Tsuyoshi Kusanagi will be making a friendship appearance in the drama "Japan's Worst Man *My Family Was a Fake" starring Shingo Katori.

■ Tsuyoshi Kusanagi will be playing the role of Toru Washizu, who he played in the drama “Trap War”!

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (“Nagi” is officially spelled as “front + sword”) will be starring in Fuji TV’s Thursday Theater “Japan’s Best Man *My Family Was Fake” starring Shingo Katori, which will start on January 9th. It has been decided that he will appear as a guest in the first episode.

This work is about the main character, Ippei Omori, who lives with his brother-in-law Shosuke Kohara (Shison Jun), a single father, and his children in order to improve his image in order to win the ward assembly election. (Omori・i “Election & Fake Family Drama” depicts a completely original story filled with laughter and tears, in which a man (Shingo Katori) gradually begins to seriously face his family’s problems, and eventually stands up to change society in earnest. ”.

Kusanagi will reprise his role as Toru Washizu, the main character he played in the 2023 drama “Trap War” (Kantere/Fuji TV), and will meet Ippei, the “worst man” played by Katori, and Yume. They will co-star in the series.

“Trap War” is a drama depicting Toru Washizu, a parliamentary secretary who is determined to take revenge on the culprit in an incident that left his son in a near-death condition, and on the Diet members who are trying to cover it up. In the final episode, Washizu started a new life as a secretary for his ex-wife Kanako, who became a member of the House of Representatives. Appears as “Policy Secretary to Kanako, a member of the House of Representatives.”

Ippei is invited by Kojiro Makabe (Akira Yasuda), a childhood friend of Ippei who is a parliamentary secretary to Tetsuo Kuroiwa (Jun Hashimoto), a member of the House of Representatives, and Ippei attends a national policy briefing session with Kuroiwa. Attended. Ippei, who is planning to run for the ward assembly election, is excited about this opportunity to sell himself to Kuroiwa and the people attending the meeting. At that meeting, Ippei was introduced by Makabe and exchanged greetings with a person named Washizu.

A miraculous first meeting between Ippei, the “worst man,” who aims to turn his life around by becoming a ward assemblyman, and Washizu, a clear-headed, calm and composed secretary. It will be interesting to see what kind of interaction will take place between these two contrasting characters.

■Shingo Katori and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kusanagi’s first starring role, “Iihito.” It’s been 27 and a half years since then!
Kusanagi and Katori still have weekly talks on the radio program “ShinTsuyo POWER SPLASH” (Bayfm). As an actor, he has appeared in the movies “NIN×NIN Ninja Hattori-kun THE MOVIE” (2004), “Journey to the West” (2007), and the stage play “burst!” written and directed by Koki Mitani. ~Dangerous Two~” (2015 *Repeat in 2022) and other works. However, surprisingly, the two have not had a chance to co-star in a TV drama for a long time, except when appearing in a group.

Recently, “Shingo Katori x SEVENTEEN” performed the theme song for “Trap War” starring Kusanagi, and the special drama “Kin-chan no Sumi-chan – Loved Kinichi Hagimoto” in which Katori appeared as Kinichi Hagimoto’s manager. Women” (2024/Nippon Television) *Although there have been collaborations in the form of Kusanagi serving as the narrator for “24 Hour Television 47” (broadcast on “24 Hour Television 47”), Kusanagi’s first starring role in a drama “Iihito” is the first time he has co-starred in a TV drama as an actor. It’s been about 27 and a half years since Katori made a friendship appearance in the final episode of “” (1997/Kantere/Fuji TV). This work, “Japan’s Worst Man *My Family Was Fake” is sure to be a monumental work not only for Katori, but also for both Katori and Kusanagi.

This scene was filmed in mid-December 2024 at a hotel in Saitama Prefecture. Since the two were co-starring in a rare drama, the scene was more tense than usual, but the two were in a relaxed mode, and in between shots they had some lively small talk with the staff. However, when it came to the actual performance, as both of them have given great performances in many works, they impersonated Ippei and Washizu with their solid acting skills, and together with Yasuda, who plays Makabe, created a scene that was worth watching.

Ippei from “Japan’s No. 1 Worst Man” and Washizu from “Trap War” will be reunited in “Japan’s No. 1 Worst Man *My family is fake. The first episode of “Ta” will be broadcast from 10:00 PM on January 9th. The interaction between Katori and Kusanagi is a must-see.

■ Tsuyoshi Kusanagi comment
Q. How was it co-starring with Shingo Katori?
It was fun. Actually, the drama “Iihito” was the first time I played the leading role. ”, and Shingo-chan only appeared in one scene in the final episode. I went into the shoot while remembering such nostalgic memories. I was also happy to meet Mr. Ken Yasuda and Jun Hashimoto.
Q. Please give a message of support to Katori-san.
Congratulations to Shingo Katori for starring in a Fuji TV drama series for the first time in 11 years. It seems that Shingo-chan will also sing the theme song, and I’m really looking forward to it because I think the aura of Shingo-chan that makes people around him happy, both in his acting and his singing voice, will brighten up and encourage the world. . I hope it will be a wonderful drama where a lot of power jumps out from the screen. As someone like me who is always around her, she really has a high nose for me. Please do your best until the end!

Program information

Fuji TV Thursday Theater“The worst man in Japan *My family was fake”
Starts on 01/09 (Thursday)
Every Thursday 22:00-22:54 *Extended 15 minutes for the first time (22:00-23:09)

Starring: Shingo Katori, Jun Shison, Ai Tominaga, Risa Masuda, Sojiro Chiba, Yuka Mukaizato, Reo Sano/Jun Hashimoto, Ken Yasuda, and others.
Episode 1 guest: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (friendship appearance)
Screenplay: Yosuke Masaike, Naomi Hiruta, Satoko Okazaki, Shunto Miura *In order of number of episodes
Theme song: Shingo Katori “Circus Funk (feat. Chevon)” (Toys Factory)
Produced by: Taku Kitano
Direction: Takuro Oikawa, Makito Murakami, Masaki Tanimura
(C)Fuji Television