Two WOWOW Productions Win Excellence and Encouragement Awards in the Drama Division at the 52nd Hoso Bunka Foundation Awards

WOWOW Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hitoshi Yamamoto; hereinafter "WOWOW") is pleased to announce that its produced and broadcast/streamed program "Drama W: The Night Signpost - Record of a Suspect -" has received the Excellence Award, and its planned and produced program "The Man Who Carried Voices of August" has received the Encouragement Award in the drama division of the 52nd Hoso Bunka Foundation Awards.

Drama Division Excellence Award

"Drama W: The Night Signpost - Record of a Suspect -"

A drama adaptation of Yoko Ashizawa's 76th Mystery Writers of Japan Award-winning novel. A murder case occurred in 1996. The truth hidden behind it is a heartbreaking, authentic social mystery.

Drama Division Encouragement Award

"The Man Who Carried Voices of August"

A story of a fateful encounter brought about by the atomic bomb, based on the true story of journalist Akihiko Ito, who lived in Nagasaki and traveled throughout Japan collecting the voices of atomic bomb survivors. This is the first drama produced by our company's domestic production business, and it was broadcast on NHK as a "Post-War 80th Anniversary Drama" in August 2025.

The Hoso Bunka Foundation Awards are presented to outstanding broadcast programs and streaming content that have impressed viewers and contributed to the development and improvement of broadcasting culture, as well as to remarkable achievements in the fields of broadcasting culture and technology. The awards were established in 1975 by the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Hoso Bunka Foundation and this year marks the 52nd occasion.

"Drama W: The Night Signpost - Record of a Suspect -" Overview

First Broadcast

September 14, 2025 (Sunday) 10:00 PM~ (5 episodes total) [WOWOW Prime]

WOWOW On Demand

Streaming Now

https://wod.wowow.co.jp/program/196570

<Story>

In 1996, Katsuhiro Togawa, a lecturer who ran a cram school in Yokohama City, was murdered. Tsuru Akutsu (Yojiro Noda), a former student of the victim with mild mental disabilities, emerged as a suspect, but his whereabouts remained unknown two years after the incident. As the investigation scaled down, Detective Shotaro Taira (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a detective on the sidelines, was instructed by Chief Detective Isao Izutsu to reinvestigate Togawa's murder, along with young detective Keigo Ohya (Mahiro Takasugi). Why was Togawa, a man of good reputation with no bad rumors, murdered?--. Those who knew Togawa, including school関係者 (people related to the cram school), the suspect Akutsu's mother and ex-wife, and acquaintances... Taira and his team continue to conduct interviews daily, but the mystery only deepens.

Meanwhile, Toyoko Nagao (Kumi Takina), Akutsu's classmate who ends up harboring the murder suspect, and Haru Hashimoto, an elementary school student who meets Akutsu through "a certain trigger," and others who seemed unrelated, all begin to move around the fugitive suspect Akutsu. As their actions connect the seemingly disparate dots, an unexpected development unfolds...

What will you think when you finally arrive at "the one truth"? A shocking work that boldly tackles social issues that once existed in reality. A heartbreaking, authentic social mystery where the truth hidden behind the murder deeply affects the viewer.

<Cast & Staff>

Original Work: Yoko Ashizawa "Yoru no Michishirube" (Chuko Bunko)

Screenplay: Yasuko Kuramitsu, Junichi Mori

Director: Junichi Mori

Music: Jun Futamata

Starring: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yojiro Noda, Kumi Takina, Mahiro Takasugi / Okikai Kotani, Yujin Kobayashi, Mutsuo Yoshioka /

Kurara Emi, Aki Asakura, Aito Sakamoto, Shohei Uno / Masato Wada, Midoriko Kimura

Planning & Produce: Shiori Odaka, Toshiya Nomura

Producer: Yusuke Kobayashi, Hiroki Myoen

Production Production: dub

Production Copyright: WOWOW

"The Man Who Carried Voices of August" Overview

First Broadcast

August 13, 2025 (Wednesday) 10:00 PM~ (1 episode total) [NHK (General)]

https://www.nhk.or.jp/p/ts/663796R2L1/

Streaming on NHK On Demand

<Story>

There was a journalist who dedicated his life to recording the "voices" of over a thousand atomic bomb survivors, preserving them for the future. Tamotsu Tsujihara (Masahiro Motoki), after retiring from a broadcasting station in Nagasaki, traveled throughout Japan carrying heavy recording equipment. Amidst the loneliness of his work not being understood by those around him, he met a survivor, Wahei Kuno (Sadawo Abe). The moving experience of the atomic bomb survivor deeply shook Tsujihara's heart, renewing his determination to preserve their "voices." However, these "voices" were shrouded in mystery...

<Cast & Staff>

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Shizuka Ishibashi, Ao Ito, Tomoyuki Kunihiro, Machiko Ono, Tetsuji Tanaka, Sadawo Abe

Original Story: Akihiko Ito "A Will from the Future - Biography of an Atomic Bomb Survivor's Experience"

Script: Shunsaku Ikehata

Music: Yasuaki Shimizu

Production General Manager: Yoshitaka Kamo (WOWOW), Hirokazu Ozaki, Ritsuki Kumano (NHK)

Producer: Taichi Matsumoto (WOWOW), Atsushi Morii (Toei Kyoto Studio)

Director: Takeshi Shibata