My favourite...Japanese actors and actresses

I am going to use the naming convention that the Japanese do where the family name goes first and the given name goes second. I thought I would go into more detail about some of my favourite actors and actresses from Japan and some of my favourite films/TV shows that they have been in. These are my opinions and the information is as correct as I could find where I didn't know something myself. Copyright images/videos where they should be.

Sato Takeru

Born: 21 March 1989 (age 26 at time of writing)

From: Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama

Sato Takeru

Sato was in senior high school in Tokyo when talent agency Amuse Inc scouted him. He made his acting debut in 2006 in the ‘drama’ (lose sense of the word) ‘Princess Princess D’. He really gained a following after appearing in the ‘Kamen Rider Den-O’ series on TV and in the films. In 2009 he appeared alongside his stable mate and real life best friend, Miura Haruma, in the drama ‘Bloody Monday’ which ended up running into a second series in 2010. Sato starred in a series of other dramas around this time and in 2011 it was announced he would play the title character (Himura Kenshin) of the live action ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ film due for release in 2012. This proved so popular that a second and third film tracing the Kyoto Fire arc from the manga was shot back-to-back and released a month apart in 2014. He has appeared in a few more dramas and in 2015 has starred in ‘The Emperor’s Cook’ while two films are scheduled for release, ‘Bakuman’ (based on the manga) in October and ‘Sekai kara Neko ga Kieta nara’ (If Cats Disappeared from the World).

Sato has also released singles in the past and has celebrated his 20^th birthday (a hugely important age in Japan, it is the equivalent of turning 18 or 21 in the west) with a whole festival which included performances of him singing and interviews. Since his debut he has won numerous awards for film and TV.

Watch: ‘Princess Princess D’ – the 2006 debut. It was by no means the greatest TV show ever made. A show based on a soft-core yaoi (boy’s love) manga was never going to be the height of intelligent TV and you will never believe that this is supposed to be a drama. There are loads of comedic moments and some are meant to be there and some appear to be accidental. Some people are amazed that Sato went on to have any work after this series, but I think you can see how committed he is and the fact that he obviously saw the funny side the whole way through makes it work. Plus he was lucky in the character he played.

Sato Takeru in 'Princess Princess D' - on the right.

Sato played Tooru Kouno who is enthusiastic about becoming a ‘princess’ or ‘hime’ in his all boy’s school because of the benefits such as skipping class and getting all stationery and food free for a year. In the manga this character is the main focus of the story as he has moved to the school and joins the two existing ‘hime’. In the live TV show the focus is on Mikoto who does not want to be a ‘hime’ (in the manga he has a girlfriend and is worried she will find out, in the TV show he is just embarrassed). The job of the ‘hime’ is to effectively act like cheerleaders as there are a lack of girls available and it is also to ‘prevent unhealthy thoughts’ among the boys. You don’t need to read between the lines to know that as this is an all boys’ school the implication is that the boys would resort to shagging each other in no time so the ‘hime’ are supposed to be a healthy object of lust as the boys focus on these ‘girls’ and only have a platonic relationship with them. Once the Dark Princesses arrive though there is all out war, but this turns out to be a mix of brothers fighting each other and a struggle for friendship. This change of focus allowed Sato to get to grips with acting for TV and try out bits of drama and comedy without pulling the main focus and having everyone remember his performance only. Therefore it never could have had an adverse effect on his career. I personally love the show for all its good and bad points and it is really interesting to see where Sato came from.

Watch: Bloody Monday (2008/2010) – I will not go into detail here as I want to cover this for Miura Haruma later on (as he plays the starring role).

Watch: ‘Kamen Rider Den-o’ series (the films Sato was in are ‘I’m Born!’, ‘Climax Deka’, ‘Final Countdown’ but there was also the TV show). The character Sato plays is Ryotaro Nogami who has terrible bad luck. His parents died when he was young and he lives with his grandmother and older sister who want to open their parent’s library/café. His sister’s fiancé disappears and she loses her memory so all of a sudden he has to look after her and run the café. One day he comes across an Imagin (sort of devilish sprite) and is possessed by several of the little buggers. He can transform into a sort of power rangers like swordsman to protect others and also take on different human forms:

·         A self-absorbed punk

·         A teen idol Casanova

·         A martial artist

·         1980s hip-hop break dancer

·         A prince

·         A demonic Imagin

It is all fun fantasy action the whole way through and well worth a watch.

