| Koji Yakusho News 7 (Nov. 7, 2005 -- Dec. 28, 2007) |
 |
| (From June 01 to December , 07) |
| Updated on January 1, 2007 |
| December 28 Here is Pymmik's new page for "Mt. Tsurugidake" December 26 The talk show by Koji Yakusho and the soundtrack music composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto ("SILK" and "BABEL") will be shown on NHK TV from 0:06 on January 13, 2008!! Here's the photo. December 26 I found the official website for this "Mt. Tsurugidake" On the news page, there are comments by Aoi Miyazaki, Koji Yakusho and Daisaku Kimura. December 25 Here is the info on Koji Yakusho's new film: "On Monday, Toei announced two additions to the movie "Tsurugidake: Ten no Ki." Koji Yakusho and Aoi Miyazaki are both joining a cast that stars Tadanobu Asano, Teruyuki Kagawa, Ryuhei Matsuda and Toru Nakamura. Based on a novel by Jiro Nitta, the film is the directorial debut of veteran cinematographer Daisaku Kimura. The story, set in the Meiji era, focuses on an exploration team in the Hida Mountains. Filming has been under way since April and is scheduled to continue until July 2008. Yakusho and Miyazaki will join around the end of March. The movie is expected to open in 2009." (Source: TOKYOGRAPH) Twitchfilm.net) "Sankei Sports" reports that Koji's role in this movie is that of a veteran former surveyor. IMDb: Tsurugidake: ten no ki The international title is "Mt. Tsurugidake". December 19 The "Zo no Senaka/The Back of the Elephant" DVD (The special edition and the standard edition) will be released on March 19, 2008. December 19 On December 18 the nominees for the 31st Japanese Academy Awards were announced. Koji was nominated for the the best actor award for "The Back of the Elephant". The other best actor award nominees are Sadao Abe, Ryo Kase ( Soredemo Bokuwa Yattenai), Joe Odagiri and HidetakaYoshioka. "Soredemo Bokuwa Yattenai" was nominated for the best film award and Masayuki Suo was nominated for the best director award. Here is the report about the 31st Japanese Academy Awards and here is the full list. December 13 Koji Yakusho started his career as a historical period TV drama star in the early 1980s. Here are two You Tube video clips:"Miyamoto Musashi" (1984) and "Sanbikiga Kiru" /The Three for the Kill (1987). December 10 If you want to watch Koji's TV commercials for AOKi, click here. You can watch three versions. November 30 Koji Yakusho's office publicly announced that Koji won the 2007 Best Dresser Award. Here are the photos. November 29 Together with six others, Koji Yakusho has won the 36th Best Dresser Award given by the Japan Men's Fashion Association. The award ceremony was held in Tokyo on Nov. 27 . Here is the site for those people who won the 2007 best dresser award . Click here for the photo taken at the ceremony. November 23 I just found the video clip site of the audience greeting session by the main cast members before the showing of "SILK" at the Tokyo Intetnational Film Festival on October 28. November 8 If you are interested in the storyline of "Hachiko:A Dog's story", click here. It is still in the pre-production stage, though. November 7 Here is the latest info on "Beast of Bataan". It is the REUTERS/Hollywood Reporter news under the title of "Christensen retained for Bataan Death March film" dated on Nov. 6. It says, Koji Yakusho, who played the father of Rinko Kikuchi's character in "Babel," is in negotiations to portray Homma. Willem Dafoe and William Hurt also are in talks to join the film. Regarding the film shooting time and place, it also says, "The independently financed production is eyeing a February start date in Australia. Fred Schepisi will direct from an adaptation of Lawrence Taylor's tome "A Trial of Generals."" Here's another news site on this film. November 7 I have just found a list of the cast members for this film on Hollywood.com: Koji Yakusho Masahura Homma William Hurt - Cast Charlie Hunnam - Cast Willem Dafoe - Cast Hayden Christensen - Cast On the Koji Yakusho page on the Hollywood com website, I have also found info on Koji's new film, entitled, "Hachiko: A Dog's Story", co-starring with Richard Gere. This film is listed below "Beast of Bataan". The IMDb site for this film is here. (November 3) If you click here, you will be able to see some nice photos of Koji and his wife, Saeko! (Thanks, ddp5373) (October 16) You can now see the seven-minute long interview with Koji Yakusho about "The Back of the Elephant on this site. You will see that Koji has become extremely slim! In some of the magazine interviews, Koji said that he