Best movies & TV Shows like Toto Nee-chan

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father and stepmother or Hajime, the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her.

After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.

For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.

When a family emergency forces a troubled teen to do the wrong thing for the right reason, a community discovers the meaning of forgiveness.

For the first time in 15 years, all four siblings in a family show up to care for their dying mother, who is only given a couple of weeks to live. One comes from America with her two children. A divorced sister also comes with her child and sneaks off regularly to meet a mystery man who may be her ex-husband. The third & youngest daughter is an unmarried nurse aware of her ticking biological clock. The only son chases after his grumpy father who seems to not care a whit about his wife's circumstances. The four are also faced my their mother's dreams to accomplish a few things before she dies - to visit a beach she had visited in the past, to see her youngest married, and to visit Paris. She also wants to be embalmed and be honored with a 21 gun salute. Thus the whole group has to set off in the quest to fulfill their mother's wishes.

When Jamie's maternal grandmother dies, he and his brother Tommy are separated - Tommy is taken off to a welfare home and Jamie goes to live with his other grandmother and uncle. His life is far from happy, filled with silence, rejection and bouts of violence.

In the year 1926, Machiko Hasegawa is a 6-year-old child and lives in Fukuoka. She is a bright girl, who enjoys playing outdoors. At home, she loves to draw. Her father is a handsome mining engineer and he loves his family more than anything else. When Machiko is 14-years-old her father passes away. The rest of her family decides to move to Tokyo. Her mother than makes a quick decision and sends 15-year-old Machiko to manga artist Tagawa as his student. Machiko's life is peaceful, but the oncoming war makes things tense. Machiko's family moves back to Fukuoka. When the war is about to end, the local newspaper asks Machiko to publish a serial manga. Machiko has difficulties in coming up with an idea for the manga series and decides to go to the nearby Momochi Seaside Park. She watches the ocean and comes up with the idea for manga series "Sazae-san".

Hisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed and Kyoko is killed. Hisako is forced to take care of Kyoko's two children in addition to her own, but there is not enough food for everyone.

A salaryman faces a major life change as his firm undergoes financial difficulties. To add to his troubles, a man claiming to be his long-estranged father shows up at his house requesting shelter. One of the best of Somai's seriocomic studies of the messiness of family life.

Two estranged sisters are forced to live together when they inherit their father's struggling horse farm. The strain of reconciliation and financial difficulties put the future of the family farm in jeopardy.

Michiko Oshitani, who lived in Shiga Prefecture, is found dead at an apartment in Tokyo. She was strangled to death. Mutsuo Koshikawa is the owner of the apartment and he goes missing. Detectives including Yuhei Matsumiya who is a cousin of Detective Kyoichiro Kaga , have difficulties in solving the case. They can't find a connection between Michiko Oshitani and Mutsuo Koshikawa. They soon learn that Michiko Oshitani came to Tokyo to visit Hiromi Asai . They graduated from the same school, but there isn't a connection between Hiromi Asai and Mutsuo Koshikawa. Detective Yuhei Matsumiya finds something near Michiko Oshitani's body. That something has the names of 12 bridges surrounding the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Detective Kyoichiro Kaga learns of the clue and becomes agitated. There's a connection with his late mother

Nobuko is a plain, unattractive woman with disheveled hair, and is hired as a housekeeper in the Inamura residence in Tokyo. The Inamuras are a family of six. The father, Tatsuya, is the head of a university hospital's department of internal medicine. He lives with his wife Haruko, their three sons, and Tatsuya's mother, Shigeko. Although the Inamuras appear to be a happy family, Nobuko soon uncovers the truth.

Years after retiring from their formidable ninja lives, a dysfunctional family must return to shadowy missions to counteract a string of looming threats.

The Casagrandes tells the story of Ronnie Anne, an independent, adventurous, 11-year-old who explores city life with her big, loving, multi-generational Mexican-American family.

Young parents Dave and Rebecca are ready to reclaim their lives after years of diapers and sleepless nights. However, things take an unexpected turn when Dave's parents show up unannounced and broke.

Yasuko Matsuyuki plays the part of Nao Suzuhara, an elementary school teacher. When she realizes that one of the female students is receiving abuse from her mother, Nao's maternal instincts kick in, and she impulsively decides to bring the girl into her own care. Serving as a substitute mother, Nao takes the child on a trip from Hokkaido to Tokyo, and the two experience various events together along the way.