Watch: ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ (2012/2014). You have to watch all three films. Sato plays Himura Kenshin who is a samurai assassin from the Bakumatsu era. He helped to bring in the Meiji era during the civil war and was known for his speed and unique sword technique. The films are based on the manga by Watsuki Nobuhiro (which was also turned into an anime). After the war, Kenshin hangs up his sword and takes a new one, a back blade, so he can no longer kill when his uses his unique technique. He ends up, 10 years later, in a quiet dojo after protecting its owner, Kamiya Kaoru and he then has a series of enemies that threaten the peace of the new era. One is the businessman who wants the dojo for his drug dealings and this is the story of the first film. While protecting his new friends at the dojo he has an imposter who is using his samurai name, Hitokiri Batousai (essentially manslayer), but remember, he cannot kill!

Sato Takeru as Himura Kenshin

The second and third films were shot back-to-back and see Kenshin being roped into a war with another ex-samurai assassin called Makoto Shishio (Fujiwara Tatsuya – but more of him later). The story goes that when Kenshin hung up his sword, Shishio was attacked and left for dead by his comrades. Somehow he survived when they tried to burn him and so he was taking revenge on the government and the new era by attacking Kyoto (then the capital of Japan, although it was about to move to Tokyo). Shishio is distinguished by his wearing of bandages. Again, Kenshin cannot kill as per his promise but he does want to protect the new era and all the people he cares about that live in it.

The films are full of action and fun. The manga and anime has more comedy in it, but the films certainly have their moments. Sato brilliantly captures the presence of Kenshin as he has the mannerisms and speed of the character. The work he put in to making it real is phenomenal! Sato has this crazy ability to perform all sorts of stunts and there are several photos from various other shoots of him doing handstands and the splits so he can do a lot of the tumbling work required here. The character is described as being shorter than average and being almost feminine to look at and to be fair, Sato does have these natural qualities so it is hard to picture anyone else who could play the part.

 Miura Haruma

Born: 5 April 1990 (age 25)

From: Tsuchiura, Ibaraki

Miura is another of the Amuse Inc. actors and is real life best friend of Sato. He had small parts in films and TV shows as a child and gained popularity in 2008’s ‘Gokusen 3’. That year he also took the lead role in the drama ‘Bloody Monday’ which came back for a second series in 2010 and his co-star was Sato in both series. Miura never seems to be out of work and has appeared in many films and TV shows over the last few years as well as appearing in music videos and regular theatre productions. He has released two DVDs with Sato of their holidays, one in 2010 in New York and one of their eco-holiday in Malaysia in 2011. Miura was also a member of J-pop group ‘Brash Brats’ but this group is currently on hiatus while he concentrates on his acting career. This summer (2015) he will appear as Eren Jaeger in the two ‘Attack on Titan’ films.

Watch: ‘Bloody Monday’ and ‘Bloody Monday 2’ (2008/2010) – Miura plays the lead character Takagi Fujimaru who is an expert hacker known as Falcon. Takagi is a high school student and his father works for the anti-terror unit, Third I, which enlists Takagi to help with their latest case. A terrorist group is found to be planning to release a deadly virus that will wipe out around 80-90% of the population of Japan and then they will rule whoever is left. They have already had a test run on a remote Russian town and this wiped out the entire population. This series has a feel of 24 about it as there is a time limit of around a week to discover the truth and stop the plot from taking place. Takagi has to worry about his school work, getting mixed up with the terrorists, finding out the truth about his father and looking after his sick younger sister. He has some help though from his friends in the school newspaper club and especially from his best friend, Kujo Otoya (Sato) who has some badass archery skills himself. I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot and I don’t want to make assumptions as I am still watching the first series myself.

On the left - Miura Haruma from 'Bloody Monday' (with Sato on the right)

In Bloody Monday 2 many of the same characters return. This time the leader of the terrorist group has a plane and a nuclear bomb and wants to attack Tokyo with it. Takagi has been basically a recluse since the events of the first series and has to be persuaded to help prevent this attack using his hacking skills too.