had lost seven kilos before the shooting of this film and another five kilos by the time of the shooting of Yukihiro's death scene. (October 11) The cover page photo of the November issue of "MEN'S EX" is Koji Yakusho. Lots of magazines now put interviews with Koji about "The Back of the Elephant/Zo no Senaka". (September 28) If you want to see the latest photo of Koji, here it is. Koji greeted the audience from the stage after the premiere showing of "The Back of the Elephant" on September 27. (September 20) The opening ceremony of the first Japan International Contents Festival (CoFesta) was held on September 19 in Tokyo and Koji Yakusho as the 'main character' made a speech. You can see some photos of Koji. On September 4, Koji Yakusho was officially appointed to become "the symbolizing main character" for the first Japan International Contents Festival (CoFesta) to be held from September 19 to October 28. (September 1) It was announced today that "SILK" was selected as the closing film at the 20th Tokyo International Film festival to be held from October 20 to 28. (Source: Sports Hochi) (August 22) The official site for "Silk" is now open and we can see the trailer. (August 22) The DVD ( R 2 ) of "Argentine Hag" will be on sale on October 3, 2007. It has no English subtitles! (August 19) I have just set up the English translation page for the trailer for "The Back of the Elephant". (August 18) We can now see the trailer for "The Back of the Elephant/Zo no Senaka." Koji has lost weight ( 10 kilos) for this film. What a day today! We can now see the trailer for"SILK". (August 21:The Silk American trailer seems to have been put out a little early. It has been deleted from the yahoo movie site. Let's wait for a little while longer!) (August 16) Koji Yakusho's official website reported that on August 15, Koji finished shooting "The Back of the Elephant. Here's the photo of the bouqet Koji was given by the filming staff. (July 29) Koji Yakusho's official website has now got an English version with his biography and filmography. (July 6) Koji Yakusho has been chosen as the "main character" of the Japan International contents Festival. (September 19, 2007 to October 28) About this Festival, click here. About Koji Yakusho as the "main character", click here. (It's in Japanese.) (June 21) The press conference for "Zo no Senaka" was held today with the presence of director Satoshi Isaka, author Yasushi Akimoto, Koji Yakusho and singer/actress Miki Imai. Here is the photo. The filming will start in early July and end in late August. It is due to be released on October 27, 2007. This photo is also good! (June 6) Retribution/Sakebi by Kiyoshi Kurosawa will be shown during the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival. (June 2) Koji Yakusho's son, Ichiro, in a movie. If you want to see what Koji Yakusho's son Ichiro Hashimoto looks like, you should go to see a film, entitled,"Ore wa Kimino Tamenikoso Shinini Iku" (For Those We Love) starring Keiko Kishi and Satoshi Tokushige (directed by Taku Shinjo), which has been being shown nationwide in Japan since May 12. (The Japan Times Review) On May 8, Koji Yakusho fans became excited with the Nikkan Sports report that Ichiro Hashimoto (aged 21) had joined in the shooting of this film. The Nikkan Sports states that Ichiro's cameo role in this film is that of a Kamikaze airplane pilot appearing only in a couple of scenes. The Nikkan Sports also reported that Ichiro applied for the audition for this film two years back, in 2005 without mentioning his father, and that he passed it owing to his masculine outlook and very mature and polite attitude. In a recent interview with Nikkan Sports, Ichiro, now a university student, mentions that he was impressed by the fact of this film being based on the real story about the mother-like figure, Tome Torihama (played by Keiko Kishi) who used to run a cafeteria near the Kamikaze pilot air base at Chiran, in Kagoshima prefecture during the wartime. He therefore decided to apply for the audition for this film. Ichiro said that he had learned quite a lot through the shooting of this film, adding that he had long been interested both in movie staff work and in acting as his future career. On his official blog dated on May 9, under the title of "Our family's big happenings" Koji Yakusho referred to Ichiro's appearance in this film: His son has joined in a movie study club at his university and has been doing various jobs relating to film-making, such as directing, acting and lighting. On the same blog, Koji gave a rather