 |
| Created on April 2, 2011 Updated on January 28, 2012 |
| January 28 The full trailer for "Chronicle of My Mother" is now available. January 23 Tokyograph; The 35th Japan Academy Prize Winners were anounced on January 16. Shigemichi Sugita's "The Last Ronin / Saigono Chushingura / starring Koji Yakusho and Koichi Sato won 12 prizes. January 18 The official site for "Chronicle of My Mother" announced that Koji Yakusho was nominated as 'the Best Actor' at the 6th Asian Film Award for his performance for "Chronicle of My Mother". January 18 The premiere for Woodman and the Rain" was held today in Tokyo with the presence of Director Shuich Okita, Koji Yakusho, Shun Oguri, Masato Ibu and Kanji Furudate. Here's the photo site. January 9, 2012 The official site for "The Woodsman and The Rain" has been updated and we can see more amusing scene photos. It's fun to see those photos. We can now tell the other cast members' roles. January 1, 2012 Masato Harada's "Chronicle of My Mother / Waga haha no ki" will be shown during the Palm Spring International Film Festival" (January 5-16,2012). December 25, 2011 Movie director Yoshimitsu Morita, who directed "Shitsurakuen / Lost Paradise starring Koji Yakusho ans Hitomi Kuroda, passed away on December 23 at the age of 61. The funeral wake and the funeral were held on December 24 and 25 respectively in Tokyo. Here's the Tokyograph news about his death. December 23 "Rengo Kanatai Shirei Chokan Isproku Yamamoto" starring Koji Yakusho started showing nationwide today. Koji Yakusho and the main cast members greeted the audience from the stage at Marunouchi Toei movie theater in Ginza, Tokyo. Here is the photo gallery site. December 15 Reportedly Koji Yakusho has won the Best Actor award for "Woodsman and the Rain" at the 2011 Dubai International Film Festival. December 12 We can now see the full trailer for "The Woodsman and the Rain". December 3 The official website for "Isoroku Yamamoto" has been updated. You can now see some more new photos and the trailer. October 30 "The Woodsman and the Rain" won the Special Jury prize at 24th Tokyo International Film Festval. Here is the list of winners. October 25 TokyoGraph reports that Koji Yakusho has just started filming a new film with director Masayuki Suo and actress, Masayo Kusakari, Suo's wife. "Actress Kusakari Tamiyo (46) will star in the next film by director Suo Masayuki. Actor Yakusho Koji (55) has also been cast, making this the first on-screen reunion for the three of them since Suofs hit gShall We Dance?h in 1996." October 20 The teaser trailer for "Chronicle of My Mother" is now available on the official website. October 17 The official website for "Kitsutsuki to Ame" / The Woodsman and the Rain" has been updated and the trailer for this film can be seen. October 15 The poster for "Chronicle of My Mother"/ "Waga Haha no Ki" has just been posted on the Internet". The catch-phrase on the poster is "Tatoe Wasurete-shimattemo, kitto Aidake ga Nokoru" (Even we have lost our memory, certainly love remains.) The film will be shown nationwide in early May , 2012. October 5 A TV drama, starring Koji Yakusho and directed by Masato Harada, entitled "Shoshu/Early Autumn" is to be shown on October 8 on TBS from 15:00 to 16:54. Here's the official website for this drama. September 24 "Kitsutsuki to Ame / The Woodsman and the Rain" is to be shown from 14:30 on October 23 (Sun) at Roppongi Hills, Tokyo during the Tokyo International Film Festival. September 21 "Chronicle of My Mother" will be shown during the 47th Chicago International Film Festival (Oct 6 - 20 ) as one of the competition films. September 20 The 24th Tokyo International Film Festival office has just announced that "Kitsutsuki to Ame" has been selected as one of the competion films. Reportedly "Kitsutsuki to Ame" is the only Japanese film selected for the competition in this festival. September 12 On September 8, the 2011 Busan International Film Festival announced that "Chronicle of My Mother" directed by Masato Harada would be the closing film for the Festival. September 7 Here's the English translation site (Kyodo news) of the press conference which was held in Kyoto on September 1. September 4 A press conference with the presence of Masato Harada and Koji Yakusho, was held in Kyoto on Sempember 1 to report that "Chronicle of My Mother" won the Montreal World Film Festival Jury Prize. You can see some good photos of Harada and Yakusho below the article. August 28 Director Masato Harada's "Chronicle of My Mother", starring Koji Yakusho, won the Special Grand Prix of the Jury at the 35th Montreal World Film Festival. Director Masato Harada and Koji Yakusho were not able to attend the official showing session on the 27th and the award ceremony on the 28th: Director Harada has been working with Koji Yakusho in Kyoto for the shooting of a TV drama, which is based on a short story by Yasushi Inoue, who also wrote the novel on which "Chronicle