The cast of the drama series "Drama W 1972: Firefly at the Beach" (WOWOW), starring actor Issei Takahashi, has been announced, revealing that Aoki Munetaka, Shirota Yu and others will appear.
The original work is the crime suspense novel "Nagisa no Hotaruhi" (Futaba Bunko) by Sakagami Izumi, whose novel "Invisible" won the 23rd Oyabu Haruhiko Prize and was also nominated for the 164th Naoki Prize. In 1972, as Okinawa was being converted back to Japan, a cash transport vehicle collecting dollar bills was attacked and 1 million dollars were stolen in Okinawa, where the yen was being exchanged for dollars. The Ryukyu Police, concerned that if the Japanese or US governments found out about this incident, it could develop into a major diplomatic issue, formed a special investigation team led by Maeda Taichi (Takahashi) in order to solve the case in secret. With only 18 days until the return of Okinawa to Japan, Maeda and his team worked hard to solve the case. The robbery was believed to have been the work of a local gang, but the US government had its intentions behind it... This is the story.
Aoki will play Yonaha Kiyotaka, a member of the Ryukyu Police Special Task Force, who is a high school classmate of Maeda but sees him as a rival. Kobayashi Kaoru will play Tamaki Yasue, a veteran detective who is the head of the task force and is about to retire. Kiyoshima Chika, an Okinawa native who was selected through an audition to play Niizato Aiko, who was handpicked by Tamaki while working in the accounting department. Hirota Ryohei will play Higa Yuji, who was a local police officer but was suddenly assigned to the task force without being informed of anything. Fujiki Shiisa will play Zamami Yoshifuku, the chief of the Ryukyu Police who is Tamaki's superior and Maeda's superior, and Bengal will play Kyan Yukitake, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Shirota will play Captain Jack Shinsuke Ikezawa of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), who exchanges investigative information with Maeda between Japan and the U.S. Sawamura Ikki will play Asao Kawahira, the president of a local company who holds the key to the case, Yoshishima Riku will play Takeo Miyazato, a local gangster who has been making noticeable moves recently, and Sakamoto Takara will play Koji Inamine, also a gangster. Many cast members from Okinawa Prefecture are also scheduled to appear in the film.
Aoki, whose grandfather lived in Okinawa in 1972, the setting of the story, commented, "It may be only natural for me, his grandson, to play a character from that time. Even if it is seen from the present as 'one incident in the past,' from the past's point of view, the present is 'one of the moments born from that incident.' We must never forget the 'passionate feelings of the people,' which may be overlooked due to the difference in perspective."
