TOKYO DRAMA AWARD

2019

A young trainee nurse learns the reality of childbirth.
On her first day at a small OB-GYN clinic, 17-year-old trainee nurse Aoi is thrust into the surgery room, and witnesses an abortion. Here, death is not uncommon, and there is more to the job than beautiful deliveries and welcoming families. With guidance from the experienced staff and head doctor, Aoi faces the joys of new life as well as the sobering reality of unwanted pregnancies and provides emotional support to the mothers-to-be with exceptional sensibility and innate kindness.

What will happen to your data in your PC and smartphones when you are gone?
Presently, personal devices like smartphones and PC store enormous amounts of information. They may store classified information at work, private bank account data, even photos of lovers and other inconvenient information that you would hesitate to show to anyone else. This drama is the first of its kind that deals with this very timely issue.
Keishi Sakagami and Yutaro Mashiba's job is to delete all sensitive digital records of a client "secretly" after his or her death. But, whenever the two try to carry out their work, they get involved in problems because the only way to execute the client's request is to look into the client's life and pursue the hidden truth.
The two young men, whose profession is to delete personal data of a deceased client, find out that in fact their work involves a lot more. Each time, the two tenaciously pursue and find out the buried truth in order to execute their job. ("dele" is a proofreader's mark indicating matters to be deleted)

Nao Kitazawa, 34, leads a busy but fulfilling life as a doctor at a women's clinic and as fiancee to an elite psychiatric physician, Yuchi Ihara. With their wedding day a month off, Nao is preparing to move into a new home when she meets Shinji Mamiya, a struggling writer who works part-time as a mover and falls inexorably in love with him. The fateful encounter compels Nao to follow her heart and experience true love. Overwhelmed by Nao's passion, Shinji soon falls for her as well, but their budding romance is threatened by the tragic discovery that Nao has early onset Alzheimer's. What unfolds is a story of pure love. As Nao's symptoms worsen, Shinji spends the next ten years giving Nao mental and health support even as she begins to lose the precious memories they both shared.

The original is "What Did You Eat Yesterday?" by Fumi Yoshinaga, a manga artist with many masterpieces such as "Ooku: The Inner Chambers" and "Antique Bakery". This book comic is a visualization of a very popular work that has exceeded 5 million copies (including electronic version), and is still in the weekly morning series currently. The work depicts the daily life and dining table of a couple of men living in a 2LDK apartment. The style of drawing the themes of universal resonance, such as aging and families, while dealing with the conflict and difficulty of living of same-sex couples, received extensive support. In addition, the skillful casting without damaging the original image helps gain popularity as well.
Shiro Kakei (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is a hired lawyer who works at a small law firm in the city. Shiro's daily routine is to leave the office on time, then head to a discount supermarket nearby and make dinner with carefully examined ingredients. Shiro goes home after shopping and prepares dinner neatly. The hairdresser Kenji Yabuki (Seiyo Uchino) is on his way home where he will be immersed in a sense of fulfillment by the sight of the dishes on the table. The two spending a peaceful time around a happy dining table are lovers who call each other "Shiro-san" and "Kenji". It is a story about the bittersweet and warm daily life of a couple of men who live together and their daily dining table.

Phone Fraud Children is an original drama based on the testimonies of over 20 minors nationwide who were arrested committing phone fraud as "ukeko" (receivers) or "kakeko" (callers).
Set in Nagoya, Japan in 2019, it begins with Mitsuyo, an elderly woman who lives alone. She receives a phone call from a girl who pretends to be her daughter, asking for money. Having experienced fraud a few years before, Mitsuyo immediately calls the police and helps arrange the arrest of a 14-year-old receiver named Kazuto. Kazuto worked with a caller named Daisuke and a lookout named Toyama. Having grown up in the same poor neighborhood, Daisuke and Toyama believed that phone fraud was an honorable way to recover the "dead money" of wealthy elderly people and return it to the society. Believing underage receivers like Kazuto to be expendable, they made a killing in their scams.
Not long after Kazuto's arrest, Toyama gets arrested. Daisuke attends Toyama's trial to make sure that he doesn't talk. Then Mitsuyo appears as a witness. Listening to her testimony, Daisuke is astonished to learn that she was deceived years ago by his fraud call, which resulted in her husband killing himself in shame.
Daisuke finally realizes that phone fraud robs people not only of money, but also family bonds and even their lives.

