Ken Watanabe

Inception

Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

Batman Begins

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

As humanity picks up the pieces after the battle of Chicago, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs. With help from Cade Yeager, Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager; Bumblebee; an English Lord; and an Oxford Professor.

Godzilla

Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.

The Last Samurai

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

The Creator

Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.

Inception

Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

Batman Begins

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

As humanity picks up the pieces after the battle of Chicago, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs. With help from Cade Yeager, Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager; Bumblebee; an English Lord; and an Oxford Professor.

Godzilla

Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.

The Last Samurai

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

The Creator

Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent monster who seeks to be a detective.

Isle of Dogs

In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.

Memoirs of a Geisha

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Letters from Iwo Jima

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Kokuho

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his Yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wings of a famous Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of Kabuki.

Tampopo

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

When Darren Shan is taken to a circus that's chock-full of sideshow oddities, he meets a vampire and receives a life-changing bite on the neck.

Kensuke's Kingdom

A young boy and his family set off on a sailing trip of a lifetime until a violent storm erupts, sweeping Michael and his dog overboard. After washing up on a remote island, terrified, they struggle to survive and adjust to life alone, One day, Michael discovers he is not alone when he is confronted by a mysterious Japanese man who has lived there secretly since World War II, angry that Michael has arrived. However, as dangerous invaders threaten their fragile island paradise, Michael and the old man, Kensuke, join forces to save their secret world.

Fukushima 50

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

7 Guardians of the Tomb

An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000 year old nightmare - a secret that should have remained buried.

The Sea of Trees

In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of love and redemption.

Shanghai

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

Rage

A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their blood. The killer undergoes plastic surgery and flees. At three different locations in Japan, a male stranger appears. People suspect that the stranger might be the murderer.

The King and I

Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn King Mongkut of Siam. Anna and the King have a clash of personalities as she works to teach the royal family about the English language, customs and etiquette, and rushes to prepare a party for a group of European diplomats who must change their opinions about the King.

Bel Canto

A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after performing at a Japanese businessman's lavish birthday party. Unexpected bonds are forged in the standoff that ensues.

Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

A love story written by an ordinary housewife is going to be broadcast as a radio drama and almost everyone among the crew insists on changing various parts of the play to their liking.

Alice in Borderland

With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to win.

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

Tokyo Vice

A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. Based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction book of the same name.

The Fire Still Burns

This drama tells the story of the Oushu Fujiwara clan spanning generations, 140 years in the late Heian era. They established their domain in Touhoku area (North-east area of Japan), independent from the rule of Minamoto clan.

Segodon

Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.

Masamune Shogun

Broadcast TV drama NHK broadcast on January 4 to December 13, 1987 (Showa 62). In the questionnaire survey conducted by NHK, it is shining in the most favorite river drama. The original is Yamaka Sosaichi's novel "Date Masamune", the biggest drama on the theme of the Date house was the first time in 17 years since the "Shinnogi remained" (1970), which painted Datejo in the Edo period. It depicts the life of Matsudo Date of Sengoku warrior · Date Masamune who built the foundation of Sendai clan 620,000 stones in his generation as a result of my own wisdom and talent.

Back of Father

A 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and daughters.

The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk

The series depicts "Kyoto as Kyoto people love it" in dramas and documentaries.

Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Living in Ikebukuro — an area infamous for juvenile crime, 21-year-old Makoto Majima becomes associated with a youth gang called the G-Boys. A troubleshooter known for his cool headedness and ability to get things done, Makoto diffuses tense situations around Ikebukuro to keep his friends and others out of harm's way. However, the mysterious death of his girlfriend and an escalating gang turf war threaten to be more than Makoto can handle.

Hanekonma

Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents, the story revolves around the Tachibana family and Rin's life throughout many years.

Unbound

In 18th-century Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo rises from a poor background to become a leading publisher. Despite political changes threatening his career, he works to shape Edo’s cultural scene through innovative books and collaborations with artists.

