Welkame

Audrey

Mizuki is a would-be actress who has yet to attain her goal, struggles to keep the dream in her heart alive while dealing with the reality of her normal life, far away from lights, cameras, and action she longs for. Despite words of warnings from her family, which includes her birth and step mothers, intended to keep her from reaching her destiny, she actually makes it onto a set of one of the film companies in Tokyo. She experiences the peaks and valleys of a starting actress, but receives a blow when news of the company collapses and eventually closes. Mizuki returns home, but, the fire once lit, still burns.

Asuka

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 father. This NHK drama is one of the best in years with an excellent cast, a well-developed story based on extensive research into the traditional worlds of candy making and the tea ceremony in Kyoto, and beautiful scenery and settings in Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

Yanchakure

The 59th NHK Asadora Drama is Yanchakure. Location includes Osaka. In Osaka, "yanchakure" is a bit of an old word which is used to describe tomboyish or mischievous young girls. Mizushima Nagisa happens to be such a girl, that, no matter how well-intentioned her motives nor how hard she tries, Nagisa just seems to end up failing. In fact, she has failed at different things in her life so many times that she has come to see it as a source of personal strength, her philosophy being one of, "It's natural for a human being to fail many times in the course of their life and thanks to those failures we can become adults."

Soar High!

Iwakura Mai lives with her parents Kota and Megumi and older brother Haruto. Her father Kota runs a small factory in Higashi Osaka, a district that is known for its craftsmen. Mai is shy and withdrawn. But when she visits her grandmother Shoko who lives on Nagasaki’s Goto Islands which has a rich natural environment, she is entranced by the Baramon kites that catch the wind and soar high in the sky. Wanting to fly high in the sky like these kites, Mai’s longing swells into a dream to become a pilot. Even though she works hard, the path to getting there is tougher than she had imagined. As Mai deepens her ties with the people living in her two hometowns of Higashi Osaka and Goto, her dream eventually takes a new form. She gathers enthusiastic friends to build a small electric plane that can fly to and from the islands. Her dream becomes a wing that carries everyone’s dreams and takes off.

Oshin

Oshin is a Japanese serialized morning television drama, which aired on broadcaster NHK from April 4, 1983 to March 31, 1984. The series follows the life of Shin Tanokura during the Meiji period up to the early 1980s. Shin was called "Oshin", which is an archaic Japanese cognomen.

The Tiger and Her Wings

In the early Showa era, Japan’s first women’s law school opens, and the protagonist, Inotsume Tomoko (Ito Sairi), gains nationwide attention as one of the first female lawyers in the country. However, after facing wartime Japan’s harsh realities and losing everything, she becomes a judge with her legal knowledge and dedicates herself to establishing the family court. She stands passionately for the hardships that politics and economics cannot solve.

Massan

Massan is based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan, a Scotswoman Taketsuru met while studying abroad.

Kita no kazoku

The 13th NHK Asadora. Starring Youko Takahashi in a story about a brother and sister coming of age in Hakodate and Kanazawa.

Ai yori aoku

The 12th NHK Asadora. Set in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, at the end of the Pacific War. Maki is the heroine, married to Shuichi who must go to war. She stays home and takes on the role of other war widows, managing business and a Chinese restaurant.

Mayuko hitori

Kano is known as a "cocoon child" whose father is an agriculturist. Her mother disappeared when she was little and since then Kano has been wondering why her mother left her thus changing the shape of her life.

Niji

Starring Yōko Minamida as a woman who supported her family during and after World War II. All episodes are missing from the NHK archives, though a brief clip does survive as part of a contemporary news segment documenting the drama's production.

Nobuko to Obachan

The 9th NHK Asadora. Starring Naoko Otani as a young woman living with her grandmother.

Ashita Koso

The 8th NHK Asadora. Starring Yumiko Fujita in a family drama. The first Asadora filmed in color.

Tabiji

The 7th NHK Asadora. Starring Tadashi Yokouchi in a narrative about an employee of the national railroad living through 50 years of modern history with his wife.

Ohanahan

The 6th NHK Asadora. Starring Fumie Kashiyama as a woman, born in the Meiji era, who raises a family by herself.

Tamayura

The 5th NHK Asadora. Starring Chishuu Ryuu as an old man who begins to travel after he retires. From a story written for television by Yasunari Kawabata.

Akatsuki

The 3rd NHK Asadora. Starring Shin Saburi as a professor who quits the university to become a painter.

Ashita no Kaze

The 2nd NHK Asadora and the first Asadora to be broadcast in 15-minute episodes Monday through Saturday. Starring Fumiko Watanabe in a drama of a poor family after the war.

Musume to Watashi

A television serial that was in turn adapted from a radio series and a novel, My Daughter And I featured a Japanese novelist who is married to a French woman who have one daughter. The man and his daughter begin a new life when the woman dies. Having difficulty spending time with his daughter, the man sends his daughter to a Christian boarding school. He remarries and brings his daughter back home. After the end of the World War his lot improves professionally, yet his second wife dies.