is a

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...

that aired on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

in 2010–2011. It was the 83rd

Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Take ...

. It starred a new actress,

Miori Takimoto is a Japanese actress and a former singer. Takimoto debuted in 2003 as a singer of the girl group Sweets, where she performed under the name Miori. After Sweets disbanded, Takimoto appeared on television as an actress. Biography Miori Takim ...

, in the role of a young woman raised by an adopted family in

Onomichi is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total a ...

who learns of her real grandmother and decides to move to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

to start an

okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients (mixed, or as toppings) cooked on a '' teppan'' (flat griddle). Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include ''okonomiyaki' ...

restaurant. The title word "teppan" refers to the metal surface on which okonomiyaki are cooked. The series, while interrupted by the Tohoku earthquake, averaged a 17.2% rating (in the

Kanto region Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain * Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in th ...

), making it the fourth most popular of the Asadora dramas in the previous five years.

Cast

, as Akari Murakami, the heroine *

Narumi Yasuda is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Inujini seshi mono'', '' Minami e Hashire, Umi no Michi o!'' and '' Sorobanzuku''. She also won the award for best actress at the 13th Hochi Film ...

, as Michiko Murakami, Akari's adoptive mother * Ken'ichi Endō, as Jō Murakami, Akari's adoptive father * Shingo Yanagisawa * Toshinori Omi *

Shūji Kashiwabara is a Japanese actor. Career Kashiwabara starred in Yoshihiko Matsui's 2008 film ''Where Are We Going?'' He has also appeared in films such as ''A Day on the Planet'' and ''Alien vs Ninja''. Filmography Films * Hood'' (1998) * ''Desert Moon'' ( ...

Hidekazu Akai Hidekazu (written: 秀和, 英和, 秀一 or 英一) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese rower *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese comedian *, Japanese composer and arrange ...

Rie Tomosaka is a Japanese actress and pop star from Mitaka-shi, Tokyo. She works for Itoh Company. From 1996 to 1997, she has also released music under the name . Profile Tomosaka's father is a beautician. In 1998, she majored in International Culture ...

* Sumiko Fuji, as Hatsune Tanaka, Akari's real grandmother *

Tamao Nakamura (born July 12, 1939 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese actress. Her father is kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjirō II. She was scouted by director Teruo Ogiyama and made her film debut with ''Kageko to Yukie'' when she was a junior high school student. A ...

(narrator) *

Haruka Kinami is a Japanese actress who is affiliated with Horipro. Biography In 2001, Kinami was chosen to be the Japanese High School Baseball Championship PR schoolgirl during high school. In the same year, she won the Grand Prix at the Horipro New Star A ...

, as Tanaka Chiharu

International broadcast

* The broadcast rights for the drama were sold to Sri Lanka with the intention of dubbing it into Sinhalese.

References

External links

* 2010 Japanese television series debuts 2011 Japanese television series endings Asadora Television shows set in Osaka {{Japan-tv-prog-stub