Ah, I just went to Tokyograph and it seems that Saitoh-san has snagged himself the lead role on a TV series, based off a video game. The video game is called "Kurohyou: Ryu ga gotoku" and it seems to be about a Japanese yakuza ...
The drama series is meant to be 11 episodes in length and will air in October on TBS and MBS. Hopefully the ratings are sustainable enough so that it can last the full 11 episodes. It's in the wee hours of the morning; the content involves seedy underworld adventures, so that's no wonder then. I do think the storyline is a bit thin. @_@
He's a very busy person, isn't he? It's just what he had been mapping out for himself, to take on wildly different roles and explore different characters.
Please see this link to the Tokyograph site:
http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-6540You can also find more information about the video game from this website :
http://www.japanator.com/yakuza-black-pather-trailer-shows-off-some-gameplay-15662.phtml