Erika Sawajiri, whose new boyfriend is 14 years younger than her and lives on a remote island, was caught in a serious relationship! There is talk of a wedding in the spring.

Overcoming Two Suspensions

The actress prodigy, who maintains a “self-possessed” attitude, has been pursuing a long-distance relationship behind the scenes as she pushes herself forward in her work.

It is 7 p.m. in early January, just as the New Year mood has settled down and everyday life is beginning to return to normal. A pickup truck pulled up in front of a luxury apartment building in Tokyo where many celebrities were rumored to live. The back seat door slowly opened, and out stepped actress Erika Sawajiri, 39, dressed in a casual black outfit. Wearing a gray fluffy knit cap, she looks unbelievably cute for someone in her 40s, and even with her winter clothes on, she exudes a charismatic aura that cannot be hidden. Over the past few days, this magazine has seen her returning home at about the same time. She is in the midst of rehearsals for “Pygmalion,” a play in which she plays the lead role, which opens on the 20th of this month, and it seems that she spends her days just going back and forth between her home and the rehearsal hall.

Pygmalion” is the original story of “My Fair Lady” and is still loved around the world as a “masterpiece of English-language theater in the early 20th century. Sawajiri plays Eliza, a flower-selling girl living in London.’ When the play was made into a movie in 1964, Audrey Hepburn enthusiastically played the role. Sawajiri must be very determined to play a major role that has been played by many world-famous actors, including Sawajiri, in only her second stage debut,” said a source close to the stage.

(According to a source close to the stage, “Starting with the Tokyo performance, the play will tour the country until its final performance in March in Nagoya, Kitakyushu, and Osaka (……). In addition, “#Diffusion,” his full-fledged return to film after a seven-year absence, is scheduled for release in February. His appearances in high-profile films are expected to continue.

Sawajiri began her career in the 6th grade of elementary school, and her talent quickly blossomed, but her path has been both spectacular and difficult. (2005), in which he appeared at the age of 19, won the Best New Actor Award at the 29th Japan Academy Prize. (2005), in which he appeared at the age of 19. In the same year, he played the role of a 15-year-old who develops spinocerebellar degeneration in the TV drama “Tears of a Liter” (Fuji TV), for which he won the Hollandor Award and shot to stardom.

In ’07, Sawajiri was criticized for her sullen attitude throughout the stage greeting for a movie in which she starred, saying, “Nothing ……,” which caused a huge firestorm. Sawajiri was forced to effectively suspend her entertainment activities. She later said in an interview that she had studied abroad during her hiatus to reset herself.

In July 2012, a short time after returning to Japan, Sawahiri played the role of a full-body plastic surgery model in “Helter Skelter,” her first starring role in five years, and won the Best Leading Actress Award at the 36th Japan Academy Prize. She showed an overwhelming presence that dispelled the turmoil.

Then, another scandal put her on hiatus once again. In February 2012, she resumed her performing career for the first time in four years with the stage play “A Train Named Desire. Although it was her first stage performance, she was the star of the show, and it was so popular that tickets were immediately sold out within seconds. After the performance, many in the industry praised her voice and expressive ability, and she made a triumphant return to the stage with her abilities.

She has built up her status as a leading actress without being corrupted.

Unexpected partner” of the spiritual pillar

While her business life was on track, in 2011, this magazine reported on her private life, reporting on her semi-living together with a “wild businessman. However, by the following summer, there were already whispers of a breakup. For a year and a half since then, she has been immersed in her work as if she had devoted all her private time to it, but recently, it seems that she had a new encounter.

At around 9:20 a.m. the morning after the Sawajiri sighting mentioned at the beginning of this article, the same pickup truck from the previous night arrived again in front of the apartment. It was probably going to practice in the morning again today. A few minutes later, Sawajiri appeared wearing a luxurious-looking white fur coat and stylish sunglasses. Her black casual pants and bag were indeed well-balanced. She was also wearing a gray fluffy knit hat on her head, which I have seen her wearing every day.

Just as we were admiring Sawajiri’s dignity and fashion sense, a tall man wearing a black cap and sunglasses appeared from the entrance. He looked like a wild version of Kazuya Ninomiya (42), wearing a jacket over a parka and giving off a fashionable impression that is typical of the modern age. Holding a large suitcase and a paper bag in his hand, as if on his way back from a trip, the man got into a pick-up cab that arrived just before the party and left.

In fact, this man is Sawajiri’s current boyfriend, Mr. A. She is extremely busy with rehearsals for a play in which she plays the lead role, but she took time out of her schedule to spend the year-end and New Year’s holidays with him, including treating him to a home-cooked meal.

