Shadow Work

The drama revolves around Kounotori Sakura, an Ob-Gyn doctor working at the Persona General Medical Centre who is also a gifted jazz pianist. His mother had died in childbirth and he was brought up in an orphanage, which is what fueled his ambition to be an ob-gyn. He hopes to be able to deliver every baby to this world, congratulating them on the gift of life given to their little bodies. (Source: TBS)

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

Izumi Sakuragi is a new police sergeant with the Special Investigations Office, which was set up within the Metropolitan Police in November last year. The new investigation team uses DNA analysis and the latest in forensics science to investigate cold cases as well as cases suspected to involve missing persons.

Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and actors as the main characters. While horror and supernatural themes are predominant, a variety of genres like comedy and drama are also produced. Most episodes, however, have a bad ending.

Ryōmaden is the 49th NHK Taiga drama. It was shown on NHK from January 3 to November 28, 2010 spanning 48 episodes. The story centers on the life of 19th-century Japanese historical figures Iwasaki Yatarō and Sakamoto Ryōma. It has been announced that the series will be aired in several other countries, for example Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.

Various couples and their stories of how they came to kiss each other.

Shogo Kai is a lawyer at one of the big 4 law firms in Japan. He is good at his job, but he is arrogant. Shogo Kai only thinks about winning and he thinks the only way to satisfy his clients is to win. He is getting close to becoming a senior partner at the law firm. Shogo Kai's boss worries about his focus on winning above all else. As a condition of his promotion at the law firm, his boss asks him to hire a young lawyer as an associate. Shogo Kai interviews prospective young lawyers and meets Daiki Suzuki. Daiki Suzuki has high intelligence and his memory ability is amazing.

When Takuma Kakinouchi was 8-years-old, he spent time in the hospital. He made friends with Mayu Taneda who was the same age as him. One day, they got out of the hospital and visited a park. There, Takuma Kakinouchi and Mayu Taneda promised that they would marry each other. They had no doubt that they would have a future together. 7 years later, Takuma Kakinouchi entered a prestigious high school at the age of 15. During the high school welcoming ceremony, a female freshman representative goes up to the platform. Takuma Kakinouchi is shocked to see that the girl is Mayu Taneda. Just so she could be with Takuma Kakinouchi, Mayu Taneda studied extremely hard to enter the same prestigious high school. Takuma Kakinouchi has tried to avoid her, even though he loves her. When he was younger, he heard how long he would live.

Towards the end of the Edo era, in the town of Kyoto, there lived a wealthy merchant by the name of Imai Tadamasa. He was blessed with 3 children, Hatsu, Asa and Kyutaro. His eldest, Hatsu, was a traditional girl who loved to play the koto and sew. Whilst his second daughter, Asa, was an impish hoyden who loved sumo wrestling. Asa was engaged to be married to the second son of a distinguished family who ran a money changer business in Osaka, Shirooka Shinjiro. Although Asa was furious when she had first heard about the betrothal, when she met up with Shinjiro for the first time, his charisma greatly attracted her and she fell in love with him in no time.

In the early Showa era, Japan’s first women’s law school opens, and the protagonist, Inotsume Tomoko, gains nationwide attention as one of the first female lawyers in the country. However, after facing wartime Japan’s harsh realities and losing everything, she becomes a judge with her legal knowledge and dedicates herself to establishing the family court. She stands passionately for the hardships that politics and economics cannot solve.

Oomae Haruko is an A+ Temp worker who never cracks a smile or minces words, and leaves work on the dot. But her cynical nature indicates she has something painful to hide. Satonaka Kensuke has just been promoted to head S&F's new Marketing Division. Saddled with a rag-tag group of subordinates, he is struggling to lift his division off the ground. When Oomae is placed in Kensuke's department, she finds herself doing more work than she's ever done before. This is a timely drama that examines the different attitudes toward temp workers and regular employees, and the ways to overcome frictions in interpersonal relationships. This follows an October report on labor conditions by the Labor Ministry, which showed that, after regulations were relaxed, the proportion of regular employees to Temps had doubled compared to that of eight years ago.

