Hiyokko (ひよっこ) is a Japanese television drama series and the 96th asadora series, following Beppinsan. It was premiered on April 3, 2017, and ended on September 30, 2017.
Contents
Plot
Mineko Yatabe is a teenager living in a very rural area of Ibaraki Prefecture in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympics. Her father, Minoru, is a farmer, and often goes to Tokyo to do extra work for the family. This time, however, he goes missing. Mineko travels to Tokyo to find him, and begins to work at a small electronics factory while continuing her search. She makes many friends there, but the factory goes bankrupt and she is left unemployed. Luckily, she is hired by Suzuko Makino as a waitress at her restaurant, the Suzufuri-tei, which happened to be her father's favorite eatery. She lives at the boarding house next door, in which live a variety of people, from manga artists to college students. Mineko falls in love with a college student, Junichirō Shimatani, but they part when his father forces him to marry to save the family business. Mineko becomes friends with the movie star, Setsuko Kawamoto, who after learning of Mineko's father, reveals that Minoru has been living in her apartment all along. He lost his memory in a fight and Setsuko took him in. Mineko returns Minoru to his family in Ibaraki. Mineko then falls in love with Hidetoshi Maeda, one of the junior chefs at the Suzufuri-tei. She also helps Setsuko, when Setsuko needs to flee from the press after her aunt and uncle misappropriated her money.
Cast
Main character
Kasumi Arimura as Mineko Yatabe
Oku-Ibaraki village
Ikkō Furuya as Shigeru Yatabe, Mineko's grandfather
Ikki Sawamura as Minoru Yatabe, Mineko's father
Yoshino Kimura as Miyoko Yatabe, Mineko's mother
Kanau Miyahara as Chiyoko Yatabe, Mineko's sister
Rai Takahashi as Susumu Yatabe, Mineko's brother
Kazunobu Mineta as Muneo Koiwai, Mineko's uncle
Shizuyo Yamasaki as Shigeko Koiwai, Muneo's wife and Mineko's aunt
Yui Sakuma as Tokiko Sukegawa, Mineko's childhood friend and classmate
Michiko Hada as Kimiko Sukegawa, Tokiko's mother
Toshiya Tōyama as Shōji Sukegawa, Tokiko's father
Kento Shibuya as Toyosaku Sukegawa, Tokiko's brother
Yūki Izumisawa as Mitsuo Sumitani, Mineko's childhood friend and classmate
Rie Shibata as Kiyo Sumitani, Mitsuo's mother
Shinji Asakura as Masao Sumitani, Mitsuo's father
Hiroyuki Onoue as Tarō Sumitani, Mitsuo's brother
Satoru Matsuo as Jirō Mashiko, a school bus conductor
Kanji Tsuda as Manabu Tagami, a high school teacher
Tokyo people
Nobuko Miyamoto as Suzuko Makino, the shop owner
Kuranosuke Sasaki as Shōgo Makino, the chef
Hitomi Satō as Takako Asakura, the hall clerk
Ichiro Yatsui as Kenji Igawa
Hayato Isomura as Hidetoshi Maeda
Emi Wakui as Aiko Nagai
Fujiko Kojima as Sachiko Akiba
Yūki Yagi as Yūko Natsui
Honoka Matsumoto as Sumiko Nabatame
Ryōko Fujino as Toyoko Kanehira
Others
Ryo Ryusei as Masayoshi Watahiki
Kayoko Shiraishi as Tomi Tachibana
Ryoma Takeuchi as Junichirō Shimatani
Kavka Shishido as Sanae Kusaka
Koudai Asaka as Yūji Tsubouchi
Amane Okayama as Keisuke Nitta
Yūji Miyake as Ichirō Kashiwagi
Ken Mitsuishi as Gorō Fukuda
Tomoko Ikuta as Yasue Fukuda
Miho Shiraishi as Kuniko Takeuchi
Yūtaro Furutachi as Yasuharu Kashiwagi
Satoru Saitou as Zenzou Abe
Sairi Ito as Saori Abe
Haruka Shimazaki as Yuka Makino
Miho Kanno as Setsuko Kawamoto
Kai Inowaki as Yudai Takashima
Reception
The series was a ratings success, averaging 20.4% over the length of the series, with ratings improving as the show progressed.