54-year-old actor Yutaka Takenouchi appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi), which aired on October 30th.
In the NHK Asadora drama series "Anpan" that aired until September, Takashi Yanase, the creator of Anpanman, played the role of the "foster father" of the model Takashi. As he is single, Yanase has no experience raising children, but he looks back on Takumi Kitamura, who played Takashi, saying, "I thought if I had a son like that, I'd be so adorable."
This was the first time she used Tosa dialect in a drama. "I was able to say lines that would have been very embarrassing to say in standard Japanese, without any awkwardness," she said. When the entire scene with the line "What is the purpose of being born and what is the purpose of living?" was in standard Japanese, she felt, "It's a little embarrassing to say, but when it's in Tosa dialect, it mysteriously changes into words that just click right into your heart."
He co-starred with French actress Catherine Deneuve in the film "Spirit World" (directed by Eric Cou, released on October 31st). He said that Deneuve is "a very charming person" and "really loves strawberry daifuku." The first time he saw Deneuve on the monitor near the camera in front of him, he felt "like a complete amateur, and it was a little hard to believe that she was really there."
The father in the film is played by Masaaki Sakai. Before filming began, Deneuve visited the shrine and asked detailed questions about the proper etiquette for prayer, and was surprised that Sakai explained everything to her in English.
