“I was able to draw it the fastest. I even surprised myself.” Shingo Katori’s tone is cheerful. The first coat takes a day, then it dries for a day, and then it takes two hours to complete. The title is “Tsubomu.”

“The buds bloom in spring, but because I’m painting them one by one they feel like home. It’s more like staying home and maintaining a sense of distance. But there’s a remote connection somewhere, and there’s also community support like family and friends. Someone can bud by themselves, or they can bud with others. This feeling is a verb.”

He had a feeling that he could paint quickly. A few days ago “Anonymous,” his first commercial drama in five years, finished shooting. He immediately began to work on this painting.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the world of terrestrial television, and when I went on various programs to promote it I recalled many feelings. However, well, I’m happy with everything, but as the end was in sight the feeling of ‘I want to paint’ quickly became stronger.”

“Anonymous” took about two months to shoot. When the editor-in-chief said that he seemed more relaxed than when he was interviewed for the last issue, he laughed. “Hey, did you lose weight?” The manager beside him replied, “Probably.”

“However, after filming the drama, I ate as much katsu curry as I wanted (laughs). Well, whether I lost weight or not, I’m sure it was hard to shoot. It’s been a long time, but I’m taking measures against infection. From disinfection to handwashing, I really didn’t know how much to do. That’s why the shooting schedule has been accelerated since the state of emergency was declared. That’s how early the morning was. The number of on-site staff has also decreased to a small number. Lighting is only two people - the chief and the person in charge of the scene. Those two were doing all the lighting in the drama. This time it’s an unlikely situation that I’ve never experienced before. I think we got through it well. None of the staff or cast members were missing during the shoot. If you take the proper precautions against infectious diseases, you can film. It was great to be able to confirm that.

Katori has been extolling “Perfect Business Idol” and has put the quality of his work first. Is that attitude coming into this situation?

“Certainly there were some rules I imposed on myself as a public person, and they were quite strict. In the sense that we live under strong restrictions, that may be why I have had the capability to adapt in some areas. I’ve never been one to go and hang out with a bunch of people until midnight, so I don’t mind not being able to go to places like that. However, when it comes to making things, direct communication is important. I often shake hands before I start anything. I think there’s something that opens up when skin touches each other just for a moment. Not being able to do that now is painful. On the set of ‘Anonymous,’ after filming had ended, I looked for each departing staff member and finally shook hands.”

Along with the quality of his work, he has been particular about numbers more than anyone else. In the past he used to check the viewer ratings of all programs, including those that he wasn’t involved in.

“Not as much as I used to. The way we look at numbers has changed a lot compared to what I’ve experienced. I still get told every time, but I’m not sure I understand. The producer says ‘good numbers’ even if it’s single digits. It’s like, ‘This number on TV Tokyo is this percentage on other stations.’ I don’t know what that means, but I think that’s part of what makes TV Tokyo an interesting station (laughs).”

Even if the surrounding situation changes, the thing he is most aware of is completing the work. For Katori, who has played the lead in dramas and stage productions from a young age, being on the set of a drama for the first time had “many things to remember.”

“When the actors are talking to each other in between filming, that atmosphere sometimes carries over into the actual performance. With dramas, in many cases that’s usually undesirable. In these cases I try to draw the line as much as possible. Even when everyone is laughing, when they see Shingo Katori they quickly have a quiet face. I think they’re like, ‘That’s awful. I have to do it properly.’ I think it was being in the drama ‘Shinsengumi!’ that made me consciously play such a role. There were a lot of men there and chatting is very exciting, isn’t it? I wanted to be a part of that circle and have a good laugh. But if you do that, the scene will lose its shape. So no matter how much everyone laughed, I, who played the captain Kondo Isami, sat on my knees in the middle without a chuckle. If you do that, everyone will behave properly.

On the set of ‘Anonymous’ we were talking about our private lives, and I thought to myself ‘I wish I could interject something into that conversation. I have something that wouldl make people laugh out loud.’ But once Banjo (Katori’s character) says that, there’s no coming back to the drama world.”

Katori’s character, Wataru Banjo, is normally an uncommunicative type within the agency but can be relied on as a leader in times of need. It seems to be an age appropriate role.

“It was pretty high up on what could be called ‘close to reality.’ I’ve had people say “I’ve never seen Shingo like this before,” but from my point of view it’s close to my usual self. The same goes for Ikuo Kinomoto in the movie ‘Sea of Revival.’ The image of ‘Shingo’ that I’ve created so far is so big that there’s a nice gap between the two. I think it’s a good way to make a new ‘Shingo Katori’ (laughs). I didn’t think that the 30 years I spent making ‘Shingo’ would work that way in my 40s. When I was talking with the producer of ‘Anonymous,’ I suggested ‘That’s just Shingo. Isn’t Banjo more like this?’ (laughs)”

The producer and the director are of the same generation.

“I’ve been working with directors and producers since I was in elementary school, so I basically grew up scared of their authority. But these days they’re sometimes younger than me. The performers are even younger, aren’t they? In ‘Anonymous,’ Nagisa Sekimizu is 22 and Hiroya Shimizu is 21. Last year I had relatively young musicians participate in the making of my album ‘20200101’ - for example, the members of WONK, with whom I wrote ‘Anonymous,’ are around 30 years old. This age difference is surprisingly big. With WONK I can argue a bit, like ‘it’s not like this, it’s not like that.’ Mokomichi Hayami in ‘Kochikame’ was like that. At that time, I was in my 30s and Mokomichi was in his 20s. But Nagisa and Hiroya are even younger generations.”

In reality, what advice does Katori give to his younger colleagues?

“I don’t like to go on and on about younger people, like when people say ‘Is it a little difficult?’ Of course I’m curious. But Kin-chan taught me, ‘You don’t have to say it out loud’ or ‘If you don’t know, you don’t have to know.’”

Someone is a bud and someone will be budding. Katori himself may be in such a period. “Tsubomu” seems to be painted with both anxiety and hope for the future.

“I changed my art materials this time. Well, I changed it back. It’s called acrylic gouache and it’s what I used to use when I started painting. This painting material is difficult to adhere to the canvas unless it’s mixed with other materials. I didn’t know that at first, and some of my paintings from that time started to peel. So I’ve been using different art materials lately. However, acrylic gouache has a wider variety of colors. This time I thought I’d paint freely using my favorite colors, even if they’d peel off eventually like they had in the past.”

As he said this, Katori looked down at the back issues on the low table in front of him.

“When I look at them like this, I wonder, ‘Why?’ I wonder why they use my paintings so much? (laughs) I’m really happy. I’m starting to understand the difference between painting for a commission and painting for my own pleasure. It’s fun to paint a commission, isn’t it? However, I painted ‘Tsubomu’ purely because I wanted to paint. I’m glad I was able to paint it. Since I was able to paint this unexpectedly quickly, I can start painting for Jantje Ontembaar ahead of schedule (laughs). Once I finished with my television work, I naturally thought ‘I want to paint.” It’s a strange feeling to be in that kind of flow.”