Cast announcement press conference of "Yae no Sakura"

The cast announcement press conference of 2013 Taiga drama "Yae no Sakura" was held on 11 October which was attended by key cast members including the lead Ayase Haruka, Odagiri Joe, Mizuhara Kiko, Tanimura Mitsuki, Takashima Masahiro, Matsukata Hiroki, Oikawa Mitsuhiro and Katsuji Ryo. The drama is scheduled to begin its run on 6 January 2013 and will be shown at 8pm on Sundays.

Odagiri Jo who plays Niijima Jo, the 2nd husband of Yae (Ayase) and founder of Doshisha University, revealed that he had met Ayase before when she paid a visit to their house about six months ago at the invitation of Odagiri's wife Kashii Yu who is a close friend of Ayase and belong to the same agency. In addition, since their hometowns (Odagiri comes from Okayama and Ayase comes from Hiroshima) are close, he said that this additional level of familiarity with each other will serve to help them work well together in the year ahead.

As for the other cast members, Mizuhara Kiko will play Japan's first female student who went overseas to study Ooyama Sutematsu which also marks her first appearance in a drama. Oguri Shun will play Yoshida Shouin while Oikawa will play Kido Takayoshi.

Source: Sanspo