Интервью, в котором Машка говорит о своей роли в Love Song

[FukuyamaMasaharu]

This interview is taken from a series of cast interviews on the official website for Love Song.

Credits to Mashaism for Chinese translation.

Masha analyses his role and talks about preparing for it, along with impressions of Fujiwara Sakura and the director (same director from the Galileo series). He also doles out some advice to people going through a hard time.

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-Interview #1-

Fukuyama Masaharu as Kamishiro Kohei



This is your first TV drama after 3 years.

It was surprising when I realised 3 years has past. (lol) Of course, after some time, there are mixed feelings of novelty and some nervousness. Everyday, I learnt gradually through discussing and making decisions with the director. After the end of filming the first episode, I finally had a feeling of “it should be like this”. Because I have forgotten how it feels to film dramas, this work schedule makes me go, “So, dramas are like this!” (lol) Although in the past it felt like I could grasp the character’s personality after filming one or two episodes, but this leisurely pace is good too. At the same time, I reflected on the past. (lol) I thought of these things while recording.

At the moment, how do you play Kamishiro’s role?

Although Kamishiro used to be a professional musician, he now maintains a distance from music. For the current Kamishiro, how much feelings are left towards music? Does he want to do music again? Could it be that because he feels too passionate towards music, so he maintains a distance? Because this is still in discussion, so even after filming starts, we will still rewrite the sсript… As there is no source material, in terms of moulding the role, I have to start from the white spaces that have not been colored in yet.

That is a stage unique to original works.

Perhaps if Fujiwara Sakura wasn’t in the leading role, the story development could have been slightly different. Because Fujiwara was chosen, so the story becomes one of a girl who longs for an older man.

Because of the choice for Sakura’s role, does it clarify Kamishiro’s distance with music?

Currently, what I can say is that it’s not that he decided he doesn’t want to do music anymore. “To Kamishiro, what is music?” The answer to this question comes from how he views professional musicians. Because of this, it will be different.

As is his relationship with music.

Iing a professional musician everything? Thinking from this aspect, in 2016, we are in an era where even if music is not a full-time profession, we can still share our self-composed songs on video sites. Although there is a certain difficulty, it is still possible to create an environment for other people to watch us perform. Because of this, we cannot say that becoming a professional musician means giving up everything. Rather, the question lies in whether Kamishiro is persistent about the profession he chooses. At this stage, I can say that to Kamishiro Kohei, he feels that he cannot be separated from the existence of music.

It seems very important, along with the key elements created at the filming site itself.

In this aspect, when creating original dramas, it is very pleasant and interesting. At the same time, hard work is a must and a very important part.

Kamishiro is also a psychologist working in palliative care.

When thinking about the jobs an ex-professional musician would do, one would think of managing a live house or a music instruments store, a community radio DJ etc. A normal person would think that this job would have some relation to music. But Kamishiro is totally different. I feel that compared to music, he wants to understand this job of being a psychologist even more. Because this is a world that I know nothing of.

For this job, what preparations did you make?

I consulted with actual psychologists and they told me the nature of the job, the methods of patient interaction etc. We also talked about Kamishiro’s attire, eg. is there anyone who wears leather jackets and shoes out of love for rock music? I grew out my hair a little, wore a leather jacket that feels well-worn, which increased my awareness of the music element.

After interacting with actual psychologists, did you have any realisations?

Because I knew nothing, I discovered many new things. I especially wanted to know why they wanted to be psychologists. Hence, I asked 3 psychologists, but they had different opinions. One hoped to help others through listening, another said it was just a job, and yet another person became a psychologist because he felt relieved after being counselled himself…there are many different reasons. But from what I could feel, this job can only be done if one puts in a lot of hard work. So it could be that Kamishiro worked hard to learn while he was a singer, or after he gave up the music profession.

What impression do you have of Fujiwara Sakura?

We first met at the screen test. When I entered the place, Sakura did not know I was coming, so her reaction was “Ah, what a scare!” which I can say was unexaggerated. (lol) Instead of “Good morning”, “please guide me” these so-called established forms of greetings, these pure reactions of not being used to the entertainment world, make a very fresh impression. Even when she plays the wrong string or note during singing selection, these mistakes can be part of the music, which felt very real and leaves a deep impression.


How does it feel like to act together?

She started out as a musician, and although it is her first time acting, she has totally turned into Sano Sakura. She is living as Sano Sakura!


Kamishiro went through the setback of giving up his profession as a musician. If someone who is going through a setback asks you for advice, what would you say?

Sometimes we are swayed by our own feelings, and we get into conflicts even though we’ve worked for many years. Everyone will experience these things. Although sometimes we will give in, other times we will be opportunistic too. No matter what, we should still persevere. But if you have suffered a setback and the situation will not change much, perhaps you should try and change to a new environment.

For the Galileo series, you worked with Nishitani Hiroshi too.

When building up the character of Kamishiro while filming, Director Nishitani gave me a lot of time to meet and discuss. Of course Director Nishitani would not budge on certain things with regards to filming too! (lol) We also spent a long time filming the first scene I had with Sakura. But I felt that this perseverance allowed the role of Kamishiro to grow. Because when Director Nishitani insists on some things, he ends up filming good scenes, so my trust in him does not waver.

Finally, please leave a message for the audience.

No matter who you are, your life changes when you meet certain opportunities. Those opportunities can be work-related, love-related or even music. Some people hope for change… perhaps when the story develops, Kamishiro will think of this too. Yet, because Kamishiro is of a certain age, to some extent, he also thinks that, “Life is just like this”. As an adult, what will Kamishiro be determined to do? On the other hand, even though the lonely Sakura is young, she also thinks, “This is who I am” and lives on in this straightforward manner. However, Sakura has a talented voice, and that voice meets Kamishiro. Although their environments are different, but both of them feel that since they think the same way, “it’s just this way", so both their lives start to change. Just one romance, just one song, is enough to change a life. The story starts from a one-sided love through Sakura. Although the story is simple, the composition and technique is very particular. How will a drama that utilises music perform? Although this is different from musicals, but some scenes do have live performances, and I hope everyone will appreciate it along with the relationships between the characters.