Back to TV Shows Login to Watch
Furuhata Ninzaburo
1994 - 2006 9.0 (18 votes) 4 Seasons
Official Website
Genres
Drama Crime
Networks
Fuji TV
Created By
Koki Mitani

Furuhata Ninzaburo (古畑任三郎)

Overview

Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.

Key Crew

Writer: Koki Mitani

Top Cast

Masakazu Tamura
Masakazu Tamura

古畑任三郎

Masahiko Nishimura
Masahiko Nishimura

今泉慎太郎

Takashi Kobayashi
Takashi Kobayashi

Otokichi Mukojima

Masanori Ishii
Masanori Ishii

Saionji Mamoru

Seasons

Season 0 poster
Season 0 (1995)

No overview available.

10 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Laughing Kangaroo
1995-04-12

A love triangle turns deadly during an awards ceremony in Australia. Unfortunately for the killers, however, Furuhata and Shintaro are on a well-deserved holiday in the same hotel.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: A Brief Parting
1996-03-27

The head of a flower arrangement clan murders her overbearing teacher and rival during a flamenco recital. The one thing Furuhata, who was in the audience, can't quite figure out is how the killer found her victim in the dark auditorium.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo
1996-04-09

Famous detective Furuhata Ninzaburo has disappeared, so a TV crew decide to make a documentary about his career interviewing his associates and the killers he caught.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: Furuhata Ninzaburo vs SMAP
1999-01-03

Furuhata is called in to investigate a murder committed by the well-known Japanese boy band SMAP.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: Dr. Kuroiwa's Fear
1999-04-06

Furuhata comes out of retirement to investigate a series of bizarre serial killings which would look like deaths by natural causes except for the notes found inside the victims' anuses.

Runtime: 108 min
Episode 6: All By His Excellency's Hand
2004-01-03

An employee at a Japanese embassy in a South American country is kidnapped but Furuhata, who is there on holiday, begins suspecting that the man was killed by none other than the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary himself.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Furuhata Ninzaburo Final: And Now, Death is Resurrected
2006-01-03

Furuhata investigates a series of bizarre, seemingly random accidental deaths. He zeroes in on the suspected murderer, but loses faith in his instincts when the suspect is himself killed. However, in the end, he ends up solving three murders and catching the real suspect.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: Furuhata Ninzaburo Final: A Fair Murderer
2006-01-04

Ichiro Suzuki, a baseball player obsessed with fair play, murders a man who was blackmailing his brother who is none other than Furuhata's faithful friend Mukojima.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: Furuhata Ninzaburo Final: Last Dance
2006-01-05

Kyoko Kagami is a pen name for a pair of twin writers. After one sister kills the other, their technical advisor Furuhata investigates. His investigation is complicated by his feelings for the surviving sister.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: Young Furuhata Special
2008-06-14

Young Furuhata, a 3rd-year junior high student from Tokyo, transferred to a school in the countryside due to family circumstances. He doesn't fit in at first, but he eventually gains a reputation as a detective and opens his own detective agency. One day, he hears about the town's legend of buried treasure, and he immediately begins unraveling the mystery.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 1 poster
Season 1 (1994)

No overview available.

12 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Message from the Dead
1994-04-13

On a dark and stormy night, Chinami kills her business partner in her remote manor house in the hills. Then the doorbell rings. As luck would have it, it's none other than Inspector Furuhata seeking refuge from the rain.

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 2: The Moving Corpse
1994-04-20

After killing a woman in a hit and run, a famous Kabuki actor decides to kill the only witness, a theatre security guard, and stage it to look like an accidental fall. Only Furuhata Ninazburo is not convinced.

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 3: The Laughing Corpse
1994-04-27

Furuhata is called to a scene where a woman has just killed a burglar but a chicken in the oven and a cigarette in the bin make the wily inspector suspicious.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: The Killing Fax
1994-05-04

An action-packed night is in store for the police department after a famous writer's wife is kidnapped and he is tasked with delivering the money by the fax-using kidnapper. However, a grammatical question niggles at Furuhata.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: The Dirty King
1994-05-11

Shogi 8-dan Yonezawa is no match for Furuhata Ninzaburo after murdering the overseer at the Ryujin Tournament.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: The Piano Lesson
1994-05-18

Furuhata Ninzaburô gets involved in the drama surrounding an elite musical academy when he begins suspecting a fierce piano teacher of murdering the school's headmaster.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Rehearsal for Murder
1994-05-25

During a rehearsal, a beloved samurai movie star kills the despised studio executive. Was it an accident or murder? Furuhata Ninzaburo investigates.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: Murder Express
1994-06-01

A trip should be enjoyable but Dr Nakagawa's trip was ruined when he realized he was being tailed by his wife's private eye. He decides to kill the nosy gumshoe on the train home but unfortunately for him, Furuhata Ninzaburo is on board.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: Broadcast Murder
1994-06-08

During a live broadcast, a TV psychic desperately in need of validation pretends to find a corpse of a man he himself had killed earlier. The only person in the audience not convinced is Inspector Furuhata.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: The Contradictory Corpse
1994-06-15

A politician's secretary murders his boss and the boss' mistress staging the scene to look like a murder-suicide. However, one of his victims survives and is taken to the hospital for recovery.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: Sayonara DJ
1994-06-22

Furuhata and Shintaro are assigned to bodyguard a radio DJ who's been receiving threatening messages. However, the DJ turns out to be the killer with a devious plan and a watertight alibi.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 12: The Final Greeting
1994-06-29

What happens when the killer you are hunting is your superior? Furuhata is about to find out after he begins suspecting the legendary Superintendent Kogure of murdering the man who killed his daughter.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 2 poster
Season 2 (1996)

No overview available.

