Kentaro Sakaguchi Has What It Takes To Be A K-Drama Leading Man

When auditioning for a lead role in a Korean drama speaking Korean is generally a prerequisite. That was not a requirement for Kentaro Sakaguchi, who plays Jungo Aoki in the k-drama What Comes After Love. Jungo is a Japanese novelist. He falls in love with a Korean woman, played by Lee Se-young, but most of their conversations—in Japan and in Korea—happen in Japanese. Sakaguchi did learn a few words of Korean while they were filming in Korea.

“I could barely speak Korean before working on this drama,” said Sakaguchi, “But I really wanted to communicate with the filming crew, so I learned a little bit every day with the help of an interpreter.”

Sakaguchi landed his first leading role in 2017, appearing in the Japanese film The 100th Love with You. The popular actor and model then proceeded to land leading roles in Japanese TV dramas such as Dr. Chocolate, Code Japan:The Price of Wishes, Welcome Home Monet and the Japanese remake of Signal, plus films such as Side by Side and The Last 10 Years. When considering how challenging the role might be, Sakaguchi initially hesitated. He was convinced by the enthusiasm of director Moon Hyung-sung.

“The biggest motivation was hearing the director’s passion and thoughts on this drama,” said Sakaguchi. “Up until that point, I was nervous about participating in a drama from another country, but then I realized that it doesn’t matter what culture or country you are from.”

Despite the characters’ ability to converse in Japanese, they’re not yet fluent in the communication skills required to sustain a successful relationship. What’s left unsaid accumulates until it eventually strains the relationship. They break up and she returns to Korea. When they meet again five years later, through work, there are still unspoken feelings. She’s bitter and doesn’t want to see him. He still loves her as much as he did five years ago. The actor had to admire Jungo’s dedication, even as he offered him some relationship advice.

“I felt that it was not easy to continue to love a woman for five years, without knowing when they would be reunited again,” said Sakaguchi. “But at the same time, if he had that much affection for Hong, he should have been better to her as much as he did when he was younger.”

Fate delivers another chance. Lee’s character Hong has to translate for Jungo during his visit to Korea. He’s promoting his new bestselling novel which her father’s publishing company has translated. It’s a romantic novel about their relationship. Which is ironic since the drama is based on a novel by Kong Ji-Young and Hitonari Tsuji.

Even with his limited Korean Sakaguchi makes a very appealing k-drama lead, creating a Jungo that is at once playful, impulsive, anxious and devoted. Sakaguchi does enjoy watching k-dramas, but romance is not the genre he most often watches.

“I watch a lot of Korean dramas,” he said. “Mostly crime, suspense and mysteries,”

What Comes After Love, which also stars Hong Jung-hyun and Anna Nakamura, airs on Viki.com.

This story originally appeared on forbes.com.