Yu Aoi

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.

Narrates the events and cases encountered by Kaoru Utsumi, a rookie detective, and Manabu Yukawa, a university associate professor, while the two pair up to solve many mysterious cases.

Dr. Goto Kensuke transfers to a remote island clinic after an incident at his Tokyo hospital. His first task: winning over the wary locals.

Detective Goro Nanase and his colleagues of "Akatsuka Detective Office" are based in Shimo-Akazuka of Itabashi-ku, Tokyo. The detectives take on a string of challenging cases that no one else wants to take on.

A young yakuza thug apprentices with an indebted comic "rakugo" performer, whose not-so-fashionable son runs a clothes shop in the Harajuku backstreets.

In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.

In 1979 Tokyo, four distinct sisters uncover their aging father's affair, causing their happy facades and bottled-up emotions to slowly unravel.

Charts the troubled teenage years of students Yūichi Hasumi and Shūsuke Hoshino, exploring the shifting and complex power dynamics of their relationship against the backdrop of Yūichi's love for the dreamy and abstract music of pop star Lily Chou-Chou.

He was the pride of his police department as the number one armed robbery buster... until he had his heart broken by the sudden flight of a fiancee from his life. Now "Detective Lovesick" finds his crime-fighting mojo and his chance at rising through the police hierarchy slipping away. Spending his days in a desperate search for the love of his life, Detective Lovesick is a man in love with himself and idolizes his drinking buddy, who is a romance psychologist. He loses himself to love easily, even at work, falling for every femme fatale he investigates and after a lot of hair pulling, ending each case with a marriage proposal. "Marry me or be under arrest." But will any woman accept such a proposal? Suspense, comedy and romance all converge in a libido-rich police drama unlike any you've ever seen.

One day, taxi driver Koji Usami is tasked with driving 85-year-old Sumire Takano from Shibamata, Tokyo to a senior care facility in Hayama, Kanagawa. Sumire asks Koji to make some detours. Gradually opening up to her, Sumire begins to tell the story of her grand past...

Yukari, a 27-year old fujoshi fangirl who loves the popular yakiniku-themed pretty boy anime "Meat is Mine", ends up meeting Rai, a pretty but enigmatic bar hostess. As they become friends and roommates in Kabukicho, Yukari starts to get concerned about how Rai doesn't take care of herself and keeps talking about death. Yukari wants to make Rai less suicidal by finding her ex-boyfriend, who she suspects Rai still isn't over. At the same time Yukari attempts to date a decent guy, pressured by her mother and thinking that love might be the answer to set her life straight. Nevertheless, she ends up spending a lot of time with Rai's friend Asahi, a cheery and friendly (but married) host club boy. Based on the novel by Hitomi Kanehara.

Yuji Ueda, an ordinary fourth grader, is attracted to his classmate Kokoa Miyake. She is attracted to Hashimoto Haruto, a problem child. The three of them embark on somewhat radical environmental activities.

Centers on Chapon, a mysterious boy who falls from the sky without any knowledge of where he came from. Staying with Anpanman, he one day helps someone out and gets to know the joy of making someone smile, and dreams of becoming a hero like Anpanman. But when Baikinman arrives, and reveals the secret of Chapon's origins, Chapon must figure out if his origins or his dreams define who he is.

In the enchanting village of Sylvania, Freya, a sweet Chocolate Rabbit girl, tackles two fun tasks for the Star Festival: picking the "Tree of the Year" and finding a birthday gift for her mom. With her adorable animal friends, she goes on a joyful adventure, learning about friendship and giving.

In this drama set on Shikina Island, a far-flung island of the Japanese archipelago located more than six hours from the Japanese main islands, the young physician Kensuke Goto arrives at the island and has to deal with the island's inhabitants, not eager to accept him, at a clinic lacking sufficient medical equipment. Here's a human drama showing how Dr. Coto values the dignity of human life while unflinchingly facing disease with a serious attitude.

An medical student unwillingly assists in human experiments on American POWs during WWII and gets sentenced to death in the Yokohama War Trials. His wife fights for a reduction of sentence.

In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.

In 1964, Momoko came by herself to Tokyo from her hometown. She met Shūzō and married him. They raised two children together, but Shūzō suddenly passes away. Momoko is dumbfounded by being alone again. She begins to go to the library and borrows books. This changes her life.

It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.

It was a pre-destined love and marriage for Sonoko and Tetsuo. They tied the knot and became husband and wife no questions asked. All is well then. Well, perhaps not. Each holds a secret that even the binds of matrimony cannot untie.

Following the comic series and the subsequent television serial of the same name, and featuring the same cast, a young and relatively inexperienced man comes across a woman during his working day and sparks fly.

Toichi is a boatman who ferries the villagers to a town on the other side of the river. Besides rowing a boat for the villagers all day long, he barely communicates with anyone except Genzo, a young neighbour. Upstream, a large bridge is being constructed. Everyone is excited, but Toichi has mixed feelings about it. One day, Toichi meets a mysterious girl. Having no family and no place to go, Toichi lets her stay with him, but this encounter starts to bring about changes to Toichi's life.

