On October 16th, actress Tao Tsuchiya attended the Japan premiere of the film "Sunflower on the Board" (directed by Kumazawa Naoto), which is due for release on October 31st, held in Tokyo. She shared stories about her older sister, Honoka Tsuchiya, who was the first Grand Prix winner of the beauty pageant "2019 MISS JAPAN," and her younger brother, voice actor and actor Shinba Tsuchiya.
Co-star Ken Watanabe also attended the event that day. When asked by the moderator "What is something you can't live without?" Tsuchiya replied, "I've always loved my older sister and brother." She said that together, she and her siblings "watched endlessly" the 2003 film "The Last Samurai," in which Watanabe starred. "The first English word we (siblings) learned was 'perfect' (from Ken's line in the final scene). We've been through so much together, so he's my favorite."
When asked by the moderator for his thoughts, Watanabe replied, "Well, I don't really see how this (question) and that (The Last Samurai) are connected (laughs)," but he smiled and said, "I'm grateful for it."
The event was also attended by Kentaro Sakaguchi, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Mahiro Takasugi, Takuma Otoo, Fumiyo Kohinata, and director Naoto Kumazawa.
The film is a human mystery live-action adaptation of the novel of the same name (Chuokoron-Shinsha) by Yuzuzuki Yuko, known for works such as "The Blood of Wolves." A mysterious skeleton is discovered in the mountains. The clue to solving the case is a rare set of shogi pieces, of which only seven exist in the world, that were discovered along with the body. The suspect is Kamijo Keisuke (Sakaguchi), a genius shogi player who suddenly appeared on the shogi scene and became an instant celebrity. Furthermore, during the course of the investigation, the existence of Tomei Shigeki (Watanabe), a man who lived in the underworld of gambling shogi, emerges as an important person who knows Tomei's past. What happened between Tomei and Tomei? Tomei's mysterious upbringing is revealed, and it turns out to be an unimaginably harsh one...
