TOKYO DRAMA AWARD

2010

These tumultuous times of diluted relationships, broken families, unemployment and insecurity about the future have made it difficult for young people to discover a purpose for living. Women, in particular, have taken on diversified roles in society, and it is those roles and lifestyles that have largely been altered. However, no matter how systems or values in the world may change, women possess a certain unwavering dynamism. The natural instinct for women to bear and nurture a child can be said to be divine destiny.
The heroine of this drama is a woman in her mid-thirties who has apathetically lived her life without interest in romance, society or even her own life. Working as an elementary school teacher, she learns that one of her students is being abused at home. Although unable to comprehend her sudden impulse, she decides to kidnap the young, abused girl to bring up as her own. This is where the story begins. During her life on the run, she re-examines her past lifestyle and searches for her path in life.
Pivotal to this drama is the word "maternal." The heroine, who had never awakened to her own maternal side, discovers this instinct deep within herself. This drama portrays how this unexpected discovery stirs feelings of hesitation and conflict, which help her to mature as both a woman and as a person. The purpose of this drama is to provide women with the opportunity to reflect on the lifestyle of women and what makes women happy, to gain confidence and a sense of pride, and to strive to live life optimistically.

Former junior high school pupils meet again at a class reunion after 30 years. Tomomi is now an ordinary mother and housewife. Sugiyama is a Metropolitan Police detective, married with children. Yoko is living quite the celebrity life as the wife of an entrepreneur. Okubo is a chief editor of a weekly magazine. The close friends appear to be enjoying their respective lives. Tomomi the housewife, however, toils part-time everyday to try and cover for her husband being laid off. Yoko the celebrity wife is raising the child of her husband's lover. Okubo's marriage is on the brink of divorce, and Sugiyama also has family problems. And as things would have it, the reunion rekindles the feelings between former sweethearts Sugiyama and Tomomi. In addition, another alumnus couple mysteriously disappears, and the ensuing investigations pulls the four classmates' lives in an unexpected direction, dragging their families with them. In this original story by Yumiko Inoue, the main characters illustrate the inner struggles of 40-somethings. When you are in your late 40s, you don't throw everything out to commit yourself to a new relationship. You cannot fall in love like carefree youngsters. Love as an adult is clumsy and frustrating. At the same time, Sugiyama and Okubo continue to investigate the disappearance of their friends. Both suspenseful and romantic, the drama depicts the reality surrounding "45 year-olds" - romance, friendship, family break-ups and reconciliations, and death - triggered by a simple event like a class reunion.

Hikoichi (Tsuyoshi KUSANAGI) is the boss of a yakuza family, "Hayabusa-kai". One day he receives a sudden order from the main branch of his family... only to become a helper at a senior care home. Regardless of this unbearable order, he reluctantly obeys to keep his chance of becoming an executive in the future.
But he soon finds out that he was not the only yakuza working there. At the care home, fights often break out among yakuzas, owing to their aggressive nature. The yakuza helpers soon realize that the senior care home is full of flaws; the yakuzas confront a female president of the care house. The battle between the yakuzas, who might be rough, but sincere, and the female president, who declares that a warm heart is unnecessary in this business, is about to begin...

Ryoma Sakamoto is one of Japan's most popular historical figures of all time. A master swordsman and innovative businessman with irresistible charm, Ryoma rises quickly from his humble beginnings into a prominent leader who pushed feudal Japan to change into a modern nation. RYOMADEN tells how this legendary hero, in his short 33-year life, brought together two rivaling domains to stand together against the Shogun - ensuring the country's independence despite onslaught from the mighty West.

In the corner of Tokyo is a town called Kamata that is crowded with small factories. A financially-troubled factory, Akikawa Seiki, receives an unexpected, challenging offer from overseas to hand-manufacture propellers for wind generators. Experienced factory worker Kiichi (Goro Kishitani), who has confidence in his skills, suffers a cerebral embolism and is hospitalized on the same day.
Facing the threat of bankruptcy, Kiichi's wife Sakura (Yui Natsukawa) grasps at straws and in a desperate attempt to save the company, visits her former boyfriend Souhei (Ken Watanabe). Twenty years ago, Souhei worked at Akikawa Seiki as the most skilled worker, overshadowing even Kiichi. However, as Kiichi was to inherit the factory, Sakura chose to marry him, leaving Souhei to quietly quit the factory. Now Souhei lives happily in the suburbs with his wife Mari (Misako Tanaka) and daughter Yukina (Umika Kawashima) while working at a home improvement center.
Souhei is shaken by Sakura's abrupt visit, after not seeing her for two decades. Hearing her ask for his help, Souhei struggles internally, but his professional spirit is lit and he agrees to help. Sakura and Souhei slowly move forward the frozen hands of time. Compared to their teens or 20s, there is more at stake in their complex lives, filling them with feelings of agony, relinquishment and hidden guilt.
The young worker, assigned to finding an alternative to manually manufacturing wind propellers, contacts her to proudly announce, '"I succeeded with the computer!'"
No longer having a reason to meet, the two go on a last date to Kamakura, a place filled with memories of their past. No one could know of this forbidden tryst. The rain was falling softly in Kamakura...

