The premiere event for TV Tokyo's drama Premiere 23 "Kimbap and Onigiri: Two Lovers Are Similar But Different" (Mondays, 11:06 PM), which will begin airing on January 12, 2026, was held on December 16th, with appearances by lead actor Eiji Akaso and former member of the girl group IZ*ONE, Kang Hyewon, who plays the heroine. Akaso's character is a former ekiden runner, and he said he did strength training in between filming, "I wanted to make it convincing that I used to play sports," he said about his role.
Kang said of her impression of Akaso, "I thought he had beautiful eyes," and added, "I thought he had incredible stamina. He was filming a drama, but he also had other schedules. Even so, he was always filming energetically and was very considerate of me, which I thought was really amazing."
The series is like "kimbap" and "onigiri" - similar in appearance and ingredients but tastes completely different when eaten... It is a pure love story about two earnest people who are drawn to each other despite being confused by the differences in culture and values between Japan and Korea. Each episode will be exclusively streamed worldwide on Netflix at the same time as it is broadcast on terrestrial television. This will be Kang's first appearance in a Japanese terrestrial television drama, playing the heroine.
