Press conference of new NHK drama SP "Doko ni mo nai kuni"

The press conference of new NHK drama SP "Doko ni mo nai kuni" (The country which is nowhere) was held at its HQ in Tokyo on 5 March which was attended by cast members Uchino Seiyo, Harada Taizo, Renbutsu Misako and Mitsushima Shinnosuke. The two-part drama SP which will be shown at 9pm on 24 March and 31 March, describes how a group of men went all out to evacuate more than 1.5 million Japanese citizens stranded in the old Manchuria after Japan lost WWII.

Uchino plays the lead character Maruyama Kunio who is in Manchuria when the war ends. Upon seeing how his countrymen are suffering, Maruyama approaches the government to request for an evacuation. With the help of Shinpo Hachiro (Harada) and Musashi Masamichi (Mitsushima) who is an expert on Manchuria and knows Mandarin, the trio tries to get out of Manchuria together with their families which is only achieved after a long period of time. Part 1 talks about their escape from Manchuria to Japan while Part 2 talks about how they manage to get their families out and reunite with them.

Uchino said that he hardly knew anything about the evacuation from Manchuria and saw the value in doing such a drama now so he accepted the offer readily. The post-war Manchuria was like living hell due to the cold, hunger, sickness and violence so these men had a very strong conviction and courage to take on the challenge of saving their countrymen. He hoped that the viewers will be able to get the same power from watching this drama. In preparation for the filming, Uchino went beyond the research materials which the staff prepared for him and went to borrow books about Manchuria from the library. From there, he found many memoirs of those who were in Manchuria and he couldn't help but cry as he read through them. Uchino also passed a part of his research to Harada who said that he was impressed by Uchino's strong passion towards this drama. As the filing was very intense, Harada said that this was the first time when he felt so exhausted at the end of the filming every day.

The filmng was done in various places such as Kitakyushu, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Shizuoka and the outskirts of the Kanto region. The cast and staff also went to Shanghai, China for about a week. Mitsushima who had many lines in Mandarin, revealed that he got more work assignments related to China after doing this drama such as going to Tibet for another programme. Mitsushima said that many people hardly know a thing about Manchuria and described his character as a young man with dreams who went to Manchuria. As such, he hoped that the drama will convey this important part in history and show how important it is to live with a purpose.

Sources: Oricon / Nikkansports