Official Website
tomodachi-game.com

Broadcast
From 4 April 2017 (followed by movie)

Station
Nagoya TV

Story
Katagiri Yuichi is a poor student with no parents. He delivers newspapers and works on the side while attending high school. Yuichi has trustworthy friends who are all that matters to him. They are Sawaragi Shiho, the vice-chairman; Mikasa Tenji, the genius of their academic year; wealthy Shibe Makoto; and anime-loving Kokorogi Yutori. He had believed that he would be friends with them for years to come. Until that incident happened … … 2 million yen which had been pooled together from every classmate as money for a school trip vanishes. Yuichi is summoned by Shiho through a letter. However, Tenji, Makoto and Yutori are there too besides Shiho. The five of them are attacked by someone and locked up in a room with white walls. When the recover consciousness, Manabu who is dressed in a manga character costume is standing right before them. They are told a shocking truth. Someone among the five of them has a debt of 2 million yen and entered them for Tomodachi Game to pay off the money. If they are able to clear the game, the debt will be written off but if they lose, each person will have to bear 4 million yen. Yuichi and his friends decide to participate in the game to help this person. This is how the first game begins. It is supposed to be a simple game. However, friendships are unexpectedly tested under extreme conditions which triggers paranoia. The trick to clearing the game is to trust in friends. But will Yuichi and his friends choose money over friendship?

Characters
Yoshizawa Ryo as Katagiri Yuichi
A student who works to support himself because his parents have died. He is a popular person who cares about friendship more than money because of his mother’s teachings. However, he shows a willingness to use cruel methods to win the game.

Uchida Rio as Sawaragi Shiho
Katagiri Yuichi’s classmate. A righteous vice-chairman with a father who is a police officer. She and Mikasa Tenji are childhood friends but she secretly likes Katagiri Yuichi.

Yamamoto Yuki as Mikasa Tenji
He is smart and constantly calm. He plays the role of mediator when his friends have disputes. He is concerned about Sawaragi Shiho and seems to have special feelings for her.

Okura Shimon as Shibe Makoto
He likes Sawaragi Shiho and makes aggressive advances but is ignored. His father is a city assemblyman and he is the son of a wealthy family.

Nemoto Nagi as Kokorogi Yutori
She was bullied during junior high school but was saved by Sawaragi Shiho. She feels inferior to her friend who saved her and also likes Katagiri Yuichi.

Amatsuki as Manabu-kun
The guide of Tomodachi Game. His identity is unknown. He toys with the players and keeps on making extreme remarks throughout the game.

Kubota Yuki as Tojo Ren
He keeps tabs on the team participating in the game through a monitor. He sees through Katagiri Yuichi’s strategy and the basis of those ideas. He feels fear but also gives due respect.

Scriptwriters
Nagae Jiro
Sagami Yoshitsugu

Original Work
Tomodachi Game by Yamaguchi Mikoto

Related Post:

• Tomodachi Game CM

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
code-mirage.jp

Broadcast
From 1.23 p.m., Saturdays, 8 April 2017

Station
TV Tokyo

Story
Without an official spy organisation, Japan is seen as a hotbed for crime by foreign and domestic criminal groups. K13 is a unit established within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to combat this situation. The activities of K13 are known only to a few people and its members do not exist on record. Led by the top agent code named Mirage, K13 members target not only brutal crimes but are also given secret missions to handle crimes which cannot be solved politically and socially. One day, a criminal group barricades itself in the office of Masaki Yoshio, the secretary-general of the Kyoshinka Party. Kurahashi, the leader of the group, demands 2 billion yen from Masaki and threatens to kill the hostages and disclose his bribes to the public if this demand is not met. Samonji Geki, the chief of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Security Bureau receives the request from Masaki and instructs Onzaki Kurando, who heads the Special Public Security Division, to “handle” the case in secret. Onzaki orders K13’s Mirage to suppress the criminal group. Meanwhile, there are people who intend to set up a police organisation like the FBI in the US and strengthen the Japanese police by enacting a bill to expand its powers. Before long, the K13 gets embroiled too and a huge conspiracy is revealed.

Characters
Kiriyama Ren as Mirage (Moriyama Shinichi)
K13’s top agent. He sustained a brain injury due to a past operation. As a result, he lost a part of his emotions and memory but gained extraordinary physical ability. He treats the orders which he is given as absolute and conducts the missions with no trace of emotion, handling them smartly and swiftly in his fancy suits.

Sano Hinako as Dobu Nezumi (Kogure Mikako)
A K13 agent and a genius hacker who has committed many cyber crimes. She is confined within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department because of preferential treatment and provides all sorts of information to K13 from headquarters. Confrontations with criminals are no more than a game to her. In fact, it is said that she has a huge fortune in the billions which was gained from hacking.

Kaname Jun as Onzaki Kurando
A career office and the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Public Security Division under the Security Bureau. He is also the person in charge of K13 and gives Mirage direct orders. He comes from a distinguished family descended from nobility which has been supporting Japan’s politics and public order continuously. He gets embroiled in political activity by his boss Samonji Geki but always stays cool and calm.

Takeda Shinji as Kujiraoka Renjiro
A real estate mogul who is based in Roppongi. He has built a tremendous fortune from speculating in land and nursing care. He does wicked things but does not get directly involved. He is familiar with the underworld and also has a lot of influence in political and business circles. He has caused numerous violent crimes but is being driven into a corner by K13. He eventually learns of K13’s existence and goes for all-out confrontation.

Suruga Taro as Himejima Kohei
The leader of K13 and also a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Public Security Division. He is highly skill in martial arts and used to be the top agent. But he has been dealing with the aftermath of missions ever since Mirage came out top.