Shūichirō Kiriyama works at the Limitation Task Force, the place where the cases which have reached the statute of limitations are destroyed. Getting bored of his job, he decides to find a hobby, because it seems important to him to have a hobby. So he decides to puzzle out the unsolved cases on his free time, helped by his coworker Mikazuki, who seems to have a crush on him.

A chance encounter brought about by summer arrives unexpectedly. Three female friends, known as the “Seaside Cinderellas,” grew up together by the beach. Meanwhile, a male friend entered a top university in Tokyo to meet his parents’ expectations and pursued his own path while living as an honor student. Men and women from different worlds, who would not normally cross paths, meet fatefully on a midsummer beach. As they confront each other with their complex emotions and true feelings, they grow. Can these men and women overcome the invisible “gap” between them? This is a story that will make your heart burn passionately in a short but sweet and sad summer. With the warmth of human connections and the excitement of love. Under the midsummer sun, there are as many encounters as there are waves and as many love as there are grains of sand. And then, the miracle of the summer story is set in motion.

Nasuda Ayumi is a young travel nurse who gives a bad first impression. In fact, he had been an excellent nurse practitioner in the US. He has the qualifications to carry out certain medical procedures and assist doctors in surgeries. However, some circumstances trigger his return to Japan where nurse practitioners are relatively unknown and nurses are still expected to do what doctors order. Ayumi ends up working at Amano General Medical Centre where he encounters a mysterious, legendary nurse Kuki Shizuka who will become his partner. Shizuka cleans “quietly” just like his name suggests and gets mistaken for a cleaner by the hospital staff including Ayumi. But he is actually a super nurse with boggling skills.

With two map pieces secured, Sugimoto ans Asirpa continue their hunt for the remaining 22 tattooed convicts whose bodies hold the key to hidden treasure.

Manami suddenly encounters mass murder at a pub on her 22nd birthday as she is hunted down by two warring vampire clans, the Draculas and the Corvins. Manami is a child of prophecy who is meant to help the Draculas overcome their Corvin enemies who have driven them underground. Meanwhile, droves of young men and women are gathered at the Hotel Requiem by a Corvin named Yamada who informs them that the world is about to end, with this hotel being the only refuge.

Iki Tadashi is a military leader named who was captured by the Soviets during World War II. Treated as a war criminal, he was sentenced to many years of labor in a harsh Siberian detention camp. After 11 years of imprisonment, he is released. He returns to Japan and begins readjusting to life as a civilian, rejecting an offer from his former colleague to work on a defense project. Tadashi has decided to never involve himself in war again, much to the joy of his family. Instead, he attempts to set off on a new path working at a major trading company. --Tokyograph

Twenty-eight-year-old Mei Aihara is a single working woman with no time or talent for housework and romance. But when she is forced by her sister to hire Nagisa Shigino, a middle-aged male housekeeper, hilarity ensues in this must-see romcom!

Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Kaoru are off on an adventure to the theme park, but with closing time imminent it leads to a series of fun mishaps and incidents as the group squeeze a day of fun into tiny amount of time.

The 48th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Hirari. Story's settings includes Tokyo. Hirari is a young and energetic girl. She loves the sports, sumo, very much and would like to find a career. However, there isn't any suitable career for a female in this area. Nevertheless, she still works hard towards her dream, and at last, she gets a chance to become a sumo stable's nutrition consultant.in this field. However, there isn't any suitable career for a female in this area. Nevertheless, she still works hard towards her dream, and at last, she gets a chance to become a sumo stable's nutrition consultant.

Michio Iruma is a former lawyer. He now works as a judge in the first criminal court (commonly known as "Ichikei") of the Tokyo District Court. He is an unusual judge. To avoid issuing wrong judgements, Michio Iruma seeks out the truth in cases by performing on-site inspections by himself. Due to this, lawyers and prosecutors are afraid of him.

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.

