Winners of the 25th Hashida Award (2016)

The Hashida Awards is given programmes and people who have had a pivotal role in bringing warmth to people through their acting and the works they participated in. The 25th edition's winners for their work in 2016 are as follows:

Programme Awards
- NHK drama "Natsume Souseki no Tsuma" starring Ono Machiko and Hasegawa Hiroki

- TBS drama "Futsuu ga ichiban ~ Sakka Fujisawa Shuhei Chichi no Hitogoto ~"

- Tokai TV documentary "Jinsei Fruits"

- NHK's children programmes

Individual Awards
- Actor Funakoshi Eiichiro

- Actress Aragaki Yui

Newcomer Award
- Actress Takahata Mitsuki

Special Award
- Actor Nakamura Kichiemon
- The late Yoshinaga Haruko (documentary director)

Winners will be presented with their prizes i.e. a clock and prize money of 1 million yen during the award ceremony to be held on 10 May.

Source: Oricon

Higashiyama Noriyuki & Matsu Takaako to star in TBS drama SP "Futsuu ga Ichiban Sakka Fujisawa Shuhei Chichi no Hitogoto"

Higashiyama Noriyuki and Matsu Takako will be playing a married couple in the upcoming TBS drama SP "Futsuu ga Ichiban Sakka Fujisawa Shuhei Chichi no Hitogoto" (Being ordinary is the best - Writer Fujisawa Shuhei - A word from Father) which is due to be shown in early July this year. The drama SP is a human drama based on the books titled "Fujisawa Shuhei Chichi no Shuuhen" (Fujisawa Shuhei Father's surroundings) and "Chichi Fujisawa Shuhei to no Gurashi" (Life with my father Fujisawa Shuhei) which were written by Endo Nobuko who is the daughter of the late Naoki Award-winning writer Fujisawa Shuhei. This will be the first time that Higashiyama and Matsu are working together where Higashiyama will play Fujisawa while Matsu will play his wife Kosuge Kazuko. The producer Ishii Fukuko revealed that it took a long wait of 3 years before she could get both Higashiyama and Matsu to act in this production.

The drama SP talks about Fujisawa's dream of becoming a writer using his real name Kosuge Tomeji and began working as a reporter from 1963. However, with the passing of his wife, he lived with his daughter Nobuko and his mother Takie. Later, he married Kosuge Kazuko and became a Naoki Award winner in 1973. The story is written from his daughter Nobuko's perspective.

Higashiyama commented that he had always wanted to act in something based on Fujisawa's works and is very honoured to play the writer himself. He would have wanted the respected director Ninagawa Yukio to watch his performance in this drama SP but it is a pity that this would not be possible. Nonetheless, he will bear in mind the words of advice Ninagawa had for him in the past and work hard with his co-star.

Source: Yomiuri Hochi / Sanspo / Oricon