Hagiwara Masato as Kanegafuchi Yutaka
He is publicly known as the owner of a car repair shop and is famous in the underworld for remodeling of weapons and cars. He supports Mirage through the development of the latest special weapons. He has confidence in his own inventions and sometimes forces Mirage to use special weapons. He is one of the few who feels like a friendly older brother to Mirage.

Ishimaru Kenjiro as Samonji Geki
The chief of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Security Bureau. Onzaki Kurando’s boss and the creator of K13. He has connections with politicians, bureaucrats and the strong in society. He occasionally uses K13 to make backroom deals. However, he has his own unique ideas about “justice” by means of police authority and beneath his genial exterior is in fact … …

Original Work
Mirage by Hiroi Ouji

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• Code Name Mirage CM

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi^*NEW*
Date: –
Network: Netflix
Scriptwriter: Okubo Tomomi (Mutsuu, Kagi no Nai Yume o Miru, Good Life)
Original Work: Boku dake ga Inai Machi by Sanbe Kei
Genre: Mystery suspense
Cast: Furukawa Yuki, Yuki Mio, Shirasu Jun, Uchikawa Reo, Kakihara Rinka, Eguchi Noriko, Mashima Hidekazu, Totsugi Shigeyuki, Kurotani Tomoka
Synopsis: 29-year-old Fujinuma Satoru (Furukawa Yuki) is a struggling manga artist who has to work part-time to make a living. He possesses a special ability called “revival” which rewinds a scene so that he can prevent “bad things” from happening, but is troubled that it is beyond his control. One day, Fujinuma ends up being pursued as the murderer of his mother Sachiko (Kurotani Tomoka) and is sent back 18 years into the past. He is convinced that the serial killings of children which occurred when he was a fifth-grade elementary school student (Uchikawa Reo) is the cause of her death and chases after the truth.
Website: –

Sego-don
Date: From 7.58 p.m., Sundays, January 2018
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Nakazono Miho (Totto Terebi, Doctor X Series, Dr Rintaro)
Original Work: Sego-don by Hayashi Mariko
Genre: Period
Cast: Suzuki Ryohei, Eita, Kuroki Haru, Sakuraba Nanami, Watabe Gota, Tsukaji Muga, Kazama Morio, Hirata Mitsuru, Matsuzaka Keiko, Kitagawa Keiko, Takanashi Rin, Kitamura Yukiya, Takahashi Mitsuomi, Horii Arata, Sawamura Ikki, Saito Yuki, Koyanagi Rumiko, Kaga Takeshi
Synopsis: Saigo Takamori (Suzuki Ryohei), the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.
Website: –

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Date: From 9.00 p.m., 10 May 2017
Scriptwriter: Fukasawa Masaki (Onnatachi no Tokusou Saizensen, Doctor Car, Keishichou Zero-gakari)
Original Work: Gosa by Matsumoto Seichou
Cast: Murakami Hiroaki, Goriki Ayame, Jinnai Takanori, Matsushita Yuki, Tanaka Minako, Koichi Mantaro, Sakai Miki (guest star), Hidari Tonpei (guest star), Miyakawa Ichirota, Hotaru Yukijiro, Mizusawa Aki, Hosokawa Fumie, Yano Koji, Yashiba Toshihiro, Shishido Miwako, Kubota Maki, Mitamura Kenji, Saito Megumi
Synopsis: One night, a woman called Anzai Sumiko (Tanaka Minako) is found strangled at the detached accommodation that she is staying in at Kawataya, a hot spring inn in Yamanashi Prefecture. Detective Yamaoka Keiichiro (Murakami Hiroaki) of the Yamanashi Prefectural Police’s First Investigative Division rushes to the crime scene together with his subordinate Izaki Misato (Goriki Ayame). Not a single item has been left behind to identify Sumiko but her money and other personal articles are untouched. According to Kawata Saori (Mizusawa Aki), the proprietress of the inn, Sumiko was scheduled to stay for a week with her husband Tadao four days ago. However, he had to work and just joined her yesterday. Today, he was the only one who went out for a moment. After he came back, he contacted the staff and informed them not to disturb his wife who was still sleeping soundly. Then he went out again. Ukai Risako (Saito Megumi), the staff who is in charge, is also missing for some reason. Meanwhile, forensic professor Tachibana Ryosuke’s (Jinnai Takanori) conducts the postmortem and finds injuries on the neck which indicate that Sumiko had struggled while she was being strangled. However, he discovers something about a scratch mark which bothers him. When Yamaoka and Misato question all the guests (Yano Koji, Yashiba Toshihiro, Mitamura Kenji, Hosokawa Fumie) staying at the hot spring, they hear sightings of a suspicious-looking woman in a fur coat. They also establish that the address and names of Anzai Sumiko and Tadao which were written in the guest register are fake. Then Risako’s dead body is found and throws the case into further chaos.
Official Website: www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/seicho_gosa

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• Soushitsu no Girei
• Kuroi Gashu ~ Kusa

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/drama10/tsubaki

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Fridays, 14 April 2017

Station
NHK

Story
Amemiya Hatoko comes back to her hometown of Kamakura after eight years to attend the funeral service for her grandmother Kashiko who had been running Tsubaki Stationery Shop. In truth, it is a stationery shop in name only and its main business is writing beautiful characters on behalf of its customers who are unable to write letters. Furthermore, the small shop is peculiar in that these letters are considered and written from scratch. Hatoko was abandoned by her mother when she was a child. She was introduced to letter writing but rebelled against her grandmother’s strict tutelage and ran away from home. Hatoko has no intention of taking over and is about to sell off the shop and house. However, the stationery shop is loved by the locals and she is forced to carry on the business. Right before her grandmother passed away, a customer called Madam Cider had requested a letter expressing condolences to be written for her. Hatoko is made to accept this request and struggles with this letter with a story behind it. The words of her neighbours including Shirakawa Seitaro gradually changes her feelings. As a novice ghost writer, Hatoko gradually demonstrates her talent of conveying innermost feelings that words cannot express in the best way possible. She agrees to all sorts of letter writing requests and builds rapport with the slightly eccentric people who gather at the shop. These small, happy pieces fill her mind and leads her to take a new step in her own life.

