"Drama 1 Week" brings you the latest drama news from the past week. This week (January 31st to February 6th) featured topics such as Shinichi Tsutsumi starring in a TBS Sunday Theatre drama for the first time in 27 years, and the production of a special drama for NHK's "Drama 10: Happiness is Eating, Sleeping, and Waiting." The series will be covered in two parts.
On February 1st, the fifth episode of the NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (NHK General TV, Sundays at 8:00 PM and other times), starring Taiga Nakano, aired, featuring former Sakurazaka46 member Yuuka Sugai's debut as Matsu. This was Sugai's first appearance in a Taiga drama, and she was selected through a young talent audition. Sugai's character, Matsu, is the wife of Maeda Toshiie, the feudal lord of Kaga Province (southern Ishikawa Prefecture). She is deeply involved with the Toyotomi brothers and their families, and Matsu and Nene (Minami Hamabe) also develop a close relationship. In the episode, Toshiie (Shunsuke Daito) and Tōkichirō (Sōsuke Ikematsu) face off in a match in front of the lord. Matsu passionately supports Toshiie, and engages in a "war of words" with Nene, who later becomes Tōkichirō's wife. Social media users commented, "Matsu and Nene don't get along these days," and "They're so cute!"
On the 1st, it was announced that the sequel to the drama series W-30 "Draft King" (WOWOW), which aired in 2023 starring Muro Tsuyoshi, "Draft King -BORDER LINE-" will begin airing in May. Muro will play Gohara Aura, a scout for the Yokohama Baygoals baseball team, while Miyazawa Hio will play Kamiki Ryosuke, who grows as a player while working alongside Gohara; Denden will play Shimobe Rikuo, the head of the scouting department; and Uechi Yusuke will play Otsu Ryosuke, a member of the scouting department. The series will be broadcast and streamed every Friday from 11:00 PM starting May 15th. There will be a total of 10 episodes.
On the 2nd, it was revealed that Nagasaku Hiromi will be starring in the TBS drama series "Toki Already Sushi!?" (Tuesdays at 10 PM) which will begin airing in April. This will be Nagasaku's first lead role in a commercial TV drama series in about 14 years. Nagasaku will be playing 50-year-old Machiyama Minato, who has lived her life solely for her only son since losing her husband in a freak accident 14 years ago. With her son now working, she has her own time for the first time in decades, but now that she has freedom, she doesn't know what to do for herself, as she has always been running "for her son." One day, Minato takes a step forward and enters a new world where she can learn how to make sushi in just three months at the "Sushi Academy." This is the story.
On the 2nd, it was announced that a special drama based on NHK's "Drama 10 'Happiness is Eating, Sleeping, and Waiting,'" starring Sakurai Yuki, which aired from April to May last year, will be produced and air this summer. Sakurai, who plays the main character, Mugimaki Satoko, commented, "I am truly happy to be able to share the world of 'Happiness is Eating, Sleeping, and Waiting' with everyone again, and to be able to play Mugimaki Satoko again. I look forward to having fun filming with the staff and cast so that everyone can once again fully experience the atmosphere of life in that housing complex that everyone found so comfortable, and the warmth of the medicinal cuisine. Please eat, sleep, and wait until it airs!"
On the 2nd, it was announced that the first episode of the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Reboot" (Sunday 9 PM), starring Ryohei Suzuki, aired on January 18th. It surpassed 4.86 million views on the commercial TV streaming service "TVer" within eight days of its release (measurement period: January 18th to January 25th, 2026, according to TVer DATA MARKETING). This breaks the previous record for the most views for the first episode of any drama ever streamed on TVer. The previous record was 4.62 million views for the first episode of Fuji TV's "Monday 9" drama "The Beginning of the Sea" (July 2024, measurement period: July 1st to 8th, 2024, same source), breaking the previous record of about a year and a half.
On the 3rd, it was revealed that Shinichi Tsutsumi will be starring in the April TBS Sunday Theatre drama "GIFT" (Sundays at 9 PM). This will be Tsutsumi's first lead role in a Sunday Theatre drama in 27 years, since "The Doctor" (1999). He will play Gotetsu Fumito, an astrophysicist with a genius mind and knowledge. Gotetsu is an associate professor at a university who is researching "black holes." Because he is such a genius, he often speaks his mind without any ill intent, hurting his colleagues and isolating himself from those around him. He plays a lonely man who has never clashed with or confronted anyone, and whose only purpose in life is to find difficult problems that interest him and find answers to them.
On the 3rd, Akari Takaishi, who plays the heroine Toki in the currently airing NHK morning drama "Bakeke" (General TV, Monday-Saturday 8:00 AM and others), Tommy Bastow, who plays Toki's husband Heaven, and Takashi Okabe, who plays Toki's father Tsukasasuke, participated in the Setsubun Festival held at Naritasan Fudoson in Neyagawa City, Osaka Prefecture. Takaishi commented, "So many people came and called out to me, 'Toki-chan,' and I felt energized and blessed by their energy." Bastow said, "As the only foreigner participating, there were moments when I wondered if I had a similar experience to Mr. Hearn, and I felt welcomed into Japanese culture."
Additionally, Minami Hamabe, who plays Nene in the NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!", participated in the Setsubun Festival at Naritasan Fudoson Temple in Neyagawa City, along with Sosuke Ikematsu, who plays Hideyoshi. Hamabe commented, "The Setsubun Festival at Naritasan Fudoson Temple in Osaka was very lively and energizing. Osaka Castle will appear in the drama in the future, but it was a memorable experience for me to come here with Ikematsu, who plays Hideyoshi." Ikematsu added, "It was a wonderful memory for me to be able to throw beans together in kimonos with Hamabe in Osaka, a place associated with Hideyoshi and Nene."
