It’s no secret the colorful cuties of Naniwa Danshi have a very special place in my heart. They’re fun, they’re sweet and they’re my go to group whenever I need a mood boost. So, when I got the chance to chat with one of the guys, I couldn’t pass it up.
Joichiro Fujiwara is the member with the biggest smile and the brightest personality. He’s always the first one to do whatever he can to help the group and he’s just one of the kindest people I’ve ever gotten the chance to speak to.
Affectionately called Jo, his latest drama “Pending Train” can currently be streamed worldwide on Netflix. It’s a sci-fi post-apocalyptic series about survival and the power of kindness and the human spirit.
Jo plays the character of Daichi Yonezawa, an artist with an effervescent personality who always sees the best in people. He’s the guy who you want on your team because he’ll always strive to bring the best out in you – even when you’re down. After spending a few precious moments with the Japanese superstar, I can tell that, as a person, he’s the exact same way. He’s just a really great guy.
What is your process for getting into character? Besides just reading the lines, do you have anything special that you do to get into the characters head?
A lot of my castmates have said once you’re in costume you’re in character and they easily decided on one specific quirk of their character. I try to look for something like that as well. For example, when I played Daichi Yonezawa, I decided that one quirk for him was going to be facial expressions, and part of his costume choice was that he always wears red. After reading the script, I found there were many places where I could amplify his personality with facial expressions, such as his big smile. So, I was always very conscious of his facial expressions.
Take me to a typical day in the life of Joichiro Fujiwara
I love baseball and watch baseball almost every day. My Japanese team is the ORIX Buffaloes, but if I’m watching Major League Baseball I always support Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels or Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox. I love baseball so much that even on my days off, or when I’m on a plane or on the bullet train going to and from work, I’m always watching baseball. It energizes me for when I’m back in front of the camera.
In the drama “I Fell in Love with the Girl who gave Me an Eraser” (aka, “Keshigomu”) I played the role of Itakura from the time he was in junior high to when he was an adult. So far, this has been the only role I’ve been able to play across a character’s life, rather than just the limited time in which the story takes place. When I was younger, I played a character as a kid and then someone else played him as an older adult, but here I played Itakura throughout his whole youth, and I really liked it. I felt like I was able to live life as Itakura.
With the release of their Double A-side 5th single Make Up Day / Missing, Jo and the rest of Naniwa Danshi are hard at work. You can follow their adventures on social media below.
More Naniwa Danshi soon so…
Stay Tuned!
Life In Cartoon Motion 