Nine Japanese Dramas Pitched for Latin America at MIP Cancun

By Daniel Okafor

The Latin American sales session

Nine Japanese broadcasters will pitch nine TV dramas to buyers from across Latin America on Nov. 18 at MIP Cancun, according to the Broadcast Program Export Association of Japan (BEAJ). BEAJ will produce a 30-minute presentation seeking remake deals, sales of completed series and co-production partners (partners sharing production) in the region.

The presentation, “Japan Session 2026: The Next Latam Hit Series from Japan,” sits within MIP Cancun’s larger “All Japan” presence. The Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association (JBA) groups 10 Japanese broadcasters under that banner. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) is cooperating on the effort.

The arithmetic is neat: nine broadcasters, nine dramas. Each participant selected one title for Latin American buyers. The presentation works like a nine-item sampler. BEAJ says the session will focus on how each story could be adapted locally or co-produced.

What are the nine dramas?

BEAJ’s nine-title lineup gives Latin American buyers one selected drama from each participating broadcaster, with three commercial routes: completed-series sales, local remakes and regional co-production partnerships.

• Nippon Television Network Corp.: “Punch-Drunk Woman”
• Tokyo Broadcasting System Television: “Reboot”
• Fuji Television Network: “KiDnap Game”
• TV Asahi Corp.: “7 Secretaries”
• TV Tokyo Corp.: “Until I Destroyed My Husband’s Other Family”
• Yomiuri Telecasting Corp.: “Black Familia”
• Tokai Television Broadcasting: “Love and Hatred”
• MBS: “The Yakuza Boss’s Beloved”
• Wowow: “The Man of 0.5”

Who will steer the pitch?

Nicolás Smirnoff, an executive at Editorial Prensario and a FRAPA board member, will introduce the trailers in Spanish. He specializes in the Latin American audiovisual business and also represents Prensario International.

BEAJ says buyers interested in a title will be steered to the rights holders at the Japan Pavilion, which the JBA runs, and to networking sessions. His role adds a Spanish-language guide to a session where buyers will consider local remakes, completed-series purchases and regional co-production partnerships in the same presentation. The trailers thus have a direct route into rights-holder discussions.

What does BEAJ expect?

“Latin America has a rich tradition of telenovelas, and we see significant potential for Japanese dramas with distinctive storytelling and original concepts,” said Sugiyama Makito, BEAJ’s executive director and the session’s executive producer. In BEAJ’s framing, telenovelas (serialized television dramas) anchor a rich regional television tradition.

He added: “By encouraging remakes and international co-productions, we hope to help Japanese content reach wider audiences in the region and create new business opportunities for the participating broadcasters.”

Sugiyama’s case is cultural and commercial at once. Japanese concepts may travel as local adaptations, while the broadcasters seek new business opportunities. Neither outcome is guaranteed on Nov. 18.

What does MIP Cancun bring together?

MIP Cancun is built around pre-booked meetings between buyers and sellers. The market focuses on Latin America and Hispanic audiences in the United States.

For Japan’s broadcasters, BEAJ’s session attempts to bring stories first made for Japanese television into a region with deep telenovela roots through sales, adaptations and partnerships.

The session contains nine titles, each tied to a named Japanese broadcaster. Nov. 18 will show whether that selection produces remake agreements, completed-series sales or co-production partnerships. For BEAJ and the nine broadcasters, the test is whether a nine-title pitch can become a repeatable route into regional co-production and sales.