Going on Japanese Wikipedia, A Stranger in Shanghai was broadcast in Japan on NHK G as a single 73-minute TV movie. But it was broadcast internationally with foreign-language subtitles on NHK WORLD–JAPAN in two parts of 40 minutes each.
So what made up the extra 7 minutes (these times are without the breaks)? As well as preview and recap segments, the two-part version also added some documentary segments which weren't in the single-part version. However, I believe the drama part is the same in both other than the split into two.
So I'm not sure if these few minutes of documentary segments qualify the two-part version to be a separate title on MDL or not?
Whether it's one title or two, the release date for it is a complicated issue.
Though it's definitely made for TV, not cinemas (it's in 60 fps, like Japanese TV dramas tend to be even for a prestige production like this, not 24 fps as movies made for release in cinemas generally are), it was first shown publicly in a cinema screening, on 2 November 2019, as part of Japan Cuts Hollywood.
It was then first broadcast on TV when the two-part version was aired across 28–29 November 2019 internationally on NHK World–Japan (which I think is available in Japan, as in the rest of the world, on satellite and cable, but is not aimed at native Japanese speakers, as Japanese dialogue is hard subbed on it). It was then first broadcast for a Japanese audience, and first broadcast on terrestrial television anywhere, on NHK G on 30 December 2019.
So should the "Release Date" be that of the first public showing of the drama anywhere (even if this was not a TV broadcast), the dates of the first TV broadcast of any kind, or the date of the first TV broadcast aimed at the country of origin?