"Mantou" "Yakei"and "Mangan" 3 stories on 3 consecutive nights, based on a bestselling short mystery anthology masterpiece. Mangan by Honobu Yonezawa, which won him 3 book awards in 2014. This trilogy is a mystery drama with the main characters undergoing conflicts at life-changing crossroads in an unvarnished style of story-telling . The first night "Mantou" is a story of a business man, Itami, whose company is engaged in gas field developments in Southeast Asia. However, the construction of the plant falls through, and Itami, in a remote area, steps into a terrible crime and falls into darkness. The second episode, "Yakei", is a mystery about a police officer who dies on duty while protecting a civilian. His boss who feels distrust of the incident uncovers an unforeseen truth. The third story "Mangan" is about Fujii, a young lawyer whose defendant, on trial for murder, happens to be a former boarding house landlady from his college days. The sentence could be probation if she simply files an appeal, because she was forced by the murder victim to have a sexual relationship for her debts. But she withdraws the appeal after her husband dies.

This feature drama, produced to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Fuji TV, is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic masterpiece Les Miserables set in the 1990s in Japan.
In Kobe in 1993, Jun Baba gets taken to a juvenile prison due to a killing of a man who cheated his mother out of all her money in self-defense. One day, he hears that his younger brother, who has been desperately ill, is in a critical condition and breaks out. However, he finds out his brother is already dead. In the depth of despair, he tries to kill himself but is saved by a man who runs a self-support facility. He begins to live at the place, and befriends with Takumi Watanabe aspiring to be a lawyer. In 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hits and their friendship comes to an end. Crushed under the debris, Takumi persuades Jun to live his life instead. Jun swears to live on assuming Takumi's identity.
Meanwhile, Ryosuke Saito, the son of the man that Jun has killed, finds his life turns dramatically.
Bound together by fate, the two meet in Tokyo in 2004, as a lawyer and a police detective. Getting along with each other, Ryosuke finds out that Takumi is actually Jun, his father's murderer. Ryosuke tries but fails to catch Jun, and the story follows Jun living a hidden life in the countryside of Fukushima in 2019.
The long journey of the two men, as a fugitive and a pursuer, is about to end here.
With atonement and forgiveness as its themes, this story illuminates the lives of some seventeen people, focusing on the two men who lived through these turbulent 30 years.

Personal passion and perseverance, a city outsider clashing with provincial pride, tasty traditional confections... This intracultural human drama produced by NHK Nagasaki is based on real events that occurred in Shimabara, an old castle town in southwest Japan.
The residents love the local summer delicacy called "kanzarashi" -soft round rice cakes in honey-flavored syrup produced with pure local spring water. As part of a national scheme to revitalize local areas and promote tourism, the city invites a Tokyo couple to revive a famous kanzarashi store that closed 20 years ago. But only the wife, Mizuki, appears. She's determined to fulfill the mission, even though she's never tasted kanzarashi.
An easygoing city official called Kenichi Hatta has just taken over charge of the project. Though eager to support Mizuki, he has the annoying habit of talking more than he acts, often saying,"No worries! It'll work out."
The much-delayed revival is way behind schedule, the mayor's making unreasonable demands, the locals are unwilling to help the Tokyoite, and the part-time worker is crafty... Will Mizuki be able to overcome all these obstacles to restore the delicious delicacy?

