Toda Erika & Oohara Sakurako to star in new movie "Ano hi no orugan"

Toda Erika and Oohara Sakurako will be joint leads in the new movie "Ano hi no orugan" (The organ of that day) which will be shown in cinemas during the new year holidays in 2019. The movie will be directed by Hiramatsu Emiko and is based on the true story of a set at the time when WWII was about to end in 1944 where a group of young teachers in their 20s from a nursery in Togoshi, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo escape from the bombing of Tokyo with their young students by fleeing to Saitama together. At that time, even though it was common for mass evacuations of school children, it was rare to do the same for preschool children especially since their parents objected to being separated from their children. Nonetheless, the decision to evacuate together before the air raids saved the lives of many children as a result. Filming will begin in March this year.

Toda Erika plays Itakura Kaede, the leader of the teachers who lead them and their students to take refuge at an abandoned temple in Saitama. Oohara will play one of the teachers named Nonomiya Mitsue. Toda commented that the pressure faced by the teachers at that time was unimaginable in this time and age and it must have been very tough on them to protect their students from harm. As such, she felt a strong sense of responsibility through her participation in this movie and hoped to show the strong side of these women as they faced their fears head on. As for Oohara, she said that she would do some studying about the war in order to prepare for her filming. When she got the offer, she was very happy about it since she liked children. Although being a kindergarten teacher was tough, she still hoped to enjoy the experience of playing Mitsue.

Sources: Eiga.com / Natalie / Sponichi