Actor Ayana Shiramoto will make a guest appearance as a patient in the fourth episode (aired on November 7th) of the TV drama series "The Travel Nurse" (TV Asahi, Thursdays at 9pm). Shiramoto played the role of mother and daughter with Nakai Kiichi in the series "Second to Last Love" (Fuji TV), and this will be her first time acting alongside Nakai in about 10 years since "Second to Last Love Continued" (2014).
Now 22 years old, Shiramoto has appeared in many productions and has grown as an actor, but in front of Nakai she feels like he is forever her daughter. "It felt like my father was always there on set, so I was nervous (laughs). But I also felt a great sense of security, and it felt strange. Last time we were mother and daughter, but I was happy to be acting in a new relationship as a 'nurse and patient', and it was actually a lot of fun," she said, looking back on their reunion.
This time, Shiramoto plays Shinomiya Sakura, a patient who is re-admitted to hospital due to a worsening of her ulcerative colitis. She loves K-POP and is a woman who is positively concentrating on her treatment, hoping to be discharged from the hospital before her favorite group comes to Japan for a concert.
Regarding her role, she said, "K-POP is Sakura's motivation to look forward, so I often imagined myself being crazy about it. During the actual filming... this is a personal thing, but I had just gotten my hair cut very short, so I felt like I was meeting someone for the first time (laughs). Everything felt fresh. I think that led to Sakura's honest and positive energy, which is an important element in episode 4."
In episode 4, Sakura is put in the same room as Saito Shiori (Sendo Atsuko), who was hospitalized at the same time, and Yotsuya Junko (Nishio Mari), a patient who is famous for being a complainer, and gets caught up in an unexpected commotion.
The drama is a sequel to the same work of the same name that aired in October 2022. The script is by Nakazono Miho, who is known for "Yamato Nadeshiko," "Haken no Hinkaku," and the "Doctor-X: Surgeon Daimon Michiko" series, and follows the quirky duo of Nasuda Ayumu (Okada Masaki), a qualified nurse practitioner who can perform certain medical procedures, and "super nurse" Kuki Shizuka (Nakai), who puts patients first and reforms the medical field.
