Production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso Wagaya e"

The production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2015 drama "Youkoso Wagaya e" was held on 7 April which was attended by the cast members Aiba Masaki, Sawajiri Erika, Terao Akira, Arimura Kasumi and Minami Kaho. The drama which will be shown from 13 April in the Mondays 9pm timeslot, is based on the same-titled novel by Ikeido Jun about a family who suffers from incessant harrassment from a stalker after the elder son in the family Kurata Kenta tells a man off at the train station for cutting queue. The family then bands together to fight back against the unknown stalker in a bid to regain control of their lives.

Although this is the first time Aiba is acting in a Ikeido drama, he admitted that he didn't know much about his works other than having watched the DVD of  "Hanzawa Naoki" which was being borrowed by his fellow Arashi members. Despite this being the first time he is working with his co-stars, Aiba revealed that they have built up a pretty close relationship by now as Terao gave guitars to his "family members" and even taught him how to play the guitar. On the other hand, Terao said that he had always wanted to meet Aiba as he had heard many good things about the latter and commented that he is glad to get a good son this time. Minami who plays Aiba's mother in the drama, also praised him for being a forgiving guy who is cute and said that his parents have raised a good son. Arimura who plays Aiba's younger sister, said that although she always thought of Aiba as someone with a cute character, she is surprised to find out how manly he is while working together. In response to this remark, Aiba was embarrassed and said that this is the first time anyone had said that he was manly.

During the event, Aiba was asked to perform an Aikido technique to ward off attackers after being taught on the spot and he was glad to have accomplished this in one try.

On the other hand, Sawajiri's character is a newly added one who doesn't appear in the novel. She commented that it has been a very relaxing and fun experience so far because she can wear casual clothes during the filming and doesn't have to wear high heels. Besides, since her character is not in the novel, she has the freedom to be more experimental in her acting so she hopes to show a new side of her through this drama. When asked about her impression of Aiba, she praised him for being a nice person who is as good as his image. She revealed that as her character is supposed to like sweet things, Aiba even prepared low-sugar chocolates for her so that her blood sugar level would not rise too high during the filming. In response to this, Aiba said that as Sawajiri had to eat lots of sweet stuff during the filming, he felt sorry for her so he decided to help by getting the low-sugar chocolates.

At the moment, filming for episode 1 hasn't been completed but the scripts up to episode 6 are already out. Aiba commented that the story is very interesting and hopes to know quickly how things will turn out towards the end. As for whether there will be any romance between his and Sawajiri's character, he said that there isn't anything at the moment but hopes that they may just have a kissing scene in time to come.

The theme song of this drama will be "Aozora no shita, kimi no tonari" (Under the blue sky, beside you) sung by Arashi and it will be released as their 46th single on 13 May.

Source: Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2