Kozue Ogawa is a housewife and has been married to Hideo for seven years. They don't have any children, but as they live with her parents at their flower shop, every day is still lively. She is happy with her life and her husband, but she wonders if it is enough. From time to time, she is gripped by this doubt that she cannot raise with anyone. Kozue starts a part-time job in the editing department of the magazine where she used to work. Her former colleague is now working hard as the editor-in-chief. One rainy day, Kozue meets a young man. He is Takuma Fukazawa, a high school student. He seems somehow shrouded in sadness. He is a dance teacher. In the dance studio, there is just the two of them. Takuma curls his hands around Kozue's body, and his dance instruction begins. Their unexpected closeness causes Kozue to hesitate. With her heart pounding, she pushes Takuma's hands away and runs home. But the throbbing in her chest continues. It can't be. But what is this feeling?

Ohisama is a Japanese television drama that aired on NHK in 2011 in the Asadora time slot. Set in Nagano prefecture, "Ohisama" covers the life of Yoko Sudo (Mao Inoue) through World War II. Yoko Sudo with her smile is able to bring brightness to those around her & she follows her mother's motif to laugh through the hard times. During the onset of WW II, Yoko is a high school student and "Ohisama" follows her as she eventually becomes a teacher and then gets married and has a child. Yoko then opens a soba restaurant with her student. --asianwiki

19-year-old Saeki Rei (Takei Emi) comes to Tokyo. Rei’s redeeming traits are her cheerfulness and distinctive positivity, but everything she does is always unheard of and unsuccessful. Because this foolhardiness causes trouble to the people around her each time, she ends up being called a girl who is unable to read situations. Rei moves to Tokyo with neither a dream nor goal, and is reunited with her father Suzuki Takuya (Watabe Atsuro) who abandoned her mother and her 15 years ago. Although she opposes her father for making her mother miserable, his dissolute life rouses her into action. “This won’t do. I’ve to make this person happy or I can’t move on with my own life!” And so, she runs about with the aim of getting her father remarried in her first experience living in Tokyo. With cheerfulness and positivity, she overcomes various difficulties and slowly changes the people around her too.

Based on the manga "Daisuki!! Yuzu no Kosodate Nikki (I Love You! Yuzu's Parenting Diary)" by Mizuho Aimoto, this Japanese TV drama focuses on a woman named Yuzu Fukuhara, who, despite her adult age, has a condition that affects her mental age. After her boyfriend dies saving a child from being hit by a vehicle, Yuzu finds out that she is pregnant with his child. Despite her condition, she shows determination to be a mother and eventually has a daughter named Himawari. The show focuses on Yuzu and her family as Yuzu goes against the odds regarding her mental condition so she can be a good mother to Himawari.

The Hayashidas were a typical happy family of father, mother, two boys and two girls. Until it all changed suddenly with the untimely death of the father, Shinpei. While still mourning his passing, the children are hit by another bit of shocking news from their mother “Truth is… I'm pregnant.” The news of their mother's pregnancy at 51 sets into motion a new series of challenges for the four children, particularly for the eldest sister, Manami, who now becomes the family patriarch, forced to struggle with the pressures and responsibilities of “child rearing” and “family ties”, not to mention greater philosophical questions about the meaning of life. A moving, life-sized human drama..

Amachan is the 88th 2013 NHK asadora written by Kankuro Kudo (Tiger and Dragon, Unobore Deka). It's about Amano Aki (Nounen Rena), a 16 year old girl from Tokyo who goes to her mother's former home in Sodegahama, a fishing village in Kitasanriku, Iwate prefecture for the summer break. She falls in love with the sea and its people, and decides to stay on to become an Ama (women divers who fetch clams and sea urchins for tourists) just like her grandmother, Natsu (Miyamoto Nobuko). Her decision is welcomed wholeheartedly by Natsu and the other locals. However, her mother Haruko (Koizumi Kyoko) does not like the idea at first. She has a strained relationship with Natsu, and her extreme dislike of the sea, diving and the countryside is one of the reasons why she left her hometown 24 years ago. Eventually, she decides to stay in Sodegahama with Aki, considering that she is contemplating on getting a divorce anyway and does not want to go back to her husband in Tokyo. She also notices that it might be good for Aki for she seems livelier and happier in Kitasanriku than in Tokyo. The road towards becoming a full-fledged Ama-san is tough for Aki as she encounters tests and hurdles. One day, a video of her as an Ama gets uploaded in the city's tourism website, transforming an ordinary high school girl into an overnight Internet sensation. Suddenly she is called upon to use this opportunity to attract tourists to a city suffering from depopulation.

