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Nozomi Sasaki to star in sumo drama
Tue, April 20, 2010 (5:48pm EDT)
Fashion model Nozomi Sasaki (22) now has her first starring role in a drama series, though it will unexpectedly be about sumo wrestling. Tentatively titled "Dohyo Girl," the story follows a young girl trying to save a high school sumo club from being abolished.
Sasaki plays the protagonist, a high school fashion model. Her father, who was a sumo wrestler, raised her like a boy, but she eventually resisted and severed her ties with sumo. When she accidentally ends up as a member of the school's dying sumo club, she takes on the role of the club's director in order to rebuild it.
Some of the male sumo club members will be recruited through this week's issue of Weekly Young Jump. The series begins in July, airing at 12:50am on Tuesday nights on TBS. It will also air weekly on MBS on Thursdays.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Yoshitaka plays three sisters in WOWOW drama
Thu, April 29, 2010 (3:06am EDT)
Yuriko Yoshitaka (21) will star in a short drama series on WOWOW this summer, titled "Tofu Shimai." She will play three different characters on the show.
As the title suggests, the story focuses on three sisters, all played by Yoshitaka. The eldest is an overly serious woman troubled by an affair, the second is a top hostess with a lively personality, and the youngest is a popular actress. The three lead very different lives with their own problems.
"Tofu Shimai" will air on Saturdays at midnight, starting on July 31. A total of five episodes are planned.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Yuchun's BeeTV drama
Thu, April 29, 2010 (11:01am EDT)
Details of the new BeeTV drama series starring TVXQ's Yuchun (23) were revealed earlier this week. Titled "Beautiful Love ~Kimi ga Ireba~," the drama is Yuchun's first in Japan, and it will have him speaking entirely in Japanese.
Yuchun plays the son of a business conglomerate family, who meets a magazine writer aiming to become a novelist. A love story develops over the course of the show's twelve 10-minute episodes. Aya Omasa (19) has been cast as the female lead.
Filming started on April 3, and the episodes will be made available on BeeTV starting on June 4, which happens to be Yuchun's birthday. The drama's theme song ("Kimi ga Ireba ~Beautiful Love~") and insert song ("Intoxication") will both be sung by fellow TVXQ member Junsu (23), and they will be included on his debut solo single on May 26.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Alisa Mizuki's first starring role in NHK series
Sun, May 2, 2010 (10:38pm EDT)
Popular actress Alisa Mizuki (33) is set to star in a short drama series on NHK this summer, titled "Tenshi no Wakemae." The story is an original penned by Noriko Yoshida, the screenwriter for dramas such as "Dr. Koto Shinryojo" and "Hatachi no Koibito."
Mizuki has starred in at least one drama series every year since 1992, but this will be her first time leading a series on NHK. (In 2003, she starred in a single episode of an omnibus drama on NHK.)
In "Tenshi no Wakemae," Mizuki plays a 35-year-old woman named Kurumi, who suddenly loses everything in her life when her fiance runs off with all of her assets. Left with a mere 15,000 yen and some boxes of ohagi (a type of rice ball), the despairing Kurumi happens upon a construction site, and she begins handing out the ohagi to the men working there. Using the theme of food, "Tenshi no Wakemae" depicts Kurumi's journey as she turns her life around.
Starting in July, NHK will broadcast the five-episode series in its Tuesday 10:00pm time slot.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Haruka Ayase returns in "Hotaru no Hikari"
Sun, May 9, 2010 (7:21pm EDT)
The popular 2007 drama series "Hotaru no Hikari" is returning for a second season, it was learned on Sunday. Haruka Ayase (25) will once again play the starring role.
Originally based on a shojo manga by Satoru Hiura, the first series told the story of a young office lady named Hotaru, who has no interest in romance and instead prefers spending her time lazily at home. However, her life changes when circumstances lead her to live under the same roof as her boss. Although the first series focused on Hotaru's reawakening to love, "Hotaru no Hikari 2" will be more about her path towards possible marriage.
Naohito Fujiki (37) will also return for the new series. NTV plans to broadcast the show on Wednesdays at 10:00pm, starting in July.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Yuko Takeuchi plays detective in "Strawberry Night"
Mon, May 10, 2010 (10:54am EDT)
Actress Yuko Takuechi (30) will take on her first role as a police detective in a Fuji TV drama special later this year, titled "Strawberry Night."
