Who’s the Charismatic Cool Older Guy Sitting on a Harajuku Street? Shin’ichi Tsutsumi Takes on a Video Streamer Role

Shin’ichi Tsutsumi plays a video streamer!

In a corner of a street bustling with young people, a cool older guy was sitting hunched over in a director’s chair placed on the sidewalk. It was actor Shin’ichi Tsutsumi (62).

On this day, filming for a production starring Tsutsumi was taking place on a street right near JR Harajuku Station in Shibuya, Tokyo.

“This is filming for ‘Mou Papa!,’ which will begin airing on October 4 on the Asahi Broadcasting/TV Asahi network. The series is a completely original story written by Erika Yoshida, who wrote the script for the first-half 2024 NHK morning drama ‘Tora ni Tsubasa.’ The protagonist is 18-year-old university student Noriko Tarayama, played by Nanoka Hara (23), while Tsutsumi plays her father, Ryotaku Tarayama.

When Noriko stopped going to school in elementary school, Ryotaku began streaming on a video-sharing site in an attempt to make her smile. A clip of Noriko angrily shouting, ‘Mou, Papa!’ (‘Dad, seriously!’), went massively viral. Since then, Ryotaku has worked as a video streamer for 12 years, aiming to reach one million subscribers. Noriko, meanwhile, is unable to tell Ryotaku what she really thinks and say ‘No’ to him. Centered around this father-daughter relationship, the story depicts family conflicts and reconciliation.” (TV magazine writer)

Tsutsumi and Hara, who play father and daughter in the drama, previously co-starred in the 2013 film “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?,” making this their second time working together. In the film, Hara played a 10-year-old girl who was the daughter of a yakuza boss and had appeared in a commercial, while Tsutsumi played a rival yakuza boss who was a fan of the girl but was at odds with her father.

Speaking about reuniting with Hara to play father and daughter in this series, Tsutsumi said:

〈We worked together in a movie a long time ago, and I remember that scene, but I was surprised to see how much that little girl from back then had grown! That means I’ve gotten that much older too, I suppose (laughs).〉 (From the official Asahi Broadcasting Television website)

Filming was taking place right near Harajuku Station, which was packed with young people. Tsutsumi was wearing a vivid blue shirt over a striped shirt. Standing alone on the sidewalk in this youth-oriented neighborhood, he stood out even from a distance. When the director called cut, Tsutsumi waited in the corner of the sidewalk, just as described at the beginning. He looked a little tired, but even so, his actor aura was impossible to miss.

Meanwhile, it appeared that Hara was filming a short distance away. Speaking about her impression of Tsutsumi as they reunited for the first time in years, she said:

〈We worked together about 13 years ago, when I was still a child actor. Even though it had been a long time since we’d seen each other, he was just as wonderful as ever. During filming, he talked to me about all sorts of things, and he even gave me some tea that he recommended because I tend to get cold easily. He really treats me just like a dad.〉 (Same source as above)

With the two actors, who are already comfortable with each other, taking on the roles of father and daughter, anticipation for the drama is only growing.

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