Actor Shinya Niiro plays Wakabayashi Takeo, a Kobe city employee, in the NHK morning drama series "Omusubi," starring Kanna Hashimoto, which will air in the second half of fiscal 2024. Niiro, who is from Kobe, will appear in the morning drama series for the second time, following "Boogie Woogie" in the second half of fiscal 2023. At the time of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, he was a university student living in Osaka, and he was worried about losing contact with his family living in Kobe, so he carried water and returned to his parents' house for nearly nine hours. Niiro talked about his role and the earthquake.
◇ Appearing in an Osaka-produced morning drama for the second consecutive year: "It feels like 'I'm back.'"
"Omusubi" is the 111th NHK morning drama series. The heroine, Yu Yoneda (Hashimoto), who was born on the day the era name changed to "Heisei," interacts with gals in Fukuoka, and then aims to become a registered dietitian in Kansai after a certain incident... This is a "Heisei youth graffiti." The original work is written by Nemoto Nonji, a screenwriter known for NHK's drama "Honest Real Estate."
Wakabayashi, played by Niiro, is an employee of Kobe City Hall and a regular at the barbershop run by the Yoneda family. He is in charge of planning to install an arcade in Sakura-dori Shopping Street, and asks heroine Yui's father, Masato (Kitamura Yukiya), to take charge of the shopping street side. He works hard to respond to the earthquake and to the reconstruction efforts that followed.
Niiro said, "I was asked to appear in 'Omusubi' during or during the filming of my role as Matsunaga Taisei in 'Boogie Woogie.' I remember thinking, 'The days of going to Osaka will come again.' I was grateful and happy because it seems that it's rare to appear in so many consecutive roles. Many of the staff were the same as in 'Boogie Woogie,' so it was a 'I'm back!' feeling. Some staff members even greeted me with the 'good luck' pose that Matsunaga often did."
Regarding the role he plays, Wakabayashi, he explains, "It's a role that's the complete opposite of Matsunaga-san. Not only Matsunaga-san, but I've also played eccentric characters such as Toyotomi Hidetsugu in the NHK historical drama "Sanadamaru" and Ano Zennari in "The 13 Lords of the Kamakura" in the NHK drama series, but this is a modest role that you wouldn't expect from that. When I appear, viewers may think, "He's doing something," but he's a serious employee of Kobe City Hall and doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. ... Probably (laughs)."
◇Evacuation shelter scene: "That's what it was like..." Niiro recalled the time
When he heard that the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which he actually experienced, would be depicted in "Omusubi," he revealed, "I had a unique feeling that was a bit stinging." He also remembers walking to Kobe for nearly nine hours, carrying water on his shoulders, and saying, "The trains stopped on the way, so I reached Kobe by walking. Fortunately, my family was safe, but I remember going to the evacuation shelter to look for acquaintances."
"It was the first time for everyone to experience such a big earthquake, so we didn't know anything. I think the city employees were really in trouble. I actually saw a lot of people taking refuge at Kobe City Hall at the time of the earthquake. There were a lot of public phones lined up inside the city hall, and everyone gathered there to make calls. The employees must have been busy responding to the situation. I think Wakabayashi worked hard as a city employee, even in the parts that were not depicted in the drama."
When filming the evacuation shelter scene in the drama, he said, "I remembered back then, thinking, 'This is what it was like...' The extras were packed in like sardines, and it felt so real, with no privacy or anything. The evacuation shelters at that time were very different from today's evacuation shelters, and they were even more packed in. I'm sure things have improved little by little since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake." He spoke with emotion.
◇ Thoughts for the victims: "Turn it into power and tell yourself, 'You can definitely get through this!'" However, he also said, "The earthquake is not only a scar for me, but also a source of pride." "Now that almost 30 years have passed, I can say this, but I am proud of Kobe, which has recovered, rebuilt, and moved forward in a positive way," she said, but added, "I also feel deeply hurt every time a big earthquake occurs in various places. I am always worried about the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred this year, and I am very saddened by the current situation in which recovery and reconstruction are delayed."
"I hope that the broadcast of 'Omusubi' at this timing will convey to the people of Noto and other disaster-stricken areas, 'It's OK, we can definitely overcome this! The people of this country have the power!'" she said.
"Because it is a work that depicts the earthquake, there may be scenes that remind people of sad things in the disaster-stricken areas of Kobe, Tohoku, Noto, and others, but I hope they will transform that into power and think, 'No, wait a minute. We overcame this! Japan is a country prone to earthquakes and has been hit by them many times, but I would be happy if people could watch the drama and see those memories as a source of power to move forward."
