First a little intro about Kurashina Kana for those who aren’t that familiar with her. I hope that she will get maybe 1 or 2 more fans after this little article with the interviews and so on.
The 21 years-old Kurashina Kana is known for a lot of things, especially her gorgeous body, bright eyes and beautiful smile that earned her the "Miss Magazine" title back in 2006. Her newest DVD "Beach Angels: Kurashina Kana in South Stradbroke Island" (Cover on the left; I fully recommend the BluRay edition!) 5 months ago gained her a lot more fans and already hinted at another great feature of her, her great personality. She seems cheerful and down-to-earth, but at the same time she’s able to wow people with her mature responses in interviews. "I don’t want to determine that I’m going to be an actress only, I’m going to do whatever fate holds for me." Her grandfather is said to have taught her this attitude. The message to go wherever fate is going to bring you gained her a lot of positive comments in the net and should be told to all the students and young people who are worried about their future career.
As you just read, Kurashina soon turned into an actress after her "Miss Magazine" title and already appeared in quite a few doramas and movies. This year she even had her first starring role in a short movie and showed that she has a great talent for acting. Soon she could be able to make her breakthrough with the starring role in NHK’s morning dorama "Welkame", at least among the Japanese viewers. Unfortunately those doramas don’t get as much attention overseas as the prime-time doramas, but people not afraid of watching a show without English subtitles should definitely check it out. At least recent morning doramas such as "Hitomi" (Eikura Nana), "Dandan" (Mikura Mana & Mikura Kana) and the still airing "Tsubasa" (Tabe Mikako) already had a couple of fans and even some subbed episodes. Hope for the best! It’s going to start on September 28, 2009.
Summary of "Welkame": The story revolves around a young woman named Nami, who was born and raised in a minshuku (a type of inn). She leaves for Tokyo to work for a magazine publisher, but is soon laid off. She winds up returning to her hometown, where she has to once again deal with her family and former acquaintances.
Enough with the intro, here now the interviews from the new official "Welkame" site.
Message from the Cast – Hamamoto Nami (Kurashina Kana)
 |
"I’m so nervous, it’s finally going to start airing. Right at the beginning you are going to learn about all those lovable characters of the Hamamoto family. I’m playing Hamamoto Nami. She always puts her utmost effort into everything she does, but at the same time she’s a very clumsy girl. Every day she gets into another incident and every day she’s going to grow a bit more. I think that you are definitely going to enjoy watching her daily personal growth and will find yourself cheering for every time!" |
|
- Are there any similarities between you and the character you are playing?
Nami-chan’s and I both have the same kind of positive attitude. Turning around at 7am, getting up at 8am – I’m like that, too. Plus we both have a tenacious character…!
Nami-chan also can’t give up her dream of becoming an editor and challenges it many times over and over again. I always wanted to become the heroine of a morning dorama, but I had to try it 5 times until I finally managed to get the role, so I can really sympathy with her. We might have some similarities regarding our clumsiness, too.
|
 |
 |
- What was your childhood dream? What is it that you want to challenge from now on?
I love animals, so I guess I wanted to become an animal nurse. I still would like to get a license for that now. What I want to challenge… for now I’d like to put all my effort into playing as Nami, but I would love to appear in a historical dorama/movie someday. From an early age I often watched them together with my grandpa, so I once would like to appear in one.
|
|
- Is there something you like to do at the set?
I’m working hard to… quietly create a new trend with "Otsukamesama"! (laughs)
[She likes to mix "Otsukaresama" (Good work!) with "Kame" (turtle) and created the term, "Otsukamesama".]
|
 |
 |
- What kind of people would you like to watch "Welkame"?
Everyone. I think everyone is going to enjoy this dorama, no matter what age they are!
Personally I think that especially families and siblings should try to watch it together. Also everyone who helped us and is going to help as at the locations, I definitely would like them to watch it as well.
|
Interviews with the Cast Vol. 01 – Kurashina Kana (Hamamoto Nami)
Q: How was it, when you heard that you got the role of the heroine for "Welkame"?
