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 and the 103rd

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 ...

series, following Yell. It premiered on November 30, 2020 and concluded on May 15, 2021. It is based on the life of

Chieko Naniwa Chieko Naniwa (浪花千栄子) (November 19, 1907 – December 22, 1973) was a Japanese actress who was active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She is best known for playing geisha in several films, such as Kenji Mizoguchi's ''A Geisha'', and the Fo ...

Plot

Chiyo Takei (

Hana Sugisaki is a Japanese actress who was previously signed to Stardust Promotion. Her former stage name was Hana Kajiura. Biography Sugisaki debuted as a child actress with Stardust Promotion under the stage name . She withdrew from the industry for a pe ...

) was born to a poor family in

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

’s Minamikawachi district in the

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

. Her mother died when she was still a child, and she lived with her father Teruo and younger brother. Although Chiyo could not be put through

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, she has the gift of the gab and quick wit. At the age of 9, she starts working as a servant in Dotonbori and comes across the theatre world which immediately captivates her. Chiyo’s desire to become an actress grows stronger by the day. She eventually runs away and heads to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

where she throws herself into acting.

Cast

Takei's family

as Chiyo Takei ** Nono Maida as young Chiyo *

Tortoise Matsumoto Tortoise Matsumoto (トータス松本 ''Tōtasu Matsumoto'', born December 28, 1966, as 松本敦 Atsushi Matsumoto) is the lead singer of the Japanese guitar group, Ulfuls. He has also had a couple of acting roles in TV dramas, starting with ''N ...

as Teruo Takei, Chiyo's father * Emma Miyazawa as Kuriko Takei, Chiyo's step-mother * Yūki Kura as Yoshiro Takei, Chiyo's younger brother ** Hinata Aruta as young Yoshio

Dotonbori people

* Ryoko Shinohara as Shizu Okada, a landlady of Okayasu theater * Jun Nagura as Sōsuke Okada, Shizu's husband * Ayaka Higashino as Mitsue Okada, Shizu and Sōsuke's only daughter ** Yumi Kishida as young Mitsue * Keiko Miyata as Hana Okada, Shizu's mother *

Yōko Ishino Yōko Ishino (いしのようこ, Ishino Youko, born February 20, 1968) is a List of Japanese actresses, Japanese actress and tarento. She debuted in 1985 as a pop singer, and first appeared on television in 1986 and also appeared as a comedian ...

as Kiku Tomikawa, a landlady of Fukutomi theater * Hideaki Okajima as Fukumatsu Tomikawa, Kiku's husband * Takuya Inoue as Fukusuke Tomikawa, Kiku and Fukumatsu's only son ** Kazuma Matsumoto as young Fukusuke * Kaoru Kusumi as Kame * Shiori Doi as Fujiko * Sawa Nimura as Setsuko * Chisa Furuya as Tama * Masumi Tange as Tsubaki * Ren Sawaki as Hodan * Kurumi Fujimoto as Ayame

Comedy people

Ryo Narita is a Japanese actor and model. He is represented by Sony Music Artists. He started his career as a model for ''Men's Non-no is a Japanese language, Japanese monthly men's fashion and lifestyle magazine based in Tokyo. Published by Shueisha, i ...

as Ippei Amami, Chiyo's husband ** Tōma Nakasu as young Ippei * Motohiko Shigeyama as Tenkai Amami, Ippei's father * Hidetoshi Hoshida as Sennosuke Suganoya *

Itsuji Itao , is a Japanese comedian and actor. He is a member of the comedy duo 130R and former cast member of one of Downtown's previous shows. He usually appears in their batsu games. Filmography (actor) Film *2001 ''Desert Moon'' ... Interviewer *200 ...

as Mantarō Suganoya * Tadashi Nishikawa as Kumada * Haru Konishi as Tōko Asahina

Kamigata theater people

* Nakamura Ganjirō IV as Ōyama Tsuruzō * Haruka Igawa as Yuriko Takashiro, an actress *

Mayumi Wakamura Mayumi Wakamura (若村麻由美 ''Wakamura Mayumi'', born on January 3, 1967, in Nerima, Tokyo) is a Japanese actress. She decided to be an actress at age sixteen when she saw a stage production by Tatsuya Nakadai's troupe. Later she joined his ...

as Chidori Yamamura * Rio Asumi as Ruriko Takamine * Kantarō Soganoya as Masanori Oyamada * Eiji Kochō as Appare Suganoya * Noriyuki Otsuka as Tokkuri Suganoya * Ryotaro Okawa as Yōjirō Urushibara * Kiyo Matsumoto as Kaori Ishida * Ryutarō Sakaguchi as Hyakkuri Suganoya

People from Kyoto

* Kazuhiko Nishimura as Kiyoshi Miyamoto, an owner of Kinema cafe *

Ai Yoshikawa is a Japanese actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as fi ...

as Mari Uno, a Kinema female employee * Junko Abe as Yōko Wakasaki, an aspiring actress * Emi Kurara as Kiyoko Yabuuchi, a member of "Chidori Yamamura Ichiza"

People in movie theater

* Ryuya Wakaba as Shinji Kogure, an assistant director *

Seiji Rokkaku is a Japanese actor from Hyōgo Prefecture. He was born in Himeji and raised in Takasago. Rokkaku is the vocalist of Rokkaku Seiji Band. He dropped out of Gakushuin University. Rokkaku became famous in Japan for his role as Mamoru Yonezawa in ...

as Heihachi Katagane, the chief of Tsurukame studio * Shibuya Tengai III as Moriya, a security guard * Jun'ya Kawashima as George Honda, a director * First Summer Uika as Mika Honda, an actress * Akari Kizuki as Yayoi Tōyama, an actress

People from Kawachi

* Koichi Kurokawa as Tatsuo Kobayashi * Yoshikazu Kiuchi as Mr. Tamai * Mitsuo Sagawa as Minegishi, president of a glass factory

Others

* Muga Tsukaji as Ataro Hanaguruma * Ōshirō Maeda as Kanji Matsushima * Kichiya Katsura as Kurogo (also as narrator)

Production

The filming began on April 2, 2020, but on April 7, NHK decided the suspension of shooting for the new series after Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

proclaimed a one-month

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

for Tokyo and other prefectures. The shooting was resumed on June 24. Since then, it has been recorded in accordance with NHK "Drama Production Manual for Preventing New Coronavirus Infection", and although the recording schedule has been significantly delayed, it has not considered changing the script or shortening the broadcasting period. The series announced that it will premiered on November 30, after previously being delayed from original on September 28 due to the pandemic.

References

External links

Official website
(in Japanese) * {{Asadora 2020 Japanese television series debuts 2021 Japanese television series endings Asadora Television shows set in Osaka