Haruka Igawa

The 74th NHK Asadora Drama is Junjo Kirari, which means something along the lines of "pure-hearted Kirari." The story is set in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture in the era around the Second World War. When the story opens in 1928, the heroine, Sakurako, is a very active seven-year-old girl. Indeed, even in the first episode she exhibits her confidence and enthusiasm. But above all else, Sakurako is interested in becoming a jazz pianist, and music features extensively in the plot.

In the end of Meiji era, Takei Chiyo was born in a poor family in Osaka, and was sent to a theatre tea room as a servant when she was 9 years old. There, she was attracted by the world of theatre comedy. She grows up to be an actor and marries to Amami Ippei , but the war broke out and she was forced to stay away from acting for a while. However, when she comes back again, her acting in a radio drama impresses many people and makes herself one of the leading actors in western Japan.

Hanzawa Naoki works as a loan manager at the Osaka Nishi branch of Tokyo Central Bank. One day, Hanzawa makes a loan contract for 500 million yen with Nishi Osaka Steel Company. Hanzawa didn't want to approve the loan, but he had to due to the branch manager's order. Nishi Osaka Steel Company seems financially stable, but the company actually hides massive amounts of debt through fraudulent accounts. The company is caught. Three months later, Nishi Osaka Steel Company goes bankrupt. The bank's branch manager is Asano. He is an ambitious man and tries to shift the blame to Hanzawa. Hanzawa then attends an inquiry about the loan failure at the bank's headquarters in Tokyo. Hanzawa denies fault and promises to retrieve the 500 million yen loan. He did this because it's the only way for Hanzawa to survive as a banker.

SixTONES' first TV variety show features fun challenges, quirky projects, and a gourmet segment, creating an entertaining and unpredictable mix of humor and surprises with popular guest appearances.

Satoru Matsudo moves to Tokyo in hopes of becoming an actor. He has trouble breaking into the industry, but his luck begins to change when he finds an airplane ticket belonging to a talent agency CEO. Time passes, and Satoru makes a name for himself as an actor. He gets a call from America. Hoping it is a Hollywood offer, he instead hears about his estranged older brother.

Fumi becomes Genzui Kusaka’s wife. During the turbulent times of the closing days for the Tokugawa shogunate, she lives positively and tries to keep up Shoin Yoshida's will. Shoin Yoshida is her older brother and intellectual.

Nagumo Shuuji, a social studies teacher at Mie Prefecture’s Etsuzan Senior High School, was a former baseball player up until university when he quit after sustaining an injury. Thereafter, he worked as a sports trainer but returned to university at 32 years old in order to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. However, his peaceful daily life goes through a change after he’s appointed to be the advisor of his school’s baseball club that is on the verge of abolition.

Mike Hama, Private Detective, is a chain-smoking, wisecracking tough guy with a weakness for the ladies and a soft spot in his heart, especially for his kid sister Akane. Mike's so down on his luck he'll take any case, from finding a lost pet to spying on cheating spouses. But every now and then, along comes a client with dubious and dangerous case… and that's when Mike shows his stuff.

Two brothers become police officers to hunt down their parents' killer, who escaped justice by just two days before the statute of limitations was abolished.

The down-and-out detective Kanzo Dojima (Sanma Akashiya) is thinking about hanging up his job. A mysterious man named Ryo Katase (Takuya Kimura). No one seems to know what's going on in the heart of this lonely guy, what he believes in, what he really loves. Then these two men meet by chance one day. The story takes an unexpected turn of events concerning a murder case. Maybe the two of them should never have met. And then there's Kanzo's sister Yuko (Eri Fukatsu). What will the relationship between her and Ryo be like?

After her mother dies, Kyoka moves in with her father, Rintaro, who begins to obsess over finding spouses for himself and his daughter.

Parliamentary secretary Toru Washizu (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) has devoted 20 years of his life to Kosuke Inukai, a member of parliament and cabinet minister. Toru works behind the scenes as Inukai's "shadow," deftly handling the petitions of Inukai's supporters and crushing any hint of scandal. Cool and collected, Toru rarely betrays emotion and would humble himself to anyone to get what Inukai needs. But then a shocking event changes everything. Toru's only son, Taiki, is gravely injured in an accident that leaves him close to death. Toru is stricken with worry and fear for his son, but Inukai orders him to conduct a cover-up. Feeling betrayed, Toru, who once would have done anything for Inukai, begins to question everything.

