Japan’s public broadcaster, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, NHK), announced on April 9 that its 2028 Taiga Drama will be 『John Mang』. 「John Mang」 is the nickname for John Manjiro—also known as Manjiro Nakahama—a fisherman from the late Edo period who drifted out to sea and eventually made his way to the United States.
The role of Manjiro will be played by Kento Yamazaki, who starred in the film Kingdom.
In this piece, the author examines the background to John Manjiro’s selection as the subject of the Taiga Drama.
What Is the NHK Taiga Drama?
The NHK Taiga Drama airs every Sunday from 8:00 to 8:45 p.m. on NHK General Television, the network’s main terrestrial channel, with additional broadcasts on NHK’s BS channels. Each series runs for a full year—January through December—telling a single story centered on a figure from Japanese history.
A catalog of past Taiga Dramas compiled by Ritsumeikan University shows that the series premiered in 1963, with its first subject being Naosuke Ii, a senior Edo shogunate official from the late Edo period. The franchise has continued for over sixty years since, each installment taking a new subject—though on occasion, a figure has been revisited after a significant interval.
That longevity speaks to the enduring popularity of the format. Whenever a new subject is announced—as is the case now—or following each Sunday broadcast, viewers take to social media to share their reactions.
As of 2026, the current Taiga Drama is 『Brothers in Arms』, centered on Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s younger brother, Hidenaga.
Recurring Themes and Recent Trends in the Taiga Drama
The Taiga Drama has long favored warlords from the medieval and early modern periods—including figures who actually seized political power, such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Tokugawa Ieyasu—as well as patriots from the late Edo period. The author suspected this impression might be subjective, but a check of the Ritsumeikan University catalog bore it out. In the ten years from 2010 to 2019, five installments featured a warlord or a comparably high-ranking aristocrat, or a member of their family; in that same decade, only one series—centered on Sakamoto Ryoma—was built around a figure who could be described as a late-Edo patriot. Combined, however, these two categories accounted for a majority of the decade’s output.
The preceding decade, 2000 to 2009, followed a similar pattern: warlord-related subjects appeared seven times, and late-Edo patriots twice—including Atsuhime, a princess of the pro-imperial Satsuma domain.
Warlord narratives tend to deliver not only battlefield strategy but also political intrigue, giving stories a varied rhythm that keeps viewers engaged. Stories set during the late Edo period and the Meiji Restoration, by contrast, speak to an era of dramatic upheaval in Japan’s politics, economy, and society—making them, perhaps, an easier source of hope for contemporary audiences who feel constrained by the present.
Before turning to 『John Mang』 itself, however, it is worth noting that recent Taiga Dramas have not always confined themselves to stories that begin and end on Japanese soil. Two recent examples stand out: 『IDATEN』 (2019), which traced Japan’s journey from its Olympic debut to the 1964 Tokyo Games, and 『Reach Beyond the Blue Sky』 (2021), which followed Eiichi Shibusawa—often called “the father of Japanese capitalism”.
IDATEN attracted attention for filming on location at the site of the 1912 Stockholm Olympics—an unusual move for the franchise. One episode also depicts characters traveling by Trans-Siberian Railway; the director of that installment, Hitoshi Ohne, had personally made the trans-Eurasian crossing himself and drew on that experience for the production.
Reach Beyond the Blue Sky had originally planned shoots in Paris, but these were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The drama nonetheless followed Shibusawa through his historical encounters with the cutting edge of the world economy in Europe of that era. In parenthesis: the author regards Eiichi Shibusawa as arguably the most prolific serial entrepreneur in recorded world history—a point worth taking up separately at a later date.
John Manjiro: An Ordinary Man and a Cosmopolitan
And so to the 2028 Taiga Drama, 『John Mang』. The historical John Manjiro was adrift at sea during a fishing trip when he was rescued by an American vessel and taken to the United States. After learning English and acquiring practical skills there, he eventually returned to Japan. Following his return came Commodore Perry’s arrival—the first formal diplomatic contact between Japan and the United States—and Manjiro was initially appointed as interpreter, only to be removed from that role because the shogunate harbored suspicions about his loyalty.
John Manjiro was, in short, an “ordinary person”—a fisherman—yet also a cosmopolitan of a kind that was virtually unheard of in Japan at the time.
In recent years, many countries—Japan among them—have leaned toward a “country first” orientation, and their citizens have grown increasingly inward-looking. The author has no intention of condemning this wholesale. At the same time, the reality is that an exclusively inward perspective narrows the scope for economic and technological development. A sense of balance—cherishing one’s own country while also respecting others—is something every era needs.
The arc from 『IDATEN』 and 『Reach Beyond the Blue Sky』 to 『John Mang』 in NHK’s Taiga Drama lineup reads, to the author, as both a warning about our present moment and an expression of hope.