Watch: ‘Gokumen 3’ (2008) – I love this series only because it kind of backs up my theory that there are about five actors in Japan. That isn’t true of course but it is funny because my favourite actors have all either starred in EVERYTHING they have ever done together or they have worked on a TV show left and been replaced by another of my favourite actors. I am going to come to them both later but in series one there was Matsuyama Kenichi, series two was Nakamura Yuichi and in season three was Miura. His character was Kazama Ren who was a member of Class 3D. The whole thing is based on a manga of the same name and the plot is that a young woman wants to be a teacher and takes on a class of delinquents at an all-boys private school. What they don’t know about her is that she is the heir to the family business…Yakuza (this is organised crime…think Mafia). There are moments of drama and comic relief and although not really considered a major role for Miura he does steal the scene and in many ways it was a break out role for him despite years of working already.

There are really so many films and TV shows I could tell you to watch. Miura has been awarded many times for his acting roles so really you should just find a list and work your way through. Check out the Attack on Titan films when they are available this year too.

Kikuchi Rinko

Born: 6 January 1981 (age 34)

From: Hadano Kanagawa

Kikuchi was discovered on the street performing by a talent agent when she was 15 and made her debut under the name Kikuchi Yuriko (her birth name) in the film ‘Will to Live’. In 2006 she played a deaf mute girl in the film ‘Babel’ and was nominated as Best Supporting Actress in the Academy Awards (Oscars) for the role. In 2010 she took the role of Naoko in the film adaptation of the Murakami novel ‘Norwegian Wood’ and starred alongside Matsuyama Kenichi. In 2013 she starred in the epic kaiju film ‘Pacific Rim’ directed by Guillermo del Toro. In 2014 she starred as the title character in the film ‘Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter’.

Watch: ‘Babel’ (2006) – this film completes the Death Trilogy by Gonzalez Inarritu and has a multinational cast. Other films in the trilogy (if you are interested) are ‘Amores Perros’ and ‘21 Grams’. The film ‘Babel’ has a series of tricky interconnected events around the world and you really need to see the film to understand the beauty of the piece. My description here cannot do it justice. I don’t want to give too much away either so I am going to give you a brief description of Kikuchi’s character and nothing more. That should make you go and see the film. Wataya Chieko is a rebellious deaf teenage girl who hates her father and is traumatized by her mother’s recent suicide. She also has issues with boys and is sexually frustrated and becomes provocative after bitchy comments from people in her volleyball team. Her character also dabbles in drugs and has run ins with the police who want to know information about her father. Ultimately she ends up reuniting with her father.

Watch: ‘Norwegian Wood’ (2010) – Kikuchi plays Naoko who is the best friend and sometime lover of the lead character Watanabe Toru (Matsuyama). She was the girlfriend of Watanabe’s best friend but he commits suicide on his 17^th birthday. When she turns 20 she sleeps with Watanabe and then her whole world breaks down and she ends up in a psychiatric institution. I won’t go into full detail because, again, I want you to watch this and I also want to mention it when I talk about Matsuyama later. For now though, this is the character she plays. I would also recommend you read the book as Murakami is a genius!

Kikuchi Rinko as Mori Mako in 'Pacific Rim'

Watch: ‘Pacific Rim’ (2013) – del Toro tried his hand at a kaiju film and was so good at it that he is making another. In the first film a rift has opened in the floor of the Pacific Ocean and it is letting in giant monsters (kaiju) which are attacking all the nations either side of the Ocean. The people want to fight back and so build giant mechanical hunters (jaeger) which must be powered using the minds of two pilots. The cast is full of top actors from the UK including Charlie Hunnam as lead character Raleigh Becket and Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost. Kikuchi plays Mori Mako who is a Japanese woman rescued from a kaiju by Stacker when she was a little girl. She lost her parents in the attached Stacker adopted her as his own. Her dream is to become a pilot and end the war with the aliens once and for all and she gets her chance when she is paired up with Raleigh. At first, Raleigh is reluctant to return to the jaeger as his brother was killed in a fight years before and they were still linked up at the time so he felt all the pain as his brother died. He is persuaded though and he and Mori become a formidable fighting team against the kaiju. If you want to know the full story and if they were successful then you need to watch this film yourself.