Characters
Tabe Mikako as Amemiya Hatoko
Nicknamed Poppo-chan. She was trained by her grandmother Kashiko at Kamakura’s Tsubaki Stationery Shop. She was abandoned by her mother and does not even know what she looks like. Although she ran away from Kamakura after rebelling against her grandmother, she returns home for the first time in eight years. She has to carry on the business of writing letters for people unexpectedly and finds herself writing all sorts of letters on behalf of customers.

Takahashi Katsunori as Shirakawa Seitaro
A Kamakura sightseeing guide. He used to be a salaryman at a trading company and is fluent in English. He learned calligraphy from Amemiya Hatoko’s grandmother Kashiko. He is concerned about Hatoko but agonises over the care of his elderly mother every day.

Kamiji Yusuke as Morikage Mitsuro
The manager of Mugi Cafe which is near Tsubaki Stationery Shop. A single father who is bringing up his daughter Haruna single-handedly. He is gentle and reserved. The cafe where Amemiya Hatoko is able to talk to him becomes a place of healing for her.

Katase Nana as Kusunoki Hanko
An elementary school teacher who is good at baking bread. She becomes friends with Amemiya Hatoko following an incident related to letters. She is a cheerful, positive woman.

Okuda Eiji as Baron
A mysterious gentleman who is rumoured to be a wealthy person living on a hill. He had a close friendship with Amemiya Hatoko’s grandmother Kashiko and has known Hatoko since she was young. Hatoko is not very good with him because of his brusque attitude and outspoken personality.

Baisho Mitsuko as Amemiya Kashiko
Amemiya Hatoko’s grandmother and previous owner of Tsubaki Stationery Shop. After her daughter ran away, she brought up Hatoko on her own. She was strict in disciplining Hatoko and taught her as her successor. Hatoko rebelled and ran away from home at the time of her high school graduation. She passed away without being able to see Hatoko again.

Scriptwriter
Arai Shuko (Suizokukan Girl, Higanbana, Mother Game)

Original Work
Tsubaki Bunguten by Ogawa Ito

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Date: From 1.30 p.m., 13 May 2017
Scriptwriter: Iwamoto Maya, Hayashi Makoto
Cast: Adachi Rika, Hayama Shono, Gori, Haruka Christine, Miyazaki Yoshiko, Osugi Ren, Umefune Ariei, Suganuma Shoya, Takayanagi Akane, Kasai Kenji, Sugi-chan
Synopsis: Office lady Iwai Haruka (Adachi Rika) works for Kuromiya Design, a design company in Nagoya. It is a busy year end for her. There is an internal call for design ideas to decorate the shopping mall Kitte Nagoya next spring, and Haruka sees this as a big chance for her to emerge from her role as an assistant. She cherishes her time with her younger boyfriend Akutsu Takuya (Hayama Shono) as she goes to the mall to formulate ideas. At Kitte Nagoya, car park attendant Teruya Takashi (Gori) gets into a big quarrel with Rachel Okazaki (Haruka Christine), a patisserie shop staff, over a trivial matter. However, they can empathise with each other because they both have mixed parentage and hail from distant Okinawa, and start to become better acquainted. Then there is Sawada Kenji (Osugi Ren), the head of Nagoya Chuo Post Office at Kitte Nagoya, who is approaching retirement. He is shaken by the appearance of Hosokawa Hizuru (Miyazaki Yoshiko) who has been his idol for 40 years and destiny gradually starts to bring them closer together. Christmas finally comes. A spectacular event is held at Kitte Nagoya but Takuya suddenly broaches breaking up with Haruka. Will Haruka be able to make her debut as a design without the moral support? The three pairs of couples from three generations give each other support while mingling at Kitte Nagoya and begin to find small happiness.
Official Website: www.ctv.co.jp/meieki1-1-1

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• Meieki Icchome Ichiban Ichi-go CM

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Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/jidaigeki/miwotsukushi

Broadcast
From 6.05 p.m., Saturdays, 13 May 2017

Station
NHK

Story
In 1802, 8-year-old Mio lost her parents in a river flood in Osaka and feels all alone after she is also separated from her childhood friend Noe. She is saved by Yoshi, the proprietress of Tenman Icchoan, one of Osaka’s famous restaurants, whom she happened to meet. Mio begins training as a cook because of her gift for taste in a time when females were still banned from the kitchen. However, the restaurant was burnt down in a fire and she sets off for Edo with Yoshi and her husband Kahei. By some lucky coincidence, they are invited by Taneichi, the owner of Tsuruya, to work at his soba shop. Taneichi has hurt his back and lets Mio take over his kitchen. On the first day, Mio enthusiastically makes simmers bonito which is in season in autumn. However, the people of Edo like the first bonito in spring and fight to eat it, but call the returning bonito in autumn unpalatable and do not eat it. Both Mio and Taneichi desperately promote the dish, promising that customers will learn how tasty the bonito is once they take a bite. However, no one takes notice. Mio is bewildered by the contrasting flavours between the Kansai region and Edo. Then an offhand remark by the doctor Nagata Gensai gives her an idea of an unexpected way to lure customers. Mio also has to deal with the obstructions of a rival shop and status difference in her love with the samurai Komatsubara who is a regular at Tsuruya. She overcomes these difficulties and eventually becomes a qualified cook.

