Best movies & TV Shows like Watashi no Aozora

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.

As seen in flashback, this is the story of 43-year-old Julie a beautician who when 15 was forced by her mother to give up her baby for adoption. Her son, now 28, a minister, with his wife expecting, begins to search for his biological mother to find out his family medical history. She hears of his search and reunites.

A hearing-impaired woman with dreams of becoming a professional boxer due to the pandemic is threatened closure of her boxing club and the illness of its ageing president, who has been her biggest supporter, push her to the limit.

Magda (Young) rebels against the harsh treatment she receives from her stern father (Edward Kimball). She ultimately escapes from home with aspirations to become a singer. She is betrayed by Kellner (Edward Fielding), a friend of the family, but she also becomes a great success.

A trio of young men are forced to grow up quick when their girlfriends all become pregnant around the same time.

Matt Ballot has returned home after 12 years of hard-drinking in all 48 states. His wife has managed to raise their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son nicely without his help. Matt is considered a disgrace to the town he came from and now he finds himself trying to win the love of his children, his wife, and the respect of the townspeople. Set in Arkansas in the 1920s.

In order to secure the position of Head of Pediatrics at a top Chicago hospital, a young, highly accomplished, pediatrician agrees to spend a summer setting up a clinic in a small town in the North Carolina mountains. Clashing against the ways of the small community he is forced to deal with the recent loss of his wife while reconnecting with his 9 year old son, and learning a different pace of life.

A family reunites after 15 years. They each have a story to tell as they have not forgotten what happened years ago.

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.

The story of a young boxer on the road to his dream; a world title fight in his hometown of Leeds. On the way, we meet an extraordinary family, a father who trains his son and the most passionate fans in boxing. The film is set against the backdrop of one city; Leeds. Half aspirational professionals and students, half austerity ravaged estates, Leeds is a schizophrenic metaphor for England in 2016. Our boxer bridges the two because this is a city in need of a hero. Can he match and fulfil their hopes and dreams?

When Jessica Parker’s former high school boyfriend, superstar baseball player Chase Taynor, returns to town, she finds the inspiration to reinvent her struggling diner… and revisits the past to find something even better for the future.

Having just moved back to her hometown without her serviceman husband but with her young son, Gretchen Daniels finds her life in disarray as Christmas approaches. But she discovers new purpose when she helps to deliver a message to her neighbor, Melissa, which makes her an ally in the quest to find the neighbor's sibling she never knew she had. The women become bonded not only by the search, but by the understanding that being there for each other means they're no longer alone. This friendship becomes the greatest Christmas gift of their lives. Based on a bestselling novel by Donna VanLiere.

Michael (Jeff Bridges) drops out of college with the intention of finding himself. When his parents (Carl Betz and Vera Miles) balk, he talks them into joining him in traveling the country and educating themselves about the state of things. They, along with Grandma (Ruth McDevitt) trick out an old Greyhound bus and hit the road. The picaresque plotline brings the family into contact with a variety of colorful characters. The producers of In Search of America never declared outright that the made-for-TV film was intended as a series pilot, but it ends on an ambiguous note with plenty of loose plot ends. In Search of America was first telecast March 23, 1971.

Mitsuko is 24, heavily pregnant and estranged from the American father of her child. Her parents believe she is happy and successful in America and are unaware that she has secretly returned to Tokyo. Making the biggest decisions on the slightest whim, she moves back into the tenement street where she lived as a child. The move changes lives, reignites old romances and creates a supportive circle of love that may be exactly what Mitsuko needs.

A 30 Year old woman, a hostess past her time working at a shady club and an aspiring actress living in Tokyo. Betrayed by her lover and her dreams crushed, the broken woman leaves Tokyo for her hometown in the countryside after five years of no contact with her family. There she reconnects with an old flame but is also forced to confront some unpleasant truths about her past.

