It was revealed on December 8th that actor Tori Matsuzaka will star in "Mikami Sensei" which will be broadcast in the Sunday Theatre slot (Sundays at 9pm) from January 2025. This will be Matsuzaka's first time starring in a Sunday Theatre. A teaser video for this work was released during "Diamonds Sleeping in the Sea" which is also broadcast in the same slot. The story is a completely original one, and it will be the first school-themed drama on the same network since "Dragon Zakura" (2021).
Matsuzaka plays Mikami Takashi, an elite bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology who graduated from Tokyo University. Mikami becomes a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with the goal of "changing Japan's education system" after a certain incident, but he realizes that the reality is far from that. The educational reforms aimed at acquiring the ability to "think" are only in name, and far from reform, the core of Japan is only concerned with self-preservation. Furthermore, even the educational field has become a tool for adults' power struggles.
In the midst of all this, Mikami is ordered to be seconded to a private high school under the newly established bureaucrat dispatch system. In effect, it is a demotion given to an elite bureaucrat, but Mikami believes that being on the side that creates the system is not enough to change it, so he takes to the podium himself, raising his voice from the field and destroying the system from within, and he stands up to authority while guiding 18-year-old high school students living in the Reiwa era.
The script will be written by Shimori Roba, who has been a major player in the theater world, including winning the Outstanding Director Award at the 28th Yomiuri Theater Awards. Shimori has also ventured into video productions in recent years, winning the 43rd Japan Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the film "The Journalist" (2019), starring Matsuzaka, and this will be his first time writing the script for a prime-time drama series. The producer will be Iida Kazutaka, who has been in charge of popular Sunday Theater shows such as "Anti-Hero" (2024), "VIVANT" (2023), "My Family" (2022), and "Dragon Zakura."
The story of this work revolves around two seemingly separate worlds: "school" where children live, and "government offices" where adults struggle. This is a "great reversal story of education revival" in which a bureaucratic teacher and high school students of the Reiwa era stand up against the reality that children who dream of the future are being sacrificed by the power of corrupt adults. The cast of students is scheduled to be announced on December 14th.
Comments from Matsuzaka and others are as follows:
◇Comment from lead actor Tori Matsuzaka
I think that the problems facing schools and education are changing greatly with the times. "Mikami Sensei" is a drama that strongly emphasizes that each and every problem that occurs in schools is connected to a problem for the entire society. I was strongly attracted to the challenging attitude of facing, cutting out, and conveying what happened. It is not solved by one person, but by everyone facing and thinking about it together. I would be happy if watching this drama on Sunday night would create opportunities to think and discuss it at school or work the next day. This is the first time I have worked with screenwriter Roba Shimori since "The Journalist". I was greatly inspired by that work. The development of Shimori's script is very aggressive, and I am drawn in when I read it. I hope that this work will bring about some kind of change in the field of serial dramas.
◇Comment from Producer Kazutaka Iida
I started thinking about the project with Shimori in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It all started when I saw a video by an artist. While people were saying things like, "Young people these days...", the young people there expressed themselves to the best of their ability and looked radiant. I strongly wanted to create a drama in which such young people could shine. Society has changed rapidly over the past five years, and the progress of the younger generation in particular has been incredible. However, are adults not accepting this? Are they trying to see it? Is it simply because they don't want to acknowledge it? Is it for self-preservation? Such thoughts began to well up in my mind. I felt that adults, including myself, are trying to settle in some comfortable place. I am producing this drama with the hope that Mr. Mikami, played by Mr. Matsuzaka, will make a splash in such a society. I would be happy if you would support Mr. Mikami, who stands up on Sunday nights to change the existing society.