stunning piece of info in relation to his cameo appearance in the film, "Kokoro/Heart" directed by Sho Tsukikawa, a Tokyo Art University post-graduate student. Everybody must have thought that he appeared in Tsukikawa's film at the request of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a professor at that university; but Koji said that director Kurosawa had actually been surprised to find Koji in this film. The truth was Sho Tsumikawa was a graduate from Ichiro's university and a senior member of the same movie study club. Sho Tsukikawa and Ichiro were friends and he came to visit Ichiro's house quite often. Therefore obviously Koji decided to appear in Tsukikawa's film at the request of Tsukikawa himself! Talking of Keiko Kishi, she starred in Koji's first film, "Hunter in the Dark" (1979). In the same year, Koji appeared in a film, "Eirei- tachi no Oenka" directed by Kihachi Okamoto as a Kamikaze pilot. (May 30) Koji Yakusho's next film seems to be "Pako to Mahou no Ehon" by Tetsuya Nakashima. Here is the info from TOKYOGRAPH. I wonder what sort of role Koji will play in this film! "Child model Ayaka Wilson has been chosen to play the heroine in "Pako to Mahou no Ehon" ("Pako and the Magical Picture Book") a fantasy film directed by Tetsuya Nakashima ("Kamikaze Girls," "Memories of Matsuko"). This is the first acting role for the half-Canadian, half-Japanese 9-year-old, who began modeling at the age of 3. The part is a difficult one - her character, Pako, has a memory limited to one day, due to an accident. The rest of the movie's cast includes Koji Yakusho, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Anna Tsuchiya, and Sadao Abe. Filming began on April 10. The movie is scheduled for a fall 2008 release." (May 9) On May 8 Koji Yakusho's official site announced that Koji has a small role in Sho Tsukikawa's film ,"Kokoro (Heart)" , which is due to be shown in Tokyo at the Euro Space movie theater in Shibuya, from May 19 to 24. This is one of six films directed by Graduate School students of the Film Departmen of the Tokyo National Art University, where Kiyoshi Kurosawa teaches as a professor. Koji appears in "Kokoro" briefly as a psychiatrist. Here is the website for the six films by the University's Film Department. Professor/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has written an introduction to those films, which were made to commemorate the graduation of this group of Graduate School students. (May 3) Koji's official blog is actually a part of his official website. Click here and you'll see the larger photo of him. Please enjoy thi super photo! (April 30) I was astonished to open the IMDb's "Beast of Bataan" site this morning. The cast of this movie was announced and I found that Koji Yakusho would perform the role of Gen. Masaharu Homma! On April 18 Koji's office announced that he had started shooting a new fim. IMDb still says that "Beast of Bataan" is in the "pre-production" stage. Has the production of this film really started? I wonder if it is true. One clue is that Koji Yakusho did not turn up at the Japan premiere of "Babel" which was held in Tokyo on April 26. Koji may be overseas now. (April 26) Koji Yakusho's official website has become the official blog. Please click the URL and you'll see his new photo. (April 21 ) Koji Yakusho's official website was renewed on April 18. The press have previously announced that Koji Yakusho's next film, "Zou no Senaka" (The Back of an Elephant) is due to be filmed in early July. However, the April 18 news is that there was actually another film planned prior to "Zou no Senaka" and that Koji had already participated in shooting this film. His site says that this other film will be released in 2008 and that Koji's role is a type that he has never performed before. Let's wait and see what sort of movie this new film will prove to be! (April 13) On April 10 the press announced that Koji Yakusho's next film would be "Zou no Senaka"(The Back of an Elephant), which is due to be released in Autumn 2007. Koji's role is that of a 48-year-old real estate company project department chief, named Yukihiro Fujiyama. The drama starts when Fujiyama is diagnosed as having lung cancer and is told that he will die within six months. Fujiyama declines any life enhancing treatment ... (April 7) Here is Koji's new TV commercial for AOKI. (March 30) An interview with Koji Yakusho on "Argentine Hag" (No video clip) (March 21) On March 13 Koji Yakusho's official website reported that the magazines listed below (with dates given in parentheses) would have feature pages on 'Babel.' As a matter of fact, Koji did mention on January 29 that he had been quite busy with magazine interviews for his new movies, 'Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai' (I Just Did Not Do It), 'Sakebi' (Scream or Retriution), 'Argentine Baba' (Argentine hag)and 'Babel'. I, therefore, expect that we will be able to read more about 'Babel' and Koji's thoughts on this movie in these magazines viz:- Switch (April 20) Pia Plus Act (April 2)@ Kinema Jumpo TV Life (April 25)@ Screen (April 21) and the 'Babel' special edition of Screen (April 18) Lee (April 7 ) Terebi Taro (March 24)@ (March 21) 'Argentine Hag' will be released on March 24 in Japan. Director Naoki Nagao, Koji Yakusho, Kyoka Suzuki and Maki Horikita will greet the audience at two movie theaters in Tokyo on the opening day. You can watch a video clip of the interview with Koji Yakusho and Kyoka Suzuki. Please click Ķ(1Mbps) under the picture. (March 9) Please enjoy the video clip of the press conference for "Babel" , which was held on March 7 in Tokyo. There is also the video clip for "Argentine Hag", when the cast and director Nagao greeted the audience from the stage at the time of the premire showing. Click the picture of Koji Yakusho, Kyoka Suzuki and Maki Horikita which is under the picture of "Babel" . Koji is on the cover of the April issue of a magazine named, "Straight". There's a five-page interview with him about "Retribution". (March 8) On March 7 the press conference for "Babel" was held in Tokyo with the following persons present; director Inarritu, Koji Yakusho, Rinko Kikuch and Satoshi Nikaido. Here's the photo. This site has got more detailed comments and photos. The site reports that each person was asked to write one word on the board to express the message of "Babel". Here are the words. (Japanese in parentheses). Director Inarritu; Compassion Koji Yakusho; Human ties (Kizuna) Rinko Kikchi; Forgiveness (Yurushi) Satoshi Nikaido; Soul (Tamashii) (March 1) Koji Yakusho did not attend the Oscar ceremony which was held on February 25 in Hollywood. Instead he attended the three greeting -the audience- sessions for his new starring movie, "Sakebi (Scream) /Retribution" directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa on February 24 in Japan. I was able to see Koji Yakusho greeting the audience immediately after this movie was over at a theater called TOHO Cinemas Kawasaki in Kanagawa prefecture, around 17:30. Here is the photo, taken at Cine Sezon Shibuya Theater in Shibuya, Tokyo on the afternoon of Feb. 24. I was enthralled by Koji's peformance in this horror movie and enjoyed Koji's speech to the theater audience after the showing. If you want to see the full trailer of this movie, click here .(Twitch film. net) (Feb.12) The BAFTA awards were announced! The best film was "The Queen". As for "Babel", Mr. Gustavo Santaolalla was awarded THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music. Congratulations! (Feb. 11) If you click here, you can watch Koji's short commercial movie for Chuo Mitsui Shintaku Bank. It is entitled, "Mr. Y's six dreams." It's all in Japanese but surely you can enjoy Koji's superb acting! Please click each of the columns, and wait!" (Feb.7) I was stunned to find this piece of info on Hollywood. com. site as well as Film Bridge International site. On his renewed website, Koji Yakusho recently mentioned that the plans for shooting a new film, which was supposed to be taking place during February and March had been sent back to the drawingboard. Does he mean this film, "Beast of Bataan"? Well, let's wait and see! (Feb.2) On the Twitch Film net, I found that Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Ningen Gokaku/License to Live" is to be shown in the UK, together with five other Japanese films. Koji Yakusho co-stars in this film as Fujimori. The six selected films are: Hush! (Ryosuke Hashiguchi) Sway/Yureru (Miwa Nishikawa) Hanging Garden/Kuchu-Teien (Toshiaki Toyoda) A Laughing Frog/Warau Kaeru (Hideyuki Hirayama) License to Live/Ningen Gokaku (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Canary/Kanaria (Akihiko Shiota) The Twitch Film net introduces the following comment: "Does modern Japanese cinema have more to it than ghosts, guns and gangsters? The 4th Japan Foundation touring film programme concentrates on the idea of family in modern Japan and aims to showcase an alternative to the Japanese films that we are usually exposed to in the West. From comedy, to drama, to social criticism, the programme tries to portray the change