Official Website
www.nhk.or.jp/drama/jukujo
Broadcast
Tuesdays, 10.55 – 11.25 p.m. from 4 September 2012
Station
NHK
Story
One day, 46-year-old full-time housewife Aizawa Chinami is suddenly asked by her husband Hiroshi to give him a divorce because he wants to marry his classmate from junior high school days. This woman is his first love, Moriyama Haruko, now the editor of a popular female magazine. They had reconnected through social media and he wishes to start life over again. And so, Chinami loses everything that she has created as a housewife because of her husband’s infidelity. Then there is the issue of custody of thier son, Kakeru. While in the midst of a difficult divorce settlement, a depressed Chinami indulges in alcohol at a hotel where she has memories of happier times with Hiroshi and gets absolutely foxed. The next morning, the person who had tended to Chinami anonymously introduces her to a cleaning job at the hotel. This person is actually Takaoka Yusuke, the young general manager of the hotel. Almost two times younger than Chinami, Yusuke is the son of the owner of the global chain of hotels, Hotel Takaoka International, and goes by the nickname “Prince”. In front of hotel staff, he behaves like the perfect man, but he is at heart a warped, loathsome character … …
Characters
Kusakari Tamiyo as Aizawa Chinami
She and her husband, Hiroshi, met at a major commercial bank where she worked for several years after graduating from university. She resigned from the bank following her marriage and has been a full-time housewife since then. Suddenly asked for a divorce which turns into a tumultuous divorce settlement, she gets into a drunken stupor at a hotel bar one day. An anonymous person finds her a cleaning job at the hotel and she begins to work there to fend for herself. Not knowing the true identify of her benefactor, she writes letters to him at regular intervals.
Seto Koji as Takaoka Yusuke
The eldest son of the owner of a global chain of top hotels. Despite his youth, he is made the general manager at the hotel in Tokyo. He has an inferiority complex regarding his birth. In front of his father and the hotel staff, he plays the part of the perfect man who cares about the people around him, but in fact has a black heart. He finds the letters from Aizawa Chinami a bother, but his feelings gradually change as he interacts with her. His stepmother and stepbrother covet the position of successor of the hotel group.
Haba Yuichi as Aizawa Hiroshi
Aizawa Chinami’s husband. He is firmly on the fast track at the bank where Chinami used to work too. One day, he gets in touch with his first love and junior high school classmate, Haruko, through SNS for the first time in years. He is rapidly attracted to Haruko, he ends up having an affair with her. Deciding to divorce Chinami, he tells her that he wants custody of their son, Kakeru. He has a rather indecisive personality.
Isono Kiri as Nitta Kyoko
A fellow colleague during the same period that Aizawa Chinami worked at the bank. Even after Chinami resigned from the bank upon marriage, she continued to work there. She is also a colleague of Hiroshi’s. She is one of the few people whom Chinami can speak her mind to.
Matsuoka Kodai as Aizawa Kakeru
The only son of Aizawa Chinami and Hiroshi. A second-year junior high school student. He tries to push his parents in the direction that he desires and offers advice to them like a mature adult. At first sight, he seems to be unemotional, but actually has a sensitive side.
Yamamoto Kei as Sugiura Hajime
A legendary hotelier. As Takaoka Yusuke’s tutor, he is the general manager’s secretary, put in charge of grooming Yusuke into a hotel man by Yusuke’s father. He is one of the few people who knows the secret of Yusuke’s birth and sees the reality which Yusuke is open about. He is Aizawa Chinami’s ally.
Moriguchi Yoko as Moriyama Haruko
Aizawa Hiroshi’s junior high school classmate and first love. The successful chief editor of a popular female magazine. Reacquainted with Hiroshi after more than 30 years, she starts going out with him and even considers marriage. Although she finds pleasure in her romance with Hiroshi, she feels a sense of guilt. Before long, she realises that what he sees is not her present self but the person of his memories and slowly begins to have doubts about her relationship with him.
Asakura Aki as Nanao Asami
Takaoka Yusuke’s fiancee. The granddaughter of the owner of a major real estate company. Because it is an old pact between their parents, her marriage to Yusuke was decided. Although she looks neat and ladylike, she has a progressive view on love and even professes to Yusuke that she has a boyfriend.
Enoki Takaaki as Takaoka Ryoichi
Takaoka Yusuke’s father. The chairman of Hotel Takaoka International. He is not swayed by favouritism and is a hotel magnate who has a strictly pragmatic management philosophy.
Yokoyama Megumi as Takaoka Reiko
Takaoka Yusuke’s step-mother. The mother of Yusuke’s younger brother, Kasuki. She is plotting to make her son the next chairman.
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any chance this can get translated? if not, it would be great for episode synopsis’ so those of us who don’t speak japanese can understand what went on ha!