Characters
Kuroki Haru as Mio
A female cook born in Osaka. After she lost her parents in a river flood, she was saved by Yoshi, the proprietress of Tenman Icchoan and became an apprentice at the restaurant. On one occasion, she was the only person who detected the change in taste of well water as the cause for the change in taste of the restaurant’s food. She was selected by the owner Kahei to be a cook. She has had strict culinary training and a life full of ups and downs since then. She demonstrates her skills at Tsuruya which Taneichi owns after she comes to Edo.

Moriyama Mirai as Komatsubara
A samurai who is a regular at Tsuruya where Mio is a cook. He constantly makes criticism that gets to the heart of Mio’s cooking and shows her not only flavours but also the way to live as a cook. Mio is gradually drawn to this stern but deep love. He usually has the appearance of a wandering samurai but his true identity is a mystery.

Nagayama Kento as Nagata Gensai
His father was a doctor to the a feudal lord but he lives in Edo as a doctor who serves the townspeople. He becomes deeply involved with the people of Tsuruya and the tenement house including Mio after he saw her offering a prayer at a shrine. He gives sound advice on her cooking from a doctor’s perspective and while encouraging her, he starts to have feelings for her which are unrequited.

Yasuda Narumi as Yoshi
The former proprietress of Tenman Icchoan, one of Osaka’s famous restaurants. She has raised Mio with more than a mother’s love ever since she saved her while she was wandering around the streets because of the flood disaster. The flavours of the rice porridge that she made Mio eat became the starting point for Mio’s taste of cooking. She lives with Mio at a tenement house in Edo but is called “madam” by Mio. She searches for her missing son Sahei and hopes to restart the branch of Tenman Icchoan in Edo.

Kunihiro Tomiyuki as Kahei
The owner of Tenman Icchoan. He spotted Mio’s talent for cooking at a young age and brought her up as a female cook, something that was unthinkable in those times. After the restaurant was burned down, he went to Edo with Mio and his wife Yoshi but worried about his missing son Sahei and collapsed.

Kohinata Fumiyo as Taneichi
The owner of Tsuruya where Mio works. It used to be a soba shop but he took in Mio as a cook at Tsuruya because the sight of her cleaning a small shrine which had fallen in ruin, with all her might, reminded him of his late daughter who died at 17. He watches over Mio who is not used to the flavours of Edo and supports her with a long-term view.

Aso Yumi as Oryo
A resident of the tenement house in Edo’s Kanazawa-cho where Mio and Yoshi live. At first, she avoids Mio and Yoshio who seem to have problems. But after she comes to understand them, she helps Mio and Yoshio in good spirits and eventually helps out at Tsuruya. She cherishes Taiichi who lost both parents in the fire as if he were her own son.

Narumi Riko as Asahi Tayu
A courtesan of Yoshiwara’s Okinaya. Although she is said to be the most beautiful in Yoshiwara, she is also called the “phantom courtesan” because she does not appear in public. She is always treated specially at Okinaya but she is also admired by the other prostitutes because of her nature. She learns that the simmered steamed egg custard that is gossiped about was made by a female cook from the Kansai region … …

Hagiwara Masato as Mataji
A cook at Okinaya in Yoshiwara. He cares about Asahi Tayu more than his own life and pays attention to what she eats every time. He brings back a bento made by Mio for her upon hearing that the food is good. He begins to learn about their unexpected relationship while telling her about Mio’s story.

Yanagishita Tomo as Sahei
The son of Yoshi and Kahei and a cook who was charged with the restaurant’s Edo branch. He is diligent and talented by nature and brought in good business at one time. However, he went missing after that. He seems to have become engrossed in prostitutes of Yoshiwara and disappeared after squandering money but the truth is not known.

Scriptwriter
Fujimoto Yuki (Chikaemon, Meoto Zenzai)

Original Work
Mi o Tsukushi Ryourichou by Takada Kaoru

Click here for photos from the press conference.

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/dsp/tayasui

Broadcast
From 11.00 p.m., Thursdays, 6 April 2017

Station
NHK BS Premium

Story
Kirinaka Kasumi had been a teacher in elementary school, which was her childhood dream. But she caused herself to overwork because of her over-enthusiasm and ended up resigning without fulfilling her ambition because she was burned out. However, a 28-year-old single woman must work to survive. So Kasumi begins to prepare for her return to the working world through short-term jobs and meets Seimon, a remarkable employee at a Hello Work employment support office. Seimon introduces her to jobs that meet her expectations no matter what her conditions are, but Kasumi somehow keeps getting very queer, seemingly unrealistic work. Kasumi’s first role is to be a bus announcer. But on the first day of work, she is ordered by the division manager to keep watch over her senior Eriguchi Mari who seems to have the magic to create announcements. Then when Kasumi indicates her preference to go back to teaching, Seimon rejects this and foists a ghost exorcising job at a forest park on her. Even so, Kasumi slowly begins to consider how to deal with these jobs and the meaning of work through her interactions with the people she meets at each of these workplaces.

Characters
Mano Erina as Kirinaka Kasumi
She got her dream job as an elementary school teacher but burned out because of her over-enthusiasm and ended up having to resign. She is not getting along with her boyfriend Yurioka Jun because of that and even runs away from the house where they are living together. But she has to make a living. She meets Seimon at the Hello Work employment support office that she visits and keeps getting queer work. Her tendency to get too immersed in everything is a strength and also a weakness.

