The Best TV Shows on NHK+

Every NHK+ Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Our curated list, current as of September 2025, showcases over 20 of NHK+’s highest-rated series. Across the timeline from 1979 to 2024, NHK+ has presented audiences with over 20 captivating shows. Highlighting NHK+’s quality programming, Sister Ma and Oshin stand out, premiering in 1979 and 1983.

  • Dear Radiance
    Dear Radiance (2024)9.0

    Murasaki Shikibu (Yoshitaka Yuriko), the heroine of this story, wrote the bestseller 'The Tale of Genji,' transcending a thousand years during the Heian period. She weaves the story of Hikaru Genji, fueled by her love for Fujiwara no Michinaga (Emoto Tasuku), with her hidden passion and incomparable imagination. It is a tale of a woman who lived with unchanging love in an ever-changing world. (From TV JAPAN)

  • Document 72 Hours
    Document 72 Hours (2006)8.7

    An unusual documentary series that delves into human dramas through chance encounters with ordinary people at selected spots. Filmed over 72 hours in a single location, the show captures glimpses into people's lives as they open up and share their stories. Japanese Broadcast Version

  • Toto Nee-chan
    Toto Nee-chan (2016)8.5

    In 1930 and as a young child, Tsuneko Kohashi lives at Enshu in Shizuoka Prefecture. She has a happy life with her parents and two younger sisters. Things change after her father dies from tuberculosis. Her father asked Tsuneko Kohashi to take care of the family in his place. Due to financial difficulties, her mother Kimiko decides to move the family to Tokyo where Tsuneko's grandmother lives.

  • Daa! Daa! Daa! UFO Baby
    Daa! Daa! Daa! UFO Baby (2000)8.4

    Daa! Daa! Daa! UFO Baby is a Japanese children's animated television series produced by J.C.Staff, Directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, and was aired on NHK-BS2 from March 28, 2000 to February 26, 2002.

  • Hiyokko
    Hiyokko (2017)8.2

    The 17-year-old Yatabe Mineko grew up in a family of seven in a mountain village in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture. Her father Minoru has gone to Tokyo to work in order to earn extra money. However, her life completely changes when her father does not come back for the New Year. Mineko asks her family to let her go to Tokyo to find him and promises to send money home. In the autumn of 1964, she and two childhood friends Tokiko and Mitsuo are hired to start working at a small factory in Tokyo’s working class neighborhood. After work each day, Mineko searches for her father and gets disheartened at times. Mineko overcomes challenges and starts to lay down roots in Tokyo as she experiences many meetings and farewells amid the laughter and tears with regulars, people of the shopping street, friends, and colleagues. But will she be able to find her father?

  • Professional: Shigoto no ryûgi
    Professional: Shigoto no ryûgi (2006)8.0

    It is said that "the style of work reflects a person's way of life." This documentary program closely follows top-notch professionals and thoroughly delves into their work. Since its premiere in January 2006, it has observed individuals at the forefront of their respective fields, such as Ichiro (Major League Baseball player), Sayuri Yoshinaga (film actor), Haruko Niitsu (janitor), Ken Takakura (film actor), Kasumi Ishikawa (table tennis player), Hikaru Utada (singer-songwriter), Kumamon (local government employee), and Yoshiharu Habu (professional shogi player).

  • Junjo Kirari
    Junjo Kirari (2006)8.0

    The 74th NHK Asadora Drama is Junjo Kirari, which means something along the lines of "pure-hearted Kirari." The story is set in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture in the era around the Second World War. When the story opens in 1928, the heroine, Sakurako, is a very active seven-year-old girl. Indeed, even in the first episode she exhibits her confidence and enthusiasm. But above all else, Sakurako is interested in becoming a jazz pianist, and music features extensively in the plot.

  • Massan
    Massan (2014)8.0

    Massan is based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan, a Scotswoman Taketsuru met while studying abroad.

