It has been revealed that actor Mirai Moriyama will star in the NHK special drama "Sasamakura" (BS, BSP4K). Based on the novel of the same name by Saiichi Maruya, Moriyama will play the protagonist who avoided conscription and experienced the end of the war.
Wartime Japan. An era when draft evasion was considered a betrayal of the nation. One young man embarked on this act of rebellion. Unimaginable loneliness and danger. He lay in hiding, simply to survive, until the day the war ended. But the story doesn't end there. Twenty years later, just when he thought he had achieved peace, he is confronted once again by a different form of "conformity pressure." Even after the war ends and times change, can people truly become free...? This is the story.
Moriyama plays Shoji Hamada, a man who, after a friend who enlisted was bullied and committed suicide, evaded conscription out of anger. While evading conscription was celebrated as a heroic act after the war, its meaning began to reverse with the passage of time, and in the end of the story, he is forced to confront his past self.
It was also announced that Rina Kawaei, Yuzu Aoki, and Mayu Hotta will be appearing in the film. Kawaei will play Yoko Hamada, the young wife who married Hamada in an arranged marriage after the war, while Aoki will play the young Hamada who dodged conscription, and Akiko Yuki, his lover who lives on the run with him.
This is the first screen adaptation of one of Marutani's most representative works. Playwright Akino Sakurako has adapted the script, and Keiko Tsuruoka, who won the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award for New Artists for her film "The Foolishly Painted Daughter," will direct. It is scheduled to air in the summer of 2026.
◇Mirai Moriyama as Mirai Moriyama
"The purpose of a nation is nothing other than war."
During the Pacific War, those who evaded conscription (dodged military service) in defiance of the state and the war were not heroes, but criminals more serious than theft or murder. Some risked their lives to escape state power, while others risked their lives to obey state power. Regardless of how they survived the war, one can imagine that there was no true freedom or peace, and that the physical and mental scars left by being at the mercy of state power continued to ache in vain.
How will the opening lines spoken in the film resonate in the summer of 2026, after a long postwar period, or perhaps even before it?
◇ Rina Kawaei plays the role of Hamada's wife, Yoko Hamada.
I will be playing Yoko, the wife of Shokichi Hamada. Yoko is a bright and hardworking woman who supports Shokichi, who lives a life of struggle, sacrificing his life and his heart, but as the story progresses, her inner struggles will be revealed. I am very happy to be acting alongside Mirai Moriyama for the first time in a serious role.
I hope to learn from the natural and meticulous approach of everyone on set, and work together with the cast and crew to create an even better film. I would be delighted if you could join me in thinking about the timeless questions of what freedom truly is and what the right way to live is.
◇ Yuzu Aoki as the young Hamada
I'm Yuzu Aoki, and I'll be playing the role of Shokichi Hamada. I feel that the young man who dodged the conscription must have been living each day under a weight that I can't even begin to imagine.
Although I live in the Reiwa era, this is by no means someone else's story, and I read the script and original work while relating it to my own present. I keep wondering if I would be able to "choose" if I were in the same era and environment. I think this filming period will be a time for me to re-examine many things, and I want to carefully capture the summer atmosphere that can only be felt from the era in which Hamada lived.
I hope to live out the life of one person, Hamada, together with Mirai Moriyama, in a continuous series of moments.
◇ Mayu Hotta plays the role of Akiko Yuki, Hamada's lover who supported him during his escape.
I will be playing the role of Akiko Yuki. She is a strong woman who acts alongside Hamada. When life and death are constantly intertwined, what do people choose, and what do they protect? I feel that this is a work that makes us, who did not live through that time, think deeply about the meaning of connecting that time with the present.
Now, 81 years after the war, I want to not only ensure that the tragedy and injustice of war do not fade from memory, but also pay attention to the conflicts that are still happening around the world today, and portray the lives and choices of the characters with a deep understanding of them.
I am very happy to be able to act again under the direction of Director Tsuruoka. I will put my heart and soul into carefully weaving together the world of this work.
