[News] Ito Atsushi and Kiritani Mirei to star in upcoming drama ‘Apoyan ~ Hashiru Kokusai Kuukou’.

[News] Ito Atsushi and Kiritani Mirei to star in upcoming drama ‘Apoyan ~ Hashiru Kokusai Kuukou’.
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TBS recently announced what drama they are going to air in their ‘Thursday Drama 9′ time slot in the upcoming 2013 winter season. The title of the new drama is ‘Apoyan ~ Hashiru Kokusai Kuukou‘ and is starring actor Ito Atsushi and actress Kiritani Mirei.

The drama is based Shinno Takeshi’s two novels ‘Apoyan‘ and ‘Koisuru Kuukou Apoyan 2‘. ‘Ayopan’ is a common term that describes travel agent experts who settle various problems that can occur at an airport service counters day in, day out. The story follows Endo Keita (Ito), an employee of a travel agency who used to plan out tours at the head office who suddenly gets transferred to work at the Narita International Airport. While being bewildered about his new work environment, he has to try his best settling all kind of problems for the agency. The filming is being done with the cooperation of Narita International Airport and Japan Air Lines (JAL).

Kiritani is playing Endo’s capable subordinate Morio Haruko who isn’t too keen about having him as her superior. Other characters include their unreliable boss (Yanagiba Toshiro) and the mediator of the female staff (Kanjiya Shihori).

This is actually the first time for Kiritani to play the female lead in a prime time drama. She commented, “It’s the first time I get to work together with Ito Atsushi, but something about him makes me feel like we’re already really close to each other. I can’t wait to start working with him.”

She continued, “This drama depicts a profession that isn’t usually featured (in dramas). From the script I’ve learned that their motto is to let every customer begin their trip with a smile and that they are working very hard to achieve this. I think that’s great. I’ll try to enjoy every day as well and hope that I’ll make the viewers smile through my performance as Morio.”

Ito expressed, “The whole staff and the cast, everyone is going to join forces and do their best in order to create a sincere drama that is going to make people laugh and cry!”

‘Apoyan ~ Hashiru Kokusai Kuukou’ is going to air every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. starting in January 2013.