Taisho era: The son and heir to a liquor store with a passion for making whiskey travels alone to Scotland to learn more. The drama shows a unique way of viewing Japanese virtues, and cross-cultural hospitality, while gaining an understanding of the differences between Scotland and Japan. The drama offers a unique view of growing up "Japanophile."
Massan (Japanese: マッサン) is a Japanese television drama series, the 91st Asadora (morning drama) broadcast on NHK. It premiered on September 29, 2014, and will be broadcast daily until March 28, 2015. Massan is based on the lives of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan, a Scotswoman Taketsuru met while studying abroad. American actress Charlotte Kate Fox stars as Ellie Kameyama opposite Japanese actor Tetsuji Tamayama as Masaharu Kameyama in a fictionalized account of Rita's travels to Japan and Taketsuru's attempts to begin the Nikka Whisky Distilling company. It is the first time that NHK's Asadora series has featured a non-Japanese actor in a lead role.