Actor Tatsuya Fujiwara appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on April 11. He talked about his childhood and memories of the director Yukio Ninagawa, who passed away nine years ago, and asked Kuroyanagi for advice on how to spend your 40s.
One of the teachings of Mr. Ninagawa that I still follow is, "Make sure your foundation is strong. If you don't make the foundation strong, no matter how good or high-quality your work is, it will fall apart easily." The other was "words."
He spent his childhood in the nature of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. "We grew up in the upper reaches of the Arakawa River, so we swam in the river, caught fish with our hands, ran around the mountains, caught crayfish in the rice fields, and caught locusts. Mr. Ninagawa called me 'the monkey of Chichibu,'" he revealed. He has been playing soccer since he was in the second or third grade of elementary school. He was also passionate about soccer in junior high school, but "life is a strange thing, and I met Mr. Ninagawa at the age of 14." As a result, he said, "I had no choice but to give up soccer." In junior high school, he won in a major soccer tournament, but lost after a close match. When he needed a change of mood, his teammates would tell him, "Fujiwara is good. You've already decided on the next one," and he went to Mr. Ninagawa.
She will be turning 43 in May. "I wonder if I should continue like this or not. In my 20s and 30s, I overcame some parts with a certain momentum, but that's not the case in my 40s," she asked Kuroyanagi. Kuroyanagi went to New York and attended drama school, saying, "There were a lot of interesting people there. Most of them were older than me, but I was loved by artists, and I still think it was fun." She then asked, "I was able to go because I didn't have children or a husband, but you have a family, right? Are you going to leave all that behind?"
Fujiwara made a public request for her 43rd birthday, saying, "I would like to be taken to a restaurant recommended by Tetsuko and celebrate my birthday. I would never be able to have such a precious experience again. Thank you." Kuroyanagi encouraged her, saying, "43 years old? You're young. I think you were around that age when I went to New York. You have a child, so please do your best at work and raising your child."
