The following is a list of NHK dramas offered through the Japanese Studies Collections. Brief plot synopses for each series are provided along with links to their pages in the library’s catalog.
Daichi no ko ( 大地の子)
A seven year old Japanese boy and his younger sister are stranded in China at the end of World War II. The boy is adopted by a Chinese school teacher and his wife and is raised as a Chinese. He has a hard life as a despised alien. He survives through the cultural revolution, meets his natural father, and then has a choice of remaining in China or returning to a Japan that is not home.
Gegege no nyōbō ( ゲゲゲの女房 )
Tells the story of the relationship between the writer Mura Nunoe and her husband, a manga artist,
Mizuki Shigeru.
Himawari ( ひまわり )
A 24-year-old woman passes the exam to become a lawyer. While enduring the hardships of her
internship, she begins a relationship with a fellow colleague.
Kagerō no tsuji ( 陽炎の辻 )
A story about a gifted swordsman who faces various troubles brought to him with a strong sense of justice and genuine sympathy for commoners. Sakazaki Iwane is a ronin who spends idle days in Edo. Until a few months ago, he was a promising son and successor to a powerful family in Bungo. He has come back to Edo, where he lived for a while for swordplay training with his two best friends, after a tragedy in the three’s home domain—both of the two friends died, one of them killed by Iwane by command of the domain lord’s chief retainer. Iwane left his home for Edo, leaving behind his fiancée, a sister of the friend he killed. Eventually, Iwane detects the conspiracy behind the deaths of the two friends and struggles to reform his domain. – From Wiki
Oshin ( おしん )
A young girl from a poor family is sent away from home at the age of seven to become a domestic servant. After many years of hardship she establishes a local chain of supermarkets and gains independence and success in life