Tokyo... a city where numerous skyscrapers grow every day. No one could imagine that there was a time, when this city was a complete burnt out ruin. 65 years had passed since the end of the war... However did the war actually come to an end?
Once a major bank manager of the personnel, Fumio Tsukada( Toshiro Yanagiba), had been told to layoff co-workers and subordinates. Fed up with the job involving people, Tsukada decided to quit his job. Half a year ago Tsukada started to work as a chauffeur for Ichiro Suzuki (Toshiyuki Nishida), the head of food company Akane foods. Spending time with Ichiro, who is seemingly rude but actually very delicate...Tsukada begins retrieve the joy of relating to other people.
One day Ichiro's horse Shoe Shine Boy wins a race. After the race, instead of attending the celebration party, Ichiro hurried towards the expressway underpass in Shinjuku. '"There is an old man who is quite good at shoe shining.'" Ichiro tells Tsukada that he visit this man at least once a week to get his shoes polished.
From curiosity, Tsukada visit this shoe shine Kikuji (Shuji Otaki) with his wife Keiko (Naruimi Yasuda). However, to his surprise, Kikuji did not know anything about Ichiro.
'"I had my shoes polished in Shinjuku the other day'". The day after, Tsukada tells Ichiro. Ichiro barks '"You are just my chauffeur. Mind your own business!'" The reason why Ichiro was angry with Tsukada, is hidden under the mysterious relationship between Ichiro and Kikuji.

Our aim in creating this new award is to help successful export of Japanese drama series by having Asian buyers choose the winner themselves. While the '"Tokyo Drama Award'" is chosen by the exporting side with the concept '"Japanese dramas we (the exporters) want to show to the world,'" the '"Asia Award'" will be given to series '"that travel to markets outside Japan,'" directly reflecting the opinions of those who have actually acquired before. With the '"Asia Award,'" we hope to give added international appeal and help winners to be exported successfully. We will also continue giving spotlight to excellent world-standard productions through the established '"Tokyo Drama Award.'"

A fisherman (Shigeru Izumiya), late middle age, sails out in his boat to catch some fish in the river. Around him spreads a lonely scene that seems a world left behind the times - the riverbed of the Ishikari River, a marsh overgrown with reeds. The river is not as rich as it used to be. The fisherman has been alone since his divorce a long time ago. He has a son, Tsuyoshi (Ken Yasuda), but hasn't seen him for over 10 years, ever since he left hometown to get away from his father. The fisherman is having a romantic relationship with a bar owner (Jun Fubuki), and he even dares to think she might be interested in having him as a husband. Then suddenly, his son Tsuyoshi came home. His father is surprised. Tsuyoshi does not give any reasons why he returned but it seems he wants to live permanently in the house. He also looks very tired. Tsuyoshi nags his father about why he keeps the fisherman job, why he stays in this dilapidated town. It is almost as though Tsuyoshi is blaming his father for all the things that went wrong in his life. Would the riverbeds of Ishikari accept Tsuyoshi, who is psychologically and physically hurt and depressed? A story of a rejected son and his father as they try to live life as they are.

In the Southern part of Fukuoka prefecture, out in the suburbs, there is a small town called "Kurogi-Machi," where beautiful river flows and vast tea plantation is preserved. A young aspiring school teacher, Hikari sets off for her temporary post in the elementary school of this town.
In her sixth grade class, there is a student named Aya, who came from the city to live in Kurogi-Machi, apart from her parents for a long period of time. Although several months had past since Aya came to this town, she still seems to have trouble opening up to her classmates and her foster parents. One day, Hikari finds out that there is a parent-child issue between Aya and her mother who works in Hakata city. Hikari who also had problems with her lost mother decides to cheer her up.
Before long, the day of the puppet show, a tradition of this elementary school, was approaching. Hikari attempts to recover the family relationship between Aya and her mother by conducting a masterpiece "Keisei Awa no Naruto" which talks about the love of the mother and child.

