Kanna Hashimoto plays the heroine in the NHK morning drama "Omusubi" (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 a.m., etc.), which starts on September 30th. Hashimoto, who took on the challenge of dressing up as a blonde gal for the first time in this drama that depicts the "gal culture" of the Heisei era, talked about some surprising episodes that she experienced during filming and the highlights of the drama.
"Omusubi" is a "Heisei youth graffiti" in which the heroine, Yu Yoneda, born in 1989, connects people's hearts and futures as a nutritionist, with the "gal spirit" of valuing one's individuality at all times. It is an original work by Nonji Nemoto, a scriptwriter known for NHK's drama "Shojiki Real Estate."
Yu Yoneda, played by Hashimoto, was born on the first day of the Heisei era. She lives with her family who are farmers in Itoshima, Fukuoka, and after graduating from high school, she moves to Kobe and then Osaka due to a certain incident, where she begins her career as a nutritionist.
Hashimoto, who is from Fukuoka Prefecture, smiles and says, "We filmed in my favorite city where I lived until I graduated from high school. The locations used were Tenjin and other places where I used to hang out with friends as a student, so it felt really nostalgic. It was also really easy to act in the Hakata dialect. The people of Itoshima really made it fun, and I'm really grateful; I felt their warmth."
In the fourth week, there is a scene where Yui puts on super flashy gal makeup and performs Para Para at an event in Itoshima to help the "gal gang" she met by chance in high school.
Looking back on the filming, Hashimoto reveals, "It was a lot of fun. I was a little hesitant at first, dancing Para Para in front of the extras in Itoshima, but by the end everyone was dancing with enthusiasm."
"I put on chocolate-colored foundation, thick false eyelashes, glitter, and lipstick so shiny it was like I was putting oil on my mouth. It was so much fun, it felt like I wasn't myself."
In that scene, Yui's father, Masato (Kitamura Yukiya), is confused by Yui's complete transformation in her gal costume, asking, "Where is Yui?" Hashimoto laughs, "Honestly, when we read the script, we were all saying, 'There's no way Yui wouldn't notice.'"
However, when Hashimoto's family saw her in her gal outfit, they had an unexpected reaction, she said. "When I was filming for the event, my mom and a friend came to visit, but my dad couldn't make it. After filming was over, I sent my dad a picture of me in my gal outfit, and he asked, 'Who's that?' He didn't even seem to recognize me (laughs). In fact, my dad didn't recognize me, so I thought the script was real." Hashimoto couldn't hide her surprise. This is her first morning drama, and she said, "We started filming around March this year, and we shot the scenes separately, so I was happy to see the first week finished. When I saw the episodes connected in 15-minute increments, I was moved, and thought, 'This is a morning drama,' as you would expect." When asked about the highlights of the series, she said, "It's completely different from previous morning dramas, and I think it will deliver a very pop and bright morning where gals really appear."
