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Did you know the original?

I just knew it in its filmed version and hadn$B!G(Bt read the original, so after the offer of acting came and before joining in the shooting I read it in its original English. The words I read didn$B!G(Bt come as comfy into my head as in Japanese of course, but since I thought it$B!G(Bd help well to blow up a rough image of the story when I would act, I read it on purpose in its original English.

Like any other scripts whose original exists in book form, I$B!G(Bve almost made it a rule not to read the original text for fear that I$B!G(Bm too much influenced by it. Visually speaking, however, I think it better to puff up its image beforehand. And as far as this piece of drama goes, since its country and cultural background is quite different from ours, I did$B!G(Bt want to be too attentive to the image of the original.

What impressions did you have of the original?

First of all, it was attractive to me that both bright and dark sides of human life are equally described. There were many scenes that cut me close to the bone, and they were really to the point. And it was very persuasive for me the way the book dealt with the growth of the protagonist$B!G(Bs heart. By having you know what you don$B!G(Bt need to, for better or worse, a variety of things will happen. This led me to pose a question like, $B!H(BWhich is happier for a person, to know everything, or to know less?$B!I(B or $B!H(BIsn$B!G(Bt it okay to know less if you can live happily without the whole truth?$B!I(B These are thoughts I had when I read it.

You may be happier when you haven$B!G(Bt seen everything nor known the whole truth. People may have different opinions on this matter, to be sure, but personally I$B!G(Bm the kind of person who fears to know too much.

What kind of person is Sakuto Shiratori, the main part you$B!G(Bre playing?

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He is 28 years old and has been mentally handicapped since at birth. His mental capacities are at the same level as a child aged 6. He is so pure that he reminds me, as I read the script, of the feelings I have almost forgotten. He is such a character with a heart of angel, indeed.

He has wished to get smarter for some cherished plan. One day he undergoes a brain surgery for smartness, and gets smarter and smarter. But that results in causing a variety of things to happen.

What are you careful of when acting as Sakuto?

Before and after the brain surgery he is a different person, so I need to play two persons, as it were. His appearance doesn$B!G(Bt change at all before and after the surgery, but his inner self changes into a different person, so that when I perform as Sakuto during the shooting I often need to consult the shooting director. Thus, we$B!G(Bre groping our way in the dark, but I only hope we can impress a clear contrast between his two personas on the viewers.

And, to study how to play the pre-surgery Sakuto, I visited a facility for the mentally handicapped and talk to many of its residents. What impressed me first of all was that everyone there has a $B!H(Bpure$B!I(B heart. An old woman, aged 60, showed me her drawings with a bright, girly smile. I can$B!G(Bt put it well into words, but everyone seemed to have grown into an adult with a pure, child-like heart intact.

Because I had few chances to meet such handicapped persons until then, I was a bit nervous when I visited them in person. But I came to know after talking to them face to face that they all had pure hearts, which reminded me of a pure heart I used to have but had almost forgotten. So it was a soothing moment to me. I want to visit them some day in the future if there$B!G(Bs another chance.

What are you taking pains at when you play the role of Sakuto?

At the beginning of the drama shooting what I was worried most was to what degree and how I should express that handicap. To express it too much would make my performance unnatural, and on the contrary, if I express it too little, it also wouldn$B!G(Bt catch on. I had to learn the way of delivery little by little in the shooting process, and I$B!G(Bm now performing in close consultation with the director.

In the latter half of the drama where the operation has already taken place, Sakuto appears as a different person. That is also a point I had to take care of. However different he is before and after the operation, there should, I think, remain some remnants of those pure aspects in the post-operation Sakuto. At any rate, I$B!G(Bm performing with advices from the director every now and then.

It is one of the ways to show Sakuto$B!G(Bs personalities to have his hair unkempt and his face given no make-up for the first half, while since he$B!G(Bs getting smarter after the surgery, I$B!G(Bve lost my weight by about 3 kilograms for the second half.

What impressions do you have of Shinji Nojima, script supervisor?

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In my childhood I watched Mr. Nojima$B!G(Bs pieces of drama a lot, such as $B!F(BMisei-nen$B!G(B ($B!F(BMinors$B!G(B) and $B!F(BNingen$B!&(BShikkaku$B!G(B ($B!F(BNo Longer Human$B!G(B). Friendship, painfulness, and sadness I felt there, and story developments shockingly engulfing his created characters are very impressive.

And Shiratori Sakuto is a type of character I$B!G(Bve never tried in my acting career. So I$B!G(Bll be happy if all the viewers have a good surprise as well as enjoy the drama with all their family, from children to adults. I hope this will be a piece of work that offers its viewers an occasion to freshly recognize preciousness of friends and familial ties. I myself feel this piece of work, supervised by Mr. Nojima, will be a turning point in my acting career.

Lastly, please tell the viewers the highlights of the drama and your exhorting words!

For a long time I$B!G(Bve hoped to play a character I had never tried, and I feel very honored that they offered to me a character beloved by people all over the world. So I$B!G(B m attending the drama shooting with all my might.

I could luckily meet an acting role Shiratori Sakuto, a character very hard to act. Because of the difficult role, I feel I could find a new $B!H(Bmyself$B!I(B. I$B!G(Bm a type of person who$B!G(Bd rather not express one$B!G(Bs inner feelings, but it$B!G(Bs a pleasure for me as an actor to have experience of playing the character who doesn$B!G(Bt resemble me.

Though the work itself may be categorized as fantasy fiction, I$B!G(Bm seriously acting the role of Shiratori Sakuto as if it was a real story that can happen in the real world.

What$B!G(Bs more, it is very interesting for me to play through Sakuto a human being as he grows up from child to adult. I think the viewers can feel sympathy while watching the process in which Sakuto grows up, experiencing a lot of things, sometimes getting hurt to know what he hasn$B!G(Bt known.