Shachoushitsu no Fuyu ~ Kyodai Shimbunsha o Eru Otoko

Official Website
www.wowow.co.jp/dramaw/shacho

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Sundays, 30 April 2017

Station
WOWOW

Story
Kodera Masao, the president of Japan’s largest newspaper, Nippon Shimbun, which is a symbol of Japan, has finally reached a decision. He has assessed that the sale of his newspaper to a foreign investor is inevitable after a sharp decline in circulation and faltering advertising revenue. The buyer is Aoi Sota, the president of a big US online retailer called AMC, which has appeared like the black ships of the past and is about to swallow up the Japanese newspaper. At that moment, Kodera suddenly passes away and chaos results. The new company president Shinzato Akira takes over the negotiations but progress is harder than expected. The demands are extreme and the newspaper is at the mercy of a seemingly tyrannical Aoi. In truth, Aoi was a former newspaper journalist and closely connected with Shinzato. Minami Kosuke, who was ordered to move from his role as a journalist to the company president’s office in the wake of some incident, is commanded to be an assistant in the negotiations. Meanwhile, Nagasawa Hideaki, a member of the founding family who wants to be remembered, visits Diet lawmaker Miike Takashi and asks him to obstruct negotiations. Then, Aoi sets out the final terms and conditions of the acquisition and the shocking details appall even Shizato and Minami. What is Aoi’s true intention in acquiring the newspaper? And is this the start of the breakdown of the “established system” which supported post-war Japan’s press and was even deeply engaged in politics.

Characters
Mikami Hiroshi as Aoi Sota
The Japanese company president of a huge foreign company, AMC Japan. Like a tyrant, he makes extreme demands of Nippon Shimbun which is exploring a sale. A former journalist of Nippon Shimbun, he is closely connected with Shinzato Akira.

Fukushi Seiji as Minami Kosuke
A former journalist of the local news desk who was ordered to move to the company president’s office in the wake of some incident. He takes part in the negotiations under Shinzato Akira and finds themselves at the mercy of Aoi Sota.

Kitano Kii as Takashima Atsuko
A secretary at AMC Japan. She negotiates with Nippon Shimbun together with Aoi Sota and secretly reports Aoi’s movements to the CEO at the head office. She is Aoi’s daughter with his ex-wife. She was brought up in the US and has a liberal attitude.

Charlotte Kate Fox as Alyssa DeLillo
The CEO of AMC which is based in New York. She selected Aoi Sota to be the company president of AMC Japan and lets him run the business in the country.

Koichi Mantaro as Shiinai Kohei
The head of the cultural news desk of Nippon Shimbun. He used to be colleagues with Aoi Sota back when he was a journalist. He knows Aoi’s past.

Nakamura Atsuo as Kodera Masao
The former president of Nippon Shimbun who proposed its sale because of falling subscriptions. However, he suddenly dies in the middle of negotiations.

Minamisawa Nao as Sakai Yuna
She handles work in the company president’s office together with Minami Kosuke. She is attached to newspapers because her family is a newspaper agent. She worries about the exhausted Minami.

Sasano Takashi as Shinzato Akira
He was the vice president of the Kyushu branch office of Nippon Shimbun but is designated to succeed Kodera Masao and carry on the negotiations. He was Minami Kosuke’s boss when he was a journalist.

Tanaka Min as Nagasawa Hideaki
The curator of Nissin Museum. A member of the founding family of Nippon Shimbun. He is also the largest individual shareholder. He works on Miike Takashi of the Democratic Liberal Party and schemes to halt the sale of the newspaper.

Kishibe Ittoku as Miike Takashi
A lawmaker of the Lower House of the Diet. An important politician who serves as the Democratic Liberal Party’s policy chief. He had once intended to regulate information on the internet with Kodera Masao.

Scriptwriters
Tanaka Shinchi (Medial Team Lady Davinci no Shindan, Seishun Tantei Haruya)
Miura Hayato (Umi ni Furu)

Original Work
Shachoushitsu no Fuyu by Doba Shinichi

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