Asian Drama

Matoba Yosuke is s a salaryman who just lost his job. Matoba Hikaru, his wife, is a dancer who gave up her career when they got married. In the middle of a family crisis, Matoba Hikaru leaves to pursue her dream. Matoba Yosuke is stuck with their only son. Chikako, his old flame -turn jet-set career woman- is forced to take care of them. Will the romance spark again, now that Matoba Yosuke already has family, and Chikako has a younger man, Kikuta Jun, beside her?

(Source: Fuji TV)

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Episodes: 12

Duration: 54min.

Country: Japan

Airs On: Thursday

Aired: Jul 5, 2001 - Sep 20, 2001

Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

A story about specialists who transport the deceased back home. The company Angel Hearse is run by Nami Izawa and Kashiwagi . A drama that portrays love between the deceased and the bereaved.

Adapted from the novel "Angel Flight: Kokusai Reikyu Sokanshi" (エンジェルフライト 国際霊柩送還士) by Sasa Ryoko (佐々涼子).

Matsuda Anna is a dedicated journalist who doggedly pursues the truth about a government corruption scandal even as powerful enemies seek to neutralize her reporting.

A worldwide pandemic causes the medical system to collapse across the world, including Japan. Under this very difficult situation, the best university hospital in Japan, Totei University Hospital, makes the decision to focus on infectious disease and internal treatments, while postponing any noncritical scheduled surgeries. The hospital also faces a power struggle, while dealing with the infectious disease crisis. No matter what, Daimon Michiko goes her way as a surgeon.

Totei University Hospital has built a massive deficit. Investor Nicholas Tange, whose nickname is Vulture, comes up with a turnaround plan for the hospital. His plan implements restructuring and cost cutting. By Nicholas Tange’s request, Michiko Daimon begins to work at the Totei University Hospital again.

Shoko Takanashi, a scandalous former attorney, takes control of a minor law firm and drives them to "V"ictory no matter how precarious the lawsuit. Amidst chaotic human drama, a legal tale of justice and tears emerges.

Surgeon Daimon Michiko is sent to Totei University Hospital this time. Although it reigns as the top university hospital in the country, the hospital’s reputation has suffered greatly from various cover-ups, medical malpractice and fighting factions. Furthermore, the person who has snatched the seat of the new hospital director with the plan of reestablishing the hospital’s brand and gaining great power, is none other than the strategist Hiruma Shigekatsu, who has a longstanding grudge against Michiko. At Totei University Hospital, the medical departments have weakened as the administrative department increases control. Only doctors who have powerful brands are kept to run the hospital, which has transformed into a mere business organisation. What will Michiko stand up against in a power game rife in the healthcare setting?

Nui is lost after the sudden death of her adoptive father Shimada Mataemon. Her own father met an untimely death when he was about to expose the corruption of the shogunate. She is determined to expose the collusion between Kannouji, and the unforgivable relationships between the ladies in waiting of the inner palace and the monks. Nui is undertaking this undercover investigation without regard for the danger she is putting herself in, for the sake of Shinnosuke whom she secretly loves.

The treasure of the company Teikoku Shinju, a natural pearl called the ‘Golden Star’ is stolen. The ‘Golden Star’ is said to be expensive enough to buy a New York skyscraper. The theft is made public and Teikoku Shinju’s share price plunges. This incident triggers an internal struggle between the company’s chairman Iwakura Jusaburo (Nishida Toshiyuki) and president Iwakura Tsuneko (Zaizen Naomi) for the company president’s position. Tsuneko, the daughter of Teikoku Shinju’s founder and Jusaburo’s stepsister, is forced to take responsibility and step down. Learning about the fmaily’s infighting from media reports, Sawaguchi Nobuko (Yonekura Ryoko) hides her beauty with black glasses and loose, disheveled hair, and goes into the home as a housekeeper. She has a specific objective to fulfil at the Iwakura household. Nobuko had gone to see the ‘Golden Star’, which was displayed in a department store, and encountered an enigmatic man (Yokota Eiji) who suddenly appeared in front of her. The man seemed to have a connection to the ‘Golden Pearl’ and the Iwakura family. He had encouraged her to try wearing the pearl like the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ painted by Vemeer. As customers and news reporters swarmed around them, Nobuko had fled the place without thinking. But in doing so, the precious pearl earring was lost. According to store personnel, that man had taken it out. Nobuko’s intuition tells her that the man is involved in the theft of the ‘Golden Star’ and she guesses he will show up at the Iwakura home some day. There is a portrait in the Iwakura home of a man who resembles him as if in confirmation of her conjecture. What is this man’s true identity? After that, the more the battle between the chairman and company president heats up, the more the share price of Teikoku Shinju continues to mysteriously rise. Why did the pearl disappear? Nobuko who has peeked at the secrets and conspiracies in the mansion, takes action … …

