Sequel to Junichi Ishida’s Confession: “My Highest Annual Income and Savings

As previously reported in this magazine, Junichi Ishida (68) is writing a script for a spy movie in order to turn the world’s attention back to his real job. Ishida says that he is neither a TV personality nor a newscaster, but that movies and TV dramas are his “starting point.

I had been an actor for nine years,” he says. The president of my agency gave me a deadline: ‘If I don’t sell this year, I’ll quit acting and change my job to become a manager. …… I got a job in the final year of the last season of a TV series starring Atsuko Asano and Yuko Asano, which was a Tsukiji TV series. 9 drama “I want to hug you! (Fuji Television Network). During the last year of the project, I had received offers for two-hour dramas. However, I felt that my acting career would not be the same in a two-hour drama, so I decided to take a gamble on my last one-year stint.

To begin with, “I Want to Hug You! was supposed to feature Takanori Jinnai, 63, but he turned it down because it conflicted with a drama on another station. Next in line was Masaya Kato, 58, who is selling like hotcakes. However, there was a dispute over negotiations for the role, and I was offered the part. It was at the last minute that an unbelievable opportunity came my way. I’m sorry, but I thought the statute of limitations had passed on the backstory. (Laughter).

In terms of pay, each drama was about 1 million yen. When I was an anchor for a news program on the TV strip, I was earning 25 million yen a month, so it’s a totally different story. But the dramas were more fulfilling for me.”

Ishida says that his highest annual salary was in 1997, when he anchored the evening news program “Super J Channel” (TV Asahi). 300 million yen or more is estimated, but “very little is left,” Ishida laughs.

It was all gone as soon as I started treating professional baseball players and other junior members of the sports and cultural entertainment industry. I spent 500,000 yen a night on karaoke alone. I prefer to be treated to a treat rather than to be treated to a drink. Even the president of a publicly traded company that everyone knows today didn’t pay the bill when he had dinner with me. I wonder why that was. ……

I told my senpai, “As long as the person you bought a meal for says, ‘Thanks for the meal,’ you’re a third-rate chef. I was taught that you should pay the bill in a way that the other person doesn’t understand, so I think there are a lot of people who don’t realize they’ve been treated to a meal by me. I had so little money left over that when I got married, Riko told me, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. (Laughter). Oh, by the way, one of my juniors invited me to the …… program and well, well… One of the girls that I adored was shitting on Issei (Ishida) on “Viking More” (Fuji). She had said with a mysterious face, “Slandering (Sayaka’s boyfriend) is not good” in the news about Sayaka Kanda’s death that was broadcast just before that, but as soon as the news of Issei’s divorce came, she said, “I can’t believe it” and “You should relearn to love! He started ragging on me. What?　And. It was more than sad and disappointing.

But I think the TV has gone too far in making criticisms that greatly undermine people’s dignity based solely on weekly information. Even about Issei-kun, I didn’t go to Ishikawa Prefecture to interview him. The truth is probably quite different. Although Issei-kun doesn’t say it, the locals know it! I’m not sure.”

When asked what job is still burned into the back of his eyelids at age 68, Ishida says it is drama work.

It was a scene with Narumi Yasuda, 55, the heroine of “Doukyusei” (Fuji TV). I was walking around Yokohama at night with Narumi Yasuda. It’s a date. On the other side is Naoto Ogata (54), her boyfriend, or rather, a rotten boyfriend. And I am the prince on the white horse who suddenly appears in front of her, according to the script. One day, Narumi Yasuda, who is depressed because things are not going well with Naoto Ogata, calls me over.

We were walking down the street talking when we came to a fountain, and I jumped on the helicopter. I was startled and fell into the water. Then Narumi Yasuda, who was trying to save me, was yanked out of my hand and fell down with a cry of “Kyaa. I was supposed to be on a cool date dressed in a suit and tie, but I was soaking wet. We were both in the water, laughing at each other.

And then, as the fountain started to blow, I said, “Won’t you marry me? I propose to him. I can’t hear you!　Are you getting married? Narumi Yasuda asked, “You and I are getting married! The fountain stops just as he loudly replies, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. This is the last scene of the fifth episode. In fact, this sequence of exchanges, including the previous scene, was almost entirely ad-libbed. Narumi Yasuda also enjoyed that part of the scene, and she responded to it with her acting. It was a lot of fun. The actors were all sparkling, and the numbers came in. Incidentally, the average rating for “Doukyusei” from the first episode was 13%, but it went up to 23% in the fourth episode when I started to appear.

The reporter did not miss the twinkle in Ishida’s eye as he said this. Ishida himself will not appear in the script for the spy movie he is currently writing, but is there any possibility of his return to acting?

Ishida said that he will not appear in the spy movie script he is writing. The film company and Netflix probably want the content, so I want to make it something that no one else can write. On the other hand, I’d love to be allowed to work for Netflix. If I’m going to be an actor, I’d like to play a witty role. My challenge this time, I don’t know if I’ll win.

It’s tough, but I really enjoy the process of trying ……, taking a stand, and working hard. And I believe that if you work hard, most things will turn out well. Sometimes, people will come along and lend a helping hand. It’s really strange, isn’t it? Isn’t the value of a person the value of what he or she has worked so hard to achieve?

Can Ishida, returning to his starting point, create new “treasures”?