Mao Doudou, a hospital nurse, has just broken up with her rich boyfriend. Yu Wei, a photographer, is in search of an ideal bride. Their love story begins when the two are arranged to meet by a matchmaker. But when she arrives, Doudou stumbles across Li, her ex! Panic sweeps over and she flees the scene, but not before forcing a stranger (Yu Wei) to act as her boyfriend. Since then, the two bump into each other time and again, and gradually, their attraction grows.
The two are married. Doudou is bright, pretty, and well-bred. Yu Wei is a kind, gentle devoted son, but his complicated family situation casts a dark cloud over the happy couple. He has two sets of parents, as each of his parents remarried after getting divorced. His biological mother and step mother are not exactly on good terms, and a big row erupts over Yu Wei’s wedding plans. More trouble awaits when the couple returns from their honeymoon, having skipped the wedding reception. In their living room is Yu Hao, Yu Wei’s widowed sister, who promptly declares she is living with them. Doudou does her best to be a good wife, but feels disheartened with the self-centred mother-in-law and mean sister-in-law. Yu Wei tries his best to mediate, but… A light-hearted, refreshing romantic comedy that has become the most watched home drama in China. Through the worries and struggles of three Chinese wives and their respective mothers-in-law, the series touches upon universal yet familiar themes like the meaning of marriage, family, and life.

Pavitra Rishta is the story of two simple marathi people - Archana & Manav. It's a love story about two pure hearts who make the ultimate sacrifice for the happiness of others.
Archana had to end her studies to take care of her mother who fell terribly ill. Manav, whose family was not exactly well off, also had to quit school to earn a living and support a family of seven.
Archana's mother dreamed of seeing her daughter get married to an educated person. She had always felt herself responsible for her daughter remaining uneducated. By marrying Archana to an educated groom, she could at least feel alleviated of her guilt. He does not have to be very rich, but definitely educated. On the other hand, Manav's mother puts money first. Whoever it is with the most cash would be her son's bride.
As destiny has its way, Manav and Archana get married without Archana's mother knowing. Once she comes to know the truth, she tries to take her daughter back. But by this time both Archana and Manav have fallen deeply in love, and somehow convince each of their parents to let them stay together.
The couple was living happily, but tragedy befalls when Manav's brother dies. His fiancée declares that she is expecting the dead brother's child. Manav and Archana, though they are deeply in love, decide to make the ultimate sacrifice: give away their happiness for the fiancée's child. Manav must marry her.
Archana-Manav, the tragic couple separated by circumstance. Will they ever be able to reunite?

©2009 TAEWON ENTERTAINMENT/IRIS Japan version Production Committee

After a 6-year gap, Lee Byung Hun returns to drama in the leading role of IRIS, the series that became a phenomenon in Korea with its grand scale and stellar cast, marking 39.9% in the ratings.
The espionage action drama had created buzz even before broadcast, with a mammoth budget of ₩20 billion (approx. \ 1.5 billion), extensive overseas locations in Japan, Hungary, and Shanghai, and star-studded cast and crew. The high tension over the divided Korean Peninsula and dramatic characters will interest people not just in Korea but around the world.
Hyun Jun and Sa Woo are elite Special Force soldiers and lifelong friends. The two are both selected, and pass the rigorous test in the National Security Service (NSS) to become top personnel. Then, they both fall in love with their senior profiler at NSS, Seung Hee. One day, the trio is assigned to a mission in Hungary. At the end of the mission, however, Hyun Jun receives a phone call from Baek San, the Deputy Director of the NSS. He is to go on a dangerous solo mission – to assassinate chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Yoon Sung Chul.
Hyun Jun is played by Lee Byung Hun, who is also active in Hollywood. Seung Hee is played by the queen of TV adverts, Kim Tae Hee. The best friend, Sa Woo, is played by Jung Jun Ho, well known for his versatility in both comical and serious roles. Other cast include Kim Seung Woo of “Hotelier”, Kim So Yeon of “All About Eve” and T.O.P. of BIGBANG to complete an impressive line-up.
DVD-BOX I & II, Makings DVD–BOX I & II are currently on sale. (Published by TBS/Pony Canyon, distributed by Pony Canyon)

7 years ago, Alex Sung’s wife was killed and he lost his sight. His investigations lead him to prominent businessman and philanthropist Kong Wah (Patrick Teoh) and his family, wife Suzanne (Aileen Tan), son (Julian Hee) and stepdaughter (Celest Chong) and Alex infiltrates the family, uncovering the skeletons in the closet of the Kong family.
Throughout the series, Alex’s resolve for revenge is constantly tested as he develops a bond with the Kongs and a deep attraction to the one woman who stands in the way of his carefully-constructed plans.
The series explores the idea of good versus evil, in particular Alex’s struggle between good and evil. Does taking revenge, extracting justice from someone evil turn the good guy bad? Do the ends justify the means? Well-paced with nail-biting cliffhangers and revelations of secrets, lies and ulterior motives, Red Thread is, at its core, a heartrending tale of love, forgiveness and hope.
MediaCorp, Singapore’s leading media company, first shot at producing a long running English blockbuster drama with starring Adrian Pang better known for comedies and game shows, trading in the smiles for a serious role.
Joining Adrian Pang is a star-studded line up including Celest Chong, a popular Asian singer/actress/model, Aileen Tan and Patrick Teoh.