The Partner (Vietnamese: Người cộng sự; Japanese: The Partner ～愛しき百年の友へ, romanized: Za Pātonā ~ itoshiki hyakunen no tomo e ~) is a 2013 Japanese-Vietnamese historical telefilm based on the true story of the Vietnamese independence fighter Phan Bội Châu and his Japanese friend Asaba Sakitaro. The film aired on September 29, 2013 on Vietnam Television in Vietnam and Tokyo Broadcasting System Television in Japan.
Contents
Cast
Meiji era
Noriyuki Higashiyama as Asaba Sakitaro
Huỳnh Đông as Phan Bội Châu
Bình Minh as Cường Để
Emi Takei as Oiwa Akane
Kazue Fukiishi as Asaba Masa
Hồng Đăng as Trần Đông Phong
Tetsuya Takeda as Inukai Tsuyoshi
Akira Emoto as Ōkuma Shigenobu
21st century
Noriyuki Higashiyama as Tetsuya Suzuki
Huỳnh Đông as Nguyễn Thành Nam
Mana Ashida as Sakura Suzuki
Lan Phương as Lê Hồng Liên
Yuichi Nakamaru as Noriaki Hatakeyama
Yukiyo Toake as Machi Kinoshita
Production
The film was produced in 2013 to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam. Filming took place in both countries from June to July 2013. Vietnamese actors Huỳnh Đông and Lan Phương had to learn Japanese for their roles.
Awards
The Partner won five out of eight awards in the Direct-to-Video Film category at the 2013 Vietnam Film Festival.