At present, over 47% of the male population in Japan aged between 30 ~ 34 are single. While for women, the no. goes up to 60% for those in their late twenties. It is not that they are unable to get married. Rather, they all choose to remain single, as they believe that marriage is not the be all and end all. Life holds more promising things beyond marriage, and thus they are all celebrating life as a single. This drama takes a look at life from the perspectives of these men and women. Hoshino Mamoru is the President of a film production company, having taken over the position from his father. He is an excellent creative director, but he detests chaos and hence prefers to remain single. His brother, Susumu, works at the same company, taking care of the business side of things. Currently undergoing divorce proceedings, Susumu has had to move out of his marital home. Haruno Yuki is disillusioned with men, after having gone through several failed relationships. She wasn't making great strides in her career either, and so one day, she decided to quit her job and pursue her dream of becoming a scriptwriter. In order to pay the bills, she takes on a part-time job at a maid agency. Before she knows it, she gets her chance to make her dream come true! It could be Fate, or just plain coincidence, but the 3 of them are plunged into each other's lives; The "Affluent Single", the "Divorced Hero" and the "Marriage Refugee". Will a pivotal moment happen upon them? Will the "Affluent Single" decide to give wedded bliss a chance?

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...

Uno Meiko is the daughter of parents who run a western style restaurant in Tokyo. She marries and moves to Osaka with her husband. Meiko experiences cultural differences between Tokyo and Osaka, as she lives as a mother and wife in Osaka.

As Haru emigrates from Japan with her family to the coffee plantations in Brazil, Natsu is left behind in the care of spiteful relatives. Losing all contact, each must make her own way in an unforgiving world. Hardships abound in the struggle to survive in war-torn Japan and in the face of anti-Japanese sentiment in Brazil, financial ruin, familial pressure, abandonment and lost love. However they also experience the precious joy of survival and success. Now, after 70 years, Haru comes back to Japan to find her estranged sister.

A Japanese girl from a poor family named Hanako went on an adventure to study in a girl's Christian school in Tokyo. She found her passion in English and step by step made her dream come true.

Umechan Sensei is a Japanese television drama series. It debuted on April 2, 2012. It is about a girl named Umeko Shimomura who, despite being overshadowed by her talented older brother and sister, and despite being thought of as a clumsy child, decides to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor. It is the 86th NHK Asadora.

Mare is an elementary school student. She lives with her family in the city, but, right before her father goes bankrupt, they run away and settle down at a fishing village in Noto. The family rents a couple's home who run a salt pond. Mare's father starts a new business, but it also fails. Her mother supports the family by working at the salt pond. 8 years later, Mare, about to graduate from high school, decides to work for the Wajima local government. She wants to have a steady job, unlike her father. Her job is to support people who move to Noto.

The 56th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Agri. Story's settings include Okayama and Tokyo (Ichigaya). This renzoku chronicles the life of a Showa period hairdresser, and is based on a true life story of Moshizuki Agri. Agri has worked for over 70 years as a beautician. She is a successful business woman who survived the war by becoming a farmer. During the war, going to the beauty salon was considered a frivolity, so many such businesses went bankrupt as Japan suffered from the energy spent as all the yen was fueled into the war effort.

The 77th NHK Asadora is Chiritotechin. Location includes Fukui prefecture. This renzoku is about Wada Kiyomi (referred to as Kiyomi-B), a girl brought up in Fukui who moves to Osaka in search of her soul. In Osaka, Kiyomi-B becomes enchanted with rakugo, a Japanese traditional form of comic storytelling, and pursues a career in rakugo. In the summer of 1982, Kiyomi-B and her family move to Obama of Fukui, her father's hometown. Kiyomi-B's grandmother and uncle welcome the family, but Shotaro the grandfather does not allow Masanori to take over the Wakasa lacquer chopsticks making. One day, Kiyomi-B listens to rakugo at Shotaro's factory and becomes fond of it. Shotaro and Kiyomi-B become close through rakugo.

Mifuyu is a high school student. Her mom suffers from a severe illness, which causes Mifuyu to spend most of her time taking care of her and doing housework. She doesn't think about her future after high school. Mifuyu's mom dies, her dad brings his girlfriend to their house and kicks Mifuyu out. Mifuyu goes to the home where her mom's cousin lives, in a high-class residential area in Tokyo.