Tsukamoto Takashi as Yurioka Jun
Kirinaka Kasumi’s boyfriend. A founding member of Shimobe soccer club which was loved by people in the Obayashi district. However, the team was disbanded due to financial difficulties and he does not know what to do after that. He has too much enthusiasm and motivation which he channels towards mending his relationship with Kasumi.

Asano Atsuko as Seimon
An employee at the Hello Work employment support office. While she tells Kirinaka Kasumi that she has the job that meets her expectations, she keeps finding her queer work which is not according to Kasumi’s wishes. She repeatedly warns Kasumi who has a tendency to get engrossed in work. She seems to have an interest in cameras and fortune-telling but her real identity is shrouded in mystery.

Babazono Azusa as Eriguchi Mari
A senior at Kanariya Bus’s General Affairs Department and Announcement Production Department where Kirinaka Kasumi is introduced by Seimon. She is skillful in everything and has the trust of all employees. However, the division manager suspects that there is magical power in the announcements that she produces and has been secretly monitoring her.

Scriptwriters
Tsuchida Hideo (Akahana no Sensei, Saito-san Series)
Brazily Ann Yamada (Tokyo Sentimental Series, White Lab)

Original Work
Kono Yo ni Tayasui Shigoto wa Nai by Tsumura Kikuko

All text copyright © jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/hiyokko

Broadcast
From 8.00 a.m., Mondays – Saturdays, 3 April 2017

Station
NHK

Story
It is the autumn of 1964. The Tokyo Olympics is close at hand but it does not feel quite real to 17-year-old Yatabe Mineko. Mineko grew up in a family of six in a mountain village in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture. Tokyo seems like a different world even though it is also in Kanto because of the poor access to transportation. Her father Minoru has gone to Tokyo to work in order to earn money in order to pay off a debt made in a lean year. Once Mineko graduates from high school, she wants to help out in the farm work and give her grandfather Shigeru and mother Miyoko an easier life. However, her life completely changes when her father does not come back for the New Year. Mineko asks her family to let her go to Tokyo to find him and promises to send money home. She is certain that she will be able to meet her father some day once she is there. And so, Mineko and two childhood friends Tokiko and Mitsuo go to Tokyo as a group and start working at a small factory in the Sumida ward. Their first glimpse of Tokyo is beyond their imagination and they are constantly at a loss. The wages are low and the working hours are long. Although they occasionally seem disheartened by this reality, their dormitory mates who come from various parts of Tohoku and supervisor of the dormitory give them moral support. After work each day, Mineko searches for her father and gets disheartened at times. Then companies go bankrupt due to the recession after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the factory is shut down. Mineko has nowhere to go, but thankfully gets a job helping out at the Western restaurant Suzufuritei that her father had declared “delicious” in one of his stories about Tokyo. Everyone at the restaurant including the female proprietress Makino Suzuko and her son Shogo who is the chef, works her hard, but are soft-hearted and start to become like family. Mineko overcomes challenges and starts to lay down roots in Tokyo as she experiences many meetings and farewells amid the laughter and tears with regulars, people of the shopping street, friends and colleagues. Will she be able to find her father?

Characters
Arimura Kasumi as Yatabe Mineko
A third-year high school student who was born and grew up in a small farming family in Oku Ibaraki. She wants to be a woman like her mother Miyoko. She loves living in their village and intended to help her grandfather and mother and work in the fields after graduating from high school. At that juncture, her father Minoru who had gone to Tokyo to work, ends up missing and she decides to get a job and go to Tokyo. She starts working at a factory for transistor radios.

Sawamura Ikki as Yatabe Minoru
Yatabe Mineko’s father. He loves farming and truly wants to work in the fields in his hometown but he has been working at a factory in Tokyo for almost a year to repay a debt he took in a lean year. He is a gentle father who always thinks about his family even though he is away from them. However, there is no news from him after he says that he will return for the rice harvest.

Kimura Yoshino as Yatabe Miyoko
Yatabe Mineko’s mother. She is cheerful, talkative and a little playful. Besides farm work, she is also a hardworking person who tailors clothes on the side. She feels lonely because her husband Minoru is not at home, but puts on a brave and bright front before their children. In fact, his disappearance comes as a big shock to her but she believes that he is safe and keeps waiting for him.

Furuya Ikkou as Yatabe Shigeru
Yatabe Mineko’s grandfather. He is a man of few words but he is occasionally scathing when he talks. However, he truly understands the family the most and supports them by showing gentle concern. Because he devoted his life to farming, he feels sorry that his son Minoru has to work away from home. It appears that he was quite popular when he was young.

Sakuma Yui as Sukegawa Tokiko
Yatabe Mineko’s childhood friend and classmate. She is the most beautiful girl in the village and also strong-willed. Although her character is the exact opposite of Mineko’s, they are good friends who cannot do without each other. After graduating from high school, she begins working at a factory for transistor radios but dreams of becoming an actress some day.

Izumisawa Yuki as Sumitani Mitsuo
Yatabe Mineko’s childhood friend and classmate. She has unrequited love for Sukegawa Tokiko. Like Mineko, she loves Oku Ibaraki but she also cannot take over because her family has three sons. So it is decided that she will work at a Nihonbashi rice shop. Even after the three of them go to Tokyo, they maintain their friendship and encourage each other as they start to take their own paths.

