Interview with Hiromi Nagasaku, a “healing” actress whose movies were a turning point in her career

Go with the Flow

When I was younger, I hated being called “childish face. I used to wear heavy makeup on purpose because I didn’t want to look like an adult (laughs).”

Actress Hiromi Nagasaku (55) smiled a cute smile as she reminisced about those days.

But now, I don’t think anything of it when people say I have a baby face. I’m just being my natural self, so if that’s what people think, that’s fine with me.

She began her career in 1989 as a member of the idol group “ribbon,” and made her debut as the lead in a series of TV dramas in 1995 with the TV drama “Sankaku Haato” (TV Asahi). The famous actor, nicknamed “Eternal Child Face,” celebrated the 37th year of his career in ’25. She passionately played the role of the mother of Minami Hamabe (25), who plays a rookie funeral planner in the movie “Soon, It’s Farewell,” which was released on February 6, 2014. She is also scheduled to star in her own movie, “I Won’t Give Up! which she also stars in, is scheduled to be released in theaters.

Her origin story is, surprisingly, a bit of a random story.

During the summer vacation of my sophomore year of high school, I heard an announcement on the TV at home about an “All Night Fuji High School Girls Special” (Fuji Television). I really wanted to participate in ‘High School Quiz’ (on Nippon Television), but none of my friends would go with me (laughs). (laughs) I applied for this contest because I could participate by myself. It was just a way to make memories.

It was supposed to be a one-time appearance, but after that, I continued to receive calls from TV stations.

I was often contacted by the TV station, asking, ‘How about a new show? I tried it, and I got another call from the TV station. I tried it, and then the next, and the next ……, and the next thing I knew, I had graduated from high school and was in “Otome Juku” (laughs). (Laughs.) It was more like I was carried along by the current rather than having chosen it on my own.

Otome Juku was a talent development project that emerged from a variety show on Fuji Television at the time. She was selected to be a member of the idol group “ribbon.

I was happy to be able to sing,” she said. But at the same time, I was aware that at 19 years old, it was too late to be an idol ……. I thought, “This is the best memory! ‘ but I didn’t believe it would last forever.

I don’t intend to sit on my hands, but I’m not obsessed either. Naturally, there were times when those around him saw Nagasaku as “a kid who wasn’t serious.

I was thought and told at the scene, ‘Nagasaku is going to quit anyway’ (laughs). But it was the best I could do at that time. People around me were like, ‘I want to do it (idol)!　I want to do it! But I just couldn’t keep up with that temperature. I wasn’t interested in makeup or clothes, and I didn’t know what the right answer was. I really don’t know what people want in return. So I just said what I liked (laughs).

This “gap” was her clumsiness, but at the same time it was her greatest charm.

Looking back, I think, ‘You should have tried harder,’ but at the time, that was all I could do. I would get a job, do it, and move on to the next one. I didn’t think about anything big, like continuing or quitting.”

He spent his days working frantically on the jobs he was given. The turning point for her was an encounter with the stage. It was in the rehearsal hall of the “Gekidan Shinkansen” that she was standing.

She says, “At the time of my first play, “TIMESLIP Kogane Maru” in 1993, all I could think about was how I was going to escape (laughs). I was told by the office that I had to do it, but I didn’t know anything about acting at all, so I was more in rebellion against COPY00.

The rehearsal hall is one of the most intense in the theater world. Nagasaku was thrown into the rehearsal room, where he was trained despite his rebelliousness.

He says, “To put it nicely, they took good care of me, and to put it badly, they were extremely strict. But by the end of it, I had such a sense of accomplishment that I thought, ‘Maybe acting is fun.

This offer, her first full-fledged drama role, was clearly different in quality from her previous work.

Until then, I had been doing the work brought to me by the agency rather than being recognized for my abilities in singing and variety shows,” she said. But the drama was different. I had the strong impression that this was the first time I had been approached by an “outsider. I felt like, ‘Oh, there are people out there who are looking at me. That really made me happy.

I was in a building valley″ I″.

I entered the world of TV dramas, but at first I was at a loss. I did not understand the meaning of “acting,” and the direction was full of discomfort. Even so, with the support of his experience in “Gekidan Shinkansen” and the warmth of the work site, he managed to get into the role.

At the time, there was still a strong public perception against idols performing in theater. When I dared to ask her about the label, she narrowed her eyes and laughed, “I think it was strong.

But that was only because people around me were concerned about it, and I personally didn’t mind at all. ‘That’s it. This is the path I’ve been on.’ It was just like, ‘What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with that?　’ And I thought, ‘What’s wrong with that?'”

In fact, what was troubling her was something else than the evaluations of others.

When I was in my late twenties,” she said, “I felt like I had reached my limit. My plays were boring. I was in agony for a while, thinking that if I wasn’t enjoying myself, there was no way the audience would enjoy it.