in attitudes and relationships in today'sf Japanese society. " (February 1) On his official website, (renewed on Jan.29), Koji Yakusho recollected his first meeting with director Inarritu: (Pymmik's unofficial translation) "While I was staying in Los Angeles for the filming of 'Memoirs of Geisha /SAYURI' (2004), I received a word that director Inarritu wanted to meet me, so we met at a bar in a hotel in Santa Monica. At that time he explained to me the rough synopsis of his new film. Its screenplay had not yet been completed then, but to understand the charm of that film, his explanation was more than enough. He said, "Your role is that of a father who has a deaf-mute daughter. He only appears only at the first and last scenes of the film, but he must be a person who makes his presence felt. Since I liked one of his films, 'Amores Perros', and was very impressed by his enthusiasm toward this new film, as well as his personality and his outlook (not to mention his hairstyle, which gave people the impression that he must have just got up), I told him at once that I would like to appear in his film. This new film, Babel, will be at last released in Japan during 'Golden Week' (May). This is a film with the underlying theme that in this seemingly hopeless world where one person cannot understand another, we can still find a small ray of hope. It is a great pleasure to me that the film, the staff, (especially Rodrigo who is an excellent photographer) and the main cast ( including Ms Kikuchi in the Japan part) are all highly regarded." (I have posted the same translation on my Babel site.) (January 3, 2007) The Koki Mitani page on the PARCO Theater website recently announced that the English version of University of Laughs is due to be performed in the West End of London under the title of "The Last Laugh" from March, 2007. The page also reports that prior to the West End performance, some performances are due to be held for a short period at some cities near London. From 13th to 17th February, The Last laugh is due to be performed at Milton Keynes Theatre. (December 3) The cinema cafe.net has recently announced that the "Babel" release date in Japan will be in early May, 2007. I am most interested to see if the Japanese poster of this film contains the photo of Koji Yakusho or not. (December 2) This is what I wrote for my "Babel "page on November 14. I am repeating it here for those who may not have seen it previously: Today I received the large format photobook of "Babel" published by Taschen from Amazon. On page 239 of the book, I found director Inarritu's very impressive comment on Koji Yakusho: "Chieko's story is not about pathological sex but about the need for affection. When words are not alternative, and one can't touch or be touched by them, the body is transformed into only tool of expression. To be able to suggest and support Chieko's complex past with a couple of scenes, I needed a similarly complex but profoundly human and emphathetic presence. In a world in which acting styles seem to run towards shrieks of exaggeration, it was a pleasure to find myself with an actor whose spirit, reliability, and elegance are indicative of an economy of movement that very few in the world succeed in mastering. Koji Yakusho's disciplined and human warmth lent dignity to Chieko's story. The actor's micromovements, from lifting an eyelid to holding up a hand, make all the difference." On the last page of this book, I found the photo of the final scene where the father (whom Koji plays) embraces his daughter, Chieko, (played by Rinko Kikuchi) in the twilight on the balcony of a skyscraper building in Tokyo. I felt utterly moved to see Koji's sad but dignified look and his way of holding her; for in his look, I sensed his various emotions, such as affection, gentleness, concern, and pain all at the same time. Koji's eye expressions are always effective and unforgettable. (November 23) The Twitch film site reports that the official website of "Sakebi/Retribution" by Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been set up. The film tag is "Fear of the forgotten past". (Novemver 21) TheTokyo FILMeX site put the video clip of the part of Koji Yakusho's greeting and the Q & A session with Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Here are more photos of Koji. (November 20) On Nov.19 (Sun), Koji Yakusho greeted the audience from the stage with Kiyoshi Kurosawa at the Japanese premiere of "Sakebi/Retribution" at the 2006 Tokyo FILMex. Here is the report by Jason Gray. You can see the nice photo of Koji