Japanese drama The Days has been watched for more than 25 million hours
The Japanese disaster drama The Days is the 5th most-watched Non-English TV series on Netflix for the current watch period — June 5th to June 11th, 2023.
According to Netflix, the Fukushima nuclear disaster-themed drama was watched for more than 25.08 million hours around the world in the last week.
It was only beaten out of the #1 most-watched spot by South Korean dramas Doctor Cha (#4), The Good Bad Mother (#3) and Bloodhounds (#2), and Colombia’s Fake Profile in the top spot.
The 8-episode drama is also being lauded all over social media for its gripping, nail-biting story (even if we do already know how it ends), excellent direction by Nakata Hideo and Nishiura Masaki, and the superb performances of every actor involved.
What is the Japanese drama The Days about?
The Days features a largely older cast, and stars Yakusho Koji, Takenouchi Yutaka, Kohinata Fumiyo, Kobayashi Kaoru, Musaka Naomasa and Satoi Kenta.
The drama is based on the real-life situation Japanese employees of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant found themselves in after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami devastated the nuclear power plant and put millions of people’s lives at risk.
Including their own.
The eight-episode series follows the situation as the employees struggle to stop the nuclear power plant from completely melting down, and as station manager Masao Yoshida (masterfully played by Yakusho Koji) balances public safety with the lives of his colleagues, while also having to deal with TEPCO management and various Japanese governmental officials.
The Days takes place over the 7 days immediately after the earthquake and tsunami and is based on three real-life sources.
Station manager Masao Yoshida’s first-hand account of the events of those seven days, the official Fukushima Nuclear Accident Analysis Report, and journalist Ryusho Kadota’s bestselling book – On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi.
You can watch all eight episodes of The Days on Netflix now. And, if you love a beautifully-produced, even better-acted disaster series, you should.