Fujiwara Tatsuya

Born: 15 May 1982 (age 33)

From: Saitama

Fujiwara had an interest in acting from a young age and his big break out role was in ‘Battle Royale’ (2000) which was based on the 1999 novel and in which he played one of the lead roles, Nanahara Shuya. The film proved a hit and to be controversial and so he reprised the role in the (not quite so good) 2003 ‘Battle Royale II: Requiem’. Between these two films he played the part of Eiji in the TV film ‘Sabu’ (2002) which was directed by acclaimed director, Miike Takeshi. Fujiwara has had a long and varied career but some of my favourite films of his are the ones based on manga. He is the king of manga adaptations. Some to look out for are mentioned below:

Watch: ‘Battle Royale’ (2000) – Nanahara Shuya is a student in 9^th Grade (so around 15 years old) and he and his classmates are gassed, placed in explosive collars and plonked on a deserted island where they must kill each other over 72 hours until only one is left. If there are no killings in a day the collars kill everyone, the same applies if there is more than one player left alive at the end of the 72 hours. The collars also monitor heart rate and where the kids are as well as what they are saying. This is all part of the government’s Battle Royale program which was set up to quash the bad behaviour that was seen in Japan in the new generation and prevent rebellion against the totalitarian government. Nanahara vows to protect the girl his friend likes (though she likes Nanahara) and pairs up with her and another boy to defeat the system and stop the Battle Royale program. This was hugely controversial on its release as the depictions of violence were very graphic and people were not comfortable with the killings being taken place by students. There was also the question of fighting the government and this kind of rebellion was looked at warily too. People were also uncomfortable with most of the stars being 15 themselves (although Fujiwara was around 17/18 when he filmed this) This is an 18 certificate but I saw it when I was 15 and loved it. It is what got me hooked on Japanese films and especially Fujiwara’s.

Fujiwara Tatsuya as Nanahara Shuya - 'Battle Royale'

Watch: ‘Sabu’ (2002) – Fujiwara plays Eiji who has had a cursed life and has been in trouble for stealing many times before. This reputation gets him in trouble when he is an adult as he is accused of stealing from his job and sent to a prison camp island. His friend, Sabu, sets out to prove Eiji’s innocence and uncovers some nasty home truths along the way. Eiji is eventually released but the effects are too great for him to return to his normal life. This role is one of the most intense that I have seen and the cinematography is brilliant! This is set around the Meiji era (around 100 years ago) and it is a gripping couple of hours. You really feel for Eiji the whole way through.

Watch: ‘Death Note’ (2006) – this is the first of two films (so you have to watch part two as well). Fujiwara plays Light, a teenage boy at college who discovers a death note dropped into the human world by a bored Shinigami. Light uses it initially to do away with criminals but when he starts getting recognition on the internet as ‘Kira’ (killer) and being worshipped like a god the power goes to his head and sets off a battle of the minds between him and the world’s greatest detective, L. The only difference between the manga and live film is that this is a shorter story and the outcome of the battle between L and Light is opposite (won’t say so it won’t ruin it for you). Matsuyama Kenichi also stars in this film as L and after filming the two became very good friends.

Fujiwara as Light - 'Death Note'

Watch: ‘Kaiji’ and ‘Kaiji 2’ (2009/2011) – Fujiwara plays the title role of Kaiji who is a loser in life. He has a rubbish job and rubbish apartment and apparently rubbish friends. He signed a loan as guarantor for a friend and when said friend goes missing he is told to pay back hundreds of thousands of yen to the load sharks. As he can’t afford it he is told he can wipe off his debt in one night on a gambling ship and he takes up the offer. His good nature gets the better of him and, despite winning, ends up sacrificing his freedom to be with a man he only just met underground in a work camp as he believes he was the reason the other man didn’t win. There is only one escape from this hell and that is to cross ‘dead man road’, two steel beams between the towers of the company that is forcing them to work. These are hundreds of feet above the ground and wired into the electricity mains. Kaiji makes it across only to play E Card, a game similar to stone, paper, scissors (or ‘janken’ in Japanense). This will win him his freedom and a fortune…if he can do it and keep hold of it. This film sees Fujiwara reunited with his ‘Battle Royale’ co-star, Yamamoto Taro and his ‘Death Note’ co-star and best friend, Matsuyama.

