Mikako Tabe will be starring in the drama series " Taigan no Kaji ~Kore ga, Watashi no Ikiru Michi~ " (TBS, Tuesdays at 10pm) which will begin airing on April 1st. The series follows the protagonist Murakami Shiho, who has chosen to become a full-time housewife, as she encounters and interacts with "people on the other side of the river", including a working mother and an elite government official father on childcare leave. We spoke to Tabe, who plays Shiho and is also a mother of one in her private life, about her thoughts when she was offered the role and the difficulties of raising a child.
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The original work is the novel "Taigan no Kaji" (Housework on the Other Side) by Akeno Kiko (Kodansha Bunko). It is a new "work drama" that depicts the never-ending task of "housework" through Shiho's interactions with "people on the other side" who have different positions and ways of thinking than her.
-How did you feel when you received the offer to appear in the film, and what were your impressions after reading the original work?
I was happy to receive the offer because it was a role I hadn't had many opportunities to play before, a full-time housewife with children. I had always wanted to play a role like this, and I felt it was a new frontier for me. It's new in this day and age for a full-time housewife to be the lead role.
My first impression after reading the original work was, "There are so many things I can relate to, I wonder if they can be depicted in a drama?" That's how realistically the story depicts the small worries of raising children and worries about housework that occur in everyday life. The script is a story that encourages you to look at those real worries in a positive and optimistic way.
-Has your impression of the character changed while playing Shiho?
I'm not a full-time housewife, so when I have work I often leave the children in my husband's care, but when I'm not working I spend time with the children and do housework, so I didn't have any particular difficulty understanding Shiho's role as a full-time housewife.
As I read the script, I am trying to dig deeper into why Shiho says she wants to be a full-time housewife. I gradually began to empathize with Shiho's feelings of wanting to work at doing housework for her family. I am filming while thinking that there are other ways of thinking like this.
--What did you particularly identify with?
I wanted to connect with other mothers raising children. I especially felt this from when I was pregnant until my child was about 0 years old, but if you stay at home all the time, there's no one to talk to. So I often looked at the "tweets" of mothers who have children the same age as my child. When I looked at the "tweets" wondering "why is my child not drinking enough milk," I found that there were other people who were feeling the same way, and there were people who were woken up by their children when they woke up at 3am in the morning. Just seeing that made me feel like I wasn't alone.
When I saw tweets saying things like "I can't relate to working moms" and "It's hard to be a full-time housewife," I thought it would be great if this film could reach those people too. I even wanted my friend who recently gave birth to a child to watch it. I hope this film reaches people who are currently facing their children.
--While actually raising your child, has there ever been anything that was different from what you imagined?
They are all different. They are all harder than I imagined. When it comes to raising a person's personality, we grope around every day without knowing what is right or wrong. We have to find our own answer for our family, but it may be different from the world's, or it may be right. That's why I have never felt like I "got it" about raising a child. There are so many things I really don't know, from how to give them nutrition to everything else. I sometimes consult with people who have experience and refer to YouTube videos, but I still don't know. But the cuteness of my child outweighs all that. It was the first time I'd ever felt this way.
--Is there anyone who supports you?
I take positive lessons from other mothers. But I think my family is the best. In particular, I often talk with my husband late into the night after the kids go to bed. We don't check with each other to see if the way we think about and raise our kids is right, but it's good to know that the people closest to me have the same way of thinking and approach to children.
-Are there any scenes that link to your own child-rearing?
In the first episode, there is a scene where Shiho confronts working mother Nagano Reiko ( Noriko Eguchi), and I could really understand the feelings of both of them. The scene where they feel "very lonely from the world" is not an exaggeration, and I too have felt lonely at times. This is true whether I'm spending all my time with my children or, like Reiko, when I feel like I don't belong at work.
The lines of the two characters in this scene were very heavy for me, and I felt like they were pouring out all the feelings they couldn't tell anyone. There are many such scenes in this drama, but this one in particular left a strong impression on me.
--This is your first time working with Eguchi-san since "This Is Not an Expense!" (NHK).
I love Eguchi's enthusiasm. On this set, he is always carrying the youngest child of the Nagano family, Hoshina-chan (Yoshitama Honoka-chan), in a baby carrier, so I try not to talk to him too much, but I was surprised when he said, "I don't mind the baby carrier." I didn't like it because it hurt my back, but he really seems to be fine with it. I'll ask him about his true feelings next time.
--Shiho is a character who is in conflict with Tatsuya Nakatani, an elite bureaucrat father on parental leave played by Dean Fujioka. How was it acting with Dean?
I thought Dean was very cool even before I met him, and he is still as cool as ever. He is flat like Nakatani, and doesn't have many waves. There are still few scenes with the three of them on set, and I haven't seen Eguchi and Dean talking, so I'm interested to see what kind of conversation they will have.
--Shiho's husband, Torarou, is played by Wataru Ichinose. What do you think of him as a father?
He's a very wonderful father. He actively communicates with Nagai Kana-chan, who plays Ichigo, and I always see him trying to face his daughter as a father. Ichinose-san seems to be good at balloon art, and from the time they met, he made a balloon dog for Kana-chan, and he often became the "balloon uncle". So Kana-chan is chasing Ichinose-san (laughs).
--How do you communicate with Kana-chan?
We sometimes talk about anime, and the other day Kana-chan gave me a picture, which I've put up at home. However, I'm still trying to find the right distance. Since we're playing parent-child roles, I think it's okay to be casual, but I also think it's important to treat her as an actor, so I find it difficult to find the right balance.
Hana-chan is very strong and powerful. All the other child actors are full of energy and are working hard. When they need to act, they act, they play, and sometimes they cry. They have a lot of childlike sides, so I wonder how they manage to keep the balance, and I'm sure it must be hard for their parents too.
--Please tell us what the highlights of the film are and your message to the viewers.
We are working on this production with the hope of reaching as many people as possible, especially many families. Everyone has different family structures, values, ways of dealing with children, and relationships between husband and wife. In that context, we would be happy if one word or scene could be a relief to someone, generate empathy, or become a catalyst for family discussion. It may not be a production that will change your life dramatically, but we are filming with the hope that it will be a drama that encourages people to take small steps. We hope that it will be a production that makes people think, "Let's do our best in our own way" from tomorrow onwards.