Forty years after leaving Japan for a boxing career in the U.S. that never panned out, Jin returns to restart his life with his old boxing buddies. When hotheaded young boxer Shogo asks for Jin’s help to get him back into the ring after an unfair loss, the two men decide to seize their final chance at glory. A boxing film so authentic that it inspired co-star Yokohama Ryusei to qualify as a pro boxer, Zeze Takahisa’s boxing drama is one of the veteran director’s most crowd-pleasing films thanks to the touching father-son bond at its core.

The individuals that comprise the Tokyo MER team rush to on-site disasters and accidents, performing life-saving treatment thanks to the OR equipped within their vehicle. Their one mission is simple: leave no one dead. But conflicts arise when an unprecedented event rocks Yokohama after a bomb explodes in Landmark Tower, leaving thousands fighting to escape. Although the chief doctor Kitami believes they should not wait and presses for a quick dispatch, the more level-headed Chief Kamoi of the elite Yokohama MER thinks otherwise — they need to wait until the area is safe to enter, or they won’t be able to save anyone.

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.

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

The story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital. Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother, while Daphne Vasquez, who lost her hearing at an early age due to a case of meningitis, grew up with a single mother in a working-class neighborhood. Things come to a dramatic head when both families meet and struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls.

Seri, an unknown yet talented female chef from the country, arrives in Tokyo to work at French restaurant, Etoire, but discovers that they have gone out of business due to the departure of their main chef. Together with the restaurant's former manager, she opens a French restaurant of her own and begins to recreate the flavors her late father mastered as a famous gourmet chef. Unfortunately, Etoire returns with an unscrupulous manager, and to make matters worse, Seri learns that it happens to be owned by her birth mother living in Paris who she hasn't seen since she was a child. Seri wonders if her passion and skill will be enough to succeed. --TBS

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..

Set in an old prestigious ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant) in a small town in the center of Tokyo, a young itamae (cook for Japanese dishes) struggles his life, love and work while the long-lasted ryotei and the beloved old town face the change to survive the time. This heartwarming drama shows the intimate relationship of the community that has been lost nowadays, asks what the most important things in your life is, and tells how difficult it is to make a decision. The story is told in the form of a letter from him to his unknown father with lots of humor and love.

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?

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.

Two women are bound by their mutual passion for writing. Tono Risa is already a successful writer. Her books are all best sellers and have been made into movies, putting increasing pressure on Risa to keep churning out masterpieces. The professional pressures and her personal responsibilities begin to make Risa feel overwhelmed and dejected. Yuki is a young woman who moves to Tokyo with the dream of becoming a published writer someday. When she is about to give up on that dream, Yuki is offered a job to work as Risa’s assistant by her editor. The two women start off a little stilted but eventually form a friendship and a productive working relationship. As Yuki’s role gradually increases from being an assistant to a ghostwriter for Risa, will Risa feel threatened by Yuki’s ambition?

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.

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...

In 1930 and as a young child, Tsuneko Kohashi lives at Enshu in Shizuoka Prefecture. She has a happy life with her parents and two younger sisters. Things change after her father dies from tuberculosis. Her father asked Tsuneko Kohashi to take care of the family in his place. Due to financial difficulties, her mother Kimiko decides to move the family to Tokyo where Tsuneko's grandmother lives.

Unlike an ambulance, a doctor car is an emergency vehicle that doctors ride to scenes where patients are in critical condition in order to diagnose and administer emergency medical treatment quickly. This actually raises the survival rate significantly. Tendo Ichika is an unmarried mother of a 5-year-old child and a new doctor of a general hospital’s doctor car medical team. Asagi Yusuke, who is the only son of the hospital’s director, thinks the doctor car is expensive junk and plots to get it scrapped. He is also unusually hostile to Ichika and the other members of the hospital follow him in picking on her endlessly.

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.

The 69th NHK Asadora Drama, based on Rei Nakanishi's novel, is about the Iwata family living in Ikeda, Osaka City between 1950s and 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, Fuyuko. The family runs a bakery. The mother, Teruko, is a very energetic woman who is determined to make her dreams come true. Responding to Teruko's expectations, the eldest daughter becomes a figure skater and the second daughter becomes a very famous professional singer. In contrast, Fuyuko finds her joy in bread making.