Sakurai Taro’s parents died young. His grandmother, Akiko, has been making great effort to protect her struggling candy store, Sakuraya, in the old part of Tokyo, but it's not easy. Taro eats candy with regular customers such as chilhood friend Saegusa Hiroki who aspires to be a scriptwriter, and talk nonsense, like in their youth. However, they realize this unfettered, comfortable existence will end some day with the passage of time. Then Taro’s ex-classmate, Kimura Reiko, comes back home with her son after a divorce. He and his friends start to notice what is truly important to them as they face up to their pasts, dreams and pains.

Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit.

In 2008, Isao Sudo is found dead in Shizuoka Prefecture. He ran a used car store in Tokyo. Detective Satoru Kusaka from Shizuoka Prefecture investigates the death of Isao Sudo. He learns that in 1974, Isao Sudo's son was kidnapped and killed in Shizuoka Prefecture. In 1988, Seiichiro Shigeto (Takaya Kamikawa) was appointed to lead a team of 6 detectives and they reinvestigated the kidnapping and murder case involving Isao Sudo's son. Detective Satoru Kusaka has a hunch that the case involving the death of Isao Sudo's son will lead to the case involving the death of the father. Detective Satoru Kusaka meets Seiichiro Shigeto to gather information.

The Osawagi family lives in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture which is very near Tokyo. The man of the house, Daitetsu, lives with his wife Junko, four children and father Kintetsu. They are preposterous and extreme bunch where any trivial matter such as eating out or a child developing a fever can become a riot beyond imagination once they get involved.

Nagao Kanji works for an advertising agency in his hometown of Ehime Prefecture. He is assigned to the Tokyo sales department where his colleague Akana Rika takes care of his work. One day, Kanji is invited to drinks by Mikami Kenichi, a former classmate from his hometown who is now in Tokyo, and he is also reunited with Sekiguchi Satomi who has feelings for him. However, Rika ends up joining them when she delivers Kanji’s wallet which he had left in office. On the way back, Rika tells him, “Kanchi, shall we kiss?” and he is rattled. There have been rumours in office that Rika is in a relationship with their boss Waga Natsuki - JDrama Weblog

Author Tarō Obika is an obsessed single father who loves his daughter so much, he decides to go to the same college. Nicknamed Gatarō, he was widowed when his wife died of an illness and has raised his only child Sakura all on his own. Things are about to change drastically as Sakura prepares to enter a coeducational university after going to an all-girls school all her life. Worried sick, Gataro enrolls not only in the same school, but also in the same department, and the madness begins! Unable to control his anxiety, he sticks his nose in her every business, from classes to extracurricular activities, parties, dating events, cultural festivals, part-time jobs, and everything else college kids do. But as the 40-year-old middle-aged dad gets involved in the youthful pursuits of Sakura and her colleagues, he finds himself enjoying life even more than them.

Rio Sanada is the president of "Sanada Wellness" and an up-and-coming businesswoman who is selected as one of the "100 people in their 30s who will change the world". She is reunited with her former love interest Daiki Miyazaki, who is now a detective, after 15 years as an important witness to a murder case. In Gifu Prefecture in 2006, Rio is a third-year high-school student who wants to go to the University of Tokyo. She took good care of her younger brother in lieu of their busy father. Before Daiki could confess to her, an incident occurs at the dormitory.

University student Sawano Natsumi lives in Shonan, Kanagawa Prefecture. An encounter in Hawaii makes her decide to bring the popular pancake restaurant Eggs n’ Things to Japan, which sparks a pancake boom in the country. Despite suffering difficulties and setbacks, Natsumi fulfils her dream, motivated by thoughts of her father as well as the support of family and friends.

Kazuha Ono is divorced at the age of 35 due to her husband's affair. Despite this, she is trying to live positively but is conscious of other people’s remarks regarding her age and the fact she’s a divorcee. While announcing her divorce to her coworkers she is overhead by Mitsui, a new employee, who happens to be there. Furthermore, Rensuke Hayami, a former business partner, now a popular actor, also appears, and begins to wield her Kazuha?!

