"Drama 1 Week" brings you the latest drama news from the past week. This time (February 7-13), the news that Mrs. GREEN APPLE will be performing the theme song for the NHK morning drama "Kaze, Kaoru" in the first half of 2026, and that Megumi Hata will be starring in a prime-time terrestrial TV drama for the first time, were hot topics. This article will cover these topics in two parts.
On February 10th, it was announced that Mrs. GREEN APPLE will be performing the theme song for the NHK morning drama "Kaze, Kaoru," starring Ai Mikami and Juri Uesaka, which will begin airing on March 30th in the first half of 2026. The theme song is titled "Kaze to Machi" (Wind and Town). Motoki Omori, who played Isetakuya in the morning drama "Anpan" in the first half of 2025, recalled, "Personally, it was a very stimulating experience to be producing the theme song for 'Kaze, Kaoru' while also appearing in 'Anpan'." He commented, "In these turbulent times, I poured all my love into creating 'Kaze to Machi' as a hymn to life for all the characters, centered around the two main characters."
On the 10th, it was announced that Kasumi Arimura will be appearing in the April TBS Sunday Theatre drama "GIFT" (Sundays at 9 PM), starring Shinichi Tsutsumi. This will be Arimura's first appearance in a Sunday Theatre drama. She will play Hitoka Kiriyama, a reporter working in the editorial department of a lifestyle magazine at a publishing company. Everyone around her sees her as a cheerful, headstrong person, but she desperately tries to act cheerful in order to escape a past trauma. She is assigned to cover a new serial project, "Para Athletes and the People Who Support Them," and encounters wheelchair rugby and Gotetsu Fumito (played by Tsutsumi). Also announced is Yuki Yamada, who will play Ryo Miyashita, the ace player of the underdog wheelchair rugby team, the Brave Bulls, who has lost his luster.
On the 10th, Ryoko Yonekura appeared at the premiere screening of her lead Prime Original film "Angel Flight THE MOVIE" (directed by Kentaro Horikirizono, streaming worldwide exclusively on Prime Video from February 13th), held in Tokyo. When it was her turn to greet the audience, co-star Kenichi Endo, who was sitting next to Yonekura, grabbed her hand and raised it, saying, "Ryoko, I'm fine!" Yonekura shed tears. This film is a sequel to the human drama "Angel Flight: International Funeral Home Specialist," which Yonekura also starred in and was released on Prime Video in March 2023 and broadcast on NHK General TV from May last year. Yonekura plays Nami Izawa, the powerful president of Angel Hearth, which has its office at Haneda Airport.
On the 11th, it was revealed that Hata Megumi and Shida Mirai will be co-starring in the April drama series "Error" (ABC TV/TV Asahi, Sundays 10:15 PM). This will be Hata's first time starring in a primetime terrestrial drama. Nakata Yume (Hata), who is tormented by guilt after causing a woman's death, and her daughter, Osako Mio (Shida), who has lost the will to live, meet by chance and develop a friendship without knowing the truth... Hata's Yume is a "woman who just makes mistakes." She's usually cool and collected, but she's weak when it matters. Shida, who will be appearing in the drama series for four consecutive seasons and starring in two consecutive seasons, will play Mio, a "woman who lives her life trying not to make mistakes."
On the 12th, it was revealed that Kuroki Haru will be starring in the April drama series "Galaxy's Vote," which will be broadcast on Kansai TV and Fuji TV. Kuroki will play Hoshino Mari, secretary to her father, who serves as secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Party. One day, her father receives an envelope from an unknown sender containing a newspaper clipping reporting the death of a medical school dean from a fall, along with a letter that reads, "You killed him." Mari secretly investigates her father's past actions and uncovers a certain truth, but her father finds out and fires her from his job as secretary. Eventually, Mari meets Tsukioka Akari (Noro Kayo), who runs a small snack bar, and becomes his election strategist, working hard to make her the governor of Tokyo.
On the 12th, NHK held a press conference at its Shibuya Broadcasting Center in Tokyo titled "2026 Domestic and International Broadcast Programming Revisions, Main Program Casters," where it announced that the "Saturday Drama" slot will be reinstated for the first time in six months starting in the new fiscal year. The first Saturday drama of the new fiscal year will be "Goodbye Hospital 2," starring Yukino Kishii and Kenichi Matsuyama, broadcast in two parts. Currently, the same time slot is used for "Unsolved Cases" (General, Saturdays at 10 PM), a signature series from "NHK Special," which began airing as a regular program in October 2025. Director-General of Media Hiroo Yamana commented, "The fate of 'Unsolved Cases' has not yet been decided, even in the second half of the program, so all I can say is that it's still undecided."
On the 13th, it was announced that Hiyori Yoshikawa of "Super Tokimeki Sendenbu" will be appearing in the fourth episode (airing February 15th) of the TBS Sunday Theatre "Reboot" (Sunday 9pm), starring Ryohei Suzuki. This will be Yoshikawa's first appearance in a TBS drama, and she will play Aki, a clerical staff member with an unofficial part-time job. Aki is responsible for the practical work and information gathering involved in opening corporate accounts, and acts under the instructions of Ichika Kogo (Erika Toda). Yoshikawa commented, "I don't have much experience acting in dramas, so I was really nervous about filming, especially since it was a Sunday Theatre production and I was acting alongside Erika Toda, who plays Ichika. However, Aki is someone Ichika trusts, so I hope that everyone can understand her relationship with Aki!"
On the 13th, the new cast for the NHK morning drama "Blossom," starring Shizuka Ishibashi, was announced. The cast will include Atsuro Watanabe, Ryoko Kuninaka, Honoka Matsumoto, Tomohito Yashima, Kaoru Kusumi, Aso Kiryu, Yuki Hana, Chisato Nakai, Asuka Kudo, Masami Miura, Maho Yamada, and Daichi Kaneko, who will play the protagonist Tama Hano (played by Ishibashi) and her family, as well as the people she meets in her hometown of Iwakuni. This will be Watanabe, Kiryu, Nakai, and Kaneko's first appearances in a morning drama. Watanabe will play Seiji Hano, the father of the heroine Tama Hano (played by Ishibashi). Kuninaka, who will be appearing in an morning drama for the first time in 25 years since her lead role in "Chura-san" in the first half of 2001, will play Tama's stepmother, Ryo Hano.
