Always Smiling

"A School Behind Bars" centers around Asahi Junior High School, which is located within Nagano Matsumoto Boy's prison in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture - the only public school in Japan that is located inside a prison. The school's students are all prisoners ranging in age from 20-70. The students are carefully selected after taking an entrance exam and being selected by the school's admission board.

He brought together the Akashi family and Shinobu Otake, who later married (Imalu was born, then divorced). The fun of the interaction between Sanma and Otake became a hot topic, with a peak viewership of over 31%, and a sequel "The Story of Seven Men and Women in Autumn" was produced. It is also said to be the originator of trendy drama.

A year has passed since his girlfriend, Momoko Kanzaki, left for America. Ryosuke Imai has been waiting for her, but he hasn't heard from her since. In addition to Ryosuke, there's Osawa Teikuro, who's sulking after being dumped by his beloved, and Takagi Toshiyuki, who hasn't been able to marry despite 15 arranged marriages. These men are over 30 and still undecided about their lives. Meanwhile, Okinaka Miki, who runs a fishing boat business, is a straightforward, big sister type. Her friends Hikaru Koizumi and Kazue Shimamura always rely on her. Ryosuke and his friends end up going on a triple date with Miki and the others. Despite meeting new women, Ryosuke continues to cherish his memories of Momoko. One autumn night, Ryosuke boards the last ferry from Kawasaki Port to Kisarazu, where he reunites with Momoko, who was supposed to be in America. However, Momoko has a new boyfriend, Yokoyama Ken, sitting next to her...

At 55, Kan-ichi Kanzaki is the old-fashioned and overbearing father of the Kanzaki family: his wife Miyako, his son Tadashi, and his two daughters Sayuri and Suzu. Being an “oyaji,” a stubborn middle-aged man that cannot keep his opinion to himself, Kan-ichi is particularly bothered when he views what he believes to be a failure in the public’s morals. But unlike the occasional stranger, his kids have to live under his scrutiny every day, and there are plenty of family crises to draw his ire. Although he can be strict, his actions are driven by his love for his family, and one can’t help but be touched and amused by the loving efforts of such an “oyaji.”

The Akazas are a blue-collar family living in a working-class neighborhood of Tokyo. Older brother Inosuke is a carpenter who works for his father Shinobu's construction business. Younger sister Momoko is a truckdriver. Passions run high in the Akaza household and the two siblings are constantly bickering. One day, Momoko reveals she had a miscarriage but refuses to say who the father is.

Chiyo, a 59 year old mother of 4, had lost her husband seven years ago. She will soon lose her home so she is offered by her eldest son, Ryoichi to live with him and his family. But her children are disappointed to hear that Chiyo has decided to become a live-in housekeeper. Then her eldest daughter Setsuko announced that Chiyo has had an offer of marriage. It is from the widower Kurosaki who had been a friend to Chiyo's deceased husband. Kurosaki runs a small company and has no children but has enough life savings. However, second daughter Tomoe, and youngest child, Yoko, are opposed to it. The siblings begin to argue. Meanwhile, Kurosaki tells his sister Namiko that he has decided to remarry. She is furious because he refuses to tell her anything about Chiyo. Thus, she takes it upon herself to find out about Chiyo and soon has a confrontation with her. Around that time, Kurosaki’s company is about to go bankrupt...

Eiji Ogawa, a young leader of the Hattagumi yakuza, left the prison after two years sentence. However, it was only Tsuneyoshi Mito, the younger brother, who came to meet him.

A sharpshooting rookie and a veteran with a brilliant track record are paired to solve a number of different cases. The two incompatible women clash about everything, and we see them developing a friendship, hating one another, working as team, laughing and crying as they follow the trail of clues set by a serial killer.

Hirayama Konosuke is a retired man who expects to spend a peaceful life with his wife, Fumie. However, his world is turned upside down when Fumie reveals her long-held dream of opening a book café—using his retirement savings. This disagreement soon escalates into a potential divorce, deeply affecting their family.

A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment…for their bodies and their souls. The proprietor of Izakaya Moheji is Heiji, played by Yutaka Mizutani, star of the popular AIBOU series. Izakaya Moheji is a place where regulars and strangers alike can find comfort and comfort food.

The middle-aged couple at the center of this drama somehow seems to pull through despite constant quarreling. The critical husband has clearly found his match in an equally combative wife, with one hilarious encounter after another revealing the love/hate relationship which typically underlies modern marriages.

Haruko Takanashi is 30. She works at a radio station. She is approaching middle management where good looks alone aren't enough. She isn't very romantic so she devotes herself to work and play and suddenly finds herself alone. Just when she has given up on romance she meets a man. She meets him at a party to which she was taken by a subordinate at work. He is 25-year-old Ichiro Kashiwakura and is nothing out of the ordinary. They start a relationship. One day, out of the blue, Ichiro ardently proposes to Haruko. Realizing that he really loves her, Haruko says yes and they get married. But she still hasn't told him her real age.

This drama is about the life of Japan's infamous poet, Kaneko Misuzu. It begins with her as a young girl in the Taisho era, and tells of her life as she becomes a woman, a wife and then a mother. It touches on Misuzu's relationship with her brother, and how she dealt with the death of a dear friend and her husband's unemployment and subsequent illness. Kaneko Misuzu committed suicide at the age of 26, closing the chapter on one of Japan's most prolific poet of all times.

A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment for their bodies and their souls. The proprietor of Izakaya Moheji is Heiji. It is a place where regulars and strangers alike can find comfort and comfort food.