Sho Sakurai appears at press conference for latest installment of "Occupy Series" "Broadcasting Station Occupy"

Recently, Sakurai Sho appeared at the production announcement press conference for the drama "Broadcasting Station Occupy" (Nippon TV, Saturday 9pm), which he stars in and which begins on July 12th, held at Nippon TV Ikuta Studio (Tama-ku, Kawasaki City). Appearing in his character's costume, Sakurai began by saying, "Everyone else is coming on stage looking brand new, but for some reason I'm the only one with my costume dirty and a bruise on my face, and I'm coming on stage wondering what on earth happened to me before I got here today," eliciting laughter, and he spoke about his latest work, saying, "It starts like this from the first episode, and the story develops with a thrilling sense of speed."

The drama is the latest in the "Occupation Series," in which Sakurai plays the hot-blooded detective Saburo Musashi. "Large Hospital Occupation," set in a huge hospital occupied by a mysterious armed group, was broadcast in 2023, and the sequel, "New Airport Occupation," set in a newly completed airport, was broadcast in 2024.

The story of "Broadcasting Station Occupy" is set one year after "New Airport Occupation." Musashi, a detective in the Kanagawa Prefectural Police First Investigative Division's Violent Crimes Unit, is transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Affairs Division BCCT, but he gets caught up in another occupancy case and begins an investigation with new colleagues.

Sakurai explained, "This is the first time that the third film will be shot in summer, in July, so I've been fighting the heat while watching the weather forecast every day and saying, 'No way, no way,'" he said. Regarding the fact that the film is set in a "broadcasting station," he revealed, "It was difficult to do at the beginning after we started shooting," and continued, "We're shooting at a broadcasting station, so the place where we stand by is also the broadcasting station. (That) happened to be the sports station floor, but I also work on sports, so there are quite a few staff members who know me. I'm walking around dressed like this and they say, 'Good morning,' but I feel like I shouldn't be recognized, so I just lightly ignore them (laughs)."

In this film, an armed group called "Ayakashi" appears, wearing the masks of monsters and taking over a broadcasting station. Sakurai said, "In the first and second films, there were demons and the zodiac, and I thought there were no more masks like that... but when I heard about the Ayakashi, I thought, 'Wow, I've been fooled.' I thought there were more." He continued, "I was thinking, 'Maybe it's a constellation.' I wondered how they'd do something like Libra, and how they couldn't do something like Sagittarius, but... the Ayakashi thing took me by surprise."

Also attending the press conference were Manami Higa, Kumi Takiuchi, Sonim, and Gunpii and Totsugi Shigeyuki from the comedy duo "Haru to Hikoki."