I wondered if there was any point in continuing. Nagasaku was feeling this sense of stagnation when he received an offer to work on a movie.

It was a movie called “Doppelganger” (2003), directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I had been working on TV dramas all my life, but this was my first solid exposure to the world of film. The distance between me and the camera, the way I entered the play, the way I filmed, and everything else was so different from filming a TV drama that it was a constant source of surprise.

Nagasaku expresses his shock in his own unique way.

Until then, I had been working in a valley between buildings. But suddenly I felt like I was standing in an open space with a view of the ocean. It was the moment I realized, ‘Oh, there’s more to come.

This realization gave him a solid sense of confidence. As he continued to accumulate achievements, he was blessed with encounters with films that would become his masterpieces.

In 2011, Nagasaku won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 35th Japan Academy Prize for her role in the film “The Eighth Day of the Cicada,” which was released in 2011. She played the role of Kiwako, a sinful woman who, after an affair, kidnaps her lover’s baby (Erina) and raises it for four years. Nagasaku herself had just given birth to her first child at the time.

When I read a script, my instincts categorize it. When I read the scripts, I categorize them according to my intuition: ‘I want to do this,’ ‘I should do this,’ or ‘I feel like I have to do this. This work is exactly on the “I have to do it” side. I felt as if I had already found my way in that direction.

However, the filming was tougher than he had imagined. We were dealing with a baby who could not communicate with us.

Babies never do what you want them to do,” he said. They cry, sleep, laugh, etc. (……). It might be more accurate to say that I was only able to be with a child who did not do as I wished …… rather than ‘acting’ at that site.”

However, Nagasaku’s “raw emotions” were strongly etched on the camera.

She said, “It really helped me to have the feeling of holding a baby inside me as I became a mother in my personal life. If I hadn’t been touched by it, I would have been too focused on the baby and would have been stuck.”

The film swept various film awards and became one of the most memorable films of his career. In fact, there is a sequel to this story. He recalls with pleasure his reunion with Konomi Watanabe, 19, a child actress who once played the childhood role of Erina, who was raised by Kiwako.

I think it was about two years ago, or a little before that, I suddenly felt I had to meet Konomi. Then someone told me that she was on Instagram, so I sent her a quick DM with my role name. I sent her a DM with my role name, and she immediately replied, “Yes! I sent a DM with my role name!　Are you really Mr. Nagasaku? Is it really you, Mr. Nagasaku? That’s how we connected.

And when I actually met her, my feelings were broken.

I was curious to see how the child actors I had performed with had grown up since then. I was also wondering about Konomi, so the moment I saw her face, I couldn’t …… stop crying. She kept talking to me, too, about what had happened to her since the movie ended. I listened to it all the time, and it all made me cry. It was completely from a mother’s point of view (laughs).

Living with Few Regrets

Nagasaku is a mother of two in her personal life. She says that her realistic daily life thickens the framework of her acting.

She says, “I always thought it was difficult to act angry. But with children, it’s not difficult at all. I think, ‘I can get angry as much as I want. Having a family has taught me a lot about the range of emotions. As for my family, I can only say that they are a product of my family. Everything is coming back to me in a positive way.

He also reveals that he has recently been inspired to share his own words through social networking sites.

I was afraid to start, but I’m enjoying it surprisingly. When I write, I try to put it down to ‘what I think is most beautiful. It’s not about aesthetics, but simply whether it’s ‘beautiful’ or not. It’s better to be sparkling (laughs). The world is full of people who are only trying their best wherever they go, so I just want to support those people. If someone happens to see my words and thinks, “Let’s work hard tomorrow,” that would be great. Even if it’s a small thing, just one victory over the day’s pressure is a tremendous source of energy. That’s tens of thousands of horsepower.”

At times, his free-flowing messages can cause people around him to be on edge. ……

Sometimes I write while searching for the borderline, wondering, ‘What about this? Negative opinions are inevitable. I’m alive. The office does warn me, though, saying, ‘Please don’t do that!

Her face changes from thoughtful to mischievous, and the reporter couldn’t help but ask, “How can I grow old as beautifully as you do? She shrugged her shoulders happily.

She cowered happily and said, “Oh, …… that’s not true! I’m already 55 (laughs). But if I were to answer seriously, I would say to be natural. When I was younger, I was afraid that the adults around me would label me as a “bad person,” so I didn’t confront them honestly and avoided them in my life. Now, however, I am conscious of confronting work and relationships properly in the moment, not by saying “I can” or “I can’t.” Then, I can live more comfortably than I used to. I am living more comfortably now than I did in the past. Of course, there are times when I get scared. But I don’t think I have many regrets. It’s not all about being bad at something or being good at something. So I think it’s more fun to just go through with it and be satisfied with it, even if I’m scared. There are so many things I still want to do.

In the world that she entered to make memories, she has remained true to herself to the end.

From the January 2, 9, and 16, 2026 issue of FRIDAY