Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Photo by YUI SHAPARD

Popular free magazine R25 will have its gag column “The Road of Smart Moteryman” turned into a stage play this summer. Playing the lead role is it-boy Junpei Mizobata, 20, who recently won the Japan Academy Prize for Best New Actor for his performance in the romance Akai Ito. Mizobata plays a young salaryman trying to learn the ropes from a self-proclaimed ladies’ man. “I’m just as clueless with women as my character is,” Mizobata said at a press conference at a Roppongi studio, adding that despite his increasing popularity, he is still humbled by women on a daily basis. “I’ll stroll around town just to see if any high school girls, for example, will notice me. And if they don’t, I walk around in circles until they do.” The Road of Smart Moteryman runs August 24-31 at Sogetsu Hall in Akasaka. See www.moteryman-stage.com for details.