Minato Shindo has savant syndrome. His memory is amazing, but he has difficulty communicating with other people. When Minato was little, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. He met Doctor Akira Shiga and he wanted to become a pediatric surgeon. Akira was surprised by the 7-year-old's memory of the human organs and he decided to support Minato in achieving his dream. Eventually, Minato graduated from medical school and passed the national exam for medical practitioners. Now, Akira works as a director at a large hospital. He suggests to Minato to work in the pediatric surgery department at the hospital where he works.

Freelance writer Harada Ririko and former lecturer on folklore Shimano Hitoshi go around to Tokyo’s hidden spots with horror stories. They encounter many apparitions in places that everyone knows about in the 23 wards. There is the office lady who wanders the subterranean drains of Shibuya ward in search of her missing mother. The mistress who hides a dead body in Koto ward’s Yume no Shima. The riddle of the Ikebukuro woman and romance in old age. The secret of the female CEO who encounter an apparition in a late night taxi plying Minato ward. The doctor’s wife whose fate is at the mercy of Itabashi ward’s tree which is supposed to severe ties between man and woman. The mystery of a woman and the Suzugamori execution grounds related to a crime scene in Shinagawa ward.

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.

Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King offers exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to one of sports most flamboyant and controversial characters Tyson Fury and his larger than life family. Giving viewers an unprecedented insight into the life of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in British sport.

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.

An aging pro wrestler returns to fight for his inheritance when his father — a respected Noh actor — threatens to leave his fortune to his caregiver.

TOKYO MER is formed by order from the Governor of Tokyo. The name of the group stands for TOKYO Mobile Emergency Room. The members are emergency care professionals and they are to go to sites of dangerous accidents and disasters by ER car. Their ER car is a large vehicle equipped with the latest medical devices and an operating area. There, TOKYO MER saves lives of the injured. Kōta Kitami is a doctor for TOKYO MER and its leader. He holds a strong conviction that, regardless of the dangers, he will go to accident sites to save lives.

When a successful ad executive who's got it all figured out becomes pregnant, he's forced to confront social inequities he'd never considered before.

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.

Fight is a story about fifteen year old Yuu, whose family becomes separated after an incident involving her father's spring factory. With her undying spirit to "fight" off every obstacle arising in life, Yuu maintains her positive attitude and moves forward in hopes of the day when her family will reunite again.

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.

Madoka Akagi grew up in a port town in the Kanto prefecture of Japan. After graduating university, she moved to work at ADventure, a small advertising agency in Tokyo. She came to Tokyo in search of her dreams but reality sets in and every day is not like the world she imagined, especially when she has to do a presentation that decides the company's fate. However, she soon finds a package from her mother which includes a Game Boy Pocket and Pokémon Red. She decides to start playing Pokémon Red for the first time in 20 years. How will her adventue go?

The 61st NHK Asadora Drama is Asuka. Set in Kyoto in the home of a traditional Japanese candy-maker, Asuka is the story of one young girl's dream to one day walk in her father's shoes and become a top candy-maker in the male-dominated world of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). Asuka grows to be a healthy, adventurous young girl with a deep curiosity and, a desire to become a candy-maker like her father. This NHK drama is one of the best in years with an excellent cast, a well-developed story based on extensive research into the traditional worlds of candy making and the tea ceremony in Kyoto, and beautiful scenery and settings in Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

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.

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.

Mizuki is a would-be actress who has yet to attain her goal, struggles to keep the dream in her heart alive while dealing with the reality of her normal life, far away from lights, cameras, and action she longs for. Despite words of warnings from her family, which includes her birth and step mothers, intended to keep her from reaching her destiny, she actually makes it onto a set of one of the film companies in Tokyo. She experiences the peaks and valleys of a starting actress, but receives a blow when news of the company collapses and eventually closes. Mizuki returns home, but, the fire once lit, still burns.