Japan drama about imperial palace/royal family

I guess the best solution would be movies about Ooku. The Ooku was the harem of the Tokugawa shoguns.

Or movies about the Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Nene/One - Chacha/Yodo relationship.

I second what @Fumiko and @CherryBunny said, and may I recommend Atsuhime? The Tokugawa weren't royals per se, but I hope Ooku and Atsuhime aren't too far off from what you're looking for (life in a cloistered place, inner-palace intrigue, that kind of stuff).

Where ARE the Japanese royal shows at? Now that it's been mentioned, I rarely do see shows about the Japanese monarchy but would def watch them.

It's an intriguing question, indeed. 

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the way the imperial family was seen through history ( supposed divine status, or currently, of divine descent) : is it some kind of taboo?

Historically speaking, it does'nt seem that imperial family members really played a concrete and big role in building the Japanese state (at least obviously not during the Sengoku and shogunate eras). The current statuts of the emperor does not give him a big role, and he is more a moral reference or a point of stability in the moving political world than anything else. (my point of view)

Now that they've been doing controversial dramas back to back perhaps next is they will tackle a story about royal family, it's a long shot though hahaha.

This is an interesting topic and i believe many of us (including me previously) have thought the Japanese system would have been similar (or at least have some similarity) to the general monarchy system in the rest of the world., but that was a misconception.

While some of you (@Hanna @Sumi) might have the point about the taboo and the sensitivity of this matter, in my opinion (from what i read on wiki and observe from watching historical drama), the lack of story about Japan imperial is simply because there's nothing to tell about! Like what @Sumi mentioned, they did not play big role in building the state.

Japan always have the King even until today (the King never been thrown out), but the King have lost power since year 1000 AD and only got that back during Meiji Restoration just before WW1. You see how long was that? And that was not last long either. 

During those time, the one with most power was Shogun, and then losing to the Oda and to Toyotomi and then eventually the slick Tokugawa tricked everyone and become a new version of Shogun with more power than the traditional one. This last until Meiji Restoration.

So, to see more involvement of Japanese royal you have to watch drama/movie before the shogun era (i.e before year 1000). One that come to mind is Taira no Kiyomori. Here you can see how corrupt the palace was. Keyword: Incest.

 Journalist:

I would love to know of any dramas or movies (even if the Tenno is just mentioned briefly)!

Here are some of Taiga dramas that I have watched featuring the Emperor role

Taiheiki - in this drama, the Emperor and Imperial Court would be the main subject (although not the main character of the story) as the plot revolves around the Emperor Go-Daigo wanted to restore back imperial in power from Kamakura Shogunate...then eventually resulted into the unwanted Two Emperor system in history of Japan (Northern and Southern Court)

Kirin ga Guru - this drama features Emperor actively involved in influencing the politics while not having executive power

Sego-don - Brief appearance of Emperor Meiji after Meiji government is founded...again not much dialogs because Emperor has no power in government administration

Taira no Kiyomori - This is set during late Heian period where the Court is still having executive power...therefore Emperor is actively involved in the drama...the grandchild of Taira no Kiyomori was also an Emperor

Yoshitsune - Same period setting as Taira no Kiyomori, but most of the involvement is from the Retired Emperor...the reign Emperor isn't much shown in the drama as the one with power is the Retired Emperor (which is also the rival/enemy of Taira no Kiyomori)

Hideyoshi - Emperor made a very brief appearance in the Tea Ceremony hosted by Hideyoshi but only shown from behind the curtain (as what done in other dramas/films involving this scene too)

In my opinion, Japan entertainment has no problem in portraying the Emperor as long as it is reflected truthfully to the historical fact or the widely known historical tales. For example in Taira no Kiyomori (which is based on tales), the Emperor Shirakawa was portrayed as someone incestuous and corrupt. Would you believe he slept with his son's wife and the child from that affair later be in the succession line?