Best movies & TV Shows like Tokyo Cinderella Story

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.

Tetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college-educated brother, but ultimately wins both the girl and his father's acceptance and support in a touching and refreshing way.

A spell of time in the life of a family in rural Tochigi prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.

A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student, in this charming and tender tale of young love and cultural discovery.

A young girl from a small parochial country village is raped and ravaged at the hands of local roughnecks, escapes to a new life in the big city of Tokyo, and finds a pretty similar fate awaiting her there.

A lonely Ohio spinster hopes to find romance when she travels to New York City for a postmasters' convention.

Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.

Japan's #1 negotiator Mashita Masayoshi is called into action again as a mysterious train terrorizes Tokyo's underground railway network. But this time his opponent is gunning for him personally.

Based on the German TV series "Der letzte Bulle."

Centers on three childhood friends in a love triangle. Yori moved back to the countryside, and started wearing glasses and not being noticed by girls. Meanwhile, Shizuku entered the entertainment industry alongside Subaru, and both began working as a model and actor, respectively. But when Yori turns 16, he re-enters their lives.

Defence lawyer Emi is assigned to a particularly unusual case: a man is suspected of murdering his wealthy wife, and his only alibi is a 421-year old ghost, Rokubei. At first Emi is hesitant, but when she pursues her lead she is visited by the ghost herself. And so the fun begins in the courtroom when Prosecutor Osano starts to cross examine.

When middle-aged salary man Tsubakiyama suddenly dies, he leaves his family high and dry. But suddenly he's given another chance: a few days in which to return to Earth and straighten things out. The thing is, he's come back in the form of a strikingly beautiful young woman.

Koji, a jazz musician, takes a cigarette break in between sets at a Tokyo nightclub. He witnesses a murder and runs into a girl, Linda, who is being pursued by the killers. For the next two hours, Koji and Linda are running from both the hitmen and the police. Mistakenly identified as prime suspects, they have to solve the crime but time is running out: Koji has to be back to perform in his club by midnight, as a very special guest will be attending.

Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady.

A former athlete, Kōhei is a swimmer with a wife and child. One day his wife asks him to sign the divorce papers. From shock, he escapes to alcohol, finding himself one night in Tokyo’s gay district, Shinjuku Ni-chōme, where his fateful meeting awaits with Yūtaka, a beautiful twink. Yūtaka makes a living from live sex webcams with men, but his dream is to become an anime creator. Yūtaka however is tortured because he still hadn't come out to his father who collapsed from illness. Kōhei and Yūtaka both carry a cross. They hesitate but can't stop being drawn to each other as if they need each other. The two fall for each other, even at times hurting the other. Kōhei however begins to struggle about what it means "to love somebody" and questions his "sexuality", through his contacts with different personalities in the gay district. Meanwhile, Yūtaka encounters his gay ex Atsushi, and starts to realize he will never be able to be with Kōhei, who is gay-for-pay.

Masako is a humble waitress who has a chance encounter with playboy Tamotsu. With the aid of his sister, Tamotsu seeks to win Masako's affection despite the disapproval of his wealthy parents and Masako's own feelings towards the working-class cabbie Noro.

A former TV presenter is murdered. On the same day, two police officers from the Metropolitan police Special Mission Task Force, Sugishita Ukyo (Yutaka Mizutani) and Kameyama Kaoru (Yasufumi Terawaki), are guarding a female Diet member, Katayama Hinako (Yoshino Kimura). The pair identifies explosives and saves her life. From the clues left at the scene, Sugishita builds up his case and finds a connection between the murder of the TV presenter and the attempted murder of the Diet member. During a painstaking investigation, the savage murder case of a young overseas volunteer five years earlier emerges in the background, and the pair prevents indiscriminate murder at the Tokyo Big City Marathon event by suppressing the perpetrator.

By chance, Watabe (Goro Kishitani) meets subordinate worker Nakanishi (Kyoko Fukada) at a batting center. A friendship occurs which leads to a heated love affair. Watabe then learns that Nakanishi is the prime suspect of a murder case that occurred 15 years - the murder of her father's ex-lover. The statue of limitations for that murder case is soon to expire ..

