Actor Oda Yuji was at an event for his Winter 2011 drama, “Gaikoukan: Kuroda Kosaku” (starting 1/13 on Fuji TV, every Thursday at 10PM) which was held in the international terminal of Tokyo’s Haneda airport. This is the first official appearance that Oda Yuji has embarked on since his marriage to a woman not in the industry. When asked about his aspirations for the new year, Oda replied with passion, “2011 will start with Kuroda, so I’ll only be thinking about Kuroda. My private life? I’m currently in working mode now.”

Since Oda did such a great job in the “Amalfi” movie, the 50th year anniversary project, they created “Gaikoukan: Kuroda Kosaku” as a drama series. The drama takes place in various locales like Italy, San Francisco, Mexico and Japan. Oda portrays diplomat Kuroda who has strong convictions about protecting his fellow countrymen. Shibasaki Kou will be portraying female detective Ogaki Rikako, Oda’s new partner, who is great with maps and has space recognition abilities. The duo is dubbed as the odd couple who settle a mysterious and complex national case.

This will be Oda’s third time of playing Kuroda (there was a movie and cellphone drama). Oda commented, “Every single time I discover some new charm about the character, I wonder, ‘Is this really the same guy?’ This will be the first time that he’s back in Japan. I’m looking forward to it.”

Korean sensation Lee Byung Hyun will be in the drama as well, portraying an old friend of Kuroda’s from an intelligence agency.

Gaikoukan: Kuroda Kosaku will start airing next year 1/13 every Thursday at 10PM. The first broadcast will be a 2 hour special starting at 9PM.