Praying ceremony & press conference of FujiTV Winter 2018 drama "Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru"

The praying ceremony and press conference of FujiTV Winter 2018 drama "Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru" was held at Suitengu in Tokyo on 10 January which was attended by the cast members Fukada Kyoko, Matsuyama Kenichi and Takahata Atsuko. The drama begins its run from 18 January at 10pm on Thursdays.

The story features Fukada as the 35-year-old lead character Igarashi Nana who works as a scuba-diving instructor, is a cheerful person. In contrast, her 32-year-old Daiki (Matsuyama) who works as an employee in a mid-size toy manufacturing company, is a gentle but not very reliable. The couple finally buy a house in a cooperative housing estate where the families living there come together to give their views on various issues regarding their estate and try to reach a consensus. The move leads Daiki's mother (Takahata) to expect the couple to be able to make some progress in starting a family but things do not go as they wish. In addition, even though they may not want to get close to their neighbours, the couple has to maintain friendly relations with them who have their own set of problems reflective of this era such as an once-divorced husband with his wife who doesn't want kids, a housewife who is bent on projecting a perfect image to everyone but her husband has resigned from his company and a gay couple who is thinking of having kids.


After the praying ceremony, Matsuyama was asked about his thoughts where he commented that the weather was warmer on that day and joked that he would have lost his excuse to bridge the distance between him and Fukada as "husband and wife" since they can't hold hands when it's not so cold. When asked about any interesting episodes during the filming, Matsuyama recounted that there was a scene where Nana tried to liven things up by appearing in a sexy outfit in front of Daiki so he asked Fukada if women buy underwear for the purpose of appearing sexy but immediately regretted asking such a question. Fukada said that she was stumped for an answer and told him that wearing a T-shirt and jeans was actually sexier.

As the filming began at the end of last year, Fukada commented that as she read the script, there were many things she learnt and she hoped that the drama will provide some encouragement to those who are trying for a baby. As such, she hoped to act in the most sincere way and make this a good drama. In line with the theme of the drama, Fukada was asked about if she desired to be a mother. She said that there are various paths in life towards happiness so she hopes to give it some thought as to what kind of choice would be right for her. She doesn't know yet if she has the desire to become a mother and thinks that this drama will probably be the catalyst to set her thinking about this.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi