On February 18, a press conference to announce the main cast members for NHK's upcoming fall morning drama "Gochisousan" starring Anne, was�held at the NHK Osaka Broadcasting Station.

As reported�earlier, the theme of the drama will be "food", and it will follow a life of the heroine "Uno Meiko" (played by Anne), a gluttonous girl who was born as the daughter of a family that runs a Western-style restaurant in Tokyo. Meiko later marries a crusty man from Osaka, named "Saimon Yutaro", and strongly lives through the turbulent eras of Taisho ~ Showa period. The script will be written by Morishita Yoshiko who was in charge of the script for a big hit drama "JIN."

At the press�conference�held the day, it was announced that model Higashide Masahiro would be playing the role of the heroine, Meiko's husband. Along with his activities as a model, Higashide has just made his acting debut with a movie "Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo" which was released last year. He commented, "I hope I can grow as a human and as an actor through this work that I will spend a whole year. All I can do is to face with it sincerely." Reportedly, he will move to Osaka in April, and begin preparing for the filming that will start in May.

Other cast members announced include Harada Taizo (of comedian trio Neptune) as "Uno Daigo" (Meiko's father), Zaizen Naomi as "Uno Iku" (Meiko's mother), Yoshiyuki Kazuko as "Uno Tora" (Meiko's grandmother),Inowaki Kai as "Uno Teruo" (Meiko's younger btoehr),�Kondo Masaomi as "Saimon Shozo" (Yutaro's father), Miyazaki Yoshiko as "Saimon Shizuka" (Yutaro's mother), Kimura Midoriko as "Saimon Kazue" (Yutaro's older sister), Takahata Mitsuki as "Saimon Kiko" (Yutaro's younger sister), and�Wada Masato as "Genta" (Meiko's childhood friend).



Harada who will be playing as Anne's father, said, "Well...speaking of Anne-chan's real father, it's Watanabe Ken-san...so I am still not sure if I would be enough (to play as Anne's father). I hope I will be able to appear in as many scenes as possible. I will do my best." Kondo who will be Higashide's father, also said to Anne who is 174 cm (5'8.5") tall, and Higashide who is 189 cm (6'2") tall, "It's the Taisho era we are talking about. What did you guys eat to grow that big? You guys are about 30 cm (a foot) taller than the average height from people back then."

Anne commented, "I heard from people how the filming of morning drama is hard, but I think I would be able to enjoy it and I would feel the time would go by fast if I'm surrounded�by these great people. I am looking forward to it."

"Gochisousan" is scheduled to start airing in October.

Source & Image: Oricon