"Strawberry Night" is an adaptation of Tetsuya Honda's bestselling mystery of the same name. The book, published in 2006, has sold 600,000 copies so far.
Takeuchi plays the protagonist, Reiko Himekawa, a young detective who has quickly risen through the ranks to become a member of the first investigative division. While trying to solve a mysterious murder, she comes across the keyword "Strawberry Night," and she must decipher its meaning in order to crack the case.
Takeuchi's supporting cast includes Tetsuya Takeda (61) and Hidetoshi Nishijima (39). Fuji TV plans to air the drama this fall, though the exact broadcast date is still undecided.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Hayami, Shida to co-star in live-action "Hammer Session!"
Mon, May 10, 2010 (11:24am EDT)
Namoshiro Tanahashi's manga series "Hammer Session!" is being turned into a live-action drama, starring Mocomichi Hayami (25) and Mirai Shida (17). TBS will air the series next season.
The popular comic was originally serialized from 2006 to 2009. In the drama version, Hayami plays a genius swindler who escapes from a prison transport vehicle and assumes a new identity as a high school teacher. He conducts his classes in an extreme style known as "hammer session," forcing his students to become stronger.
Shida plays one of the students. Although she was celebrating her birthday at the show's press event on Monday, her fellow cast members surprised her by throwing her into the swimming pool.
The rest of the cast includes Jingi Irie (17), Manami Higa (23), Kaoru Sugita (45), Naomasa Musaka (56), and Fumiyo Kohinata (56). The series will premiere this July in TBS's Saturday 7:56pm time slot.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Masakazu Tamura to star in new "Kyuukei no Kouya" drama
Mon, May 17, 2010 (11:20am EDT)
The next Seicho Matsumoto novel to get a television drama treatment is "Kyuukei no Kouya." Fuji TV is turning it into a two-part drama, starring Masakazu Tamura (66). Yosuke Eguchi (42) and Toma Ikuta (25) have also been cast.
In "Kyuukei no Kouya," Tamura plays the fictional Kenichiro Nogami, a former top-class diplomatic secretary. In 1945, near the end of World War II, he is announced to have died in Switzerland, but he is secretly working in the shadows to try to save Japan from destruction. He carries out his mission alone, leaving behind both his family and his home.
Eguchi plays a police inspector and former soldier who is on Nogami's trail due to a murder case. Ikuta plays another police detective, who is drawn to Kenichiro's daughter (Manami Higa). Fumiyo Kohinata, Masato Hagiwara, and Masao Kusakari round out the supporting cast.
First published in 1962, "Kyuukei no Kouya" was turned into a movie in 1975, as well as multiple drama adaptations over the years.
The two episodes of the new drama will air on consecutive nights this fall.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Yuki Amami aims for "GOLD"
Wed, May 19, 2010 (9:17am EDT)
Yuki Amami (42) is confirmed to be starring in a new drama series this summer, tentatively titled "GOLD." The show is a home drama penned by screenwriter Shinji Nojima.
Amami plays Yuri Saotome, a charismatic beautician who runs a major sports gym and aesthetic salon. Her older brother died in an accident just before his opportunity to achieve a gold medal at the Olympics, so she chose to marry a wrestling gold medalist. After giving birth to four children, she and her husband broke off their marriage, leaving Yuri to raise the kids by herself. With their excellent genes, three of them have been raised as possible candidates for the next Olympic games.
"GOLD" will be broadcast by Fuji TV on Thursday nights at 10:00pm, starting this July.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Mirai Moriyama leads "Moteki" drama adaptation
Thu, May 20, 2010 (6:58pm EDT)
Mirai Moriyama (25) will star in a live-action drama series based on Mitsuro Kubo's manga "Moteki." This is his first drama role since getting married earlier this year.
Moriyama plays a temp worker who has never had any luck with women. One day, he suddenly starts getting invitations from several beautiful women, and he finds himself confused about how to deal with this new experience of having a "moteki" (a period when one is very popular and attractive to others).
http://asiacue.com/images/persons/m/Matsumoto,%20Rio_image.jpeg
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The women interested in Moriyama are being played by Maho Nonami (29), Hikari Mitsushima (24), Rio Matsumoto (27), and Rinko Kikuchi (29). The cast also includes Hirofumi Arai (31) and Lily Franky (46).
