SkyGarden's Ryo on comfort women scenes in 'Pulang Araw': 'Sobrang bigat para sa 'kin'

SkyGarden's Ryo Nagatsuka, one of the Japanese language coaches in "Pulang Araw," admitted that got emotional after reading scenes involving comfort women in the script of the series.

According to Nelson Canlas's report on "24 Oras," Tuesday, Ryo said there is no mention of comfort women in Japanese school textbooks, so he could not help but get affected by the scenes.

Based on the teasers previously released, Ashley Ortega and Rochelle Pangilinan will have scenes where they are getting abused by Japanese soldiers.

"When I read that scene, parang medyo natakot ako in a way na, 'Tama ba tinatranslate ko 'to?' Ganun. But you know when I'm learning it, we should know the past talaga," he said.

Ryo, who is fluent in both Japanese and Filipino, said he could not bear to watch the scene. 

"Nandun po ako sa set eh, of course tinitingnan ko kung tama po 'yung Japanese ng mga sundalo. Ayoko tingnan, sobrang bigat para sa 'kin," he said.

Aside from being the Japanese language coach in "Pulang Araw," Ryo also plays the role of a Japanese immigrant in the Philippines who helped Eduardo after he was beaten and left in a forest.

He will get conscripted as a soldier when the Japanese Imperial Army invades the country.

Ryo formed the Japanese trio SkyGarden together with Hiro and Iwa. They are content creators and also record songs, like "Kokoa" and "Historia."

"Pulang Araw" stars Barbie Forteza, Sanya Lopez, David Licauco, Alden Richards, and Dennis Trillo. It airs weeknights on GMA Prime at 8 p.m. and also streams on Netflix.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News