Honjamaka’s Hidehiko Ishizuka Talks about His Stint as an Extra in the Himawari Theater Company, Where He Admired Shingo Yanagisawa

As an extra in a war movie: ……

Hello, everyone. I hope you are not being displeased with me for only bringing the meat in the pot to myself. My name is Hidehiko Ishizuka.

This time, I would like to tell you a story about my high school days when I decided to become an actor.

If you decided to become an actor, what kind of action would you take? I have the feeling, but I don’t have the confidence or experience. My parents and school are urging me, “Which university are you going to apply to? I want to be an actor right now, but what should I do?

My strategy was to go to college and reassure the adults around me while at the same time joining the theater club and studying acting. I was accepted to the university without a hitch. As you enter through the main gate and walk around the campus, you will see senior students lined up on either side of the street soliciting for various clubs and circles. I was approached by the judo and rugby clubs, but my mind was made up.

But here is the big problem. I looked for the drama club, but there was none. I slowly went back the way I came just to be sure, but there was no ……. When I looked at the university’s brochure, there was no drama club in the first place. Why didn’t I check before taking the entrance exam? For the first time in my life, I was struck with vertigo.

Two years after entering the university, I was shocked to see a TV drama called “Shoinda Purpurin” (Fuji TV series).

The content itself was interesting and great, but I was shocked by Shingo Yanagisawa who appeared in it. I had never seen an actor acting so happily before. I wanted to be Shingo Yanagisawa. How can I become Mr. Shingo Yanagisawa?

This time, I did my research. Mr. Yanagisawa was from the “Himawari Theater Company. I decided to stop lying to myself. I wanted to be an actor after all.

I took a leave of absence from college in my second year and entered the Himawari Actors Training Center in Daikanyama. I was 20 years old at the time and had many friends. They were from all over the country. At the training school, I took acting and vocal lessons. On the way home from lessons, we would discuss acting theory even though no one had yet appeared on the set. I also auditioned for a movie. I tried my best, but I failed. I also auditioned for a commercial for a poultice. I failed because my back was dirty. I also auditioned for “Iitomo Seinendai. I was the only one who didn’t get many questions from the TV station.

Then I got a job as an extra in a war movie. During a lesson at the Himawari Theater Company, the manager suddenly came into the classroom and said, “Who is free tomorrow?I wanted to take action anyway, so I raised my hand reflexively and said, “Meet me at Shinjuku at 6:00 tomorrow. It’s a war movie, so you must have a shaved head.

I was used to shaved heads in the judo club, so I was fine with it. The problem was “6 a.m. at Shinjuku. I was living in Yokohama at the time, so it was impossible for me. So I asked my girlfriend to help me. Naomi was a good friend of mine in the same theater company, and we always took the Toyoko Line halfway home from our lessons. When I told her about the situation, she let me stay at her house.

At 6:00 in the morning, we gathered in front of the Shinjuku Subaru Building and boarded a microbus. No one was told where we were going, and the shaved heads were just swaying in the same direction. When we arrived at the site and got off the bus, we found a large cardboard box filled with military uniforms and shoes. Everyone, one after another, looked for and took their size. There is nothing, my size is not there. The staff saw this and said, “In this age of scarcity, why are you so fat? I learned a lot.

I learned my lesson.

From the January 3, 10, and 17, 2025 issue of FRIDAY