and K.Kurosawa on that site. (November 13) The official website of Koji's latest film, "Argentine Babaa/Hag" has been set up. You can see a short clip of the film. The scene where Koji and Kyoka Suzuki dance the tango on the rooftop is superb! (October 11) Two sheets of special souvenir stamps about Japanese Movies went on sale on October 10. Koji Yakusho's "Lost Paradise/Shitsurakuen" is selected as one of the 20 movies since prewar days. (August 31) Three of Koji Yakusho's latest films are to be shown at three international film festivals viz: 1. "The Uchoten Hotel" by Koki Mitani at the Montreal Film Festival 2. "Sakebi" by Kiyoshi Kurosawa at the Venice Film Festival 3. "Babel" by A. Inarritu at the Toronto Film Festival. I had wished that Koji would be able to attend these festivals in person but his office announced yesterday that due to the filming of "Argentine Hag" by Naoki Nagao, it would only be the Toronoto Film Festival that he can attend. (August 28) I just found the photo site of "Retribution/Sakebi". (August 25) The official website of "Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai" by Masayuki Suo has been set up! It is not completely ready yet, but you can have a glimpse of Koji as a lawyer, Masayoshi Arakawa. (August 2) On July 30, the Sport Nippon reported that Koji Yakusho and Kyoka Suzuki would star in a new film entitled, "Aruzentin Babaa" (Argentine hag) based on a novel by Japanese novelist Banana Yoshimoto's "Arugentin Babaa". (July 29) Koji Yakusho's new film with Kiyoshi kurosawa, entitled "Sakebi"(scream or shout or shriek) , which was shot during January and February in 2006 has been selected as an "Out of competition Midnight" movie for the Venice Film Festival. Here's a picture of one scene from the film. Koji seems to play the role of a police detective. (July 9) Koji Yakusho's official website was renewed on July 4 and it says that Koji finished filming Masayuki Suo's new film, "Soredemo Bokuwa Yattenai" in early July. It also says that Koji will join in making a new film towards the end of this July! (June 19) Koji is now filming Masayuki Suo's new production, entitled, "Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai" ("All the same I have not done it"). This is director Suo's first film after "Shall we dansu?" in 1996. Koji's acting in "Babel" seems to have impacted on the audience at Cannes. Here is one of those reports. (June 5) A photo of Koji and his wife, Saeko at the 59th Cannes Film Festival! (May 29) Alejandra Gonzales Inarritu won the Best Director award, and "Babel" won the Ecumenical Jury award at the 59th Cannes Film Festival. (Koji Yakusho's "Eureka" directed by Shinji Aoyama won the Ecumenical Jury award in 2000.) (May 24) You can see some photos of Koji Yakusho and Bruce Willis at Cannes here. As expected, the American RJ and Japanese RJ got together at Cannes on May 21! (May 15) The DVD of "The Uchoten Hotel" (the special edition and the standard edition) will be on sale from August 11, 2006. It has the English subtitles. (April 29) On April 24, 2006, the list of the Japanese cast who have dubbed the voices of the characters of the US animation film, "Over the Hedge" was announced. And guess who has dubbed the Racoon RJ voiced by Bruce Willis. The answer is Koji Yakusho! Reportedly, Koji Yakusho agreed to do the job of dubbing, after accepting an eager request by DreamWorks, the production company, who has decided on Koji Yakusho for the reasons that his age and quality of voice were close to those of Bruce Willis, and because Koji is already internationally well-known. Koji, who finished the dubbing session in mid-April, commented, saying, " I made a great effort to convey the atmosphere of RJ created by Mr. Bruce Willis but actually, I found it rather difficult. I do love RJ's amiable character, though." "Over the Hedge" will be screened during the 2006 Cannes Film Festival as one of the "Out of Competition" movies. The April 24 issue of Sports Nippon newspaper reports that American RJ, Bruice Willis and Japanese RJ, Koji Yakusho may get together in Cannes. (April 21) Following "Unagi/The Eel " (1997) by Shohei Imamura, "Eureka" (2000) by Shinji Aoyama, and "Akaihashi no Shitano Nuruimizu/Warm Water under a Red Bridge" (2001) also by Shohei Imamura , "Babel" by Inarritu has become Koji Yakusho's fourth film to be entered for the competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Koji (who learnt of the good news through an e-mail from director Inarritu), commented, "Even at the screenplay stage, I felt that 'Babel' would