Katayama Yuki plays Mizuhara Amane in the NHK evening drama "Someday, in Zero Gravity Sky" (General TV, Monday to Thursday, 10:45 p.m.). The drama is a second coming-of-age story about women in their 30s who aim for space with a "micro satellite." Amane is often thought of as a talkative person with excellent communication skills, but in reality she is sensitive and easily hurt, and her anxiety sometimes leads to her being contrary. Katayama spoke about her role.
◇I don't know much about satellites or space.
The drama features four girls from the astronomy club who, in high school, shared their dream of "going to space together." As they grow up and go their separate ways, they suddenly reunite with their forgotten dreams. "If we had a micro-satellite, maybe even we could aim for space today..." Encouraged by their "older selves," they begin their second youth...
Shu works in sales at a food manufacturer and is free-spirited, lovable, and good at being spoiled. Ever since high school, when the only time he could be himself was in the astronomy club, he has never had a clear dream or goal that he wanted to achieve, but rather feels that his role is to support the dreams of his girlfriend and friends.
What kind of person did Katayama think of Amane, who had been the furthest away from space out of the four members of the astronomy club since graduating from high school?
"I myself don't know much about satellites or space, so when I first read the script I thought, 'There's a lot I don't know.' But since Amane is a character who doesn't know much about space to begin with, I thought, 'It's okay if I don't understand' (laughs). Including that, I have a lot in common with Amane, and I thought the casting was a perfect fit, which was amazing."
Katayama also talks about his time in high school with Amane, saying, "I think I joined the astronomy club because it was just fun to be with the four of us."
"When someone asked me, 'What club were you in in high school?' and I answered, 'Astronomy club,' they said, 'So you really love space,' but I was like, 'No, not really...' After graduating from high school, I went to university, got a job, fell in love, and lived a fulfilling life, so I think I had thought, 'I'm done with space now,' until I met Asuka (Kiryu Aso) and the others again."
On the other hand, he speculates that Amane's feelings when Asuka contacted him for the first time in over a decade were probably "simply happiness."
"With social media nowadays, it's easy to connect with friends you've lost touch with. I think he was simply happy, thinking, 'I got a message from Asuka. Wow, that brings back memories. I'm so happy.' He had harbored some resentment towards Hikari (Misato Morita), who had quietly disappeared in high school, but once they'd said 'I'm sorry' to each other, he was able to understand Hikari's feelings and express his own as well. I think that was enough. Amane is an honest person who can freely express his emotions."
◇ Acting with Kiryu Aso, Misato Morita, and Ito Marika was "great fun"
Katayama says that Amane is "the youngest character among the four." However, he says that there are some things that have changed since high school.
"I don't think that innocent, lovable part of him, who says, 'Hey, listen, listen!' has changed. But I imagine that now that Shu has been working in sales for a food company, he has learned to know when it's okay to speak his mind and when it's not. When he reunited with Asuka and was invited to join the satellite project, the thing that bothered Shu the most was Hikari. If Shu had remained the same as he was in high school, he would have bluntly said, 'I don't like Hikari,' but now that he has gained experience as a working adult, he can now tell a kind lie that doesn't hurt anyone, like, 'My boyfriend is busy opening an Italian restaurant.'"
When Amane, Asuka, Hikari, and Haruko (Ito Marika) met for the first time, Katayama revealed, "I remembered something a friend from middle school had told me."
"When I met the girls for the first time in a long time after I turned 20, they said to me, 'Yuki, you've started calling yourself 'watashi',' and it took me by surprise. When I was in middle school, I would call myself 'Yuki' when I talked to my friends. When they pointed that out to me, I realized how long it had been since we last saw each other. As Amane works in sales, his job is to talk to customers, so I'm sure his language has changed as well. In the original script, Amane used 'uchi' as his first-person pronoun both when he was in high school and when he was 30, but I suggested to the writer and director that they change the first-person pronoun for adult Amane, and they changed it to 'watashi'."
He feels that acting with Kiryu, Morita, and Ito Man is "great fun."
"The characters and the actors are all around the same age, so we all bring our own experiences to the table and understand each other's feelings very well. We can discuss things like, 'Maybe this line could be said a little more like this,' or 'It would be easier to say this way,' and I'm very grateful that we can discuss these things. I normally speak in Kansai dialect, and Amane also speaks Kansai dialect, but when I read the script, I was reminded that Kansai dialect is difficult. When I first read the script in standard Japanese and then the version in Kansai dialect, the Kansai dialect seemed more straightforward to me. I wanted to change the image that Kansai dialect is harsh, so I spoke to the director and producer about it. They told me to 'speak in a way that is easy for Katayama to say,' so I would be happy if people perceived it as a softer, cuter Kansai dialect."
