Kansai Summer Walker 2017: Cover Face, Aiba Masaki Interview

[aibanokokuhaku]

For people who like the ocean or barbecuing, summer fun has no limit!


With the theme of “Let's Have Fun This Summer!”, Aiba shows off his big smile while playing with a beach ball and a blow-up dolphin. It has that, “Let's go play!” kind of vibe, and Aiba made sure to give a warm atmosphere to the staff, even though he is a top star. If we ask him about summer, what would this kind of man say?...

It's my favorite season! When I was a child, during summer vacation I would always ride my bike the the pool or the ocean. From three years old, I was able to swim, so I really love being in the water. Even as I began working, I would go with Tacky and TOKIO's Yamaguchi to the ocean in Chiba and go surfing with them. Summer has that “endless playtime” aura to it so I love summer!


When I heard your plans for this year, I thought, as expected, Aiba wants to go to the ocean!

I really like the local beaches. The ones in Chiba are so pretty. I can't say the name here, but my favorite beach has such gorgeous water, and you can see so many fish in the water. After I go there, I like to do a barbecue. If you barbecue right by the river while drinking a cold beer, that's the best... Anything you eat while in that environment will taste amazing. I am looking forward to this summer!

As the summer begins, your currently airing drama (Kizoku Tantei, Fuji TV) is coming to an end. I've seen a lot of detective dramas, but there is something new about this air of nobility coming from your show.

Ah yeah, hearing people's impression of this drama has been interesting. I am not my usual self in this program, and so it is fun and interesting to know what other people are seeing when they watch it. The show really makes people think, too, as while the details are revealed at the end, it takes some additional extrapolation to figure out all of the character's intentions throughout the course of these investigations.

There are so many interesting objects in the filming. Is there anything on set you wish you could take home?

I have to be careful about this one, but there is something that I wish they would promise me I can have. I don't know if they will let me, as it is probably a rare item. I am really hoping for some reason they offer me the item I want because from the first time I saw it on set I spent a lot of time oogling it. (laughs)

With this drama riding on the novel's name, do you feel interested in knowing more about the novels or what makes a true detective? I was surprised at the true nature of the “Nobel Detective”! (****NOTE: spoiler alert below!****)

Right! My character was suspected the killer this whole time, so anyone who hasn't read the novels might have been surprised by that, though maybe as they were watching they were able to pick up on that before the last episode. I had heard about it from Yutaka Maya (the author), but if she hadn't told me ahead of time... (laughs) If anyone else would have told me my character was the one behind all of the mayhem I would have thought they were joking. Most of the drama seems light and airy, but in the final episode all of the events and their connection to my character gets revealed, and it becomes much darker. (laughs)