List of Japanese dramas I highly recommend for an easy and enjoyable watch

A list of my well-loved series in no particular order:

Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu (逃げるは恥だが役に立つ)

• Episodes: 11

• Genres: Food, Romance, Life, Family

• Cast: Aragaki Yui, Hoshino Gen, Ishida Yuriko, Otani Ryohei

• Synopsis:

  • Mikuri Moriyama is 25 years old. She doesn't have a boyfriend and doesn't have a job even though she holds a graduate degree. Everyday, Mikuri Moriyama has a feeling that she is not needed. Her father, unable to see her suffering anymore, arranges for her to work as a housekeeper. Her employer is 36 year old Hiramasa Tsuzaki. He is single and works for a company. A series of events leads them to marry as a working condition. (AsianWiki)

Nagi no Oitoma (凪のお暇)

• Episodes: 10

• Genres: Romance, Life

• Cast: Kuroki Haru, Takahashi Issei, Nakamura Tomoya, Ichikawa Mikako

• Synopsis:

• Nagi Oshima is a single, 28-year-old woman and she works for an electrical product manufacturer. She has extremely curly hair. She spends about an hour a day to make her straight. Nagi Oshima always tries to smile and considers other people's feelings. But, one day, her boyfriend Shinji Gamon says something to her. This makes Nagi Oshima look back at her life. She decides to reset her life. Nagi Oshima quits her job, cuts off everybody she knows (including her boyfriend), quits social media and cancels her cellphone. To restart her life, she moves to an old apartment in the suburbs of Tokyo. She wants to have a pleasant and free life, not caring about other people. She also decides to leave her hair curly. Her new life begins, with her ex-boyfriend Shinji Gamon following her and new people in her life. (Source: AsianWiki)

Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita (だから私は推しました)

• Episodes: 8

• Genres: Wota, Idol, Drama

• Cast: Sakurai Yuki, Shiraishi Sei

• Synopsis:

  • Endo Ai is an office lady and she is about to turn 30-years-old. She has enjoyed posting about herself on social media, but she has grown tired of that. One day, she happens to see underground idol Kurimoto Hana perform live. Ai is touched by her, who is not good at performing, but eager at what she is doing. (Source: AsianWiki)

Juhan Shuttai! Sleepeeer Hit! (重版出来!)

• Episodes: 10

• Genres: Comedy, Drama, Business

• Cast: Kuroki Haru, Odagiri Joe, Sakaguchi Kentaro

• Synopsis:

  • Kokoro Kurosawa used to be a contender for the Olympic Judo Team, but she now begins work at weekly manga magazine "Baibusu." She learns about editing from senior editor Kei Iokibe. She becomes fascinated with the edition world including talking with manga writers, discovering new manga writers and efforts to reprint manga books. (Source: AsianWiki)

Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム) 2013

• Episodes: 10

• Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Drama

• Cast: Sakurai Sho, Kamiki Ryunosuke

• Synopsis:

  • The story revolves around an eccentric home tutor named Yoshimoto, who is hired to teach the second son of the Numata family. While being tossed around by the weird and unconventional home tutor, the remedial student and his family gradually start changing. Though the previous movie/dramas featured a fiercely competitive high school entrance examinations as its main theme, the 2013 version will also feature some modern problems like bullying and school refusal. (Source: MDL)

Gakkou no Kaidan (学校のカイダン)

• Episodes: 10

• Genres: Mystery, School, Youth, Drama

• Cast: Hirose Suzu, Kamiki Ryunosuke

• Synopsis:

  • Haruna Tsubame, an inconspicuous high school girl, is always sensitive to people’s moods and keeps the peace in school. One day, she gets pushed to become the president of the student council by the people around her. Tsubame’s encounter with a man who is a genius speechwriter, leads to a revolution in school. She struggles to change a school full of irrationality and dissatisfaction with the power of words.