Exclusive interview with Keitatsu Koshiyama, who plays “Shunbo” in “Kokuho”: The true face of a promising young actor

There were so many things I could absorb in the production of “Kokuho. ……

I was able to absorb a lot of things while acting in the production. When I am performing a play with Ken Watanabe, I feel emotions for the first time at that moment. It is not something you can understand by thinking about it, but I was able to feel it because I was able to act with him. …… It was the greatest learning experience for me.”

The movie “Kokuho” swept the Japanese film industry last year. Keitatsu Koshiyama (17), who played the boyhood “Shunbo” of the Kabuki actor Hanaya Hanai (Shunsuke Ogaki), played by Ryusei Yokohama (29), looked back on the filming and shared his memories of Ken Watanabe (66), who played Hanjiro Hanai II, the Kabuki actor who played his father.

Koshiyama is now 17 years old and in his second year of high school. He is now taller than “Shunbo,” and his face, which still retains a certain innocence, has become more refined and sophisticated, giving the impression of a much more stylish and polished face. He is shy, and during the interview, he stared into the air and spoke as if he were trying to squeeze out his own thoughts. His expression still had the innocence of a “Shunboo”.

Looking back on the filming of “National Treasure,” he said, “I was really selfless from start to finish. Of course, I studied Kabuki theater and read the script thoroughly beforehand, and I went to the set with my own image of the character of “Toshibo. However, there were too many things that I experienced firsthand on the set. …… Director Lee Sang-il (52) would often ask me, “How did you think about your performance? But there were so many things I had to feel and think about before acting, that I was at a loss. ……

When the film was made and I saw my performance on the screen, I was surprised to see that I had become Shunsuke. But that was only because the director and editing were amazing. …… I’m happy to receive high praise from the public, but I can’t say that I’m happy about it. …… I didn’t feel that I had 100% completed the filming or that I had lived through it. I didn’t have a clear answer, but I felt as if it was over.

Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, he was able to absorb a lot of things from working with Ken Watanabe and the other actors, and somehow managed to finish the filming.

Koshiyama was scouted by “Stardust Promotion” when she was in her senior year of nursery school in Shinjuku with her family, and made her debut in a commercial. She has appeared in many dramas and movies.

In the movie “Boku no Ohisama (My Sunshine)” released in 2012, which was her first starring role in a movie, she played Takuya, a character with a stutter who tries ice dancing in figure skating, and was highly acclaimed both in Japan and abroad. In the drama “Bokutachi ha Sono Hoshi no Gakuritsu wo Shiranai” (Kansai TV/Fuji TV), which aired last year, he played Keito Uchida, a timid student in the biological science club who goes by the nickname “Mushida-kun,” which was also well received.

I felt frustrated every day.”

In “My Sunshine,” I just had to act as I felt like I was in the mood created by my co-star Sousuke Ikematsu (35), the director, and the people around me. In “Bokusei,” too, I was able to let myself be absorbed. I played the role with an image of “cuteness” in mind, as if I were a shy friend. I tried to create a character that was serious and hardworking, but also a little strange to those around her.

It is hard to believe that she is a high school sophomore when she calmly analyzes her own performance and character development. Her calm and collected mannerisms even exuded a sense of dignity. However, when the topic turned to the boy group “VOKSY DAYS,” which debuted in February of this year, his tone went up a notch.

When he was in the third grade of elementary school, he joined “BATTLE KiDS,” a training project of “EBiDAN (Ebisu Gakuen Boys Club),” an artist and theater group composed of young male actors and artists affiliated with Stardust Promotion. Koshiyama started dancing and was aiming to debut as an artist. What did he think of his debut in February of this year?

I was really happy because I felt frustrated every day at EBiDAN,” he said.

He recalls that his “frustration” was also “against myself.

When I was in the second year of junior high school, I clearly realized that I was inferior to the other children around me. I was so frustrated and disappointed that I had been taking advantage of my environment without thinking about it, that I cried every day. But after crying a lot, I will never be spoiled again. I promised myself that I would never lose. I promised myself that I would never lose.

VOKSY DAYS” is an eight-member boy group with an average age of 16. Their debut song “Light It Up,” released on February 2, shows the range of Koshiyama’s expressive abilities, as he dances delicately and dramatically manipulates the other members during the dance part.

I am good at dancing, but to be honest, I am not so confident in singing. I am good at dancing, but to be honest, I am not so confident in singing. In return, I do the dancing. If we all help each other in this way, we can all rise to the top. I will develop my strengths and ask them to compensate for my weaknesses. I am not the type of person who goes for it on my own, so I want everyone to work together to make this group bigger.

He also offered this analysis.

There are so many male idol groups out there. How can we rise above them?　Of course, I don’t think it is possible with ordinary effort. Still, I believe that our strength lies in the fact that we are willing to die and do things together with our friends to aim for the top. My dream is to be able to go to “Tokyo Dome City Hall (currently called “Kanadevia Hall”). And in the future, I would like to do a live concert at Tokyo Dome.”

Personally, he looks up to Yuto Sano (28), a member of the five-member male vocal unit “M!LK,” an actor and senior member of the same company, and aspires to be an actor and artist like him.

He is not noticed at all (laughs).

Koshiyama, who is also extremely busy as an artist, also appears in the Sunday drama “GIFT” (TBS) currently airing in April.

The drama is a story of “love and bonds” in which an astrophysicist, Goutetsu, played by Shinichi Tsutsumi (61), learns the importance of friends and family by seriously competing with his mind and body while finding answers to many difficult problems faced by the weak team “Blaze Bulls” in the parasport wheelchair rugby A story of the gift of “love and bonds. Koshiyama plays Takuya Bando, the youngest member of the team.

He says, “The character I play, Bando, is unable to use his upper body strength due to an accident, so he uses a belt around his chest in his lug wheelchair (competition wheelchair) to compete. However, when he is performing, he can’t help but put strength into his abdominal muscles, which he shouldn’t be able to do. So it is very difficult. But I have been practicing for this drama since July of last year, so I think I have become much better at it.

In “Boku no Ohisama,” she was a figure skater, and in “Kokuhou,” she was a singer. In “Kokuhou,” he was a Kabuki actor. And in “GIFT,” Koshiyama plays a wheelchair rugby player. His ability to play such unique roles is due to his rare talent.

There is no doubt that in the near future, Koshiyama will be a leading figure in the Japanese entertainment industry as an artist, but he also has his own life as an ordinary high school student.

I’m an ordinary high school student,” he says. I go karaoke with friends and go bowling. I completely forget about work at those times. I’m not this quiet when I’m with my friends. I make a lot of noise and get into a lot of trouble. But they don’t notice me at all (laughs).

(laugh)” The innocent smile on his face was just like a life-size high school student.