The NHK evening drama "Vanilla Every Day" (General TV, Monday to Thursday, 10:45 p.m.), starring actors Misako Renbutsu and Nagasaku Hiromi, will begin airing on January 20. Based on a novel by Kato Tsubasa, the story is set in a small pastry shop in Osaka and is a "sweets human drama" in which the magic of sweets that stimulate the five senses quenches the thirst of the hearts of lonely people.
Renbutsu plays the main character, pastry chef Shirai Aoi, while Nagasaku plays the brazen and cheerful cooking researcher Sadotani Manami. Other cast members include Taisei Kido Nobuko, Shiori Doi Yui, Nakajima Hiroko, Tanimura Mizuki, and Tsutsui Mariko.
Shirai Aoi trained as a pastry chef and opened a Western-style pastry shop in Osaka, which was her dream. However, business did not go well and she had to close the shop. Then, a quirky culinary researcher, Sadotani Manami, appeared and said she would open a "sweets class for one person" in the kitchen of Shirai's closed shop. Shirai reluctantly cooperated. The students who came to the mysterious sweets class were all people with their own emotional pain.
The story is about how the time spent making and enjoying sweets gently soothes a lonely heart.