He lives on a remote island more than 1,000 kilometers from Tokyo and works for a local company. He is 25 years old, 14 years younger than her. Ms. Sawajiri had always visited her friend who lived on the island, and we heard that she met him as she got to know him over drinks. Since around the summer of 2012, when there were reports of the breakup of the couple, we began to see them hanging out alone together, so perhaps that is when they became closer. Last summer, they were intimate like lovers on a boat traveling to the island. I guess they had already developed a relationship by then.

Speaking of past relationships, Tsuyoshi Takagi (61), who married in ’09, was 22 years older than her, and the ″wild businessman″ was also older than her. ……

He is quite young, but he has a cheerful personality and is loved by the older people in the company. He loves the sea and can sail boats, so I think one of the factors that attracted him to us is that he lets us experience a nature life that we can’t experience in Tokyo. He is also very close with his family and siblings. In a past interview, he said, “(Family) is connected by a power so strong that the word ‘important’ is not enough to describe it. They have similar attitudes and values toward family, and they may be comfortable together.

After a ″long distance relationship″ ……

Despite their ″long-distance relationship″ of over 1,000 kilometers, the two gradually deepened their relationship over time. Last September, Sawajiri visited the island with her office staff for a filming job as well.

During this filming, Sawajiri came with her mother. Ms. Sawajiri usually books a standard room on the boat when she comes to visit the island alone. I was surprised at the gap in her thriftiness because I had an image of her being bold with her money. However, when she came with her mother, she booked a suite so that the trip would not be a burden, which is typical of the family-oriented Sawajiri. I have been on the same boat with her several times, and surprisingly, people didn’t seem to notice.

There is an even deeper reason why she took her mother, in whom she places absolute trust, to the island.

“Ms. Sawajiri introduced Mr. A to her mother as a ‘serious partner. Soon after that, rumors spread around the island that the two were ‘apparently engaged.

It is a cinematic romance, just like Sawajiri, who is going her own way, to fall in love with an ordinary young man living on the island, not an IT CEO or an artist.

Currently, Sawajiri is very busy with a stage production that will continue until March and the release of the movie “#Diffusion”. She is also set to return to the screen for her second film, following “#Diffusion. He will play an investigator with amnesia in this comedy-suspense film based on a French movie. After starting her career, she has been inundated with offers from people in the industry. Will she be able to find the right time to get married?

I hear that their wedding is scheduled to take place on an island this spring, after Sawajiri’s performance in the lead role is over. I thought it would be held on high alert with bodyguards, but I hear that the party after the wedding will be held at a venue where not only residents of the island but also tourists can come and go. Rather than a fancy, expensive ceremony at a luxury hotel in Tokyo, he would prefer an at-home wedding on the island where he lives, surrounded by islanders who are familiar with his face and who will celebrate with him. I hear that a very limited number of acquaintances and close business associates will attend from Tokyo on the day of the wedding, so it will be a warm day with only those who are truly important to Sawajiri.

Twelve years have passed since the end of their last marriage. Although the authenticity of the wedding is unknown, Sawajiri may be facing a major turning point in her remarriage.

When she made her first video appearance in six years in “NewsPicks” distributed last November, she confessed the following truth about the “″separate″ fiasco 18 years ago.

I was at my peak and my mental state was broken. I felt I had reached my limit in creating an image of ″Erika Sawajiri″ by pretending to be something I was not. I felt I had reached my limit in creating an image of Erika Sawajiri!　It was like that. During meetings, I never made eye contact with anyone, wore black sunglasses, didn’t say a word, and didn’t smile. That was the only way I knew how to protect myself.

At the young age of 21, Sawajiri was bashed by the public and forced to leave the entertainment industry. Looking back on her life at that time, economist Yusuke Narita (40) asked Sawajiri what advice she would give to young people, to which she replied, “Find what is important in a normal life. She then asked, “Do you like yourself now?” She answered, “I like myself now more than ever.

I like myself now more than I have ever liked myself in my life!

She will turn 40 in April, and with her new love as a tailwind, she has probably found her “natural state,” both in her work and her way of life.

When we sent a written question to Sawajiri’s agency regarding their relationship, engagement, and wedding, we received the following response.

We leave her private life to her own hands.

She has been through many peaks and valleys, even in the face of headwinds, and she will continue to shine in love and in her work without losing her identity.

From the January 30/February 6, 2026 issue of FRIDAY