Ruka is a young girl whose parents are separated and whose father works in an aquarium. When two boys, Umi and Sora, who were raised in the sea by dugongs, are brought to the aquarium, Ruka feels drawn to them and begins to realize that she has the same sort of supernatural connection to the ocean that they do. Umi and Sora's special power seems to be connected to strange events that have been occurring more and more frequently, such as the appearance of sea creatures far from their home territory and the disappearance of aquarium animals around the world. However, the exact nature of the boys' power and of the abnormal events is unknown, and Ruka gets drawn into investigating the mystery that surrounds her new friends.

Mari and Humi learn from their mother that their father has dementia on his 70th birthday. They help prepare their mother for his farewell and prepare themselves for the emotions to follow.

In mid-19th century Edo period, a masterless rōnin named Mokunoshin Tsuzuki resides in a peaceful village among those he helps. However, as the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure to be replaced by war and conflict across the land, the swordsman feels restlessness creeping upon him.

A fourth-grader investigates the mysterious reason behind the sudden appearance of penguins in his village, which is somehow related to a power from a young woman working at a dental clinic.

At the Hirata home, three generations of their family live together. A crisis ensues when one afternoon, housewife Fumie falls asleep and wakes up to find a thief has stolen her secret money she kept hidden in the refrigerator.

An unstable young woman pines for the ex-boyfriend who nearly beat her to death – and who has mysteriously disappeared.

To get revenge on her ex-boyfriend and to help revive her late mother's tennis table club, a table tennis prodigy decides to take part in a mixed doubles table tennis tournament.

When a guest commentator swells and explodes on live TV in an unprecedented and unimaginable crime, the whole world is thrown into shock. Behind this horrific murder is a man who has seemingly vanished into thin air: the Human Vapor. With no one able to grasp his true identity, this enigma continues to announce and execute a series of targeted assassinations, evading identification and capture to escalate nationwide terror with each inexplicable attack.

In 1979 Tokyo, four distinct sisters uncover their aging father's affair, causing their happy facades and bottled-up emotions to slowly unravel.

The documentary series features pioneers who are opening up frontiers in various fields such as science, space, culture, history, art, fashion, and more. It unfolds the captivating landscapes of the intellectual explorations into the unknown.

Sets in the 1910s, this is the story of Hanada Suzuko, a young girl who grew up in a family that owned a bathhouse in downtown Osaka. From a young age, Suzuko loved to sing and dance, and joined the Umemaru Girls Opera Company (USK) in Dotonbori. Suzuko continued to show her talent for singing and eventually became a star of the postwar era.

The story follows an amateur salaryman named Hiroshi Miyamoto, who works at a stationary company and pushes forward despite his frustration with his own insignificance.

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.

Detective Goro Nanase and his colleagues of "Akatsuka Detective Office" are based in Shimo-Akazuka of Itabashi-ku, Tokyo. The detectives take on a string of challenging cases that no one else wants to take on.

A psychiatrist, Rintaro Hino, listens closely to the aching hearts of people, relieving them of their pain. His practice is growing but despite his achievements, Dr. Rintaro himself falls short in one department: love.

Five siblings struggle to live together after their parents have passed away. Arguments are a norm, and each have their own problems with studying, finding a job, marriage, etc. But no matter how dysfunctional their family can be, blood is thicker than water and the ties that bind will keep them together through thick and thin.

An explosion take place in a street of Tokyo. Many people were killed or seriously injured. One casualty is Chihiro, the wife of Public Security chief inspector Kuraki Naotake. While trying to find why his wife was being implicated in the explosion case, Kuraki comes into contact with Public Security sergeant Akeboshi Miki and Metropolitan Police Department inspector Osugi Ryota who are also investigating this case.

Detective Seiichiro Watari is nearing retirement, but is still bothered by an unsolved case from seven years ago when the decomposed corpse of a female was found by a fisherman in the sea of Otaru. The body was never identified so the case was never solved. Three years after his retirement, Watari unexpectedly discovers a clue that may finally solve the case.

The murder of a young girl shocks a small Japanese village, and the victim's mother is distraught when the classmates her daughter was playing with all claim not to remember the identity of the killer. In her anger, she puts a curse on them.

He was the pride of his police department as the number one armed robbery buster... until he had his heart broken by the sudden flight of a fiancee from his life. Now "Detective Lovesick" finds his crime-fighting mojo and his chance at rising through the police hierarchy slipping away. Spending his days in a desperate search for the love of his life, Detective Lovesick is a man in love with himself and idolizes his drinking buddy, who is a romance psychologist. He loses himself to love easily, even at work, falling for every femme fatale he investigates and after a lot of hair pulling, ending each case with a marriage proposal. "Marry me or be under arrest." But will any woman accept such a proposal? Suspense, comedy and romance all converge in a libido-rich police drama unlike any you've ever seen.

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.

Handa Sen is the "okami" (proprietress) of a long-standing restaurant in one of Tokyo's lower districts. Though she is normally airheaded and loves to drink, she has an impressive mastery of a wide range of skills, from cooking to ceramics to calligraphy. While the drama follows various events surrounding the restaurant, one of the series' highlights is its illustration of Japanese food and culture.

The series consists of four 3-episode chapters, each handled by a different director. The directors were given freedom in their stories, but they all share a common theme: lies. --Tokyograph