Takumi Nishigaki: Dreams and goals become clear when you start running.

An actor　Takumi Nishigaki(Nishigasaki Sho)

■ Profile
In 2021, she made her drama debut in Mainichi Broadcasting System's "I'm Crazy About You." She has appeared in TBS TV's "Dragon Zakura," TV Asahi's "Disappeared First Love" and "Rokufudo Yotsuiro Biyori," and TV Tokyo's "Minato Shoji Coin Laundry." She is currently appearing in TBS TV's "Drama Stream: I'm Not Going to Keep a Gigolo."

Nishigaki Takumi won the Mr. Keio 2019 Grand Prix and is currently appearing as an actor in a variety of popular works, including "Dragon Zakura" and "Minato Shoji Coin Laundry." In "Watashi ga Himo wo Ou Nante" currently airing on TBS, he plays the role of Kiritani Morio, who has feelings for the protagonist. We spoke to him about this work, his thoughts on his work, and his future plans.

■ Why I wanted to become an actor, even though I didn't like to stand out

Ever since I was little, I've never liked to stand out, and I was the type of person who would read "Slam Dunk" alone in the library, looking down at all the shiny people playing soccer in the schoolyard. So when I became a finalist in Mr. Contest, I honestly didn't think "Yay!" but rather felt more like confusion, like "I'm still in the finals...". However, during the final speech, which could be considered the highlight of the contest, I wasn't particularly nervous or embarrassed. I found it interesting that everyone was listening to what I had to say. I thought I was bad at speaking, but I realized that wasn't the case. It was a moment when I realized that maybe I could actually do it, and that I hadn't done it because I thought I was bad at it.
I got a call from an agency when I took part in Keio University's Mr. Contest, which is what led me to start this job. After that, I took acting lessons for just under a year and a half, but nothing concrete came of it. However, when it came time to look for a job, I thought again, "What do I want to do now?" and chose this path.

■ I gradually realized that I wanted to make a living from this.

But I didn't immediately decide to become an actor. I planned to try it out for about three years, and if nothing came of it, I'd just start job hunting. I don't think it's possible to decide to go professional without even trying. For example, you can't imagine becoming a professional baseball player if you've never played baseball and don't even have a glove. I think you can only become determined once you've stepped into the ring. As I continued doing it, I gradually began to decide that "I want to make a living from this." I don't know if I've reached my limit or if I've reached 100, but the more I do it, the more fun it becomes, and sometimes it gets tough. Right now, I want to make a living from this job.

■ I gave up 10 ordinary happinesses to find the happiness of being in front of the camera

I'm a very lax person, so I can't work hard unless someone pushes me to do my best. That's why I deliberately put myself in a tough environment. My father is a very kind person, so maybe I grew up without knowing how tough society is. However, I don't think there's anything tougher than this industry, so I have to hang in there! That's why I'm doing my best.
Even if something difficult happens, I forget about it when I go to sleep. I've been doing fencing for a long time, but I often lose in fencing. When I lose, it's painful and I think, "I don't want to do this anymore," but when I go to sleep and wake up, I have to go to practice. There's also the next match, so I have to force myself to switch gears. Maybe it's because I've been able to switch gears like that since I was little that I'm able to do the job I do now.
Of course, there are many happy times as well as difficult times. When the work I appeared in is well-received, or when I hear people say, "I watched it," or "It was good," I feel glad that I did it.
I was directly moved when we received a standing ovation for "Rose and Samurai 2: Return of the Pirate Queen." I was very happy that the audience stood up and applauded in appreciation of what we had done, and I am grateful that we were able to be shown such a sight on our first stage performance.
I feel that this job requires me to give up about 10 of the happinesses that ordinary people have in exchange for the one happiness of standing in front of the camera. But that happiness is something that only someone in this position can understand, and I feel that it is very precious. And that happiness is what makes it so rewarding for me.

■Drama Stream 『I can't believe I have a pimp"about

"I can't believe I have a pimp" When I received the offer to appear in ", I was honestly very happy. I had never been involved in a love triangle with a woman before, so I was excited about this first challenge. I had read the original work, and Morio is a very humorous character, so it was a lot of fun to play him.
I also empathized with Morio's feelings of not wanting to ruin their relationship and not being able to confess. No matter what the outcome of his confession, if he knew he couldn't go back to the relationship he had before, he would hesitate to confess. Also, I'm often called a "dog guy," so maybe my dog-like nature is something I have in common with Morio.

■ Standing in front of the camera with the hope that someone will feel better

I think that creating a character is the process of placing a complete stranger in your mind and searching for similarities between you and that character, or things you can empathize with. I try to think carefully about "what I want to convey as a character."
Throughout the entire film, I was thinking, "I'm going to stop trying to look cool." Morio looks better when he's uncool, and I thought that even though he's clumsy and frustrated because things aren't going well, he'd look cool if he kept trying his best. So I decided that it was okay to be uncool in the heart-pounding scenes (laughs).
In real life, if there's a scene where someone puts all their effort into a relationship, I think that's the most embarrassing moment for the person involved when viewed objectively. So I don't think it's right to try to make that look pretty. Just because it's a romance story, I didn't think about acting cool in the heart-pounding scenes.
Whenever I stand in front of the camera, I always think, "I hope that even one person who sees me can feel better." That's the basis of my job, and it's like the reason I act. So I hope that seeing Morio in this work will cheer people up, and that it will be a source of comfort to people who have similar worries.

■Various challenges lead to the dream of winning the Japan Academy Award

I've been saying this ever since my debut, but I want to be active in the film industry. I want to win the Japan Academy Award for Newcomer.わたしの幸せな結婚I had a lot of fun with the sword fighting I experienced in "The Great Passage" and "Rose and Samurai 2: Return of the Pirate Queen," so I would like to take on many new challenges like this and shine in a wide range of entertainment roles, including on stage, in movies, and in TV dramas.
As for roles, I would like to play a teacher. One reason is that there are many teachers in my family, and I have watched them, but I also feel that there are similarities between communicating something to people and the work of an actor, and I have aspirations to do so.
Also, as a child I loved "Jurassic Park," so my dream was to become a dinosaur expert. I still have fond memories of being taken from my hometown of Ishikawa Prefecture to the dinosaur museum in neighboring Fukui Prefecture. I also studied dinosaur picture books and memorized many of their names. Since then I've thought, "I want to become a dinosaur expert in the future," so I hope to be able to fulfill my childhood dream through this role.
Also, English was my strongest point when I was a student, and since it can be used in a variety of situations, I would like to try using it as a communication tool as well.

■Message to university students

At a time when many people don't have dreams or goals, it's cruel to suddenly tell them to "Decide on your career path!" It's okay to try something for a few years from now. I think you can make up for it by just working hard on what you like and what you want to do. I hope that these four years will be a time when you can find out what you really want to do, what you like, and what you're good at, rather than forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do.
I think you can't create dreams or goals until you start running. Once you start working hard, you'll find people who support you and make friends who aim for the same goal as you. There may be people who tell you "this is impossible," but it's only when you face headwinds that you realize you want to move forward. If there's something you like, I think you should work hard towards it, and if you don't, I think you should just try something new. There's no need to worry too much, because when you look back on it later, nothing will be a big deal! Just move forward without worrying.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on March 24, 2023 by Ayaka Yagi, a fourth-year student at Sophia University