Michiko Daimon goes to a university hospital with her letter of introduction. Michiko Daimon is a freelancer surgeon and is placed at the university hospital by a doctor placement agency. Due to the hospital's harsh working conditions several doctors have...

Sporting black glasses and loose, dishevelled hair, the brusque, unfashionable divorced housekeeper Konno Nobuko (Yonekura Ryoko) is sent to the Inamura residence in a quiet residential neighbourhood in Tokyo. The Inamuras are a family of six. The husband Tatsuya (Danta Yasunori), the head of a university hospital’s department of internal medicine, lives with his wife Haruko (Yo Kimiko), their three growing sons and Tatsuya’s mother Shigeko (Nogiwa Yoko). Haruko is just like a graceful doctor’s wife. However, Nobuko immediately perceives that she is only concerned about appearances and quickly feels disgusted by her employer’s sympathetic, pretentious, upper crust attitude. In contrast, Haruko is relieved that the housekeeper is an unattractive woman. She does not want a beautiful woman to get close to her husband and adolescent sons. Is this the thought of a wife and mother or is it a jealousy of young beautiful women that has sprouted within Haruko at some point? However, the real Nobuko is a beauty who catches the eyes of people. She is, for some reason, extremely uncomfortable with her looks and has deliberately disguised herself to hide it. Nobuko quickly comes to know the problems that plague not just Haruko but the entire household. Tatsuya is indifferent about domestic issues and reeks of infidelity. The children are wilful and rude. Shigeko is treated like dirt by the family. Learning that the Inamuras are putting on a pretense of being a happy family, Nobuko starts to feel vengeful towards Haruko who sneers at her drab appearance and occupation, and the children who openly scorn her. Although Haruko initially welcomed Nobuko, she is gradually spooked by her words and behaviour and suddenly announces that she is dismissing her for being a kleptomaniac. This enrages Nobuko. She exploits the weaknesses of the family that she has already grasped and decides to remain. Her objective for being in such uncomfortable surroundings is … …?

The story continues with Michiko still working as a freelance doctor at the Teito University Hospital. Enjoying herself at a horse-race in Hokkaido from an invite by Dr Kanbara Akira, Michiko happens to chance upon a scene at the owners' box. The elegant woman draped in a fur coat, sipping champagne with her handsome younger lover. Her attention is soon diverted to the race, as she cheers on the horse that she had bet on. Suddenly, the said horse veered into the path of another horse, causing a nasty fall. Michiko then overhears the elegant woman, who happens to be the injured horse's owner, lamenting "A hundred million yen horse, euthanised just like that". To which the vet replies, "Even a surgery will result in 100% failure". Michiko then chimes in, "If it was me, I would succeed"... A few weeks later, in the conference at the Teito University Hospital, the Internal Medicine Executive Manager announces that there will be a patient checking into the hospital for treatment on osteosarcoma of the thighbone. The Chief surgeon, Hiruma, and all his staff concur that the best treatment would be to amputate the leg, when a voice pipes up, "I disagree!", that heralds the appearance of Michiko!

