Production press conference of NTV Spring 2017 drama "Haha ni naru"

The production press conference of NTV Spring 2017 drama "Haha ni naru" was held on 1 April which was attended by Sawajiri Erika, Fujiki Naohito, Koike Eiko, Hey! Say! JUMP's Nakajima Yuto, Itaya Yuka and Kansai Johnny's Jrs' Michieda Shunsuke. The drama which begins its run from 12 April, features Sawajiri as the lead character Kashiwazaki Yui whose son was kidnapped at the age of three on the way home from nursery just because she failed to pay attention for a brief moment. This led to the divorce from her husband (Fujiki) and Kashiwazaki has been living on her own since then. 9 years later, she gets reunited with her son (Michieda) who has now turned 13 years old and needs to deal with how to interact with her son again and regain the lost years and her broken family. Koike Eiko plays Kadokura Asako, the woman who had kidnapped Kashiwazaki's son and taken care of him as a mother for the last nine years and Itaya Yuka who plays Nishihara Risako, Kashiwazaki's friend who has been supporting all this time while her son was missing. Nakajima plays a child welfare officer.

As she is playing a difficult role this time, Sawajiri said that she did not try to think too much before the filming and tried to act as she felt from the script so that it would appear natural. On the other hand, Nakajima and Michieda who are from the same agency, are acting together for the first time. However, as they are quite unfamiliar with each other, Nakajima commented that Michieda seemed too nervous when they were talking so he hopes that they can become closer and the latter can relax a bit more as the filming progresses. For Michieda who is acting in his first drama and has landed the role of playing Sawajiri's and Fujiki's son, he said that he didn't know how to cry on screen and sought advice from his senior Nakajima who told him to think of his saddest memory to date.

During the event, the cast was asked to introduce an item related to their mothers which was especially memorable to them. Sawajiri brought a teddy bear named Habu-chan which was what her mother gave to her father when they got married and she has been holding on to this since she was a child. Michieda showed an apron from his mother while Itaya introduced the mother-and-child handbook given by her mother and Nakajima cited the photo of a bouquet of flowers given by his mother when his first movie featuring him as the lead was released. Koike showed a flower shear and Fujiki who was the last to speak, revealed that the baked cheese cake made by his mother was especially delicious and memorable to him especially after he moved out from his family home. In fact, he just had it before the press conference and said that it tasted as good as usual.

It was also announced during the press conference that Amuro Namie will be singing the theme song "Just You and I" for the drama.　

Sources: Sponichi / Oricon 1 / Oricon 2