The Woman Who Wants to Cook and the Woman Who Wants to Eat Season 2

Cooking is how Yuki Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she finds herself making way more than she can eat by herself. And so, she invites her neighbor Totoko Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this impromptu dinner invitation...?

This Japanese web manga series is written and illustrated by Sakaomi Yuzaki, and the first series of 10 episodes premiered on NHK General TV in December 2022. The second season has double the number of episodes, and features two of our tracks, ‘Past Recollections 2’, a beautiful, pastoral string and piano piece and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, ‘P.A.R.T.Y. 2’, a fun, Latin-style hip hop instrumental with big Mariachi horns.

The original manga series has not only led to this TV adaptation, but also to a dedicated shop selling merchandise with original art, whose proceeds go to Marriage for All Japan, an organization that advocates for same-sex marriage equality in the country.

Want to read the manga in English? It’s published through Yen Press.

Read more about the show here.

My Neighbour Nurse Aide

NTV’s new comedy drama – which is also full of suspense - debuted in January, and is based on the book Tonari no Nurse Aid by Mikito Chinen. Our heroine is Sakuraba Mio, a newcomer who’s assigned to the Department of General Surgery at the prestigious Seirei Medical University Hospital. She’s not a doctor or nurse, but her job as a ‘nurse aide’ makes her the closest person to the patients, and one of the hospital’s unsung heroes.

Mio’s a caring person, but also a medical geek, so she’s curious about what’s going on, especially with skilled, handsome ‘lone wolf’ surgeon, Ryuzaki Taiga. Full of unpredictable twists and turns, this is a funny, touching drama series about hospital life.

Paul Mottram’s ‘Misfit 2’ is perfectly suited to the show’s mysterious, quirky feel, with its unusual cello pizzicato.

Read more about the show here.

Boogie Woogie

NHK’s new asadora (morning serialized drama) features jazz singer/actress Shizuko Kasagi (Shuri Mizutani) and songwriter Ryōichi Hattori (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi).

Based on the life of the inspirational pre- and post-war jazz singer and actress Shizuko Kasagi (1914-1985), this series has been an important vehicle for educating a general television audience on the lives of relatively unknown Meiji, Taisho, and Shōwa-era female pioneers for over six decades.

The fictionalized story of Kasagi’s life features music by Takayuki Hattori, the grandson of Ryōichi Hattori, who was the singer's principal mentor and songwriter.

Asadora narratives typically see the heroine moving from a rural town to either Tokyo or Osaka to pursue a dream, often against the backdrop of war and occupation. Kasagi was a member of a dance troupe, getting her big break in 1938 when she was selected to join a new, experimental male-female variety theatre troupe based in Tokyo, the Shōchiku Gakugekidan (SGD), where she met up and coming composer Ryōichi Hattori. Her powerful voice made her a muse for his dream of creating a Japanese version of the new (at the time) African-American swing jazz style. The media proclaimed Kasagi the ‘Queen of Swing’.

After the war, Hattori wrote ‘Tokyo Boogie’ for Kasagi, which became her biggest hit in 1948. The singer subsequently reinvented herself as a comedic actress, appearing in several movies and TV shows, even becoming a judge on a popular TV singing show in the 1970s.

In terms of the series, as JapanForward.com says, ‘Boogie Woogie will not only be about how Shizuko Kasagi was the Queen of Boogie Woogie and cheerleader for postwar Japan. It will also be the story of how post-war Japan, and especially its female half was able to reimagine and rebuild itself so successfully.’

A lilting version of the ‘Valse’ from Swan Lake is one of the featured tracks on the show.

Read more about the show here.

Aibou – Season 22

Tokyo detective duo Ukyō Sugishita and Kameyama Kaoru are back for season 22 of Aibou. The members of the First Investigative Division are exploring a case where a man fell to his death from his apartment. What does it have to do with religious group ‘Paradise of Smiles’ and is it connected to a terrorist incident from a decade ago?

Igor Dvorkin and Duncan Pittock’s ‘Tympanum’s developing deep drum groove adds to the tension.

Read more about the show here.

Gekokujo Kyuji

Inspired by a real story, Gekokujo Kyuji, aka Worst to First: A Teen Baseball Miracle, is centred around a local school baseball team, which has lost its first game in the prefectural tournament for the past 10 years. The drama focuses on Nagumo Shuji, a man who played baseball all his life until an injury in college forced him to retire. Shuji is now a social studies teacher and his daily life changes drastically after he is put in charge of the school's weak baseball team.

The show features Terry Devine-King and Tom Jenkins’ ‘Fire Comet’, a slice of dreamy, building piano and guitar-led indie rock.

Looking for music to soundtrack the best sporting moments? Our Summer of Sport collection has you covered, for highs, lows and everything in between.

Read more about the show here.

Japanese Music – Everything You Need to Know

Want to learn about Japanese music? Take a deep dive into our history of the country’s different genres, its traditional and contemporary music and the instruments that are synonymous with the Japanese sound.

Plus, if you’re looking for music to license for a TV show, then we’ve got all tips you need on selecting the right music, plus hand-picked playlists and fortnightly new releases for almost unlimited choice when it comes to genre and mood.