Nobuyuki Suzuki Is ‘Salary Man Kintaro’ of Reiwa Era; Popular Manga a Story about Tuna Fisherman Who Becomes Salary Worker

By Takamichi Asakawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:00 JST, February 7, 2025

“Salary Man Kintaro,” a popular manga by Hiroshi Motomiya depicting the lives of salaried workers, has been adapted into a new series of films. The first, “Salary Man Kintaro Akatsuki,” opened in theaters on Jan. 10, and the second, “Salary Man Kintaro Sakigake,” opens today.

“Akatsuki” means “dawn,” and “sakigake” means “pioneer.”

Protagonist Kintaro Yajima is an incredibly dashing and kindhearted man. In previous live-action adaptations, he was played by Katsunori Takahashi and Masaru Nagai, both popular actors. This time, the torch has been passed to Nobuyuki Suzuki. The actor recently sat with The Yomiuri Shimbun for an interview and spoke of his passion for playing the role as the third actor to do so and as the Reiwa era (2019-) Kintaro.

“People in generations older than mine all know Kintaro. I hope people in younger generations will now get to know this character,” Suzuki said emphatically.

Kintaro is a tuna fisherman who used to be the leader of a motorcycle gang. One day, he saves the life of Morinosuke Yamato (Takaaki Enoki), who happens to be the chairman of a construction company. As a result of the incident, Kintaro becomes employed by the company, Yamato Kensetsu. He moves from his home in Aomori Prefecture to Tokyo and starts working as a salaried worker. While struggling to adapt to the life of a company employee, which he is experiencing for the first time in his life, he opens a path for himself by using his ability to act boldly and fearlessly, while being kind enough to never leave the weak ones alone.

In “Akatsuki,” Kintaro comes up against Oshima (Jun Hashimoto), a former bureaucrat who has been parachuted into Yamato Kensetsu as its current president. In “Sakigake,” Kintaro ventures into solving the dark secret behind a project to construct a geothermal power plant. The films are directed by Ten Shimoyama.

The manga has sold more than 30 million copies. The popular series was carried in the Weekly Young Jump manga magazine from 1994. Its serialization continued, with some interruptions, until 2016.

Passionate Kintaro

Kintaro is an impulsive, passionate and straightforward man. If he notices something is wrong, he takes action without stopping to think.

“He’s full of qualities I can hardly imitate in real life,” Suzuki said, praising Kintaro. “So I guess there’s no one out there who can confront things as straightforwardly as him today. If there’re people feeling cramped in their lives, I hope they’ll watch these films and feel refreshed.”

Indeed, unconventional things happened during the film’s shoot as well. The first film opens with a scene in which Kintaro dives into the sea to rescue a man whose small fishing boat has become shipwrecked.

“We went really far out to sea from land, and all I could see was the horizon. Then I swam for, like, 50 meters to 100 meters in the water where there was nothing else. I thought, ‘The sea tastes really salty!’” Suzuki recalled, chuckling.

As he excels in action, there are a plenty of action scenes in both films.

“[Kintaro] punches big and kicks big … but I had to make sure he won’t look like he’s doing so in a particular style,” he said.

From bad boy to doctor, Suzuki has played a wide range of roles. 2025 is a milestone year for him because it marks the 15th anniversary of his successful Gekidan Exile theater company audition and his ensuing debut in the entertainment industry. As a singer, he released his first mini album in November last year. It would be safe to say that he is now in the prime of his career.

Asked about his resolution for this year, he said, “I’m 32 now. When you start to understand the way things are in society, you tend to become softer. But I want to keep some recklessness or impulsiveness, too. I want to dash ahead without thinking about the consequences. I want to become an increasingly sought-after actor, and I want to make something that becomes my signature work,” Suzuki said. His words sound almost as impassioned as Kintaro’s.

Nobuyuki Suzuki

Born on Oct. 14, 1992, Suzuki hails from Kanagawa Prefecture. Standing at 1.85 meters tall, he passed an audition of the Gekidan Exile theater company in 2010. Since then, he has appeared in many films, such as “Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo” (“The Kirishima Thing”) and the “Tokyo Revengers” series.