Poet Okachimachi Kaito makes his directing debut. Featuring lead actress Ono Machiko, who starred in The Mourning Forest (Mogari no Mori) and is also a regular in director Kawase Naomi's other works, this film portrays the pure love between a prisoner sentenced to death and the fiance of the man he killed, and was nominated to be in the section "Japanese Eyes" in the Tokyo International Film Festival. Jun (Kubota Masashi) receives the death penalty for a botched robbery that turned into murder and while in prison, he is visited by Kaoru (Ono), a Christian and the fiance of the man he killed. However, when her fiance was killed, he was secretly with another woman. Jun and Kaoru soon become attracted to one another and, using a bible, they start to communicate in secret.

An ordinary senior high school girl named Mika meets Hiro, a showy boy with dyed hair and pierced ears. It is a "pure love" story of the two going through many unimaginably sad incidents while nurturing their love single-mindedly. It not only depicts the first love of the senior high school couple but also weaves "a story of Mika and Hiro" through episodes probably familiar to anybody, such as warmth and affection of their family members supporting the two, importance of living, interactions with friends, and so on.

Kazutoyo lived during the end of the Sengoku period (1546-1605). He was the first feudal lord of the fief of Tosa on the island of Shikoku. He served Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Chiyo (1557-1617) was his wife, and was known in history for her dedication and devotion to her husband (like Matsu was to Toshiie in Toshiie to Matsu). She is the daughter of a samurai who served the feudal lord Asai.

Kotaro Mochizuki (Haruma Miura) is a timid, introspective teenager who attends a private high school. One day he discovers a mysterious old book and from that day on, whenever he finds himself in a difficult situation, he turns into a samurai warrior.

A tale of tragic love between Yoshimori, a station employee at a quiet, rural station, and Kahori, the wife of the heir to a family fortune. When Kahori's husband uncovers their affair, the star-crossed lovers try to flee with Kahori's daughter. Their search for safety and happiness takes them across the nation, from Hokkaido to Kagoshima. Filmed on location, this is an unforgettable story of romance told against the backdrop of some of the most beautiful scenery in Japan. --TBS

Orphaned when he was not yet ten, Musashi grows up skilled in the martial arts. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he fights on the side of the losing Toyotomi forces, but eludes the enemy as they hunt down the vanquished soldiers. He then spends years wandering the countryside mastering the sword. As his fame spreads throughout the nation, men seek him out to test their skills against him--most notably Sasaki Kojiro who faces Musashi in the ultimate duel at Ganryujima.

Takenouchi plays an aquarium employee named Kengo, who seems ordinary at first glance but actually possesses a secret that he would sacrifice everything in order to protect. Meanwhile, Ueto plays Risa, a young woman working in the sex trade in order to pay off her brother's debt, though her situation has led her to contemplate suicide. These two characters, both full of despair, meet each other and end up entering a contract marriage purely for its benefits. However, as they overcome various troubles, their relationship begins turning into true love.

This is the story about one small coffee shop located in the northern island of Hokkaido. Yukichi Wakui used to work as a successful businessman at a prestigious trading firm. He worked for several years in New York as well as other cities around the world. When his wife Megumi died at the age of 47 in a car accident three years ago, he decided to leave the company. He was only 57. When Megumi died in the accident, her 18-year-old son Takuro was at the wheel. Yukichi declined an offer to switch to an affiliate company after his retirement, and moved to Megumi's hometown Furano, Hokkaido instead. There he started a small coffee shop named "The Forest Clock."

Based on the same-titled novel by Ikeido Jun (the writer of Hanzawa Naoki series), the drama unfolds against a backdrop of economic recession. Hosokawa Mitsuru is the current president of the core-precision tools manufacturing company, Aoshima. He was personally recruited from another company by the company's founder, Aoshima Takeshi. Needless to say, this move was not well-favored by the existing management who themselves were vying for the job. Not long after Mitsuru joined the company, the global financial crisis caused the economy to slump, and Aoshima was certainly not exempted from the ill-effects of the slump, which was accentuated by fierce competition within the industry. Realising that he needs to stem the company's cashflow crisis, Mitsuru proposes to sell the company's baseball club. However, his proposal is opposed by all the other top management, especially Sasai Kotaro, a long-serving employee who feels that he should have been promoted to President instead of Mitsuru. Mikami Fumio, who is the baseball club's manager, also tries to foil Mitsuru's plans of selling the club. Amidst all the enmity of the long-serving management, and also sabotage from a rival company, Mitsuru has to find a way to save the company from its downfall...