Miyamoto Nobuko as Makino Suzuko
The owner of the Western restaurant Suzufuritei in Akasaka. She was born and raised in Akasaka. She had been running the restaurant opened by her father, together with her husband and son. But she lost her husband and the restaurant in the air raid. After the war, she worked hard and reopened it. The restaurant flourished and was loved by the townspeople as a place where real Western food can be eaten casually. Her interaction with the Yatabe family begins with Yatabe Minoru’s visit to the restaurant when he came to Tokyo to work. After Mineko comes to Tokyo, she pokes her nose into her affairs and provides her with a good deal of support.

Sasaki Kuranosuke as Makino Shogo
Makino Suzuko’s son. The chef of Suzufuritei. He and his mother have been running the restaurant after his father died. He has kept the flavours and is especially particular about the demi glace sauce. He is demanding when it comes to work but has a kind heart, and quietly watches over Mineko who searches for her father in Tokyo. His wife has passed away and their only tomboy daughter suddenly got married and left home. His mother wishes that he will remarry since he is still young but … …

Ryusei Ryo as Watahiki Masayoshi
A police officer who works at the 5-chome police box which is within the jurisdiction of the Akasaka Police Precinct. A native of Ibaraki Prefecture, he knows Yatabe Mineko who filed a missing person’s report on her father and offers to help with the search because he wants to be of use. He has a pretty diligent character but charms the female workers at the dormitory with his good looks.

Wakui Emi as Nagai Aiko
The supervisor of the dormitory of Mukojima Electronics where Yatabe Mineko works. She takes care of the 40-something factory workers who live in the female dormitory. She is like a mother as well as a teacher to female workers who came to Tokyo immediately after junior high school and high school graduation. When she was young, she worked at the same factory as Mineko and the other girls but seems to have gone through a lot of hardship because she was clumsy. She is often wanting and scatterbrained, but can be relied on when it counts. Her lover died in the war and she has still single even now.

Scriptwriter
Okada Yoshikazu (Kibougaoka no Hitobito, Kiseki no Hito)

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• Hiyokko Introduction

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Official Website
hikarinootosan.jp

Broadcast
From 1.28 a.m., Wednesdays, 19 April 2017

Station
TBS

Story
Inaba Mitsuo’s hobby is role playing games. When he was a teenager, his father Hirotaro had taken him to buy Final Fantasy III and these became his few precious memories of having his father play with him. He is now a grown-up and a salesman of office machines. One day, he gets a phone call from his mother, informing him that his father, who had lived for work, has suddenly resigned. She is apparently unconcerned about his slightly early retirement. Mitsuo realises that he does not know anything about his father in a casual conversation with a colleague Hakamada Takahiro. Worried about his father who has grown aloof in his behaviour, Mitsuo gifts him a Play Station 4 to celebrate his retirement and invites him into the world of online games through Final Fantasy XIV. Despite his puzzled look, Hirotaro creates a character called Indy and gradually gets hooked on the game. Mitsuo has already been playing the game with the character name Maidy and tries to reach out to his father without disclosing his true identity. Despite the secrets that each of them have, father and son start to understand each other and become them closer through the online games.

Characters
Chiba Yudai as Inaba Mitsuo
A diligent company employee who loves gaming. He feels a distance between himself and his father.

Osugi Ren as Inaba Hirotaro
Inaba Mitsuo’s father. He had lived for work but suddenly resigned from the company.

Baba Fumika as Shoda Yoko
A new employee at Inaba Mitsuo’s company. She is cool but in fact … …

Hakamada Yoshihiko as Hakamada Takahiro
Inaba Mitsuo’s senior at work. He is a caring person who gives him advice regarding his problems.

Hasegawa Hatsunori as Ono Hajime
Inaba Hirotaro’s old friend. He runs a big company.

Ishino Mako as Inaba Kimiko
Inaba Mitsuo’s mother. She loves Korean dramas and is engrossed in them.

Scriptwriter
Fukihara Kota

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Warotenka
Date: From 8.00 a.m., Mondays – Saturdays, 2 October 2017
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Yoshida Tomoko (Iyana Onna, Gakkou no Kaidan, Kaeru no Ojousama)
Cast: Aoi Wakana, Matsuzaka Tori, Hamada Gaku, Takahashi Issei, Endo Kenichi, Suzuki Honami, Takeshita Keiko, Chiba Yudai, Hotta Mayu, Tokunaga Eri
Synopsis: In the late Meiji era, Fujioka Ten (Aoi Wakana) was born into a family that runs a long-established drug wholesale business in Kyoto. She laughs easily by nature and would burst into laughter at the pranks of her siblings Shinichi (Chiba Yudai) and Rin (Hotta Mayu) who love playing practical jokes, at the expense of important business discussions. Ten is taught by their strict father Gihei (Endo Kenichi) not to smile in front of people. So she sulkily spends time at home without cracking a smile. Then one day, she meets Kitamura Tokichi (Matsuzaka Tori), the son of a rice dealer in Osaka Semba, and this transforms her life. Tokichi loves traditional performing arts and teaches her that laughter is the medicine that gives people the power to be happy. Ten falls in love with him. Shrugging off the opposition of her parents, she gets married to Tokichi. However, he ultimately ruins his family business through neglect because of his deepening love for traditional performing arts. This prompts Ten to suggest making a business out of comedy. And so the couple who are little more than amateurs, begin their great adventure to make not only the people of Osaka but also Japan laugh.
Website: –