This drama is the tale of one high spirited, strong-willed young woman and her struggle to fulfill her lifelong ambition of becoming a carpenter and building homes. The story takes place from the later part of the Showa era to present day Heisei rule. The heroine of the story, Kawashima Urara, lost her father at the tender age of seven and this drama depicts her life as she grows from a young school girl, through puberty and adolescence and on into her adult years as an independent woman who owns her own carpentry business. As Urara grows into a beautiful and strong woman and a talented carpenter, her family around her goes through many difficult and trying times. This story of becoming an independent businesswoman in the male-dominated world of carpentry accurately reflects the lives and struggles of the young women in present day Japan who are trying to make a career for themselves in addition to balancing the demands of family obligations, friends, and lovers.

Natsumi is the 23 years old daughter of a master baker in Yokohama and in training with her father to become a pastry chef. She lives with her parents and younger brother in Yokohama. One day she travels to Iwate Prefecture with her boyfriend Masaki for his grandmother Katsuno's 77th birthday. While they are there, Katsuno, head okami of a famous ryokan in Morioka City, becomes ill and asks Masaki to return to run the ryokan. Natsumi returns to Yokohama and later Masaki visits, asking her to disregard their earlier plans to get married because he will return to Morioka as requested by Katsuno. However, Natsumi surprises him with a vow to become the ryokan's okami. Is Natsumi in for clear skies as suggested by the series name?

The story is about a young woman who becomes a landscape gardener following her father's wishes. Wakaba, born and brought up in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, lived happily with her parents and younger brother until the Great Hanshin Earthquake shook and destroyed the city in 1995. In the disaster, Wakaba loses her father, who was an architect and moves with her mother and brother to Obi, old castle town in Nichinan, Miyazaki Prefecture, where her grandmother lives with her uncle and aunt. Living in Obi's rich natural environment, Wakaba learns that plants can heal people's hearts. She makes a resolution to return to Kobe and reconstruct the city abundant in greenery.

The 78th NHK Asadora is Hitomi. The series takes place in the old shitamachi area of Tokyo, and in these most recent episodes, 20-year old heroine Hitomi becomes the force around which her divorced mother, long estranged from her own father, is forced to reconcile and renew a sense of family camaraderie. This is not particularly easy, given the trifling issues and problems of modern day life that beset each of the characters, and the drama unfolds with a light comedic touch. Hitomi's upbringing is the issue that is constantly brought into focus. The family reconciliation is made possible, ironically through the death of Hitomi's grandmother. Hitomi seizes the opportunity to travel to her funeral from Sapporo. Once there, she sets out to realize her dream of becoming a dancer, all the while interfering with and disrupting her grandfather's life.

This is the story of a young mother, Kitayama Nazuna, and her son Taiyo from Ohma, a small town at the tip of a peninsula in Aomori. Taiyo's father, Murai Kento had aspirations to be a professional boxer but due to a detached retina he was forced to abandon his dream. Leaving Nazuna behind, he left for America, with another woman, to get treatment for his eye-problem, unaware that Nazuna was pregnant. As his life is boxing he quickly returns to the ring after the operation turns out to be successful and once again he dreams of becoming a professional boxer. However, success eludes him and he returns home to Japan. Nazuna meanwhile has given birth to her son and moved to Tokyo to search for Kento. By chance she finds Kento. When discovers he has become a father, he tries to make up for lost time. The show picks up their story as Nazuna, Taiyo and Kento begin family life together. Of course things are not as simple as they appear.

Kurosawa, who works for a film production company, meets Akiko, a divorcee and single mother, who works at a publishing house. Through the efforts of Akiko's son, Naoya, they fall in love and decide to get married. The good news continues with Kurosawa becoming an assistant producer, and Akiko's parents offering to make the down-payment for their apartment. However, things start to go wrong when the ever-generous and sometimes naive Kurosawa helps a respected friend by co-signing on his financial obligation. A warm and occasionally wacky comedy for the whole family.

The series takes place in 1962 Osaka. Hanaoka Machiko, 37, is single and works at a hardware store in Osaka City while doing literary work. One day, she falls ill due to overwork and falls in love with Tokunaga Kenjiro, the doctor who examines her. Kenjiro and Machiko marry. But Kenjiro, who lost his first wife to illness, lives not just with his five children, but his brother, sister, and parents. In a comical and heart-warming way, the drama depicts Machiko's struggle with the new family while pursuing her career as a novelist.

A young woman Chiaki whose family runs an old miso company in Nagano Prefecture, the only daughter of old traditional family. For generations, they were making soybean paste for living. Now she needs to take over this business and rebuild it. She lives through the hardships of postwar Japan.