A striking drama of the amazingly gifted surgeon Zaizen Goro, caught up by his desire for power and fame, and his contemporary physician Satomi Shuji, who selflessly continues a quest to save human lives. The Great White Tower is the title of a representative novel by Toyoko Yamazaki that depicts the hidden side of the medical world and the dignity of human life, thus shocking and moving many readers, marking a milestone in medical dramas. A dense human drama develops starting with the first half, which depicts the tragicomic circumstances arising from human ambition in the selection of professors, and proceeding to the second half, which inquires into the dignity of human life through a medical court case involving a malpractice suit.

Up till 20 years ago, together with his father and 3 other people, Homura Masayoshi was part of the legendary group of thieves that called themselves 「TAKE FIVE」. This group stole from the rich who had acquired their wealth through immoral means. Due to an incident, Masayoshi decided to retire from the group, and settled into his life as a professor of Psychology at a reputable university. One day, he runs into a mysterious homeless woman, who passes him a picture of a Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, which prompts him to re-enter the world of thievery and resurrect 「TAKE FIVE」. Sasahara Rui joined the Burglary Division in the footsteps of her father, who had died in an accident involving a burglary heist. She wows to take down 「TAKE FIVE」 and stop them from stealing again. What was the real reason for the disbanding of 「TAKE FIVE」 20 years ago? Who is the mysterious homeless woman and what is the significance of the Da Vinci picture she had given to Masayoshi? How did Rui's father really died?

Haru and Kanako have been married for four years. They don't have any children, but they both enjoy their job and are happy together. However their lives are suddenly disrupted when Kanako faints from subarachnoid hemorrhage. After the operation, it becomes evident that she has lost some of her memory...her memory of the five years with her husband. She decides to return home to her parents. Her younger brother takes care of her. Meanwhile, Haru's colleague notices that there is something troubling him. Life without his wife makes Haru realize how much his wife means to him and vows to propose to her once again...

This drama tells four love stories "Last Love", "Birthday", "Triangle" and "Room Service". Each love story takes place in the "Sweet Room" of a hotel.

With his looks, personality and capabilities, 35-years-old Haruno Yoichi is considered the "ideal husband". However, he feels that his wife's attitude has cooled ever since she gave birth to their child. He knows neither the cause nor the solution, and has been reduced to the "unfortunate husband" at home. 28-years-old Chisato was thought to be the "ideal wife with all the the traditional graces" who does her best to look to her best to look to her husband with respect. But her husband's words and deeds which she could excuse until after childbirth, now make her feel uneasy. Because of her continued hysterics, she has become the "monster wife" to her husband.

In 1985, when detective Kyogoku Kosuke (Karasawa Toshiaki) was hunting down some criminals, he suddenly found himself in the center of an explosion and ended up falling into a coma. In 2015, after 30 years Kosuke wakes up and has a lot to catch up, new values, technology, family, work, everything he has missed. Back to the Criminal Division, Kosuke and his new partner Ryota (Kubota Masataka) are entrusted with classified security data that aims to a terrorist group Schiesser.

Follows the story of love, friendship and growth of six young men and women who move from countryside to the big city of Tokyo, each with their own dreams and aspirations. Among them is Sugihara Oto and Soda Ren. After her mother died, Oto was raised by adoptive parents in Hokkaido. Although she has given up on having any high hopes or big dreams for her future, she still remains positive and faces life with optimistic attitude. One day, she finds out the fact that her adoptive parents are planning to marry her to the wealthy man in town in order to solve their financial debt. Soda Ren was raised by his grandfather in Fukushima. Ren works hard on one job after another in order to earn the money to buy back his grandfather's land so that they can start farming again. By chance, Oto and Ren meet in Hokkaido and they decide to move to Tokyo to find new life to change their fate and future. However, as soon as they arrive Tokyo, they get separated in the crowds...

Hiroto Miyama is an unconventional young lawyer who dances to his own tune and gets a little obsessive. For one thing, he’s only interested in criminal cases, and he will never give up in his pursuit of the truth even if offers only a 0.1% chance of being discovered. Japan’s 99.9% criminal case conviction rate leads the world, attesting to a “highly reliable” judicial system. In other words, once a crime suspect is indicted, prosecutor arguments tend to be accepted hook, line and sinker. In the face of those 99.9% odds, there’s no money in being a defense lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but for Miyama, that’s where the interest and kernels of truth lie. From unexpected places, the mold-breaking Miyama stakes his reputation on a prayer of a chance as he clashes with hotshot lawyers who’ll go to any lengths to win in this gloriously fun, legal mystery.

