawa, Loft), and languid dad (Furuta Arata, Hana), until one day her mom just ups and leaves. Soon after her dad's new girlfriend Yoko (Takeuchi Yuko) comes strolling in. Kaoru isn't sure what to make of Yoko, who is brash, forward, good-humored, and at times downright uncouth. As the summer passes day by day, a unique friendship forms between them and Kaoru opens her eyes to a new, exciting world, even as reality begins to catch up. Based on Nagashima Yu's Akutagawa Prize-winning novel.

Etsuko runs a quaint little cafe located at the tip of Cape Myogane in Chiba Prefecture. Joined by her devoted nephew Koji, she has heart-warming exchanges with the people who gather there day after day.

Yoshiko Aoi is a budding researcher in ethology, the study of animal behavior. "Men=male" are born unfaithful. But through her studies, Yoshiko learns it's not the males' fault. Rather, it's the fault of their genes, who work to replicate themselves by controlling the males' body. This is the sad, but commonly accepted theory of biology. What's even sadder is that Yoshiko's nickname is "Gene," because her name written in Chinese characters can also be read as "Jinko/Geneko." The love story follows Yoshiko's struggles with research and romance.

Originally broadcast in autumn of 2010 as a special drama, "Strawberry Night" returns to Fuji on Tuesday nights. Based on the best selling mystery novel by Honda Tetsuya which sold over 1.5 million copies. Himekawa Reiko is a police officer working for squad 1 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. As the only female squad leader in charge of inspecting a crime scene, Reiko uncovers the mystery behind a merciless murder, a man who was found dead covered in a plastic sheet in the bushes near a pond. Reiko realizes that the crime is not an independent incident, but one that had just begun. The code "Strawberry Night" eventually surfaces from the investigations, a word that eventually leads to another police officer, an elite detective. The drama is not only full of suspense, but breathtakingly tells a story of each character's concerns and sorrow, the troubles and tasks they must face. It takes a closer look at Reiko's mental state, the relationship between her and those surrounding her, a detective's faith, pride and sincerity towards one's profession... All in all, it's a profound human/profession drama that will touch the hearts of many.

Taiga is a struggling second-generation actor who has developed a complex due to his father, a famous actor in his time. Taiga, only get to appear in variety shows, most of the time. One day when his friend bring him out for a skydiving, a big wind dragg him away from the dropping point and he got stuck in a tree. A beautiful woman, Shiori (Takeuchi Yuko), come to rescue him. Shiori is a cheerful woman who laughs away all worries she has. She's exactly the opposite of Taiga...

Halu (Kimura Takuya) is the captain and star player of an ice hockey team, who is greatly respected by his teammates. For him, hockey is serious business that fully occupies his mind, while he treats romance as if it were a game. Aki (Takeuchi Yuko) is a typical OL (office lady), and is waiting for her boyfriend to return from studying architecture abroad. At this point in time however, he shows no sign of coming back. One day, Aki's friends who are determined to find her a new boyfriend, invite her to watch an ice hockey game. There she sees Halu for the first time. After the game, Aki and her friends join the players for a party celebrating their victory. Aki, however, is not so excited to be there. When she leaves the party, she bumps into Halu, who was slightly injured from a fight. They exchange e-mail addresses and part. The sparks of mutual attraction are ignited in a second encounter between Aki and Halu, arranged with the help of her friends shortly after a party. Hyodo (Sato Koichi) has come as a replacement for the team's coach who has been hospitalized. Halu has a lot of respect for the hospitalized coach. Unfortunately, he can't stand Hyodo's way of doing things. Bringing with him a lot of coaching experience from overseas, Hyodo criticizes the former coach's strategies. Whenever Halu and Hyodo see each other, they get into a quarrel; consequently influencing Halu's behavior during games. Seeing that his game ended in a brawl, Aki visits Halu to comfort him. But he tells her that she is being too friendly with him. Aki is hurt, Halu is irritated, and his teammate Hotta (Sakaguchi Kenji) can't stand seeing Halu like this...

Natsumi loves lunch. By chance she starts working for "Kitchen Macaroni", posing as the fiance of the owner's eldest son, Kenichiro. Kenichiro's father Kenzo and his three younger brothers - Yujiro, Junzaburo, and Koshiro - run the restaurant, famous for its omelet. Also working at the restaurant are Mamoru, a chef, and Minoru, a live-in apprentice cook. Not everyone has a liking to Natsumi at first, but over time they will surely fall in love with her...

Follows main character Labour Standards Inspector Rin Danda whose job it is to protect the workers.

May 9, 2003 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launches its unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa into orbit. Its mission is to collect samples from a near Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa. Hayabusa is scheduled to make contact with the asteroid in November 2005. As the spacecraft approaches its rendezvous date with the asteroid problems arise for the JAXA staff back on Earth. 

April 4, 1959 in the early morning Detective Fujisawa Rokuro of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was walking his dog along the banks of Tokyo's Musashino district, and found the body of a young woman. Her handbag, an express delivery envelope, and other possession were stil with her, her identity was immediately confirmed as airline stewardess Ikuta Setsuko. Initials her death was considered a suicide due to the visual evidence of a lack of struggle, and the peaceful expression on her face. Upon further examination the cause of her death was determined as suffocation. semen was also found at the scene leading detectives to believe the crime occurred shortly before the body was found.

