Okada Masaki, Matsuzaka Tori & Yagira Yuya to star in NTV Spring 2016 drama "Yutori desu ga nani ka"

Okada Masaki will be taking on the leading role in the upcoming NTV Spring 2016 drama "Yutori desu ga nani ka" (So what if I've had a relaxed education) which will begin its run from April in the Sundays 10.30pm timeslot. The drama which is written by Kudo Kankuro, features Okada, Matsuzaka Tori and Yagira Yuya as three young men in their late 20s who are the first generation that had gone through the "yutori (relaxed) education system" and depicts their struggles in the competitive society.

The yutori education system started in 2002 where there were various reforms such as introducing a 5-day school week and reduction in lesson hours in a bid to reduce the academic pressure on students. People who are now in their late 20s are termed as the first batch of students who had gone through the yutori system and the three actors (Okada - 26 years old, Matsuzaka - 27 and Yagira - 25) are all part of this generation.

Okada plays Sakama Masakazu, a salaryman who has been working at the same food manufacturing company for seven years since he graduated but finds himself being transferred to various departments until he ends up at an izakaya chain owned by his company. He comes from a family which manages a brewery and lives with his mother, elder brother, sister-in-law and younger sister. Matsuzaka plays Yamaji Kazutoyo who is a teacher at a primary school and finds himself stuck between his school management's expectations and complaints from parents. He is caught in a fix when a female university student who has come to become an intern at his school suddenly confesses her love for him. Yagira plays Michigami Maribu who was called a genius and made it to a top-notch junior high school as the top student but for some reason, failed to make it to university and is always job-hopping. He has a wife who is older than him and a newborn daughter to support while trying for the 11th time to make it to university.

Okada expressed joy at being able to work with Matsuzaka and Yagira who are about the same age as him and that he was invited to participate in another Kudo Kankuro work this time. Kudo who is making his first attempt at writing a societal drama, hopes to showcase the dilemma faced by these characters who went through a relatively relaxed education system but finds that the real society awaiting them after graduation is less relaxed and forgiving towards them than they had thought.

Source: Sponichi