A mysterious man known only as the “Aristocrat Detective” indulges in solving cases as a hobby while leaving the real work to his staff, but when sharp private detective Aika Takatoku enters the scene, a battle of wits begins.

Rosuke Narumi works at a trading company and he is pretty good at his job. He dates Satoko Matsubara. 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 oppose his plan.

Nakajima looks up to his father, who was a war photographer, but can only get a job as an assistant for gravure magazines. Mizuno is a provisional high school teacher, currently on probation. Nishimura is Mizuno's best friend, whose boyfriend has been avoiding her since she discovered she was pregnant. Ichihara works at a magazine where he is being blackmailed into sexual favours by his chief editor. Park, on Twitter, takes on the persona of a doctor, when he is actually working at a company that sells medical equipment to disinterested doctors, and at the same time, trying to take care of his younger sister. This is a story about the blossoming friendship of five young people who were brought together by Twitter, and their journey to finding honesty with each other and with themselves.

Ruri, having been abandoned by her mother to a foster care facility, lives a life of reckless abandonment. When Nakama Yuzo, a kind man but for a trigger-happy temper, runs into Ruri he realizes that perhaps she's the child he's been looking for. Yuzo lives in Hatomijima, a small insland in Okinawa where the population is 49 and the average age group is 61. There are no children. The island has only one school - a primary school. If a child is not enrolled in the school, it will be closed. As a result, society will abandon the island and in a few years, it will cease to have any inhabitants. To save their island, the locals decide to bring in a foster child. Ruri is their candidate, and with her she brings the hope of the island's survival.

The basis for the drama is the novel “Kashikogi” by author Cho Chang-in, which has sold 2 million copies in Korea since its publication in 2000. It has already been adapted as a television drama and a stage play in that country. On February 4, Shogakukan is publishing the book in Japan under the title “Good Life.” Sorimachi plays the part of Daichi Sawamoto, a newspaper reporter who has always prioritized his work over his family. When his wife suddenly leaves him, he finally notices the love he has been receiving from his son. Just as he decides to answer back, it is discovered that his son has leukemia.

Based on the novel by Junpei Gomikawa, the story is about a young businessman (Ito) who encounters a designer (Hasegawa) that will ask him for a 20 million yen loan. She will use her own body as the collateral.

Freeter, Ie wo Kau is a Japanese television drama series that aired on Fuji Television and on Kyodo Television in 2010. The story revolves around Take Seiji, who quits his job after three months. With no dreams, no savings, and a poor relationship with his family, he becomes a hikikomori. However, after his mother falls ill with depression, he ends up having to take on a part-time job at a construction site. Because of that, he soon decides to work towards rebuilding his life: "Even though I'm just a freeter, I'm going to buy a house for the sake of my family." One of the people he meets at the construction site is Chiba Manami, who graduated from a top-class university and joined a well-known general contracting firm. Manami is the complete opposite of Seiji. But while their personalities clash at first, they gradually come to understand each other. --Tokyograph

A consultant who has a superhuman sense of smell and assists in solving cases by smelling the scents left behind at crime scenes. He usually lives with a nasal plug, but once he removes it, and takes one sniff with his keen sense of smell, he will know the person’s age, gender, what he or she ate and even lifestyle. Besides investigating cases, he is researching whether people’s emotions have scent too. He has a daughter with Katayama Megumi.

The winds of change blow as a family grapples with unemployment, alienation, mistrust and a lack of communication. When a Japanese salaryman loses his job to outsourcing to China, it's simply the beginning of a series of shattering incidents, leading to the implosion of the family unit.

A young child is obsessed with learning about and drawing fish. The child seems a little odd, but if you are understanding and supportive you will be cheering in the end.

In bustling Tokyo, Ren delivers delicate orchids across the city, carrying the weight of his mother's absence and years of silence between him and his father, until one delivery changes everything.