Seirei no Moribito Season
Date: November 2017
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Omori Sumio (64, Nezumi Edo o Hashiru, Akumu-chan)
Original Work: Moribito Series by Uehashi Nahoko
Genre: Period fantasy
Cast: Ayase Haruka, Itagaki Mizuki, Higashide Masahiro, Kikkawa Koji, Nakagawa Akinori, Kikawada Masaya, Murakawa Eri, Watanabe Ikkei, Furuya Kenji, Mera Yoshikazu, Takeda Tetsuya, Kamiji Yusuke, Kora Kengo, Hanafusa Mari, Hayashiya Shozo, Toman, Kaga Takeshi
Synopsis: Balsa (Ayase Haruka) and the crown prince Chagum (Itagaki Mizuki) travel together again. The young boy who survived because he was protected by Balsa, has gone through suffering and grown into a splendid crown prince. Balsa starts to expose the conspiracy that lies hidden deep in the bowels of her beautiful homeland of the Kingdom of Kambal. And then, Chagum stands up to the attack of the Talsh Empire which has targeted the New Yogo Empire. A natural disaster occurs that shakes the land. Gold birds flutter in the sky … …
Website: www.nhk.or.jp/moribito
Related: Seirei no Moribito Season 2 ~ Kanashiki Hakaishin

Saki ni Umareta dake no Boku^*UPDATED*
Date: From 10.00 p.m., Saturdays, October 2017
Station: NTV
Scriptwriter: Fukuda Yasushi (Good Partner, Doctors Series, Hero Series)
Genre: School
Cast: Sakurai Sho, Aoi Yu, Tabe Mikako, Seto Koji
Synopsis: Narumi Ryosuke (Sakurai Sho) is an elite salaryman who works for a general trading company. One day, he is ordered to go over to a private high school, which the company operates, as its principal just as he is on the verge of advancing in his career. Despite his bewilderment and confusion, Narumi’s initial conclusion is to first cut costs to turn the school profitable. Then he will gather many candidates for the entrance examination. To do that, he will have to raise the level of the current students. Which means he must change the attitudes of the teachers. Naturally, none of the teachers including Mashiba Chihiro (Aoi Yu) will listen to the young Narumi who knows nothing about the classroom. He frets that what is common sense in school is not common sense in society as stress starts to build up … …
Website: www.ntv.co.jp/sakiboku

Rikuou
Date: From 9.00 p.m., Sundays, October 2017
Station: TBS
Scriptwriter: Yaitsu Hiroyuki (Suisho no Koudou, Kaseifu no Mitazono, Shitamachi Rocket (TBS))
Original Work: Rikuou by Ikeido Jun
Genre: Corporate
Cast: Yakusho Koji
Synopsis: Miyazawa Koichi (Yakusho Koji) is the fourth generation company president of a socks manufacturer in Gyoda City, Saitama Prefecture called Kohazeya which was founded more than 100 years ago. As the annual demand for socks drops, he decides to stake the company’s survival on the development of running shoes that offer the feel of barefoot running by adopting the technology used for making socks. However, this is extremely difficult path for a small company of little more than 20 employees which lacks funds, manpower and development capability as well as the ability to compete against famous global sports brands.
Website: www.tbs.co.jp/rikuou_tbs

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Date: From 9.00 p.m., 26 May 2017
Scriptwriter: Oishi Shizuka (Contrail, Second Love, Kazokugari)
Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Kudo Asuka, Chiba Yudai, Imoto Ayako, Suzuki Hiroki, Honda Chikara, Kusakawa Takuya, Usuda Asami, Hara Hideko, Kajihara Zen, Nakamura Toru, Shoufukutei Tsurube, Kaname Jun, Ashina Sei
Synopsis: It has been two years since Sagenya Machi (Kitagawa Keiko) and Yashiro Hajime (Nakamura Toru) left Teiko Real Estate’s Shinjuku office. Sales at the office, which is now led by Fuse Makoto (Kajihara Zen), have been sluggish because of the rise of a rival and the office is on the verge of closing down. Niwano Seiji (Kudo Asuka) visits Machi who has become the company president of Sanchi Real Estate to seek her help. However, he sees Machi and Yashiro standing alone on the beach and the baby in Machi’s arms … … Despite his shock, Machi shows up at the brokerage sales department the next day to work part time for a limited duration, and brilliantly sells a house to a peculiar client in no time. The next day, Ichinose Sadao (Shoufukutei Tsurube), a strange old man of leisure who is in the costume of the office’s mascot for promotional activities, sees Machi’s sales prowess at an event to sell a maisonnette. He suddenly takes off his costume and declares that he is buying it. He claims that he has been checking out trustworthy real estate agents under the guise of his part-time work. He wants to buy a house that he can live together with his daughter and her family with whom he has broken off ties, and make peace. However, Machi rejects him for some reason. An angry Ichinose uses the office’s hopeless employee Shirasu Mika (Imoto Ayako) for some strategy. Meanwhile, a famous child star Hayama Ren (Igarashi Hinata) visits the office with his father Tomoaki (Kaname Jun). With an insolent manner which is hard to imagine for a child, the boy finds fault with every property proposed by Niwano and the hapless Tomoaki just obeys his son. Then a destitute single mother (Ashina Sei) searching for a modest home and a wealthy university student (Furuhata Seika) buying a house for her dog with her parents’ money come to the office too. Even the chief Adachi Makoto (Chiba Yudai) gets involved. Machi comes up with excellent solutions for them. What are the answers she sees through houses? And what is her relationship with Yashiro and the secret of the baby’s birth?
Official Website: www.ntv.co.jp/ieuru/special

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Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/pd/crossroad2

