Beppin-san
Date: From 8.00 a.m., Mondays – Fridays, 3 October 2016
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Watanabe Chiho (Gonin no Junko, Tatakau! Shoten Girl, First Class)
Cast: Yoshine Kyoko, Namase Katsuhisa, Kanno Miho, Renbutsu Misako, Kora Kengo, Nagura Jun, Tanimura Mitsuki, Momota Kanako, Tsuchimura Kaho, Ichimura Masachika, Nakamura Tamao
Synopsis: Bando Sumire (Yoshine Kyoko) was born to the wealthy Bando family (Namase Katsuhisa, Kanno Miho, Renbutsu Misako, Nakamura Tamao) as the second of two sisters. She loves embroidery and sewing. Once she gets started, she will be so focused that she loses sight of her surroundings. Because she frequently looks like she is gazing vacantly to a casual onlooker as images fill her mind, the people around her worry about what she is thinking. But Sumire is unconcerned. When she decides on something, she will stand firm and follow through no matter what happens. She marries during the Pacific War and gets pregnant, but her husband soon goes to war. Sumire gives birth to their daughter while he is absent. To make matters worse, an air raid is launched on Kobe just before the end of the war and she loses both the house she grew up in and wealth. As Sumire waits for her husband to come back from the front, she begins to make children’s clothing with her dressmaking skills. Gathering her classmates from her girl’s school days, Sumire rents a shoe shop’s show window and the speciality clothing shop that she started turns into a big hit that is beyond anyone’s imagination.
Website: –
Aibou Season 15
Date: October 2016 (for two seasons)
Network: TV Asahi
Scriptwriter: –
Genre: Detective
Cast: Mizutani Yutaka, Sorimachi Takashi
Synopsis: –
Website: www.tv-asahi.co.jp/aibou
Related: Aibou Season 14
Kozure Shinbei 2
Date: From 8.00 p.m., Fridays, Fall 2016
Station: NHK BS Premium
Scriptwriter: Izumi Rei (Shiawase no Jikan)
Original Work: Ninjo Uranagaya by Yamamoto Shugoro
Genre: Period
Cast: Takahashi Katsunori, Hidari Tonpei, Kojima Riria, Miyata Toshiya, Kurotani Tomoka, Sasano Takashi, Nakamura Katsuo
Synopsis: Matsumura Shinbei (Takahashi Katsunori), an alcohol-loving and skilled wandering samurai, struggles to bring up his adopted baby Tsurunosuke as he runs about solving problems within the city.
Website: ww.nhk.or.jp/jidaigeki/kozure
Related: Kozure Shinbei
Unmei ni, Nita Koi *NEW*
Date: From 10.00 p.m., Fridays, 23 September 2016
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Kitagawa Eriko (Irodori Himura, Sunao ni Narenakute, Orange Days)
Genre: Romance
Cast: Harada Tomoyo, Saito Takumi, Konishi Manami, Ohgo Suzuka, Koichi Mantaro, Shibuya Kento, Nishiyama Jun, Kubota Sayu, Kusabue Mitsuko, Okuda Eiji
Synopsis: During their childhood, a little girl and a boy made a pledge to meet again. Now at the age of 45, the girl, Kasumi, is now a divorced mother (Harada Tomoyo) of a son of high school age. She works as hard as she can at a laundry delivery shop for the wealthy, in order to make a living. Then one day, Kasumi encounters a young male designer, Yuri (Saito Takumi), who has attracted international attention. He is somehow far too familiar with her and pokes his nose into her affairs. Kasumi is initially wary, but she soon learns that he has a pure heart and starts to get drawn to him. These two people with different backgrounds fall in love. Why did Yuri appear before her? Could he be the boy from that time?
Website: –
Natsume Soseki no Tsuma
Date: From 9.00 p.m., Saturdays, late September 2016
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Ikehata Shunsaku (Kamogawa Shokudo, Ashio Kara Kita Onna, Saka no Ue no Kumo Series)
Original Work: Soseki no Omoide by Natsume Kyoko and Matsuoka Yuzuru
Genre: Autobiographical
Cast: Hasegawa Hiroki, Ono Machiko, Tachi Hiroshi, Kuroshima Yuina, Mitsushima Shinnosuke, Takenaka Naoto
Synopsis: Nakane Kyoko (Ono Machiko) grew up in a wealthy family and was raised by her strict father Shigekazu (Tachi Hiroshi) who did not see learning as a necessity. At 19, Kyoko was introduced to Natsume Soseki (Hasegawa Hiroki) as a prospective marriage partner. The two of them were drawn to each other and got married. Soseki took up a post in Kumamoto as a high school teacher and this was the beginning of their new married life. Although Soseki was an extraordinary intellectual, he did not know the warmth of family because he was given up for adoption as a child. In an attempt to understand her husband, Kyoko tried to read what he read, interacted with his friends and joined difficult conversations. But she was not exactly successful. Then she miscarried their first child and her attempted suicide because of loneliness caused a commotion. How would husband and wife overcome this crisis?
Website: www.nhk.or.jp/dodra/souseki
Cold Case ~ Shinjitsu no Tobira
Date: October 2016
Station: WOWOW
Scriptwriters: Zeze Takahisa (64 (movie), Zainin no Uso), Yoshida Yasuhiro (Umoreru, Tabidachi no Shimauta), Hourai Ryuta (Pink to Gray, The Quiz Show), Hayashi Koji (Iryu Series, Rikon Bengoshi, Hagetaka)
Genre: Investigative
Cast: –
Synopsis: Japanese version of Warner Bros ‘Cold Case’.
Website: www.wowow.co.jp/dramaw/coldcase
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