Having lost love, her job, and her home, Emma had hit rock bottom when she stumbled upon the estate of Chloe, a mysterious heiress. Unexpected happenings lead the two of them to become housemates, and together, they open a fortune-telling shop where troubled souls come searching for answers. The pair soon realize that each client's problem comes with hidden secrets and mysteries.

The jockey curriculum at the Horse Racing School... A school with incredibly difficult entrance requirements, where only one out of every ten to twenty applicants is accepted, and students need not just book smarts, but also physical and athletic abilities. There, a boy who is a popular idol meets his real dream for the first time. A boy who grew up on an island dreams of spending his days racing with horses. A boy from England is unsure of the path his parents have chosen for him, but still chooses to follow his dreams. This is a story about boys who pursue their dream of becoming a jockey.

Orphaned when he was not yet ten, Musashi 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. 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.

Giba (Ryo Yoshizawa) and several of his colleagues work at a revenge agency. A mysterious girl called "Taker" leads the group. Giba lacks emotion for a person. The revenge agency takes on revenge requests on behalf of their clients. Their clients include a woman who is a victim of a fraud marriage and the family of a victim killed by a serial murderer.

This seven-episode anthology features a cast of leading actors and depicts various forms of "love," such as love almost forgotten, love between sons and mothers, and love that transcends borders.

The appearance of a mysterious little boy interrupts the quiet, predictable life shared by an artist with autism and his caring older brother.

The story follows the 20-year-old Tsubasa who dedicates her life to her family and their shop. Her life is turned upside down when her mother who was missing came back home. To pay of her mother's debt she starts to work at a small radio station as a DJ.

The story revolves around the love, friendship and relationships between four characters who meet by chance.

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.

Haruto Narusawa, the president of a video game company, enjoys life in the affluent seaside town of Kamakura with his wife and daughter, who attends an elementary school. However, tragedy befalls this happy family when his daughter is kidnapped. Haruto must now face numerous hardships as he navigates through the complex web of human nature that begins to show its ugliness. The only way to save his beloved daughter is to take matters into his own hands without the police's involvement and, together with his wife, stand against the kidnappers. Can this family's story reach a happy ending? Or will theirs be a tragedy? This non-stop family suspense-thriller tests the bonds of a family facing life's worst nightmare.

A journalist known as the maverick of news media defiantly chases the truth in this series adaptation of the hit movie of the same name.

The drama follows the lives of four individuals who are known for their clumsiness. Despite their various struggles, anxieties, and desires for approval, they somehow manage to maintain a cool and composed demeanor in their everyday lives.

An anthology drama series adapted from Mitsuru Adachi's series of short story comics of the same name, with each episode starring a different member of J-pop group JO1.

An unusual documentary series that delves into human dramas through chance encounters with ordinary people at selected spots. Filmed over 72 hours in a single location, the show captures glimpses into people's lives as they open up and share their stories.

SMAP×SMAP was an ongoing weekly Japanese variety show on Kansai TV and Fuji TV starring the members of SMAP. The show began on April 15, 1996 and it aired from 22:00 to 22:54 every Monday. The show's usual ratings were higher than 20%, which is considered high since most variety shows range from 10-20%. Each episode begins a variety of skits, comedic performances, and/or games.  These are followed by Bistro SMAP, in which the SMAP members compete against each other to impress celebrity judges with their gourmet cooking.  Last is a musical performance by SMAP which may include celebrity guests, as well.

Global music icons team up with world-renowned K-pop idols for spectacular song battles. Performing their biggest hits with a K-pop twist, these artists show up, show out, and shut it down in a friendly competition for the ultimate bragging rights.

Japanese entertainment conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo and South Korean entertainment company CJ E&M will co-produce “PRODUCE 101 JAPAN”, based on the reality television talent competition franchise popular in South Korea and China. This Japanese spin-off follows 101 trainees with the intention of producing an 11-member boy band, with members selected by viewers.

~~ Adapted from the novel of the same title by Yamasaki Toyoko (山崎豊子)