A romantic comedy about women in their 30's For everyone who still remembers "Suteki na Kataomoi," "Tokyo Love Story," "101st Proposal," prepare yourselves for even more of those same touching moments again. Breaking the tradition of the main character for a Monday night drama being a woman in her 20's, Esumi Makiko stars as Kyoko Asaoka, a 32-year-old heart surgeon working at a hospital in Tokyo. Men tend to shy away from the tall, well-educated and well-paid Kyoko because they see her as a woman that can do things on her own. The truth of the matter is that Kyoko is just unlucky in love. She is also old-fashioned, and wants to fall in love just like anyone else, but has a hard time showing her real self to men.

The new season opens with a string of deadly incidents involving guns sent to various people by someone known as "Summer Claus." The weapons seem to be part of a batch of 27 stolen guns, and so far 14 of them have been given out. Now it's up to Usagi and the rest of the SIT to recover the remaining 13 before there are any more casualties.

In a modern society in which violent crimes are on the rise, there is a team that tries to resolve cases without bloodshed. It is the metropolitan police's special team, known by the abbreviation SIT (Special Investigation Team). The SIT doesn't get into action after a case but heads to the site just as a crime is being committed. They are on the front-line of risky missions, facing off against criminals; tenaciously conducting negotiations with criminals. As a result of the rigid police hierarchy that can curb the conduct of negotiators, the SIT is also a male-dominated society controlled with strict discipline. There is one female negotiator, Usagi Reiko, who bravely fights at the frontline. She is isolated in the male world of the SIT but courageously fights against crime as well as her organisation.

Freelancer surgeon Michiko (Ryoko Yonekura) visits an island. Due to an accident by a luxury liner, some of its passengers are injured. Among the injured passengers, Michiko finds Ryonosuke (Shiro Ito). Ryonosuke is an ex-hospital director with whom Michiko has worked for in the past. Michiko treats Ryonosuke's wound. Later, Ryonosuke is hospitalized at the National Center for Advanced Medical Care. He has suffered from a cardiac tumor and hepatocellular carcinoma. At the conference for Ryonosuke’s upcoming surgery, two factions of the National Center for Advanced Medical Care have an intense argument over his surgery. Michiko suddenly appears at the warlike conference and tells them that Ryonosuke is her patient.

Daimon Michiko (Yonekura Ryoko) is a 37-year-old surgeon and is part of a questionable ‘doctor placement service’ that has her wander from hospital to another. She holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. There are rumors that she once had to leave the medical world due to money problems and a medical error, but nobody knows anything for sure… --Tokyohive

Yonekura Ryoko plays a 35 year old woman who mysteriously goes back to high school as a student.

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.

Yano Katsuhiko, a weather forecaster who is divorced and is introduced by his friend, Taguchi to popular radio DJ Yukawa Sachi aka "Love Specialist". Yano recalled seeing pictures of her before but the person he actually saw is Sachi's friend, Yujin.

Yano Katsuhiko, a weather forecaster who is divorced and is introduced by his friend, Taguchi to popular radio DJ Yukawa Sachi aka "Love Specialist". Yano recalled seeing pictures of her before but the person he actually saw is Sachi's friend, Yujin.

Yonekura Ryoko plays Matsudaira Matsuko, a tax investigator from the countryside who is suddenly called to work at the Tokyo Tax Investigation Bureau. Her rather unorthodox methods of investigating tax evaders shocks the rest of the staff, despite being rather efficient.

Yonekura Ryoko plays Matsudaira Matsuko, a tax investigator from the countryside who is suddenly called to work at the Tokyo Tax Investigation Bureau. Her rather unorthodox methods of investigating tax evaders shocks the rest of the staff, despite being rather efficient.

A woman's life all depends on her looks. So what happens if she's born ugly? This story is about a girl, nowhere near attractive, who was born where ugliness runs in the family. This pitiful girl, who has no luck with men, thanks to her "not so pretty" looks, turned to her last resort: a face lift. She travels all the way to the Mediterranean to transform into a living beauty. Now she can finally get her hands on love and happiness. After returning to Japan, she starts a glamorous life as a fashion model: something she had always longed for. Still, day after day, she is obsessed with the feeling that her big secret may come to light. The face lift was able to change her face, but not her "ugly personality." She's an artificial beauty: vulnerable, fragile, and struggling for love. Will she manage to get the love of her life?