NHK's evening drama "Aozora Beer" (General TV, Monday to Thursday, 10:45 PM), starring actor Airu Kubozuka, will begin airing on June 16th. The drama is about adolescents enjoying camping meals and beer under the blue sky. This will be Kubozuka's first lead role in an NHK drama.
The drama is based on "Aozora Beer," a collection of essays by novelist Akio Morisawa, which chronicles the strange and bizarre incidents he encountered while traveling on a budget or playing outdoors with his "bad friends" in his late teens and early twenties, and its sequel, "Yuzora Beer." The drama will be a laid-back "outdoor drama" that quotes unique characters and episodes from the essays, while also incorporating camping, local cuisine, and original characters created by screenwriter Hayashi Mori.
Morikawa Yukio, played by Kubozuka, is an outdoorsy man who just wants to enjoy his days, and goes on group camping trips, solo camping trips, car camping trips, and touring trips almost every week. He is good at cooking ingredients he finds locally, fishing and gathering wild plants. It's time to start job hunting, but after applying to several companies, he quits, saying "it's not for me." He dislikes conflict with others and is good at getting close to people.
The drama will feature Maito Fujioka, Toyoshima Hana, and Minamide Ryoka as university students, and Sato Eriko as an advanced camper.
