Even today's most popular stars and artists have had their first moments, such as their first appearance, first event, or first live performance. In "My Firsts," we ask the artists themselves to look back on those thrilling moments that only come from an inexperienced past. This time, actor Tori Matsuzaka, who voiced Paddington in the Japanese dubbed version of the film "Paddington: The Lost Golden Lion" (directed by Dougal Wilson), talked about his first film appearance, "We Can't Change the World. But, We Wanna Build a School in Cambodia" (directed by Kenta Fukasaku, 2011).
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The first movie I was allowed to do was "We can't change the world. But, we wanna build a school in Cambodia" (2011). Starring Osamu Mukai, Emoto Tasuku, Masataka Kubota and myself, it was a movie about four male university students who volunteered to build a school in Cambodia.
The time I took part in this film was also the first time I had ever been abroad. It was shot on location in Cambodia, and it was a production that made me realize how much fun film can be.
My debut work was the Sentai hero film "Samurai Sentai Shinkenger" (2009-2010), but I had been shooting with a proper camera for over a year. For me, the shooting style of "We Are..." was a documentary style with a single-lens reflex camera. It was something I had never experienced before, so it was very innovative, and I thought to myself, how interesting movies are.
Director Fukasaku's direction was also a technique of being navigated by a man named Buti, who actually works as a guide in Cambodia, and filming it with a camera. The way of filming, "There are no lines, but if you have something on your mind, you can say it out loud," was really fresh. I felt that it was fun, even though I was an amateur at the time, and that it was okay to do this kind of thing in movies.
That was my first step towards finding film interesting. It may have been a turning point in my life when I first became interested in film.
This time, I voiced Paddington in the Japanese dubbed version of the movie "Paddington 3" (directed by Dougal Wilson). The first movie was released in 2016, the second in 2018, and this is the third movie. Paddington, a "British gentleman" bear, goes on a family trip with the Brown family to Peru to visit Aunt Lucy who lives in "Old Bear Home", and embarks on a great adventure.
Paddington's charm is his "kindness" which remains the same throughout the series. After all, he is friends with Queen Elizabeth (laughs). Paddington possesses both the qualities of a "gentleman" in the sense of a British gentleman and the sincerity with which he deals with people. He also has a pure heart, and I think his way of interacting with people is what makes him so appealing.
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Matsuzaka Toori Born October 17, 1988, from Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. He made his acting debut in 2009. Since then, he has appeared in many movies, dramas, and stage productions. In 2025, he starred in the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "Mikami Sensei " in January, and also starred in the movie "Snow Flower -Tomo ni Arite-". He has also appeared in "My Father and I's Never-ending Song" (scheduled for release on May 23) and "Frontline" (scheduled for release on June 13), and will be a voice actor in the animated film "100 M" (scheduled for release on September 19). He has a long list of appearances. It has been announced that he will play the main character, Oguri Kozukenosuke Tadamasa, in the 2027 NHK Taiga drama " Gyakuzoku no Bakushin ".