"Moteki" will be aired by TV Tokyo in the "Drama 24" time slot (Friday nights at 12:12am), starting on July 16.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Tomoya Nagase stars in new Kudokan drama
Wed, May 19, 2010 (7:10pm EDT)
TOKIO's Tomoya Nagase (31) is once again teaming up with screenwriter Kankuro Kudo (39) for a new drama series this summer. This will be their third one together, after "Ikebukuro West Gate Park" (2000) and "Tiger & Dragon" (2005).
Titled "Unubore Deka" ("Conceited Detective"), the show is an original comedy about an unusual detective (Nagase) who has a habit of falling in love with every female suspect, and his conceit leads him to believe that they are also in love with him. When he finds evidence of their crimes, he confronts them with an arrest warrant and a marriage proposal at the same time, giving them a choice between the two. Although his actual name will apparently not be mentioned during the show, he is known to everyone as "Unubore" for his conceit.
TBS says that they are lining up big-name actresses to play the guest role of the suspect for each episode. The network also hinted that there's even a case where the guest will be a male actor.
The regular supporting cast features Toma Ikuta (25) as an actor who is Unubore's friend, Mika Nakashima (27) as Unubore's ex-girlfriend, and Toshiyuki Nishida (62) as Unubore's father. The detective frequents a bar where he and a group of acquaintances are known as the "Unubore 5," consisting of Nagase, Ikuta, Jun Kaname (29), Ken Yahagi (38), and Mitsugoro Bando (54).
"Unubore Deka" will air on Friday nights at 10:00pm, starting in July.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Akiko Yada makes comeback in 'Die Hard'-type drama
Saturday 22nd May, 06:00 AM JST
TOKYO —
Actress Akiko Yada this week made her first public performance in four years, joining actor Kenji Sakaguchi, 34, in Odaiba for the preview screening of their Fuji Television special drama, “Keiji Narusawa Ryo: Tokyo Terror, Shijo Saiaku no 24jikan” (Detective Ryo Narusawa: Tokyo Terror: The Worst 24 Hours in History).
The show follows a tough detective, played by Sawaguchi, and his partner, a female detective played by Yada, on a 24-hour mission to stop a terror plot that threatens the lives of Tokyo’s 13 million citizens.
Sakaguchi took pride in the hard work he put into his action-packed role, explaining, “I performed the part with the image of a zombie in my head. For the injuries, I studied Bruce Willis in the ‘Die Hard’ movies and tried to make it as realistic as I could.”
Yada, 31, who had dropped out of sight since her divorce from ex-actor Manabu Oshio last August, was greeted with cheers and calls of “Yada-san!” as she appeared on stage. “I really pulled myself together and gave it all I could,” she said. “The shoot was only 13 days, but every one of those days was really jam-packed.”
The drama will begin airing May 29 at 9 p.m. on Fuji TV.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Yu Yamada's first lead role in drama series
Sun, May 23, 2010 (7:10pm EDT)
Yu Yamada (25) has been given her first starring role in a drama series. She will play the protagonist in TV Asahi's "Gakeppuchi no Eri ~ Kono Yo de Ichiban Daiji na 'Kane' no Hanashi," based on a semi-autobiographical essay by mangaka Rieko Saibara ("Bokunchi," "Mainichi Kaasan").
"Gakeppuchi no Eri" describes the turbulent life of Eriko (Yamada), who has been extremely poor since childhood, due to the debt left by her parents. Despite constant misfortune, she aims to achieve happiness and money by moving to Tokyo to pursue life as a manga artist.
The cast includes Takanori Jinnai, Eri Watanabe, Muga Tsukaji, Kotaro Koizumi, Yoji Tanaka, and Ren Osugi. Saibara herself will make a guest appearance on the show.
The show premieres in July and will air on Friday nights at 9:00pm.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Chiaki Kuriyama pairs up with Joe Odagiri in "Atami no Sousakan"
Tue, May 25, 2010 (7:00pm EDT)
Last month, it was announced that Joe Odagiri (34) is starring in a new drama series by director and screenwriter Satoshi Miki. It has now been revealed that the female lead will be played by actress Chiaki Kuriyama (25).