Fujisawa unable to forget the peaceful expression on Setsuko's face makes a direct appeal to the head of criminal investigations. He is order to work in combination with young detective Ichimura Yoshitaka. Fujisawa is the ace of the MPD, but he tends to go off on his own and that sometimes gets him into trouble. Manager Takaku Ryo takes it upon himself to monitor Fujisawa and Ichimura's behavior.

Eventually it is discovered that a blue Renault with a foreign license plate was seen one the night of the incident near the crime scene. The owner of the blue Renault, a young preist,mis found the be the sender of the express envelope found with the body. The young priest is the prime suspect, but this situation could become an international problem if handled incorrectly. One day while Fujisawa is on a stake out at the Church of Villiers were the young priest preaches a mysterious woman comes and speaks to the Chief Priest. The atmosphere around her seems to repel people.

Based on the novel "Kuroi Fukuin" by Seicho Matsumoto.

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.

Shiomi Eiji is forced to become a single father when his girlfriend passes away while giving birth to their daughter, Shizuku. Desolate after the loss of the woman he loved, Eiji has little time or desire to even consider remarrying, working part-time jobs just to make ends meet. The one thing that gives meaning and joy to his life is Shizuku, but even that begins to trouble him when Shizuku begins acting strange, hiding her face by putting a cloth over her head when around other people. One day after opening his flower shop, Eiji comes across a blind woman standing by the door, taking shelter from the rain. When he invites her to come inside the shop, she at first refuses, but later gives in to Eiji's kindness. They become intimate friends and she slowly grows to depend on Eiji's sincerity and goodheartedness. After rescuing her a following evening when she walks into the street and is nearly struck by traffic, Eiji himself inexplicably discovers the cold of winter that has saddled his heart all these years slowly melting away...

Kenta, a young pianist who has just lost his job, is drowning his woes at a bar when he meets a man in a Hawaiian shirt named Yamaki. He invites Kenta to work with him, and the next thing he knows, Kenta wakes up to find himself in a room he has never been in before. It is a strange room that seems to have no connection to life. He descends a staircase to find many shelves of books. Yamaki appears once again and tells him that this is Heaven's Book Service, and Kenta is going to start working a short-term, part-time job here. In addition to selling books, this bookstore, owned by Yamaki, provides a service of reading aloud to customers. Although he is unsure of his new surroundings, Kenta follows their actions and starts to work in his new part-time job.

Yumi (Takeuchi Yuko) is a 23-year-old office worker. Out of the blue, she is fired from her job. A few days later, wearing kimono, she is rushing to an interview for some part-time work at a publishing company. She was at a friend's wedding that went on a bit longer than expected and she has no time to change from her kimono.

In another room at the publisher, popular comic book writer Reijiro Sakurai (Abe Hiroshi) is having an editorial meeting with some staff. He is planning to lock himself away at a hot spring for the next three months to concentrate on his next project. Yumi stumbles into the room, looking for somewhere to change out of her kimono. Sakurai comments that if Yumi were to join him he wouldn't mind being away for so long...

An icy-cool pop idol, Sakuraba Yuuichiro, is actually a happy-go-lucky smiling idiot. After falling in love with Sakura, trouble ensues after agreeing to marry into Sakura's family, which consists of her 3 sisters. Of course, more trouble follows trying to hide his marriage from his adoring and rabid fans.

Nobuko Shimura is on duty for the first time at Gyoda Hospital. The duty doctor is Yosuke Naoe. After 9pm, Jiro Toda, a childhood friend of Nobuko's, is brought in with a cut to his forehead from a fight. But Naoe has gone out for a drink, and can't be found. Both Toda and the ambulance crew become angry and demand to know where the doctor is. Naoe returns and seeing the commotion, he orders Toda be locked in a toilet until he calms down. Nobuko is horrified by Naoe' s attitude but is later impressed with his ability as a surgeon when treating Toda's injury. This is their first fateful meeting.

Two teenagers, Masami and Tomoko, talk about a videotape recorded by a boy in Izu which is fabled to bear a curse that kills the viewer seven days after watching. Tomoko reveals that a week ago, she and three of her friends watched a weird tape and received a call after watching. Tomoko goes downstairs and witnesses her TV turn on by itself. She later hears startling noises and turns around, only to be killed by an unseen force.

Days later, Asakawa Reiko, a reporter investigating the popularity of the video curse, discovers that her niece Tomoko, and her three other friends, mysteriously died at the same time, on the same night, with their faces twisted in fear. She also discovers that Masami became insane from witnessing Tomoko's death and is institutionalized in a mental hospital. After stumbling upon Tomoko's photos from the past week, Reiko finds that the four teenagers stayed in a rental cabin in Izu.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Suzuki Koji (鈴木光司).

After graduating from college, Yuuji lands the job of his dreams at the company that manufactures his favorite running shoes. The complete sincerity and selflessness that Yuuji shows everyone he meets causes many to dismiss him as naive or simply stupid. But when his good deeds start paying off, his co-workers begin to come around to the idea that nice guys don't have to finish last.Theme song: Serori (Celery) by SMAP, adapted from manga "Ii Hito " by TAKAHASHI Shin.