The Reading Nook (Japanese Edition Part 1)

Japanese Edition

It seems in the world of drama and movies Japan has cornered the market of adapting from novels, mangas, and toons. I have a lot of movies and drama titles and it was extremely hard to decide which ones I wanted to feature first. I do know for sure that I have found quite a few dramas that I am interested in watching and a few more books added to my “to read” list. 

For now, I encourage you to grab your favorite beverage and join me in my special corner of the reading nook.

Densha Otoko

Train Man

Yamada's solitary life changes after he boards a train and rescue Saori from a drunken nuisance. In return Saori sends Yamada a set of Hermes teacups as a “Thank You”. Never having been involved in a relationship much less having the courage to speak to someone of the opposite sex, Yamada decides to get some advice from users on a website forum. 

The protagonist is played by Atushi Ito (Yamada) and his love interest by Misaki Ito (Saori). They are joined by Miho Shiraishi (Misuzu Jinkama) and Kosuke Toyohara (Kazuya Sakurai) as well as huge supporting cast. 

The novel, Densha Otoko (Train Man) is a 2004 bestseller by Hitori Nakano, which is a Japanese pun for “Naka no hitori”,one of many.. Personally, I find the back story of the train man quite interesting. It is a “supposed” true story of a 23 years old unknown man who posted about his good deed on the train and continued a 57 days (March 14 - May 16, 2004) online conversation about his evolving relationship with the unnamed female. He used the forums as a way to seek advice on how to woo his love interest. The fact of these events has never been confirmed but producers and others have attested to meet the real “train man” but his identity has never been revealed but that didn't stop the popularity of this story. 

It has been made into a movie, drama, theatrical play, various manga versions, a novel as well as a television special. Densha Otoko was broadcast on Fuji TV as an 11 episode drama from July 7 to September 22, 2005. It ended up with an average rating of 21.04%. 

The novel has been published in several languages including English.

Koizora

Sky Of Love

Mika loses her cell phone and finds it but all her contacts deleted. She begins to receive phone calls from a mysterious person and becomes interested in the person as the calls progress.Then one day the person requests to meet in person. Mika is surprised that it is Hiro, the young rebel with white hair. A person that she doesn't particular cares much about because of his off putting attitude. They grow closer and start dating. Their relationship experiences some tough and tragic times eventually leading to a break up because Hiro is caught kissing another girl. Things are not the way they seem when Mika learns of the reason for the sudden cold shoulder and distance Hiro created between them.

Koizora cast stars Yui Aragaki as Mika and Haruma Miura as Hiro. Mika's second lead is played by Keisuke Koida (Yu Fukuhara) and Hiro's ex-girlfriend is played by Asami Usuda (Saki).

Koizora is a cell phone novel written of Mika and Hiro's love story as told by Mika. It became a published novel in 2006 and was split into two volumes. It gained massive popularity in Japan due to the fact that it is a loosely based biographical account of Mika's life though there are rumors of it being an exaggerated lie to gain emotional appeal.

The movie version of Koizora was released on November 3, 2007 and become the 6th highest grossing film of that year. Yui Aragaki was a big winner for the best newcomer during the award season. It was also made into a television drama with Mizusawa Elena and Seto Koji portraying Mika and Hiro. It was broadcast on TBS and aired on August 2 to September 13, 2008 with ending ratings of 6.4%

 I only found information of this novel being published in Japanese and it's manga version was released in 8  installments with the last being February 21, 2009.

Algernon ni Hanataba wo

Flowers For Algernon

Shiratori Sakuto is a 28 year old flower delivery man with the mental capacity of a 6-year-old. One day, he encounters Mochizuki Haruka who works for a brain physiology research center that is headed by Professor Hachisuka Daigo. He has been leading a successful study of mental performances on which he has been observing on a lab mouse name Algernon. Upon learning about this successful study, Sakuto decides to undergo brain surgery where he is transformed into a genius.  

Yamashita Tomohisa plays Shiratori Sakuto and the lead female is played by Kuriyama Chiaki (Mochizuki Haruka). Supporting cast includes Oomasa Aya (Koide Mai), Kuda Asuka (Hiyama Kosuke) and Ishimaru Kanji (Dr. Hachisuka Daigo) as well others.

Flowers For Algernon was written by Daniel Keyes in 1958 and was first introduced and published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as a short story. It became a published novel in 1966 and since then has been adapted into television movies, dramas, stage plays, and musicals as well as special adaptations into comics, contemporary dance works and singular episodes of television shows. 

Flowers For Algernon was frequently added to the challenged and banned list for including profanity, explicit love scenes, and references to sex and drinking. The previous "official" list I have found was for the decade of 1990-99.  

Algernon ni Hanataba wo first appeared as a Japanese drama in 2002 with an end rating of 11.1%. The 2015 remake broadcast on Fuji TV and aired as a 10 episode drama on April 10 to June 12, 2015 with an overall end rating of 8.53%. 

This novel has been published in several languages including Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

Confessions

Kokuharu

Yuko Moriguchi, a junior high school teacher, suspects that her class had something to do with the death of her 4 year old daughter. Since they are minors and are protected by Juvenile Law, Moriguchi has decided to take matters into her own hands and exacts her plan of revenge.

Confessions cast members are Takako Matsu (Yuko Moriguchi), Yukito Nishii (Shuya Watanabe), Kaoru Fujiwara (Naoki Shimomura) along with supporting cast which includes Ashida Mana as Manani Moriguchi.

Confessions is a 2008 bestseller and a 2009 Honya Taisho award receiving mystery novel by Kanae Minato. The movie was released on June 5, 2010 and ranked as the 7th highest grossing Japanese film of 2010 and highly acclaimed by various critics globally. Confessions also fetched 14 awards by various award committees and film festivals. 

This novel has been published in several languages including English

If you know of any recent dramas or movies that have been adapted from novels and or interested in joining a book club, please visits my profile @ChaNee

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