, released in some countries as ''Bon Appetit!'', is a

Japanese television drama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...

series. It first aired from 30 September 2013 to 29 March 2014. It is scripted by Yoshiko Morishita, who wrote such dramas as '' Jin'', and stars

Anne Watanabe is a Japanese fashion model, actress and singer, the daughter of film actor Ken Watanabe and his first wife Yumiko. In her modeling work, she is known by the mononym Anne.Kuhn, Anthony"For Japanese Women, The Past Is The Latest Fad" Career Wat ...

as Meiko Uno, a woman who lives through the Taisho and

Shōwa Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

eras and tries to excel at

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

. Meiko is the daughter of parents who run a western style restaurant in Tokyo. She marries, moves to Osaka with her husband, and experiences cultural differences between Tokyo and Osaka, as she lives as a mother and wife in Osaka. It is the 89th

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 ...

Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Ta ...

. The word ''gochisōsan'' is an informal version of '' gochisōsama'', a term used to thank a host or a cook for a meal.

Cast

Main characters

as Meiko Nishikado (her maiden name was Uno) ** Hana Toyoshima as young Meiko Uno * Masahiro Higashide as Yūtarō Nishikado, Meiko's husband **Ryūnosuke Hosoda as young Yūtarō Nishikado *Miyabi Matsuura as Fuku Nishikado, Meiko's daughter **Tomoka Harami as young Fuku Nishikado *

Masaki Suda , known professionally as , is a Japanese actor and singer. He won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for the film ''Wilderness''. Personal life Suda was born in Minoh, Osaka Prefecture. Hi ...

as Taisuke Nishikado, Meiko's son ** Ryūto Misawa as young Taisuke Nishikado * Daigo Nishihata as Katsuo Nishikado, Meiko's son ** Teruo Ninomiya as young Katsuo Nishikado

Uno family

Kazuko Yoshiyuki (born 9 August 1935) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and essayist. Biography Early life Kazuko was born in Tokyo as a first daughter of Eisuke Yoshiyuki, a writer, and Aguri. She has an older brother, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, a novelist, an ...

as Tora Uno, Meiko's grandmother (also as narrator) *

Naomi Zaizen is a Japanese actress. Filmography Films *'' Heaven and Earth'' (1990), Yae * '' Brave Father Online: Our Story of Final Fantasy XIV'' (2019), Yukiko Iwamoto *''The Women in the Lakes'' (2024), Ikuko Matsumoto Television * ''Homura Tatsu' ...

as Iku Uno, Meiko's mother *

Taizō Harada is a Japanese comedian and actor who performs '' boke'' in the comedy trio Neptune. He is nicknamed . Harada is represented with Watanabe Entertainment is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate and a member of the Watanabe Production ...

as Daigo Uno, Meiko's father *Kai Inowaki as Teruo Uno, Meiko's brother *Chiemi Matsutera as Kuma

Nishikado family

Masaomi Kondō is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Kyoto, Kondō made his film debut in Shohei Imamura's '' The Pornographers'' in 1966. Filmography Films Television References External links Official profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kondo, Masaomi 1942 bi ...

as Shōzō Nishikado, Yutaro's father ** Masahiro Kobori as young Shōzo Nishikado * Yoshiko Miyazaki as Shizu Nishikado ** Saki Furuwa as young Shizu Nishikado * Midoriko Kimura as Kazue Yamashita (her maiden name was Nishikado), Yutaro's older sister *

Mitsuki Takahata is a Japanese actor and singer who is represented by the talent agency Horipro. She attended Hosei University as an undergraduate student. Her song "Hitomi Hiraite" is the Japanese theme song for Meet the Robinsons. Personal life On November ...

as Noriko Kawakubo (her maiden name was Nishikado), Yutaro's younger sister and Keiji's wife ** Yura Arata as young Noriko Nishikado

Others

*Yasuhi Nakamura as Umasuke Takagi *Takashi Yamanaka as Kosai Muroi, Sakurako's husband and Meiko's friend *

Aki Maeda is a Japanese actress and singer. She has an older sister named Ai Maeda. She is perhaps best known in the west for her role as Noriko Nakagawa in the controversial 2000 film '' Battle Royale'', which she reprised for its sequel '' Battle ...

as Sakurako Muroi (her maiden name was Horinohata), Kosai's wife *Abe Yohana as Ayame Muroi, Kosai and Sakurako's eldest daughter **Akira Sugimoto as young Ayame Muroi *Akiko Kimata as Tatsuko Takagi, Umasuke's sister *Mai Miyajima as Tamiko Nogawa, Meiko's friend *Kaoru Okumeki as Mrs. Miyamoto *

Masato Wada is a Japanese actor and singer. He is known for his role as Sengoku Kiyosumi in ''The Prince of Tennis'' musical series, Tenimyu (and making a cameo in the ''Prince of Tennis'' live action film adaptation). He is also part of a young men's st ...

as Genta Izumi, Meiko's childhood friend *

Ai Kato is a Japanese actress. History On November 14, 2013, she announced that she had married a non-celebrity. They registered their marriage on November 22. On September 14, 2015, she revealed that she gave birth to her first child, a girl, in Ameri ...

as Akiko Matsuda **Kotoko Noda as young Akiko Matsuda *Ippei Shigeyama as Keiji Kawakubo, Noriko's husband *Henry Fowler as

Kansai dialect The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as su ...

-speaking GHQ interpreter

International broadcast

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

: aired every Monday to Saturday on

WakuWaku Japan WakuWaku Japan (stylized as WAKUWAKU JAPAN) was a Japanese pay television channel that broadcast Japanese programs to overseas viewers in Asia. The channel broadcast programming in Japanese, as well as translated versions in Indonesian, Man ...

under the title ''Bon Appetit!''. The broadcast rights for the drama were sold to Sri Lanka with the intention of dubbing it into Sinhalese. *

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

: aired every night on Tamasha TV under the title ''Bon Appetit!'' (). *

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

: premiered on

CVM Television CVM Television Limited (CVM TV) is a television station in Kingston, Jamaica owned by VertiCast Media Group. The station's name is an acronym for the three original major shareholders granted the television license in 1991: Community Television S ...

in 2017. *

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

: broadcast through

TV Alhijrah TV Alhijrah (stylized in capital letters; also abbreviated as TVAH) is a state-owned Malaysian free-to-air Islamic television channel, owned and operated by Al-Hijrah Media Corporation, a company under the purview of the Department of Islamic ...

. *

: aired every Saturday to Sunday on

Thai PBS The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (; ), or Thai PBS (; ), is a public broadcasting service in Thailand. It was established by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, BE 2551 (2008), which came into force on 15 January 2008. Under this act, Th ...

under the title ''Best Woman, Best Chef'' ().

References

External links

* 2013 Japanese television series debuts 2014 Japanese television series endings Asadora Television series set in restaurants Television shows set in Osaka Television shows written by Yoshiko Morishita {{Japan-tv-prog-stub