10 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Man Who Talks Too Much
1996-01-10

A successful lawyer kills his mistress and frames Shintaro Imaizumi for the murder. When the lawyer convinces Shintaro to plead guilty, Furuhata becomes suspicious.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: The Woman Who Doesn't Smile
1996-01-17

A hated, strict headmistress of an all-girls priory school murders a liberal teacher beloved by all the students. In order to catch her, Furuhata will have to play by her rules.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: Master of the Game
1996-01-24

A devious doctor manipulates a mystery writer into staging his own murder to look like a suicide. The doctor is surprisingly good at all kinds of games (darts, pool, chess etc.) but he is no match for Furuhata when it comes to mind games.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: Red or Blue
1996-01-31

Shintaro is trapped on a Ferris wheel with a bomb on board and if the amusement park doesn't pay the bomber until noon, it will go off. His only other hope is a young explosives expert whom Furuhata suspects is the bomber.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: Reward for Hypocrisy
1996-02-07

Furuhata's favorite screenwriter murders her domineering sister with an unknown murder weapon. In order to find the weapon and prove her guilt, Furuhata makes Shintaro become the old woman's servant.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. the Quiz King
1996-02-14

While competing on a TV game show, Furuhata investigates the murder of a costumer found dead in a locked room. He begins suspecting that the killer is none other than the undefeated quiz show champion.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: Appraisal: Murder
1996-02-21

A scheming antique dealer murders an old potter who was blackmailing him but his accomplice's thoughtless actions jeopardize his plan.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: Magician's Choice
1996-02-28

A highly respected magician falls in love with his much younger assistant and murders her boyfriend in front of a captive audience which just so happens to include Furuhata and Shintaro.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: The Wrong Man
1996-03-06

A magazine editor concocts and executes the perfect murder in the snowy hills around Tokyo only to then encounter an acquaintance. He kills him too but his streak of bad luck has only just begun.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: What Happened in New York
1996-03-13

During a long bus trip to New York, a Japanese woman sitting next to Furuhata challenges him to a game. She will tell him about the perfect murder she committed and see if he is able to figure out how she got away.

Runtime: 60 min
Season 3 poster
Season 3 (1999)

No overview available.

11 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Rakugo Murder
1999-04-13

A rakugo comedian kills a fellow student and makes it look like a suicide by faking two alibis. Both take each other's places at different points of the day, leaving a complicated mystery for Furuhata to solve.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 2: The Hotel Murder
1999-04-20

A perpetually busy media director murders a politician in his hotel room while engaging in a phone call he would later use as his alibi. His meticulously planned schedule soon meets an obstacle in Furuhata Ninzaburo.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 3: The Murder in a Small Village
1999-04-27

Furuhata catches a cold and stops in a small village to recover with his colleagues, getting caught up in the entire community's attempt to cover up a murder.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 4: The Dentist Murder
1999-05-04

A dentist murders her ex-boyfriend and attempts to use Furuhata as his alibi, tricking him and another witness into thinking she was cleaning his teeth at the time of the crime.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 5: The Yoko-chin Anzai Incident
1999-05-11

Furuhata receives a mysterious invitation to an old friend's house. Beginning to suspect his friend plans to murder his cheating wife, Furuhata realizes this may be his chance to prevent a murder instead of solving one.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: The Conductor Murder
1999-05-18

A conductor murders a violist he was having an affair with an seeks to frame her new boyfriend. Strangely, he also kills all of the victim's fish, which Furuhata used to deduce the killer's identity.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 7: The Housewife Murder
1999-05-25

A presenter of a Go-based TV program kills her manipulative husband who wanted her to remain a housewife forever. The behavior of their cat proves to be a clue to the crime.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 8: The Scientist Murder
1999-06-01

A wheelchair-bound scientist kills his colleague and old friend using a deadly gift and some well-timed phone calls. Saionji quickly suspects the scientist's ex-girlfriend of the crime, but Furuhata remains unconvinced.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 9: The Airplane Murder
1999-06-08

An archaeologist's affair partner accidentally dies during a fight in an airplane bathroom and flees, desperate to hide his secret from his wife. While covering up the crime, he's forced to masquerade as the co-pilot and avoid the child who witnessed his escape. Imaizumi's witnessing of a gremlin on the wing of the plane becomes a dangerous clue.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 10: The Train Hijacking Murder: Part 1
1999-06-15

A shady group kills a young man but fails to recover the bag he stole. To get it back from a subway lost and found, they hack into its control room and stage a train hijacking. Furuhata happens to be on the scene, but the plot proves too complex for him to unravel in one episode.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 11: The Train Hijacking Murder: Part 2
1999-06-22

Furuhata leaves the station with the suspect, intent on dropping off the ransom money. How will he prove the culprits true identity, and what is his opponent planning?

Runtime: 60 min

Similar TV Shows

Recommended TV Shows