Etsuko Kono is a 28-year-old woman who loves fashion. Aspiring to become a fashion editor, she joins a publishing company, but is sent to work in copy editing. There, her job is to correct errors and inadequate parts of documents and copies.

Takada Yu is an employee of a development firm. His father has favored his high-achieving older brother and been indifferent to Yu since young. So Yu craves for his father’s love and wants his recognition somehow. Then one day, Yu encounters a woman. Although it was the worst possible meeting, he gradually starts to have romantic feelings for her through work and an unexpected development. But ironically enough, she turns out to be the girlfriend of his older brother. Yu begins to realize what he truly treasures and matures as a person as he struggles with this complicated romance and with his older brother and father.

A popular manga about a corporate auditor of a major bank is adapted for the screen starring Yuji Oda, one of Japan's favorite actors. With a strong sense of justice and trusted personality, the antagonist takes on the vast darkness of a mega bank to fully expose bank fraud.

Akitsu Wataru is the manager of the Toyama branch of Maruo Holdings, an established major supermarket chain. He is demoted as a result of some incident and moves to the countryside with his family. However, one day, Akitsu is recalled to headquarters as the head of the compliance unit. The CEO and board members have hidden ulterior motives. Various harassment issues happen within the company. Akitsu solves them with novel ideas and methods.

Iori Igarashi is a talented radiographer who believes the “truth” is definitely captured in CT and MRI images. He and radiologist An Amakasu work at a hospital’s radiology department where they determine the causes of patients’ illnesses and injuries.

Shogo Higuchi (Toshiaki Karasawa) is a detective whose wife was murdered by a serial killer. Hikari Tachibana (Yoko Maki) is a voice profiler whose father was murdered. She has a special hearing ability which allows her to hear minutiae sounds that other people do not.

In 1999, a general trading company in Tokyo celebrates because Shinkansen of Japan wins priority negotiating rights for the Taiwan High Speed Rail. Haruka Tada (Haru) has been working at the general trading company for 4 years and she is sent to Taiwan for work. When Haruka Tada was a university student, she visited Taiwan for the first time during the summer. During that time, she happened to meet young Taiwanese man Eric and he showed her Taiwan for a day. She lost contact with him after that and she could not find him again. She then sealed away her thoughts about him in her mind. 6 years later, Haruka Tada arrives in Taiwan again.

27 year old Adachi Momoko lost both her parents in an accident when she was in third year high school. She then gave up going to college and has been working at a home centre for the past nine years while supporting her three younger brothers who are now 20, 17, and 14 year old respectively.

Yukiko Akaza attends a high school for blind. She has amblyopia, which causes her to recognize colors only vaguely and she can recognize large letters with a magnifying glass. When she walks outdoors, she always carries a white cane. Nevertheless, she has a bright personality. One day, Yukiko happens to meet delinquent boy Morio Kurokawa. At first, Yukiko doesn't like him, but she somehow gains an understanding of him. They become attracted to each other.

Tokita Shingo is a detective who gives up on a successful detective career. He teams up with up with rookie detective Shiina Asobu. They work on an undercover investigation into a drug case and soon find themselves in an unexpected situation.

Having spent her entire life in the remote Japanese countryside, Asagi Soramame takes a giant leap of faith when she decides to follow her childhood friend and fiancé to Tokyo. But life in the big city quickly proves to be nothing as she imagined. Struggling to find her place in this big new world, Asagi’s life takes an interesting detour when she meets an aspiring musician, Oto Umino.

After a betrayal, Chiharu moves from Tokyo to Sapporo and discovers a mysterious bento maker who's packed meals magically mend her broken heart.

Natsuko, who was a copywriter, starts to cultivate rice called Tatsunishiki, which is a phantom kind and it is very difficult to grow. She does it to make her dead brother's dream come true. His dream was to make the...

The year is 1947, August. Ono Junko's family is being evacuated to Wakayama and the father is going to war. A few years later, the father has returned from Manchuria but he also brought a boy that had been abandoned by his mother. The boy is Yuta and the family will adopt him.

When Sakuragi Haruko's father's factory is bombed, Oba Hiroto stops Haruko when she tries to rescue her father from the fire. They meet again a few years later when Haruko is working as a nurse and Hiroto is brought in as a patient with a heart condition. The second couple is a Korean man, Boku Hitoshi, and another nurse, Yamada Kazue