Set in Atami, "Atami no Sousakan" starts with the sudden disappearance of a school bus and four high school girls. Odagiri and Kuriyama play two national investigators trying to uncover the truth behind the disappearance.
TV Asahi has scheduled the series for its Friday 11:15pm time slot, starting in July.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Miki Nakatani plays marriage counselor in drama special
Wed, May 26, 2010 (10:49am EDT)
Miki Nakatani (34) is starring in a drama special on NTV next month, tentatively titled "Fuufu no Risou to Genjitsu -Tsuma ni Imasugu Dete Itte! to Iwaretara-." This is her first starring role in a drama special in about eight years.
The drama is based on a book by real-life marriage counselor Yasue Yoshiike. Nakatani plays a counselor who tries to resolve the problems of three different couples - a husband whose wife of 30 years threatens divorce, a wife who is troubled by domestic violence, and a wife dealing with psychological harassment.
NTV plans to broadcast the two-hour drama on June 30. The show's producer said that if it is received well, there is a possibility of turning it into a series.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Riisa Naka teaches Japanese in first lead drama role
Wed, May 26, 2010 (6:58pm EDT)
Up-and-coming actress Riisa Naka (20) now has her first starring role in a drama series. She will play a teacher in NTV's "Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo," premiering on July 15.
The drama is based on the popular comic essay series of the same name by Hebizou and Nagiko Umino. The original books are a collection of stories about a Japanese teacher, and they deal with aspects of the language that even native speakers get wrong.
Naka plays Haruko, a young woman with a dream of becoming a high school teacher. Her former teacher offers to get her a job if she takes on a 3-month position teaching Japanese to foreigners. Her students, which include an anime otaku from France, challenge her constantly with difficult questions about the Japanese language.
The drama will air on Thursday nights at 11:58pm.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Honami Suzuki joins cast of "Gou"
Wed, May 26, 2010 (10:14am EDT)
Honami Suzuki (43) is making her return to acting after ten years. She has been cast in next year's NHK taiga drama "Gou ~Himetachi no Sengoku~," which has already been revealed to feature lead actress Juri Ueno (24), Rie Miyazawa (37), and Asami Mizukawa (26).
Suzuki's last acting role was as the lead in the film "Ichigensan," released in 2000. That movie had already been filmed by the time she retired in 1998 after getting married to comedian Takaaki Ishibashi (48) of Tunnels. In 2008, Suzuki returned to show business but had not yet started acting again.
Suzuki will play the role of Oichi-no-kata, the younger sister of Oda Nobunaga. Oichi was the mother of the three daughters Yodo/Chacha (Miyazawa), Hatsu (Mizukawa), and Gou/Oeyo (Ueno).
Filming for "Gou" is scheduled to start this summer.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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MatsuJun Steps Into Spotlight
May 28, 2010
Matsumoto Jun (26, photo left) may be stepping out of the shadow of Kimura Takuya (37). Both are members of Johnny' Jimusho idol groups, of which KimuTaku's SMAP are the still hugely popular veterans, while MatsuJun and Arashi are being carefully groomed as the next dominant force. One indication of this is yesterday's announcement that Matsumoto has landed the lead role in a Monday night drama series on Fuji TV, making him the first Arashi member to do so.
The 9pm time slot is considered the most prestigious of all, and it was in that time slot that Kimura achieved audience ratings among the highest of modern times with shows like "Beautiful Life" (TBS, 2000) and "Hero" (Fuji, 2001). This spring, Fuji put Kimura in the spotlight with "Tsuki no Koibito" but as with his other recent dramas, ratings have been good rather than spectacular. So, attention will shift to how Matsumoto does in the romantic "Natsu no Koi ha Nijiiro ni Kagayaku." His love interest will be provided by always solid Takeuchi Yuko (30, photo right).
Matsumoto said, "I've been watching Monday night dramas on Fuji TV since I was a kid. So it's a great honor but also a lot of pressure. I will do my best to live up to it." The story is an original from Ohmori Mika (38), who wrote last year's basketball drama "Buzzer Beat." Matsumoto will play a struggling actor trying to get out of the shadow of his famous actor father.
Source: www.japan-zone.com |
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Post time 30-4-2010 12:45 PM