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Sundays, 28 May 2017

Station
NHK BS Premium

Story
With one year to go before his retirement, Ozeki Tatsuro is transferred to the Criminal Affairs Division of Omori Rinko Police Precinct. It is certainly not something he is thrilled about after finding a sense of satisfaction in the Police Affairs Division away from investigation scenes but he accepts it matter-of-factly and undertakes investigations day and night. In the course of his work, he visits Shizue, the wife of Maekawa Hiroki, a senior detective who has passed away, to pay his condolences. Meanwhile, Itagaki Kohei resumes freelance writing. During a visit to a magazine to sell his material, he gets paired with a spirited journalist Katayama Asuko to cover stories. Despite his wife’s concern, he seeks a new path as a journalist. One day, the dead body of a woman named Kimizuka Hitomi is discovered in a riverbed in Ota Ward. She has a child from a former marriage and Ozeki learns that this child’s name has not been entered in a family register. While tracing the movements of the victim, Ozeki starts to have misgivings about the course of the investigation. He looks into a past case, but the person who was in charge of this case in which there was a forced confession is the senior detective who was once a mentor to him. Itagaki is strangely pursuing the same case as Ozeki. The two of them encounter each other once again at the crime scene.

Characters
Tachi Hiroshi as Ozeki Tatsuro
A former elite detective of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigative Division. 26 years ago, he was censured for leaking information to journalist Itagaki Kohei whom he was on friendly terms with, and sidelined. After that he was kicked around to police precincts. He is transferred to Omori Rinko Police Precinct with one year to go before retirement.

Kanda Masaki as Itagaki Kohei
A former ace of a major newspaper’s local news desk. 26 years ago, he exposed a case of false charges based on information which Ozeki Tatsuro had leaked. His heavy-handed methods antagonised the people around him and he gradually disappeared from the limelight. He takes a new step as a freelance journalist after Nishi Tama’s local newspaper Tamatama Shimbun ceases publication.

Kuriyama Chiaki as Katayama Asuko
A journalist for Mitsuba Publishing’s Shukan Repo. She has been writing gossip columns with mass appeal. Then she meets Itagaki Kohei and starts having misgivings about her own existence as a journalist.

Takenaka Naoto as Konoe Shigeru
The director in charge of the Kimizuka Hitomi murder case. He was acquainted with Ozeki Tatsuro in the past. He seems genial but is a person who cannot be fathomed.

Katsuno Hiroshi as Tsuyama Kotaro
The newly appointed chief of Omori Rinko Police Precinct where Ozeki Tatsuro is. He has a cautious nature and keeps an eye on Ozeki whom he perceives will disrupt teamwork.

Kanda Joe as Tanaka Keisuke
A detective at Omori Rinko Police Precinct. He is often Ozeki Tatsuro’s buddy. Although there are times when he makes impertinent remarks, he gets influenced by Ozeki.

Click here for photos from the press conference.

Scriptwriters
Takahashi Miyuki (Hibana, Crossroad)
Koreyasu Yayoi

Original Work
Crossroad by Kaneko Narito

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Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/dsp/saucesan

Broadcast
From 11.00 p.m., Thursdays, 1 June 2017

Station
NHK BS Premium

Story
19-year-old Uno Masanao came to Tokyo from Yamanashi Prefecture with dreams of becoming an artist. A first-year student of an art university, he works part-time at a convenience store as he hones his skills. Every night at 8.00 pm, a mysterious, beautiful older woman Gota Mika routinely comes to this convenience store and only to buy sauce. Masanao is mesmerised by her and takes to calling her Sauce-san deep down inside. Another part-timer Yasumoto Fumiya also seems to be interested in her. One day, Mika rushes into the convenience store when chased by a molester. Mika and Masanao form a connection after he offers to send her home and they eventually go on to date. Kind Masanao and emotionally scarred Mika. They overcome their 10-year age gap and it is believed that their pure love will go smoothly. However, Mika’s trauma as a result of her tragic past rears its head at this point. As her past is gradually revealed, it offers glimpses of the unexpected truth and the love between Mika and Masanao flares up … …

Characters
Mimura as Gota Mika/Sauce-san
A mysterious woman who goes to the convenience store to buy sauce at 8.00 pm for some reason. She goes to a hospital for regular treatment because a part of her memories from 4 years ago are missing. But there is a big change in her life after she meets Uno Masanao. Her parents have already passed away and she lives alone. She now does desk work at a design company through the generosity of the Yoshidas. Four years ago, she was a keyboardist in a band.

Chiba Yudai as Uno Masanao
A first-year arts student in oil painting, he is studying to become a painter. He has been working part-time at a convenience store. He hails from Yamanashi Prefecture and his family is a sake dealer. He is pursuing painting with the encouragement of a woman whom he met at the age of 14. Despite pushing ahead towards his goal, he comes up against a wall and worries about his future.

Iwasaki Hiromi as Yoshida Asako
The vice president of a design company. Yoshida Kosaku’s wife. A good friend of the late Shinichi. She has been following Mika, who has lost her memories of Shinichi, around personally and professionally after Shinichi died. She was the band’s bass guitarist.

Abe Shinnosuke as Yoshida Kosaku
The president of a design company. Gota Mika’s boss and a friend of the late Shinichi. He was the band’s drummer.

Hagiwara Minori as Sasaki Yuki
Uno Masanao’s classmate at the art university. She wants to be an artist too and has unrequited feelings for Masanao.

Matsuda Satoshi as Shiratori Shinji
The second son of the owner of Shiratori Clinic and the clinic’s office manager. His father is Gota Mika’s physician. He has a twisted love for Mika. He was the band’s second guitarist.

Scriptwriters
Tanaka Hiromi (Onna Michi)
Kanda Yu (Loveho no Ueno-san, Good Morning Call)

Original Work
Kimi to Sauce to Boku no Koi by Honda Harumi

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