Open filming for NHK morning drama "Hiyokko" in Ibaraki Prefecture

The open filming for NHK's new morning drama "Hiyokko" was held at Takahagi City in Ibaraki Prefecture on 5 November which was attended by cast members Arimura Kasumi, Kimura Yoshino, Furuya Ikko, Mineta Kazunobu and child actors Miyahara Kanau and Takahashi Rai. The drama which begins its run from 3 April 2017 at 8am on Mondays to Saturdays, begins in the year of 1964 when the Tokyo Olympics was held and Arimura plays a girl from Ibaraki Prefecture who goes to Tokyo to work in order to search for her missing father.

Although the filming began officially from 2 November, there was a pre-filming done in late September to coincide with the rice harvesting season. Arimura recounted that as they had gone through the pre-filming first, their teamwork became better by the time the official filming started and she enjoys the atmosphere, fresh air and wide spaces at the filming location.

Just like other morning dramas which gave birth to signature lines such as "Je je je" from "Ama-chan" and "Bikkuripon" from "Asa ga kita", Arimura revealed that there are many instances where she has to say the phrase "nda nda" in her lines containing a lot of the Ibaraki dialect. The producer Kashi Hiroshi chipped in to say that although they are not doing this on purpose to make this line popular, the other characters will also say this phrase quite often. As for having to speak in the Ibaraki dialect, Arimura who comes from the Kansai region said that she has been having quite a lot of difficulty with it. Initially, she deliberately added some intonation but the dialect teacher told her that she sounded like she was talking in the Tohoku region. However, there are times when she still accidentally slips back into the Kansai dialect so she has to be extra careful about it. Although Arimura had taken on leading roles in private network dramas, she commented that it is not that different from starring in a morning drama although she thinks that she should be approaching every day with a lot of positive energy.

Kimura who plays Arimura's mother in the drama, revealed that Hada Michiko who is also in the cast actually comes from Ibaraki and that they had been asking her about the Ibaraki dialect if they had questions. However, when the Ibaraki dialect teacher came to coach them, Hada turned out to be the one who had the most mistakes pointed out by the teacher.

Source: Nikkansports