53-year-old actor Sawa Suzuki appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on December 16th. He talked about his unique way of visiting Ise Shrine and memories of the gifts he received from Yoko Nogiwa when he was in his 20s.
"I quite like shrines," she says. She sets off by car from her hometown of Hamamatsu City and takes the car ferry from the pier on the Atsumi Peninsula to Toba, which takes about two hours. "It's so much fun, it's become an annual event," she says. Rather than making a wish at Ise Shrine, she says that declaring "this is what I will become" is "my latest fad." "When I declare something in front of the gods, I say it knowing that it will come true," she says.
She recalls that Nogizai, who passed away in 2017, was very fond of her. When she was in her 20s and 30s, she often co-starred with Nogizai in TV dramas, and she would say to him, "We're together again, Suna-chan." He remembered her birthday in September, and the first gift she received from an actress was a Ferragamo wallet. She said that when she was around 22 years old, he gave it to her saying, "I thought it would look good on you," and "Because Suna-chan likes silver."
The nail polish Nogiza was wearing was an elegant beige color. When I said, "What a beautiful color," she told me, "This is Helena Rubinstein (a cosmetics brand)." That was the first time I learned the brand name. The following week, for the recording, she bought me nail polish of the same color. I was in my 20s at the time, but even after 30 years, I revealed, "I actually still have it, I dilute it with something like nail polish remover and shake it several times to prevent it from hardening."
When she received the manicure, she told Nogizai, "I'm still a poor actress and there's no way I can repay you," to which she replied, "When you become a great actress, you can repay your juniors." Suzuki often invites her juniors to eat eel, or says, "I'll treat you today." "I can't give you Helena Rubinstein, but I think I should at least repay them," she says. She says she keeps the portrait Nogizai drew for her in a clear file.