Gokenin Zankuro

Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner to make ends meet. He also has a drinking problem, an overeating mother, and a propensity to protect the oppressed, all of which eat into his finances. His confident mother Masajo (Kyoko Kishida) is the descendant of a famous family of shogunate retainers and a mistress of the pen and sword, who regards her son as a failure.

NHK WORLD PRIME

NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on all sorts of topics and genres.

Hojo Tokimune

The 40th NHK Taiga Drama is Hojo Tokimune. It tells the dramatic and turbulent life of young shikken Hojo Tokimune, and his successful defense of Japan from invasion by Mongolia in the 1200's. It is a tragic story of betrayal and clan wars and Hojo Tokimune is at the center of it all. The main focus of the story is Hojo Tokiyori's older sons, their relationship, and their views and actions concerning Kublai Khan's attempted invasion. The two brothers, Tokimune and Tokisuke, are torn apart by politics.

川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語

NHK's 50th-anniversary memorial drama serial. This drama consisting of several short stories starring some of the well-known actors and actress of Japan today. A ball floats from the river's source to the sea, unlocking the portrayal of six love stories across the four seasons of the year.

TRUE COLORS

A top fashion photographer who, after being diagnosed with a life-altering illness, must overcome overwhelming challenges and find hope and strength in her journey of transformation.

Vessel of Sand

Eiryo Waga is well-known musician who has begun a rapid climb to stardom, but he must keep his terrible past a secret. One day someone who knows all about his past confronts him, and Waga kills him in order to protect the fame he has obtained. Unfortunately, as Waga is leaving the scene, he runs into Asami, a budding stage actress. An investigation team is established led by two detectives, but they have difficulty making any headway. Meanwhile, by coincidence Waga bumps into Asami again. She also has her own dark past, and soon they fall in love. But Waga is already engaged to Ayaka whose father is responsible for his rapid ascent to the top of the music world. It looks like Waga’s ambitions are about to confront reality. Based on Seicho Matsumoto’s famous work that was released in 1960-61, this drama illustrates the life of a man burdened with a heavy fate in a contemporary setting.

Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko

Based on the novel by Jirō Asada, the TV movie depicts the lives of the Shinsengumi warriors during the turmoil of the late Edo period.

Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho

After years in Paris, former wagashi heiress Miyako Sawafuji returns as illness threatens her Kyoto family. Between centuries-old tradition and modern ambitions, a new generation faces whether and how to inherit the shop and its culture.

Toubousha

A remake of the American show "The Fugitive." After performing emergency surgery, elite doctor Kazuki Kakurai returns home to find his wife and housekeeper murdered. He briefly confronts the real killer but is knocked unconscious. Despite his innocence, Kazuki is framed and sentenced to death for the double homicide. During a prison transfer, he escapes the convoy bus and goes on the run. Now a fugitive, he must clear his name while staying one step ahead of the relentless Detective Masami Hosaka.

A Tale of Two Truncheons

Based on Kazuo Koike's extensive manga (over 110 volumes), this Edo-period drama follows an unlikely pair of law enforcement officers. One is a serious, skilled investigator, while the other is a witty, unconventional problem-solver, creating a dynamic partnership. The series also features the charmingly unorthodox detective Suruyoshi in a notable period drama debut. A memorable and catchy soundtrack complements the engaging stories brought to life by a large and talented cast.

Waga Machi

Based on Ed McBain's "87th Precinct" series. The drama series is set in Tsukishima, a popular town near downtown Tokyo, and is composed of content that incorporates the storyline of the original work while also incorporating current events and social issues in Japan.

Baian the Assassin

During the day, Dr. Baian is the friendly and trusted village acupuncturist. At night, he becomes Baian, the assassin. Using his acupuncture needles as weapons, he takes on deadly assignments, killing evildoers with an undeniable skill and precision.

横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)