The Mysteries of a Wandering Writer
The 5,000-Kilometer Adventure
Mitsuhiko Asami is a travel and history writer who travels the length of the country, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, gathering stories and information about famous places, histories, traditions, events and people. He encounters a diverse swath of people and a good share of sticky situations along the way. Fortunately, an innate curiosity and sense of justice, along with the occasional help of a police chief brother, enable Asami to confront whatever mysteries, and crimes, fall across his path. Suspense and intrigue at every turn.

A girl-next-door type, the ordinary senior high school girl, Izumi Hoshi suddenly turns into a yakuza (gangster) boss. The high school girl, who had been completely unrelated to the yakuza world, now defeats evils one after another. It is a truly exhilarating story.
The original novel written by Jiro Akagawa is a big hit that sold some 2 million copies! Furthermore, it is a serial drama based on “Sailor Fuku to Kikanju (sailor suit and machine gun),” which was made into a movie starring Hiroko Yakushimaru and was rage of the times.

Yuki, mother of the Mashiba family, is the grease that keeps this well-oiled machine running and its seven members happy and healthy. But when Yuki herself falls ill and needs to be hospitalized, the rest of the family must cooperate and make sacrifices in order to keep everything running smoothly and make ends meet. This heart-warming drama shows how a family finds strength in the face of adversity and learns the true meaning of family.

Hiro was an ace pitcher in junior high school, until he was diagnosed with a “glass elbow.” After giving up on the sport for a time, his passion for the game draws him back to it in high school and he joins a baseball team only to find himself in a match against his old rival Hideo who plays for the highest ranked high school. The meeting of the two is observed by Hideo’s girlfriend, Hikari, and she finds herself increasingly drawn towards Hiro, despite his only being interested in baseball. These two young men battle for the dream of winning the famous Koushien Baseball Tournament and for the heart of the young woman who doesn’t know for whom she should cheer.

“I thought I might be using a lifetime’s happiness in a moment. I was that happy and she was that beautiful.” A young boy stands on the red earth of Australia under its blue sky. It is 17-year-old Sakutaro Matsumoto. His time with the girl comes back to him. The colored sand runs through his hands and a tear appears on his cheek. He wakes up. It’s 2004 and he is 34 years old and in Japan. He thinks “I have been in a world without her for 17 years.” Returning home to see his old high school for the last time before it is demolished, Saku confronts anew the loss of the love of his life, Aki, to leukemia 17 years ago. Now a medical researcher at graduate school, he has been living as if half of him died with her since then. Based on the bestselling novel that sold over 3 million copies, the past and present come together in this love story that is both pure and sad.