Takizawa Hideaki in Fuji TV Friday Prestige New Year Special Project ‘HAMU’

Last month, we posted a couple of pictures of Takki being spotted filming a drama in Tokyo. Now there’s finally an official announcement!

Takki will be starring in a special drama called “Hamu – A Man of the Security Police Force”, and it will be the first drama scheduled to be aired as a part of FujiTV’s “Friday Prestige” New Year Special in January 2014. The last time Takki starred in a FujiTV Friday Prestige drama was a year ago, in the special drama “Akutou”.

In this drama, Takki plays the role of Lieutenant Natsuhara Shinji (32), who works for a special unit within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau. His unit calls themselves “Hamu” which may seem odd at first since it literally means ham in Japanese. But it actually comes from the kanji “å…¬” in “公安” (public security). The top part of “å…¬” is ハ (ha) and the bottom part is ム (mu)… thus, ハム (hamu).

Hamu works as a behind-the-scenes police force, so to speak, shutting down terrorist operations, assassinations, and other serious crimes before they happen to avoid causing disturbance within Japan. They closely monitor dangerous criminals, gather information about terrorist organizations, and take full-force yet discrete action when they sense suspicious activity. With such a huge responsibility on their shoulders, they must stay undercover and even allow criminals to get away with certain things so that the overall progress of their undercover operation isn’t jeopardized.

This is a police drama that is said to be full of speed and overwhelming suspense. At the press conference, Takki said it’s his first time taking on a role of a police detective and believes he’ll be able to show another side of himself through this drama. He has always wanted to take on action scenes, so in a way, being a part of this production was a wish come true for him. This drama will make the audience question “what’s is justice to you?” and with such a superb and fitting cast, he believes they’ll be able to convey a sense of power and strength to their viewers.

You can find more detailed information about the story behind the cut…

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Natsuhara was an excellent detective in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. For one of his investigations, Natsuhara was following up on a lead (on how a murder weapon was acquired), when a man who was thought to be the suspect in the case showed up. When Natsuhara was about to arrest him, a girl happened to pass by and bumped into Natsuhara, ruining her own shirt with the ice cream she was eating. She made a huge fuss about it, refusing to let Natsuhara leave, causing him to lose his lead. After that, a man appeared out of nowhere and attacked Natsuhara from behind, knocking him unconscious.

Later on however, under the orders of his superiors, the arrest warrant for that suspect was suddenly dismissed. When Natsuhara found out about this, he was strongly against it. But as a result of his retaliation, he was informed by his superiors that he was to be transferred to a Special Unit in the Public Security Bureau.

One of the members in his new team is a mysterious man named Serata Souma. Little does Natsuhara know, Serata is, in a complicated way, involved in a tragedy that’s been haunting Natsuhara. His parents died when he was young, leaving him in charge of taking care of his younger sister. She’s always been there for him and is his greatest weak point. Another important person in his life was his fiance. However, she was randomly attacked and killed three years ago. Her killer still hasn’t been caught yet, casting a dark shadow over his life…

The plot thickens when one day, a mysterious package arrives… and it’s addressed to Natsuhara. Inside was the uniform of a certain cleaning company and a memo slip. He goes to the designated location on the memo slip, only to find himself face to face with the man who had attacked him the other day. He recognized the man as a lieutenant from the Public Security Bureau… but when Natsuhara took a closer look at the other people in front of him, he realized they were the same people who had also interfered with his investigation that day…