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 followe...

The 61st NHK Asadora Drama is Asuka. Set in Kyoto in the home of a traditional Japanese candy-maker, Asuka is the story of one young girl's dream to one day walk in her father's shoes and become a top candy-maker in the male-dominated world of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). Asuka grows to be a healthy, adventurous young girl with a deep curiosity and, a desire to become a candy-maker like her f...

The 41st NHK Taiga Drama is Toshiie to Matsu. During the turbulent Warring States Era, one man's life and career intertwined with the three great generals of Japanese history-Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. With political savvy and the support of his fiercely loyal wife, Maeda Toshiie rose to second in power in the shogunate and built up a fiefdom that encompassed Echizen, Noto and Kaga.

A legendary television series and cultural asset, Mr. Kinpachi in Class 3B is famous for putting many social issues on the front burner of the public conscious over its long run, as filtered through the emotionally volatile lives of third year middle school students. The heartfelt relations between a devoted schoolteacher, Kinpachi Sakamoto, and his unique students have won the show high praise fo...

Akira Shimazaki (Takuya Kimura) lives with his middle school student son. He used to work as a bodyguard, but, due to an incident, he now works as a security guard at a construction site. The private security company where he works establishes a new bodyguard division. Hiding his past as a bodyguard, Akira Shimazaki begins work as a novice bodyguard.

Reiji Matsushimais a genius physicist. He realizes that he and his fiancé Asahi Ando will be killed a theory that he advanced. One day, in the year 2013, Reiji dies in a airplane explosion & crash. He was a handsome and world-famous professor who studied wormhole theories. It is a mystery whether his research on wormhole theory caused his death or not.

Akira Shimazaki (Takuya Kimura) lives with his middle school student son. He used to work as a bodyguard, but, due to an incident, he now works as a security guard at a construction site. The private security company where he works establishes a new bodyguard division. Hiding his past as a bodyguard, Akira Shimazaki begins work as a novice bodyguard.

Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.

A Labrador retriever named Quill begins specialized training as a guide dog from an early age, then the canine is paired with a blind man who is initially reluctant to rely on his new partner.

Harada is a successful scenario writer, and his best buddy has just announced an intention to propose to Harada's ex-wife. Recovering from the shock, Harada indulges in melancholy, mainly on his failure as a husband and father, and goes to a 'Rakugo' show, where a friendly man in the audience invites him home. Harada is puzzled at the strong resemblance of this man and his wife to his own parents,...

Prostitutes in burnt out Tokyo ghetto of post-WWII Japan peddle their flesh and save one-third of their money for a proposed dancehall to be named Paradise. The hookers live in a bombed-out building, but they accept the precarious situation with typical resolve.