On July 3rd, Aoki Macho of the comedy duo "Kakeochi" attended a press conference at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, for the NHK night drama "The Book Bought with Taxes" (NHK General, Monday-Thursday 10:45 PM), which will start on August 24th. He spoke about his feelings when he received the offer to appear in the drama and what he discovered through filming.
The drama is a human comedy based on the "library work manga" written by Zui-san and illustrated by Kei Yamamoto, which is currently serialized in "Young Magazine" (Kodansha). It tells the story of Kiichi Ishihira (played by Daiken Okudaira), a tough, rebellious high school student, and how he grows through his part-time job at a library.
Aoki, who plays the role of Shirai Riyuki, the librarian in charge of compensation, has experience appearing in commercial TV dramas, but this is her first time appearing in an NHK program. When asked about her feelings towards the work, she immediately replied, "They are very strong," and revealed, "It's a series of firsts for me. It's my first time being cast as a main character in a drama like this, and it's also my first time appearing on NHK."
She continued, "I had been appearing on TV stations other than NHK, but NHK hadn't called me (laughs). When I finally got a call, it was such a great role that I was really nervous." She added, "Everyone supported me and gave me lots of advice during filming, which made it very easy and fun to do. Everyone was so kind, and if they hadn't been so kind, I think it would have been a really tough fight."
When asked how he felt when he received the offer, he said with a surprised expression, "I was really surprised. In terms of ranking, I never thought I'd get a role as the third lead." He added, "Not only me, but Yoshimoto Kogyo (the agency I belong to) was also surprised. Even employees I'd never met told me, 'Let's do a good job,'" revealing that the agency was in an uproar.
Shirai, the character he plays, is very expressive emotionally. Aoki recalled, "Looking back, in my 30 years of life, I've never once raised my voice in anger. (Filming) started with me getting angry at someone, so I had to somehow get myself into character."
"Basically, he's a nasty, unpleasant character, but the director praised me a lot for his unpleasantness, so I realized that I'm actually a rather unpleasant person by nature," he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
Daiken Okudaira, Nanase Nishino, and producer Saki Kuwada also attended the press conference.