become one of the eternal masterpieces of the cinema. Starting from its showing at Cannes, 'Babel' will be sure to impress lots of people throughout the world." Incidentally, Koji himself will be visiting Cannes for the showing of "Babel" which is currently scheduled for Tuesday May 23. Source: Sankei Sports Newspaper, April 21, 2006 (April 20) "Babel" by Alejandro Gonzalez INARRITU was selected as one of the 19 competition movies for the 59th Cannes Film Festival. Zhang Ziyi, who played Sayuri in "Memoirs of a Geisha" has been appointed as a member of the juries for the competition! Here is the list of the members of the competition jury. WONG Kar Wai, President Chinese director Monica BELLUCCI - Italian actress Helena BONHAM CARTER - English actress Lucrecia MARTEL -Argentinean director ZHANG Ziyi - Chinese actress Samuel L. JACKSON - American actor Patrice LECONTE - French director Tim ROTH - English actor Elia SULEIMAN - Palestinian director (April 9 ) Three kinds of DVDs of "Memoirs of a Geisha (SAYURI) will be on sale from July 5, 06. (March 31) On a site of a French interview with Michael Pitt, there are some photos from "Silk" where you can see Koji Yakusho as Hara Jubei, Michael Pitt as Herve Joncour, and Sei Ashina as a Japanese villlage girl. I was totally enthralled by Koji as Hara Jubei. (March 20) Since February 27 Koji Yakusho has been joining in filming of "SILK", both at an open set of an Edo period hamlet, specially construted in Iriyamabe, and at the Baba house museum in Matsumoto city. In addition, while he was staying in Nagano prefecture, he was interviewed for a local radio program on March 13. (March 7) On March 5, after the first showing of "The Uchoten Hotel" at SUKARAZA Theater in Ginza, Tokyo, director Koki Mitani, together with Koji Yakusho, Takako Matsu, Keiko Toda and Katsuhisa Namase appeared on the stage to greet the audience. Their purpose was to celebrate the fact that this movie had gained over 5 billion yen box-office income by the end of February. The total audience was reported to be 4.11 million persons and the actual box-office income had already reached 5.5 billion yen by the end of the first week of March. Koji Yakusho's speech at SUKARAZA Theater made the audience laugh. He said that he was extremely happy to find that "The Uchoten Hotel" had exceeded last year's no.1 box-office income achieved by the Japanese anime movie titled, "The Pocket Monster"( 4.4 billion yen) , adding that he was confident now about his continuing to work as an actor ! For the details and the photos of this event, please click here. ( March 4) On March 3, Koji Yakusho's official website announces that Koji is now joining the filming of "SILK", and that on March 5, he will greet the audience from the stage at the Hibiya Sukaraza movie theater, after the first showing session of "Uchoten Hotel" , together with Koki Mitani, Takako Matsu, Keiko Toda, and Katsuhisa Namase. Their purpose is to celebrate that this movie has gained five billion yen box-office income and that the total number of the audience has exceeded 3.5 million as of last weekend. That was the report from the official website of "The Uchoten Hotel." (Feb.7) The City of Sakata in Yamagata prefecture is now recruiting 56 extras for the filming of gSILK". @ Date: March 21 (Tues) Place: In the vicinity of the Sankyo Dock area in Sakata city Extras needed : * Boatmen: 9 *Town's folks: 10 males (10 to 60 years old) 12 females ( 10 to 60 years old) * Dock workers: 25 men (20 to 50 years old) Application deadline: February 28 Info & application: Sakata Tourist & Souvenir Sales Association (Feb.4) According to the Ropeofsilicon.com site, the "Babel" release date seems to be October 6, 2006. (Limited release) (February 4) Koji Yakusho's "Lakeside Murder Case", directed by Shinji Aoyama was supposed to be shown on FUJI TV from 9:00 p.m. on February 3. This was quite a timely choice, since February is usually a month for school entrance examinations in Japan. But instead of this movie, "Mina no Ie (Everyman's house)" directed by Koki Mitani was shown! This was a timely choice in another sense: Koki Mitani's "Uchoten Hotel"(starring Koji Yakusho) , which started from January 14, has become a big hit, so Fuji TV must have decided to show Mr Mitani's former two movies, "Mina no Ie" and "Rajio no Jikan ( to be shown on February 4) Koji Yakusho fans, however, were not so disappointed; "Lakeside Murder Case" is due to be shown on another day and "Uchoten Hotel" 's big hit is a great joy! (Jan.27) Asked to select five Koji Yakusho movies for