  • Asa ga Kita
    Asa ga Kita (2015)8.0

    Towards the end of the Edo era, in the town of Kyoto, there lived a wealthy merchant by the name of Imai Tadamasa. He was blessed with 3 children, Hatsu, Asa and Kyutaro. His eldest, Hatsu, was a traditional girl who loved to play the koto and sew. Whilst his second daughter, Asa, was an impish hoyden who loved sumo wrestling. Asa was engaged to be married to the second son of a distinguished family who ran a money changer business in Osaka, Shirooka Shinjiro. Although Asa was furious when she had first heard about the betrothal, when she met up with Shinjiro for the first time, his charisma greatly attracted her and she fell in love with him in no time.

  • Half Blue Sky
    Half Blue Sky (2018)7.8

    Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit.

  • Mare
    Mare (2015)7.7

    Mare is an elementary school student. She lives with her family in the city, but, right before her father goes bankrupt, they run away and settle down at a fishing village in Noto. The family rents a couple's home who run a salt pond. Mare's father starts a new business, but it also fails. Her mother supports the family by working at the salt pond. 8 years later, Mare, about to graduate from high school, decides to work for the Wajima local government. She wants to have a steady job, unlike her father. Her job is to support people who move to Noto.

  • Kingdom
    Kingdom (2012)7.6

    In the Warring States period, young orphan Xin vows to aid King Zheng of Qin in his quest to unify China by becoming a general himself.

  • Futarikko
    Futarikko (1996)7.3

    Born over a tofu shop in Osaka, twin sisters Reiko and Kyoko have very different characters. Reiko is diligent, and longs for a secure, middle class lifestyle. Kyoko is a free spirit, who seeks thrills and adventure.

  • The Three Musketeers
    The Three Musketeers (1987)7.2

    D'artagnan leaves Gascone and his grandparents to go to Paris to be a musketeer like his father was...

  • Oshin
    Oshin (1983)6.7

    Oshin is a Japanese serialized morning television drama, which aired on broadcaster NHK from April 4, 1983 to March 31, 1984. The series follows the life of Shin Tanokura during the Meiji period up to the early 1980s. Shin was called "Oshin", which is an archaic Japanese cognomen.

  • Rocky Rackat
    Rocky Rackat (1993)6.5

  • Ochoyan
    Ochoyan (2020)6.3

    In the end of Meiji era, Takei Chiyo was born in a poor family in Osaka, and was sent to a theatre tea room as a servant when she was 9 years old. There, she was attracted by the world of theatre comedy. She grows up to be an actor and marries to Amami Ippei , but the war broke out and she was forced to stay away from acting for a while. However, when she comes back again, her acting in a radio drama impresses many people and makes herself one of the leading actors in western Japan.

  • Sister Ma
    Sister Ma (1979)N/A

    A serialized television series, aired in 1979, based on Hasegawa Machiko's "Sazae-san Uchiakebanashi" (Sazae-san Confessions), which depicts the true vibrant energy and strength of the common people, through their laughter and tears, from the pre-war to the post-war period in Japan.

  • Hitomi
    Hitomi (2008)N/A

    The 78th NHK Asadora is Hitomi. The series takes place in the old shitamachi area of Tokyo, and in these most recent episodes, 20-year old heroine Hitomi becomes the force around which her divorced mother, long estranged from her own father, is forced to reconcile and renew a sense of family camaraderie. This is not particularly easy, given the trifling issues and problems of modern day life that beset each of the characters, and the drama unfolds with a light comedic touch. Hitomi's upbringing is the issue that is constantly brought into focus. The family reconciliation is made possible, ironically through the death of Hitomi's grandmother. Hitomi seizes the opportunity to travel to her funeral from Sapporo. Once there, she sets out to realize her dream of becoming a dancer, all the while interfering with and disrupting her grandfather's life.

  • Shimajiro: A Wonderful Adventure
    Shimajiro: A Wonderful Adventure (2012)N/A

    Curious young boy Shimajiro learns the importance of family and friendship through his many adventures with his pals Mimi-Lynne, Flappie and Nikki.