, colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

program series broadcast in the mornings by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese public broadcaster

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Takeshi Kitazawa which aired in Japan Monday through Friday mornings—it was also the only of such series to be aired for 20 minutes per episode. From 1975 onward, series aired in the first half of the year are produced by the NHK Tokyo Broadcasting station and series in the latter half of the year are produced by the NHK Osaka Broadcasting station; the Osaka branch's first ''asadora'' production was in 1964. Due to the practice of wiping commonly in practice around the world in the 1960s and 1970s, not all episodes of all pre-1980 ''asadora'' series survive, as the 2-inch Quad videotapes were often wiped and reused; 16 of the produced ''asadora'' series in total are incomplete in the NHK archives, with several series having no surviving episodes at all. Several late 1970s series are complete in the archive as the result of off-air home video recordings donated by viewers; all series from (1979) onward are retained in full in their original formats. ''Asadora'' currently airs in Japan Monday through Saturday mornings on

NHK General TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of its co ...

from 8:00 to 8:15, with a rebroadcast the same day from 12:45 to 13:00. Starting with (2020), the timeslot changed to Monday through Friday mornings, with the omnibus airings on Saturday. The ''asadora'' have become some of the most popular shows on Japanese television, with series such as '' Oshin'', earning an overall 52.6-percent ratings for the series. Virtually all of the storylines center on the life of a female heroine who faces challenges while working to achieve her dreams. The heroine is chosen by NHK through an audition that involves interviews with several thousand applicants. The winning actress not only stars in an ''asadora'', but also becomes a spokeswoman for NHK, and is usually involved in NHK-sponsored events—including the annual

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

New Year's Eve event. Often, the asadora serves as a springboard for the actress to other opportunities within the Japanese entertainment industry. The current series is '' Anpan'' (2025).

List of series

References

External links

Official webpage
{{DISPLAYTITLE: ''Asadora'' 1961 Japanese television series debuts Japanese entertainment terms NHK original programming

List of series

See also

References

External links