‘Kaiji 2’ sees our hero back underground and this time he is given a two week period of surface leave to try and win enough money to rescue himself and all of his friends. He decides to take on a giant pachinko machine (a bit like a pin ball machine) which will pay out literally billions of yen if he succeeds. The casino owner works for the company that forced him into slavery and he has rigged the machine to never pay out. Kaiji works with some new friends to try and defeat the machine and win freedom. This film also sees Fujiwara and Yamamoto reunited again but also seems to contain half the cast of the ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ films too (more of which for Fujiwara in a moment) as both feature Kagawa Teruyuki (who played evil businessman Takeda Kanryuu in the first film) and Iseya Yusuke (who plays Aoshi in the final two films).

Other films of note are the aforementioned ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ films. In ‘Kyoto Inferno’ and ‘The Legend Ends’ Fujiwara plays ex-samurai assassin Makoto Shishio who is seeking revenge for the government trying to kill him at the end of the civil war to stop him killing anyone else. He plays the part with real intensity but at the same time you kind of blame the government all the way through. If they hadn’t tried to kill him then none of this would have happened. His motives for revenge are clear. All the people around him have been let down by the Meiji government too and you feel for them as well. I do not get the impression that this version of Makoto would have been driven to this level of evil if this had not happened to him in the first place. Fujiwara gives it his all, especially with the epic 4 vs 1 fight at the end of the final film. He is the big name star in the films that got me into watching them (so without him I may never have discovered how brilliant Sato could be) and he works so well with Sato as his opposite in these films.

Fujiwara as Makoto Shishio - 'Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno'/'The Legend Ends'

Takei Emi

Born: 25 December 1993 (age 21)

From: Nagoya

Takei Emi as Kamiya Kaoru - 'Rurouni Kenshin' trilogy

Takei started her career as a model when she won a competition in 2006 and became an exclusive model for magazine Seventeen. She made her debut in a TV drama in 2011 ‘Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta’. She also signed as a singer to Universal Japan in 2011. Takei has appeared in many TV dramas and has also done some voice acting. I would advise that you see her in the Rurouni Kenshin films as she plays dojo owner and Kenshin’s love interest Kamiya Kaoru. These films are the easiest to get hold of in the west. I know she is going to go on to have a great film career though because she is really, really good.

Matsuyama Kenichi

Born: 5 March 1985 (age 30)

From: Mutsu, Aomori

Matsuyama Kenichi

Matsuyama is well known for playing eccentric roles and strange characters and has an uncanny ability to pull this off. His most famous roles are L in the live ‘Death Note’ films (although he also voiced the one off character of Gelus in the anime) and Watanabe Toru in ‘Norwegian Wood’.

Watch: ‘L: Change the World’ (2008) – L has one final case to solve and save the world from a deadly virus (there seems to be a theme about this in Japan in 2008). Matsuyama was given a lot of praise from Death Note fans for his portrayal of the character of L. He seems to get all the body mannerisms and quirks just right. The slight pout and blank stare as well as the crouched way of sitting and hunched way of walking are absolutely perfect.

Matsuyama as L from 'Death Note'

Watch: ‘Norwegian Wood’ (2010) – Matsuyama is the main character in this adaptation of one of Murakami’s most famous novels, Watanabe Toru. He falls in love with his dead friend’s girlfriend and when she is admitted to a psychiatric institution (see Kikuchi above) he has to decide to stay with her or look to the future with new girl Midori (which means ‘green) who he meets at university. This is a coming of age tale about looking to your future rather than dwelling on the past and about love and fragile young relationships as well as mental health. Matsuyama plays the role with the perfect level of emotion and sensitivity required to bring Watanabe to life.

Matsuyama as Watanabe Toru - 'Norwegian Wood'

Other things you should watch include the daft and yet absolutely brilliant ‘Detroit Metal City’ which is based on the insane manga.

