Handover ceremony for NHK Taiga dramas "Sanadamaru" & "Onna Joushu Naotora"

The handover ceremony for NHK Taiga dramas "Sanadamaru" and "Onna Joushu Naotora" was held on 25 November which was attended by the respective leads Sakai Masato and Shibasaki Kou. In the customary gift exchange section, Sakai prepared Fuyu persimmons from Wakayama Prefecture where his drama was set in while Shibasaki prepared a kite from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka, in return. Upon receiving the kite, Sakai joked that he will fly it in Yoyogi Park near NHK. Shibasaki also expressed her thanks for the beautiful persimmons which look too good to be real.

As her senior in Taiga dramas, Sakai replied that she can rest during weekends when Shibasaki asked if he got the weekends off. He didn't have any specific advice for her other than she must eat well so as to have the energy to handle the tough filming. Sakai also jokingly remarked he didn't have time to meet the people he should and had to keep calling his friends not to abandon him because his year of "missing-in-action". In response, Shibasaki said that she is experiencing this right now and called out to her friends as well to "wait" for her.

Sakai also "complained" that the scripts for "Sanadamaru" took a long time to be ready in a dig at the scriptwriter Mitani Koki for being too slow although he enjoyed the filming after all. He also expressed his envy to Shibasaki because he heard that the scripts for "Naotora" were prepared at a fast pace so the filming can probably be done much faster without much hitches.

Shibasaki commented that unlike Sanada Yukimura who was very famous nationwide, her character Naotora was little known even to the locals at Hamamatsu City so she hopes that the drama will make people more aware of Naotora and be a source of inspiration to women who are striving to make their mark in society.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi / Oricon