Lieutenant Ninzaburo Furuhata (1994)

Comedy · Crime · Drama

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.

IMDb rating: 8.1 (369 votes)
Episode average: 7.4 -0.7 vs IMDb
Seasons: 4
Language: JA
Type: TV series

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 4 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1994)

7.48 avg 13 episodes 8.3 → 8.1 50 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Message from the Dead	8.3	43
2	The Moving Corpse	7.8	27
3	The Laughing Corpse	6.7	26
4	The Killing Fax	7.8	31
5	The Dirty King	7.4	26
6	The Piano Lesson	7.1	25
7	Rehearsal for Murder	6.5	24
8	Murder Express	7.4	23
9	Broadcast Murder	7.5	24
10	The Contradictory Corpse	8.2	21
11	Sayonara DJ	7.8	22
12	The Final Greeting	6.7	22
13	The Laughing Kangaroo	8.1	25

Season 2 (1996)

7.44 avg 12 episodes 7.3 → 6.6 54 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Man Who Talks Too Much	7.3	21
2	The Woman Who Doesn't Smile	7.0	23
3	Master of the Game	7.3	19
4	Red or Blue	8.6	23
5	Reward for Hypocrisy	6.7	18
6	Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. the Quiz King	7.5	20
7	Appraisal: Murder	7.2	17
8	Magician's Choice	7.8	20
9	The Wrong Man	8.7	21
10	What Happened in New York	7.8	24
11	Goodbye for a While	6.8	33
12	The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburô	6.6	17

Season 3 (1999)

7.05 avg 13 episodes 7.5 → 6.3 58 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
0	Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. SMAP	7.5	99
1	The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa	6.6	21
2	The Young Master's Crime	7.1	19
3	This Man Is Too Busy	7.3	19
4	The Murder in a Small Village	8.2	17
5	Furuhata Goes to the Dentist	5.8	16
6	The Reunion	8.6	16
7	The Perfect Pitch Murder	5.9	15
8	The Sad Perfect Murder	6.2	14
9	The Bigheaded Murder	6.9	16
10	Death in the Clouds	7.5	17
11	The Most Dangerous Game: Part 1	7.7	15
12	The Most Dangerous Game: Part 2	6.3	15

Season 4 (2004)

7.78 avg 4 episodes 7.9 → 8.1 104 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
0	His Excellency Did It	7.9	19
1	The Resurrection of Death	7.7	17
2	A Fair Murderer	7.4	14
3	Final Dance	8.1	85

Lieutenant Ninzaburo Furuhata (1994)

Cast

Seasons

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