Kensho Aoto reunites with Yoko Sudo, whom he had feelings for in junior high school, for the first time in 35 years. On the second floor window sill of a small apartment. Yoko was leaning against the window and looking up at the moon in the night sky, then Kensho was watching her from outside. Kensho “What were you thinking back then?” Yoko “...Something like a dream. Just about something like a dream.” The two of them are naturally attracted to each other for the first time at the age of 50. They eventually start talking about the future...

Six women attempt to make it in current day Tokyo, living their everyday lives the best and worst they can. For them, every little moment becomes a ritual of the ordinary and the exciting, a balancing act for their dreams and hopes as the days perpetually tug on their heartstrings.

Osamu Ino is a great doctor who is beloved in his rural village. His knowledge and dedication make an equally strong impression on his reluctant medical intern, Keisuke Soma. But, Soma and the villagers reconsider their opinion when they learn about a shameful incident from Dr. Ino's past. Now the once-respected doctor must account for his past actions.

Yuki Takase works at a small publishing house that publishes free newspapers. Together with her assistant Rei Fujishima, she is instructed to go through Tokyo and interview women, asking: 'How do you combine a career with love?'

A precarious loner sneaks into a blind woman's home and begins living there without her noticing. Meanwhile, the woman mourns her recently deceased father and struggles to remain connected to the world.

A 48-year-old company chief, Yukihiro Fujiyama (Koji Yakusho) goes to a hospital. There he discovered that he has got terminal lung cancer and will die within half a year. He declines any treatment and decides to go to see some people he has not met for years, to write farewell letters to his family, relatives and friends...

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?

Based on four of the six short stories compiled in Murakami Haruki's anthology, After the Quake explores the complex aftermath of Japan’s earthquakes and other global crises. (Movie version of the TV drama).

Orimoto Shinnosuke, a former popular news anchor, was forced to leave the nationwide news program “Showtime 7” for a certain reason. Orimoto, now a negotiator, forcefully goes live on air to negotiate with a bomber. Based on the 2013 Korean film “Terror, Live.”

Follows the life of an Office Lady who gets through her tedious work days by dreaming of a legendary soup and soup chef she's heard of. She decides to go in search of it.

A Christmas Eve power outage provides a collection of troubled Tokyo denizens the opportunity to come clean on the misdeeds of their past.

University student and budding photographer Koji is asked by a man to secretly take pictures of his wife Yurika. As a result, his relationships with a girl who visits his workplace and his stepsister Misaki begin to change subtly.

Toho university hospital has established an outstanding coronary surgery team under the leadership of a up and coming, star, U.S. trained surgeon that specializes in the highly risky "Batista" procedure to shrink the size of enlarged hearts. Normally this procedure has only a 60% success rate, but "Team Batista" has achieved a run of 26 straight successes....when suddenly 3 patients in a row die on the operating table. Very disturbed, the lead surgeon requests an independent investigation. The hospital turns to Dr. Taguchi who is a specialist in psychosomatic disorders who is shocked to at the assignment because she knows nothing in particular about surgery. Assured, however, that this very lack of insider specialized knowledge is in fact the "objectivity" required, she diligently begins to investigate in her own polite, but persistent manner.

Four short films based on ghost stories written by award winning modern Japanese writers.

A seeing-eye dog (Shiro) is granted one wish by his former owner. He chooses to become a human for a short time so he can find the girl who trained him as a puppy. While attempting to get to know her (as he runs along behind her and sniffs for her around town) he eventually falls in love with her.

The heart wrenching love story between a married couple. The jobless husband cheats on his wife and has no love for her. The wife wants to go on a trip to get pregnant.

Hosted by veteran comedian Tamori, "Bizarre Tales 2003 Fall Special" presents five tales. 1. *Kagi (The Key) - starring Eguchi Yosuke. 2. Perfect Couple - starring Yada Akiko. 3. Toosugita Otoko (The Man Who Was Too Far Away) - starring Nakamura Shido. 4. Meiro (The Maze)- starring Tanihara Shosuke. 5. Kage ga Omonaru Toki (When Shadows Accumulate) - starring Yashima Norito. * Adapted from a novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka.

Japanese film directed by Jinsei Tsuji.