Yashiki Takajin, who is known as a "King of High Viewer Ratings" in Kansai Region, and whose concert tickets are always sold out immediately, has been struggling in his early days in Kyoto.
His dream, to be a singer, meets with an objection from his strict father. Takajin run away from home and moved from Osaka, his hometown to Kyoto. He leads a disordered life while working part-time at the hamburger store: cracking raw eggs on customer's heads or letting off fire extinguishers in the shop. On one of those days, he falls in love with Kyoko, an actress working in a bar in Gion. Takajin makes a song "Do you want a dream?" for her, and he makes his debut as a singer with this song. However, his records don't sell, and he has started to give up his dream. Takajin participates in a music festival as a last memory of a singer, but it comes to a turning point in his life. He wins a Grand Prix and makes a fresh start in Tokyo. However, he can't adapt to the new place, so he doesn't want to sing songs made in Tokyo. Takajin quit the label and returns to Osaka. In his hometown, a producer stimulated him to entertain the audience. To be a good talker, he buys a dozen video recorders and completely trains himself to improve his skill in talking. Finally, he is called as a "King of High Viewer Ratings". At the same time, Takajin produces a masterpiece, "Tokyo", being a great hit. Not only as a singer, but also as a TV personality, he is at the peak of his career, until that day comes suddenly...

Cheng Zhenzhen, an innocent and frank girl, is a new real estate agent of Love & Home Real Estate Agency. She suffers numerous setbacks at work and causes a lot of trouble to her colleagues. Moreover, her work partner Shao Pengcheng costantly gives her headache with his foppery and petty shrewdness.
Despite the great differences in their attitudes towards work and life styles, the two get closer as time goes by. They witness many tears and laughters from a great number of families around housing. Cheng always manages to meet the requirements of her clients with her enthusiasm and candidness. Gradually Cheng and Shao fall in love with each other and learn to be responsible and brave in their work and life.

Hiding his past as an NIS agent, Hae-il becomes a priest with intermittent explosive disorder. He eventually causes trouble at the cathedral he was stationed at, and is sent to Gudam Cathedral in Gudam City. Thanks to his teacher Lee Young-jun, he settles down there.

But Young-jun is killed in a mysterious accident and even ends up being framed while being pressured by local gangs over the sale of land. Infuriated, Haeil heads to the police station to intimidate them, but it has a reverse effect, and he carries out the investigation alone only to end up in a holding cell.

After all this, Hae-il happens to find Young-jun's journal and learns that everyone is connected to the Gudam City Cartel (the borough chief, chief of police, congressmen, chief prosecutor, and Daebeom Trade's CEO Hwang Cheol-beom)and contacts the Vatican via a letter. The letter somehow works, and the investigation into Young-jun's death is reopened with Hae-il demanding that he take part. He goes after the Gudam Cartel with a detective appointed by the Cartel, who happens to be the worst detective in Gudam, Gu Dae-young.

A mega hit popular across Asia, with the highest TV rating after Thailand Terrestrial Television switched to digital broadcasting in 2014.
This romantic comedy, history and fantasy drama series popularized tourism in filming locations, dressing in Thai traditional costumes, and eating Thai cuisines such as grilled river prawn and the Portuguese-introduced sweet "Foi Thong."
Its success is attributed to its elaborate screenplay, costumes and locations.

This series is set in Ayuthaya in the reign of King Narai the Great (1656-1688) when the country opened to welcome foreigners.
Gadesurang is a modern-day girl who travels back in time 300+ years after a car accident. She finds herself in the body of Garagade, a noble who lives with her father's best friend and family.
Much to Gadesurang's dismay, Garagade is spoiled and evil. Everyone hates her except her two maids and adoptive uncle. Even her dearest betrothed Dej hates her and vows to stall their wedding as long as possible.
Gadesurang does good deeds to rectify the damage done by Garagade, hoping to return to her modernday world.
In the process, she slowly wins the love and admiration of the entire village, including Dej.