Screening event & press conference of new NHK drama "Kono yo ni tayasui shigoto wa nai"

The screening event and press conference of new NHK drama "Kono yo ni tayasui shigoto wa nai" was held at the TV station's HQ in Shibuya, Tokyo, on 30 March which was attended by cast members Mano Erina and Tsukamoto Takashi. The drama consists of 8 episodes and begins its run from 6 April in the Thursdays 11pm timeslot.

Mano plays the 28-year-old lead character Kirinaka Kasumi who realised her childhood dream to become a primary school student. Despite her passion for teaching, Kasumi had to quit because she was overworked and suffers from the burnout syndrome. However, she cannot stop working because she has to support herself so in order to prepare herself for that, she undergoes rehabilitation and meets an unusual employee at Hello Work named Masakado (Asano Atsuko) who introduces a series of strange jobs to her. Even though Kasumi wants to try her best in everything she does and feels uneasy at first about taking on jobs which seem like what anyone else can do, she starts to enjoy the process and becomes aware of the joy from various jobs through her communication with the people she meets. At the same time, she makes a decision about her relationship with her boyfriend Yurioka Jun (Tsukamoto) and finds meaning as to what it means to work.

As this drama is Mano's first leading role in a NHK drama, she revealed that she felt stressed when she got the offer but decided to make the most out of it by focusing on making a good drama with her co-stars and staff. When Mano first began her career in showbiz back in 2006, she was a senior high school student then and had dreamed of becoming a fur trimmer at an animal hospital. After she became an idol, she began to feel glad about her career choice especially after she found out at the age of 20 that she was allergic to cats and couldn't have become a fur trimmer in the first place. She commented that she could relate to the drama's story and was able to cope with the challenges of tight schedules and lack of sleep because she liked what she was doing as an actress. As for the theme of marriage relating to women around 30 as featured in the story, Mano said that although she wouldn't say that she has no intention to get married, she wouldn't know how she would react until she comes face to face with this issue when the time comes.

Source: Oricon