The new cast for the drama series "The Travel Nurse" (TV Asahi, Thursdays at 9pm) which will start on October 17th has been announced, with Takashi Naito, Shunsuke Kazama, Daichi Watanabe, Daiki Matsumoto, and Makita Sports joining the cast.
The drama is a sequel to "The Travel Nurse" which aired in October 2022. Written by Nakazono Miho, known for the station's popular series "Doctor X", the drama follows the duo of Nasuda Ayumu (Okada Masaki), who has the nursing qualification "Nurse Practitioner" to perform certain medical procedures, and the skilled nurse Kuki Shizuka (Nakai Kiichi), who will reform the medical field with a "patient first" approach. The first episode will air on the 17th as an extended special.
Naito has played detectives in a variety of dramas, including the popular TV Asahi series "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department First Investigation Division Chief" and "Kasouken no Onna," as well as the NHK morning drama "Boogie Woogie." This time, he plays Otaguro Katsuichi, the former director of Nishitokyo General Hospital. He was dismissed as director after his own corruption and power harassment scandals came to light one after another, and in the first episode, he is rushed to his old workplace, Nishitokyo General Hospital. Naito commented, "To be honest, I thought I would be playing a detective again (laughs). But as a former director, I thought I could do something a little new again."
Alongside Otaguro, the honest and skilled surgeon Kamiyama Naohiko, played by Kazama, holds the key to the development of the first episode. He was Otaguro's top disciple, and although he feels indebted to him, he currently hides his feelings and continues to work at Nishitokyo General Hospital, which has transitioned to a clean system under the new director, Yakushimaru Taku (Yamazaki Ikusaburo).
Kazama said, "Kamiyama will leave a certain message in the episode that marks the start of Season 2, and I think this first episode will make many people feel that 'this is where the story begins. While we should cherish the past that we have lived up to now, medical care and society as a whole must change.'"
Watanabe, who is currently receiving a lot of attention for his role as Fujiwara no Yukinari in the NHK Taiga drama "Hikaru Kimi e" (General), will play Koyama Mamoru, a surgeon at Nishitokyo General Hospital who is kind to patients and trusted by nurses.
Matsumoto, a young actor who starred in the special effects drama "Ultraman Decker," will play Handa Hajime, a rookie surgeon who has just finished his clinical training. He is enthusiastic but overwhelmed and sleep-deprived, breathing a breath of fresh air into the story.
Makita Sports, who played a surgeon in the third series of "Doctor-X: Surgeon Daimon Michiko" (2014), will play Onuki Ta, a gastroenterological surgeon who is on the brink of promotion. He is a "doctor-supremacist" person who does not listen to the opinions of nurses, and stands in the way of Ayumu and Shizuka.
