Face-to-face with Erika Sawajiri, one of Japan’s most controversial stars

Erika Sawajiri/PHOTO COURTESY OF NIPPON TV

TOKYO—Actress Erika Sawajiri is definitely not one who cowers in fear when taking on a role that she feels is extremely challenging. She is, after all, one of Japan’s most controversial and feistiest celebrities.

She has hogged the headlines not only because of her controversial relationships off-cam, but also for being vocal about her disapproval of the “restrictive ways” that artists are being treated in Japan, particularly by their agencies, and for demanding a change in the system.

Now 31, Erika has agreed to portray a role that challenges her ability as an actress. In the drama series “My Son,” Erika is Yui Kashiwazaki, a mother whose son is kidnapped while they are on their way home from nursery. As a result, Yui’s life is turned upside down; even her marriage collapses under the strain. Nine years later, the boy reappears.

“Yui’s character is someone who refuses to give up no matter what happens. I find her energy and will to live very inspiring,” Erika told Asian reporters in an interview inside the Nippon TV offices at the Shiodome area of Minato here in Tokyo.

Yuko Hazeyama, producer of “My Son,” said Erika was her personal choice for the role. “Erika has always had this flashy, glamorous image, but I was impressed with her performance in the TV drama that we worked on last year. There, she also played a mother. I thought she would be perfect for this show as well.”

Erika arrived at the interview seemingly in character—in a white-and-beige ensemble and wearing light makeup, devoid of the “flashy” image that Yuko said the actress had always been identified with.

Erika said she didn’t see herself in Yui at all. “Hers is a totally different experience; it’s not something that I can relate to on a personal level,” the actress said in Japanese.

Erika, however, hopes to become a mother someday. The actress was once married to writer-filmmaker Tsuyoshi Takashiro. “I like children. I think they’re pure. The children I work with on the show make me smile.”

Working on the TV show also strengthened her relationship with her own mom, Erika added. She was born in Nerima, Tokyo, to a Japanese father and an Algerian mother.

“My mom is very strong. She is a big influence in my life. People say that as a woman becomes older, she begins to resemble her mom. It’s funny because, as I age, I realize that I am becoming like her in both good as well as bad ways.”

Erika has won several acting awards, the most recent of which was for the 2013 film “Helter Skelter” at the 36th Japan Academy Awards.

“My Son,” which is based on the 2016 Chinese movie “Dearest,” airs every Saturday at 7 p.m. on Channel 116 of SkyCable and is presented by GEM Media Networks Asia—a joint venture between Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia and Nippon TV.