Midori Kiuchi

Saigo Takamori, 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.

A brilliant collection of beautifully animated episodes based on selected masterpieces of Japanese modern literature. The aim of this series is to appeal to the viewer at large and to give him or her some idea of the variety and individuality which Japanese literature has developed over the last hundred years. The authors range from Higuchi Ichiyou (Takekurabe), Mori Ougai (The Dancing Girl) and Natsume Souseki (Botchan) to Kawabata Yasunari (The Izu Dancer), Nobel laureate of 1968, and Mishima Yukio (The Sound of Waves).

The 33rd NHK Asadora. Starring Eisaku Shindou as a man who loves manzai (a traditional style of stand-up comedy in Japanese culture). Average rating of 40.2% Based on the life of a famous two-man comedy act writer, Akita Minoru, who loved comedy more than anything. His life itself was full of wit and humor, love and friendship.

The 19th NHK Asadora. A dramatization of the life of the singer Chiyako Sato. Michiko Godai replaced Haruna Takase in the lead two months into the series when Takase became ill. Adapted from the novel "Aa Tokyo Koshinkyoku" by Yuki Ryoichi.

The lead, Dr. Sadami Shiratori worked in the operating room at a famous Tokyo hospital was around death on a daily basis. His own father, Teizo Shiratori is also a doctor, called Grandfather as he raised the estranged children of his wayward son, he practiced medicine in a small town on Hokkaido, Japan’s most northern island. His practice was limited only to terminal patients…in their own homes. He cared for them and helped both them and their families prepare for the ‘final journey’.

This light-hearted comedy tells the story of a young man who chooses to become a teacher and struggles to live and grow in the field of education.

This drama is an adaptation of the manga by Junko Karube about a deaf woman and her struggles with love, family and everyday life.

Rock 'n' roll superstar Eikichi Yazawa plays a substitute high school biology teacher whose clumsy social skills steadily mature as he helps his students struggle to balance work, school and extracurricular activities. The result is a heartwarming drama of the mentoring role of teachers during the difficult transition to adulthood.

A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.

A light-hearted comedy about love, fortune telling and songs of life that begins when a couple of sisters and brothers meet. It depicts a group of coming-of-age men and women earnestly seeking for love.

While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.

It is only at their sister's and mother's funeral when a woman meets her niece after many years. The niece is now a grown girl. The sister takes on the task of informing the deceased's friends of the death while the daughter cannot bring herself to symbolically accept the demise of her mother. In the midst of all this an old flame messages the sister to say he is still in love with her, but is he messaging the living sister or the dead one?

Ryo finds employment cleaning windows of high-rises. Kagari lives inside one of the buildings. Ryo and Kagari lock gazes for a moment. It is a moment when one can help the other, but also when two persons who usually cannot communicate do.

A new salesman named Kosuke Okuda happens to meet Mao Watarai, a friend from his middle school days. Back then, Mao was called stupid and bullied, but now she is an attractive woman. Kosuke and Mao fall in love and decide to marry, but Mao has a secret.

When easy-going Aoyagi meets an old friend for a fishing trip, he ends up drugged, framed for the Prime Minister's assassination, and on the run from corrupt cops. It's only the beginning of what quickly becomes the worst, weirdest day of his life. But he'll get by with a little help from his friends, who include a famous pop diva, a rockabilly deliveryman, a crippled old gangster, and the world's most cheerful serial killer.

A TV drama of the comic Beautiful Sunshine. It depicts the friendship and love patterns of Yusaku Takasugi, a cheering party living in the boarding house "Hidamari-so" in the suburbs of Tokyo, and the niece of the landlord.

A troubled architect weaves his way through numerous romantic situations in a search for true love and contentment.

Sawa Yamagishi worked as a nursing-care helper. The family for an old man asked Sawa to sleep with him, which led her to lose her job. Now, she has nowhere to go. Sawa finds elderly people in trouble and gets involved in their lives. Meeting them, Sawa's own wounds start to heal.

During the Sengoku period, villagers brutally killed eight samurai, and in the Taisho era, the head of an old family murdered 32 villagers in the Eight-Tomb Village. Terada Tatsuya, who had long been estranged from the Terada family, returns as its successor. However, this return is the beginning of a tragedy. Grandfather, half-brother, monks, nuns... one after another, people related to the family are murdered. Yet, the truth remains elusive. In the midst of this, Tatsuya stumbles into a massive cave system. What he sees there is a wax figure of the head of the Terada family wearing the samurai armor. Meanwhile, Kindaichi, who has uncovered the secret of Tatsuya's birth, finds himself at the same cave. At that very moment, Tatsuya is cornered deep within the cave by villagers who fear the curse.

Rica and Kengo have been living together for the past four years. It's been a very happy time for Rica; the only dark spot being an accident she caused during a shoot for a commercial in which Kengo's good friend, Shibata, nearly lost his life. The memory of this event weighs heavily on Rica's conscience. One night Kengo tells Rica that he has fallen in love with a charming but inscrutable woman named Hanako.