Second round of supporting cast announcements for 2019 Taiga drama "Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Hanashi ~"

The press conference to announce the second batch of supporting cast members for 2019 Taiga drama "Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Hanashi ~" was held on 29 November which was attended by Beat Takeshi, Kamiki Ryuunosuke, Moriyama Mirai, Kawaei Rina, Mineta Kazunobu, Hashimoto Ai and Matsuo Suzuki. The drama which is written by Kudo Kankuro and features Nakamura Kankuro and Abe Sadao as its leads, will be shown from January 2019.

The story spans 52 years and covers three editions of the Olympics i.e. 1912 Stockholm Olympics, 1936 Berlin Olympics and 1964 Tokyo Olympics where it features the two lead characters Kanakuri Shisou (Nakamura) as the first Japanese man to participate in the Stockholm Olympics' and achieved a world record. The second half of the drama will feature Tabata Masaji (Abe) who was credited with bringing the Olympics to Japan. This drama will be the first Taiga filmed in 4K format and the title "Idaten" means someone who is a quick runner.

Beat Takeshi will play Kokontei Shinshou who was regarded as the God of Rakugo and he will also be the narrator for the drama. Moriyama will play the younger version of Shinshou when he was named Minobe Kouzou while Kamiki will play Shinshou's disciple Gorin. Hashimoto will play Koume, a prostitute working in Asakusa while Mineta plays Kiyo-san, a rickshaw puller also working in Asakusa. Kawaei will play Chie who is Gorin's girlfriend while Matsuo plays Tachibanaya Enkyou, a legendary rakugo artist.

Sources: Sanspo / Oricon / Natalie