The TV Tokyo Invention
Kodoku no Gurume (Solitary Gourmet), which began in 2012, has no incident and no romance. The lead enters a restaurant, hesitates, orders, and eats. That is all. The original is a manga by Masayuki Kusumi and Jiro Taniguchi, serialized from 1994, ended once, and revived in 2008. It was Yutaka Matsushige's first leading role.
What is interesting about the programme is that it crossed the sea. In 2018 it was chosen at a Korean drama award as the most popular foreign drama of the year. In Korea it coincided with a period when eating alone was on the rise, and is said to have meshed with the vogue for programmes that show people eating. A web-drama version was made in Taiwan, and the programme itself has travelled to Korea and Taiwan for location episodes.
When people talk about Japanese drama going out into the world (→ Japanese Drama on Streaming), it tends to be only the largest explosions that get counted. But a single series that started quietly at a late hour can also be called to a neighbouring country's award ten years later. This band records that road instead.