First Peek at Nankyoku Tairiku

TBS is pulling out all the stops for its fall drama, Nankyoku Tairiku, to commemorate its 60th anniversary. Touted to be the biggest drama production in the network’s history, Nankyoku Tairiku has an impressive lineup of actors, including veterans like Shibata Kyohei, that is only rivalled by Sakaue no Kumo’s stellar cast. Nishijima Hidetoshi and Kim Tae Hee are likely to have the gargantuan and unenviable task of keeping Fuji TV’s Boku to Star no 99-nichi from being battered in the ratings game as the two dramas go up against each other in the same time slot.

The story is about 11 members who were sent to the South Pole for the first time in February 1957 in a national project to explore Antartica. They were accompanied by a dogsled of 19 Sakhalin dogs. When they left for Japan a year later, they were forced to leave the dogs behind due to the bad weather. In January 1959, Kuramochi Takeshi and some others joined a third expedition to ascertain the fate of the dogs Taro and Jiro.

Filming for the drama, which started in February, had recently wrapped up after six months. Nemuro City in Hokkaido was used as the set for the Showa base in Antartica.

The cast includes:

• Kimura Takuya as Kuramochi Takeshi (deputy head of the first research expedition and in charge of geological observation and the dogsled)
• Ayase Haruka as Takaoka Miyuki (Kuramochi Takeshi’s sister-in-law)
• Nakama Yukie as Kuramochi Yukari (Kuramochi Takeshi’s wife)
• Sakai Masato as Himura Haruhiko (expedition member in charge of weather observation)
• Yamamoto Yusuke as Inuzuka Natsuo (expedition member in charge of observing auroras and the dogsled)
• Terajima Susumu as Samejima Naoto (expedition member in charge of machinery and snowmobiles)
• Ogata Naoto as Utsumi Noriaki (expedition member in charge of press coverage and general affairs)
• Shibata Kyohei as Shirasaki Yu (head of the first research expedition)
• Kagawa Teruyuki as Hoshino Eitaro (head of the winter team)
• Sato Ryuta as Ando Michio (member of the third expedition)
• Ashida Mana as Furutachi Haruka (Furutachi Ayako’s daughter)
• Kimura Tae as Furutachi Ayako (daughter of Kuramochi Takeshi’s university professor who imparted everything on the Sakhalin dogs to him)

Nankyoku Tairiku will take over the Sunday 9.00 p.m. slot from Hanawake Yonshimai, from 16 October 2011.