I’ve been watching the morning doramas with my family ever since my childhood. When it got decided that I would be the heroine in a program that so many people watch all over Japan, I was extremely happy. I was so happy, that I even couldn’t hold back my tears. So far I didn’t gain that much acting experience, so I got really anxious about it. However, thanks to the help from everyone in the staff and the other actors, I regained a huge boost of courage that helped me to put on a good performance. In Welkame, the heroine called Nami always stays bright and tenacious while working and thinking about her family and her hometown, even though she makes one mistake after another. It’s a story about her never-ending personal growth. While playing as her, I’d like to add a great share of myself to her character.
Q: There are many people who say that the heroine Nami is the spitting image of Kurashina.
Thank you! I myself like to play as Nami a lot and am really enthusiastic about this role, even though sometimes I don’t know whether I’m acting as Kana or as Nami. Even in interviews such as this one, I often confuse whether I’m answering as Kana or as Nami… (laughs). For Nami her "personal fortune is her tenacious attitude" and I’m basically the same. I actually have been auditioning for the role of a morning heroine 4 times already and every time I failed. However, I simply didn’t want to abandon my dream and tried it again while thinking, "I absolutely want to appear in a morning dorama!!". The 5th time my dream finally came true. I think that this kind of tenacious attitude is also helping me a lot while playing as Nami.
Q: There’s still a little bit left until the program goes on air, but how is the progress of the filming?
We are doing great. The main story is set in Tokushima, but of course we also have a lot of scenes in areas like Osaka, Okinawa or Kuroshima. Everyone is doing their best at each of the sets and I’m really grateful for that. When we are at the set and have a break to get something to eat, everyone from the staff and all the other actors are eating together. It almost feels like those club activities back in school and really made me look forward to the filming every time. Most of the time we are filming in the studio at the Osaka broadcasting office, but they created quite a nice set there! The set for the publishing company is really small, but it’s incredible how much attention they paid to even the smallest details. Some of it won’t be noticeable during the broadcast, but I think it might even be a lot of fun to pay attention to all the little details in scenes that aren’t longer than a glimpse. Please look forward to that…
Q: For those who don’t check out this site, what are the points to look out for in "Welkame"?
The main point is basically going to be the "familial feeling". Up to now there have been a lot of morning doramas with stories about families, but in "Welkame" you can not only feel the "familial athmosphere" during the scenes involving the Hamamoto family, you can even feel it during the scenes in the publishing company (laughs).In the beginning, when she’s talking with the editor-in-chief and the other employees at the publishing company, she is really relieved that it feels like being surrounded by a family. However, she soon realizes that it also has it bad side that everyone is so close with each other (laughs). For example there is one scene where Nami and Katsunoshin are talking, but you can’t hear their words and in the back you can see the other people in the office ad-libbing their talk – or this one scene where Tomochika-san is eating his bento in the background and you can clearly hear the munching sounds coming from his mouth… . I really had to keep myself from turning around or otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to stop laughing anymore. Those kind of unique scenes, that’s what I would like you to keep an eye on.
Q: What part of this dorama do you like the most? / What are you personal highlights?
Welkame tells the story about Nami’s personal growth, but at the same time it includes other big elements such as family, colleagues, work, friends and even love. Just take the family, there are so many different problems happening, but they all properly talk with each other and solve their problems thanks to their love – or all the mistakes she makes at work and how she learns from them to reach even higher… . Each of those single elements have a great persuasive power and eventually draw you into the story. Another thing is her work as an editor. In the beginning she obediently absorbs all the words from the other people, but gradually she starts to become able to use her own ideas based on those earlier lessons until she actually finds her own special way of wording her articles and to express herself. It’s like you can witness the birth of Nami’s very own originality. It would make me really happy, if you could also see that transformation of Nami and witness her personal growth. I also hope that… together with Nami, I’ll be able to experience a personal growth myself.
—
Written by: www.kawaii-joyuu.com
Sources: Official Site of Welkame
Please link back when posting parts of this article anywhere else!