biginners by the webmaster of the HOGA (Japanese movies) Central site, I have selected, "Shall we dansu?", "The eel / Unagi", "Lost Paradise/Shitsurakuen", "CURE" and "EUREKA". Please click here for the site. (Jan. 23) Here is another confirmation of Koji Yakusho's appearing in "Silk". (Jan.10) Koji Yakusho's office hasn't announced anything about it yet, but Koji seems likely to appear in a film adaptation of Alessandro Barrico's bestselling novel 'SILK' with Keira knightley and Michael Pitt. His role seems to be that of a Japanese local baron, named Hara Kei: On January 6, the Yamagata Newspaper reported that the filming of this "SILK" would be held from March 20 in Sakata City in Yamagata prefecture, adding that Koji Yakusho and actress, Miki Nakatani are due to appear in this film, too. Please check "Silk" on the IONCINEMA site. (Jan. 4) According to Koji Yakusho's official website, which was renewed on December 26, 05, Koji is due to start filming a new film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa; it seems to be the 4th J Horror Theater film after "Rin-ne". (January 1, 2006) January 1 is Koji Yakusho's birthday. He was born in Isahaya, Nagasaki prefecture on January 1, 1956, so he has just become 50 years old. Many happy returns of the day, dear Yakusho-san! (Dec.15) The Japan Times put the review on "Memoirs of a Geisha/SAYURI" today. (Dec.13) The official website of the "The Uchoten Hotel" was renewed today. It is breathtakingly beautiful! Of course you see some photos of Koji Yakusho as handsome deputy manager of Hotel, Avanti. Please click here. (Dec. 7) The press reported today that Ken Watanabe married an actress Kaho Minami (41) on December 3. Reportedly they registered their marrige on December 3. Kaho Minami is also a devorcee. She is a very attractive actress. Their message to the press sounds very impressive. Here's the news site. (The Japan Times) ------------------------------------ If you want to know the latest info. on Japanese movies, please visit this great website. You will be able to know something about Koji Yakusho, too. http://www.hogacentral.com/News.html (November 26) On November 25, one of the Japanese daily newspapers,"Sports Nippon" had an article about 'Babel' and Koji Yakusho. Please reads Pymmik's translation. (November 14, 2005) On 12th November I went to the 2005 Nakadai Theater Festival, held at the Mumei-juku acting studio at Tatsuya Nakadai s house, in Setagaya-ku, in Tokyo. During the festival session from November 4 to 13,two plays were performed :one 45- minute play by four actors, and another 40- minute play by a single actress were performed. All the stage performers were former Mumei-juku actors and the director, Mai Okamoto was also a former Mumei-juku actress. How I enjoyed those plays! The venue was at the small-sized studio for rehearsals. The distance between the stage and the audience was very close, only about one meter. All of the performers are now noted actors and actresses, Kumiko Komiya, Azusa Watanabe, Susumu Kawamura, Naoko Ema and Kanan Nakahara; but they came back to their old rehearsal studio to show their acting to Mumei-juku fans. Tatsuya Nakadai s house stands on the top of a hill and the slope up to it has been nicknamed,eMumei-zakaf or ethe unknown performers' slopef. At the bottom of the Nakadai Theater's red-brick elegant-looking building, there is a blue metal plaque with words composed by Tatsuya Nakadai and his wife, the late Yasuko Miyazaki. The inscription is really moving! Here is my translation: Performers, young and unknown run up this steep slope, solely with one purpose in mind. Here remain the recollections of younger days. People call this slope, eMumei-zakaf or ethe unknown performersf slopef Mumei-juku started in 1975 Tatsuya Nakadai & Ryu Tomoe (Pen name of Yasuko Miyazaki) . Koji Yakusho was one of the unknown performers, years back and many times he must have climbed up the slope solely with one purpose in mind, trying to become a versatile actor like his acting teacher, Tatsuya Nakadai. (November 7, 2005) Koji Yakusho fans have long wanted to see photos of Koji in his new film, "The Uchoten (Ecstasy) Hotel" , which is due to be released nationwide from January 14, 2006. Now we can see quite a fanny one of Koji as deputy manager of Hotel Avanti. What is he wearing on his head, I wonder? He must be trying to fulfil his duties very hard! https://ssl.toho-movie.jp/senden/uchoten.html |
 |
| Koji's current TV CM sites |
 |
| Koji Yakusho from "The Sallus" (Oct., 2007) |
| You Tube: Koji's former CM sites |