Nakamura Yuichi

Born: 8 October 1987 (age 27)

From: Kanagawa

Nakamura has had a busy career in a short amount of time and this can be split into two phases. The first phase was between 2003 – 2012 beginning with ‘Gokusen 2’ in 2005 (remember Matsuyama was in series 1 and Miura was in series 3). He is best known for his appearances in the ‘Kamen Rider Den-o’ series and films alongside Sato. He also co-starred with Sato (and Kamakari Kenta – more of which in a minute) in the so terrible it is brilliant TV drama/comedy ‘Princess Princess D’. Nakamura became a member of ‘D Boys’ in 2004 after wanting to pursue an acting career (originally he wanted to be a dancer). In 2012 though he was forced to give up acting due to health reasons and medical treatment but luckily for us and him he announced he would return to acting in 2015 and is appearing in the latest ‘Kamen Rider’ film ‘Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3’.

Nakamura Yuichi on the right with sometime co-star Sato

Watch: ‘Princess Princess D’ (2006) – I will cover this quick as I have mentioned it for Sato. In this drama/comedy Nakamura plays Hanazono Otoya who is the leader of the Dark Princesses (kuro hime) and wants to over throw the princess system at school as he believes it is run incorrectly. He also wants to run the student council and take over from the current president who turns out to have a connection to Hanazono. The character finds it hard to make friends or accept that anyone (even his fellow kuro hime) want to spend any time with him. Even if the whole thing isn’t the best thing ever made you will find yourself a bit in love with Hanazono Otoya because of Nakamura. You will feel sorry for him despite what he does to the hime and you will want a happy ending for him as well and this is all down to the way Nakamura plays the part. Nakamura works so well with what he had to work with in terms of script and ‘plot’ and you might feel a little while watching this.

Nakamura in the middle as Hanazono Otoya - 'Princess Princess D'

Watch: ‘Kamen Rider…’ – Ok so really you should just watch it all anyway. In ‘Kamen Rider Hibiki’ Nakamura plays Kiriya Kyosuke. There was a lot of disagreement among the crew about this series and so the whole thing has odd points. According to reports and interviews at the time the script for the final episode appeared while the final fight scene was being filmed and the whole thing had to be redone! Also there were issues about the suit worn by the character or Kiriya as well as disagreements with the toy company involved. In the ‘Kamen Rider Den-o’ series Nakamura returned and this time played Sakurai Yuto (alongside Sato’s Nogami Ryotaro). The whole thing with names and events gets complicated but basically this character is the younger incarnation of Nogami’s sister’s dead fiancé and he has magic powers himself. Nakamura also plays this role in the films and, as stated above, is playing the part again this year. I can never successfully explain this series so just bloody watch it.

Nakamura in the 'Kamen Rider' series

Kamakari Kenta

Born: 17 February 1984 (age 31)

From: Osaka

Kamakari is an actor and singer who has appeared in many theatre productions, dramas and has been the lead singer of a band called Cocoa Otoko which formed in 2010 and disbanded in 2012. Kamakari has voiced anime characters and appeared on radio shows too. In 2007 he was briefly hospitalised but made a full recovery and carried on working.

Kamakari Kenta

Watch: ‘Princess Princess D’ (2006) – sorry to keep mentioning it but I do love it and it was how I discovered Nakamura and Kamakari so I am always going to love it. Kamakari plays Yutaka Mikoto who does not want to be a princess (hime) and also has a slight infatuation at times with Hanazono (check out those opening credits fangirls). He wants to be friends with Hanazono and with his fellow hime and eventually works out what is important after leaving the other two briefly.

Kamakari in the middle as Mikoto in 'Princess Princess D. Completing the sandwich is Fujita Rei and Sato.

Listen: A bit different here but I really think you should listen to Kamakari’s band Cocoa Otoko. The name literally means Chocolate Boys and came about from their love of chocolate and the fact that every member of the band is male. The other notable thing about the band is that they are all actors. They disbanded on 31 March 2012 after an 8 hour live show!

Cocoa Otoko with Kamakari front centre

There is a list of other things that you can watch such as TV dramas but Kamakari is a young legend of musical theatre now and I would love to see him perform on stage in Japan one day.