"Probably nobody ever got involved with theater the way I did," Kenichi Tani said with a laugh, explaining that because his teachers at school were "really boring" he set his sights on becoming an interesting teacher in the future.

"So I often skipped classes to study about education in the library," the Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, native said, "and I read that trainee teachers in England often have to do drama courses to improve how they communicate with pupils and express themselves.

"After that I joined a drama circle to help me become a great teacher — but instead I got more and more sucked into theater."