Konna Koi no Hanashi

Konna Koi no Hanashi (こんな恋のはなし) (English A Story of Love) is a Japanese television drama starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Nanako Matsushima. It aired during the summer of 1997 in Japan and in 2001 on KONG-TV in the United States. The original 12 episodes were split into 14 for the U.S. showing. A Story of Love dealt with social issues including poverty in first world countries and class barriers in Tokyo.

Shuichiro Harashima (Hiroyuki Sanada), an upper-class and work-driven businessman, falls in love with Kaori Fujimura (Nanako Matsushima), a lower-class downtown sweetheart, and fights to save the doomed building in which she lives. Rumored to be cold-hearted and cruel, his love for Kaori and his growing friendship with her brother-in-law, Konosuke Shimodaira (Koji Tamaki), change him into a kind and caring person.

Shuichiro Harashima is a cold-hearted businessman, whose only goal in life is to work hard and make money. After his father died when he was a child, he inherited the Harashima Conglomerate, a large company with new plans to knock down homes in the poorer parts of Tokyo to build new ones for richer people. He is powerful, cruel, merciless, and corrupted in his dealings at work, leaving him extremely lonely in his personal life. His plans for the future are cut short when he discovers he has an advanced case of stomach cancer and will be dead within six months. While at the doctor's office, he meets Konosuke Shimodaira, a local do-gooder whose big heart normally causes more trouble than it helps. When Harashima lends Konosuke 50 yen to pay his doctor's bill, Konosuke insists on paying it back straight away. He takes him to a bar where Harashima meets Konosuke's friends Nakahata, who has a habit of lying and gambling, "Sensei", who is trying to get into law school, and Yosaku, who has very bad manners.

...
Wikipedia