of My Mother" is based. This TV drama entitled "Shoshu (Early Autumn) is due to be shown on October 8 on TBS in Japan. August 23 Director Masato Harada's site has announced that the DVD for "Kamikaze Taxi" will be on sale on November 2, 2011. The official site for this DVD has just opened. If you click here, you will see the wonderful trailer and lots of photos of the main cast members. August 13 The official site for "Rengo Kantai Shirei Chokan Yamamto Isoroku" has been updated and we can now see the the teaser trailer and the making of the fil. August 9 Prior to the 35th Montreal World Film Festival, Koji Yakusho's "13 assassins" and "The Last Ronin" were shown during the Montreal Fantasia International Film Festival (July 14- August 7). Descriptions on each film are quite impressive. August 3 Masato Harada's film, "Waga haha no Ki " starring Koji Yakusho will be shown during the 35th Montreal World Film Festival (August 18-28). Here's the TOKYOGRAPH news. The official site for "Waga Haha no Ki" has been updated and we can now read the comments by Director Masato Harada and Koji Yakusho in regard to the entry to the Montreal World Film Festival. August 2 Here's a picture of Koji Yakusho and Shun Oguri in "Kitsutski to Ame" directed by Shuichi Okita. Reportedly this film will be released in February, 2012. July 6 "Saigo no Chushingura" will be shown on September 10 during the 15th Adelaid Japanese Film Festival under the title of "The Last Ronin". June 15 The other cast-members for "Rengo Kantai Shirei Chokan , Isoroku Yamamoto" have just been announced. Here's the English translation by Tokyograph: Tamaki Hiroshi joins Yakusho Koji in Yamamoto Isoroku film Tamaki Hiroshi (31) will play a key role in the big-budget movie gRengo Kantai Shirei Chokan: Yamamoto Isoroku,h it has been revealed. The movie, which was announced in May, stars Yakusho Koji (55) as Yamamoto Isoroku, the commander-in-chief of Japanfs Combined Fleet during the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. Tamaki is taking on the part of Shindo, a reporter at a newspaper called the Tokyo Nippou. At the time of the war, newspapers held a huge amount of influence, and the prevailing opinion was to go to war against the United States. However, Shindo meets Yamamoto for an interview, and as he listens to Yamamotofs desire to avoid a war with the United States, he changes his own mind and becomes conflicted about his stance on the war. Kagawa Teruyuki (45) will play Shindofs boss at the Tokyo Nippou. Other reporters are being played by Masuoka Toru (54) and Hakamada Yoshihiko (37). Seto Asaka (34) will play the proprietress of a small restaurant that the reporters frequent, and Tanaka Lena (31) is a dancer who is another one of the restaurantfs regular customers. gRengo Kantai Shirei Chokan: Yamamoto Isorokuh opens in theaters on December 23, 2011. The official site for this film has just been set up. If you click the "News" you can see an image of Koji Yakusho as Isoroku Yamamoto together with images of Hiroshi Tamaki and Teruyuki Kagawa. May 15 Koji Yakusho's new film has just been announced. The Japanese title is "Rengo Kantai Shirei Chokan: Yamamoto Isoroku". Here's TOKYOGRAPH' May 14th report. April 25 Tokyograph: The awards for the 2nd Nippon Theater Staff Film Festival were presented on Sunday. A total of 881 staff members from 365 cinemas nationwide sent in their votes, resulting in Nakashima Tetsuyafs gKokuhakuh taking the grand prize. The moviefs star, Matsu Takako (33), was chosen as Best Actress as well. Yakusho Koji (55) was named Best Actor for his role in gSaigo no Chushingura,h but he was absent from the presentation ceremony because of filming for another project. Kiritani Kenta (31) was voted as Best Supporting Actor for gBECK,h while Kiki Kirin (68) picked up Best Supporting Actress for gAkunin.h The title of Best Director went to Sono Sion for gTsumetai Nettaigyoh (gCold Fishh), and Best Screenplay went to Takahashi Izumi for gSolanin.h Yasukawa Goro received Best Music for gChonmage Purin.h April 14 Reportedly, Takashi Miike's 3D film, "Ichimei", starring Ebizo Ichikawa, (which is the remake of Masaki Kobayashi's "Seppuku / Harakiri" (1962), starring Tatsuya Nakadai) has been selected for entry in the official competition at the 64th Cannes International Film Festival. Koji Yakusho appears in this film in the role of Kageyu Saito, which was played by Rentaro Mikuni in "Seppuku" in 1962. April 9 Koji Yakusho's new film has just been announced. It is "Kitsutsuki to Ame" (Woodpecker and Rain ) directed by Shuichi Okita. Shun Oguri costars with him. The film is due to be released this year. Yakuho's role is that of a 60-year-old woodcutter, named Katsuhiko! Tokyograph gives the news in detail. April 7 Following the American poster and trailer for "13 assassins", the UK poster and trailer have been publicized. This film is due to be released in the UK from May 6. April 5 ,2011 Koji Yakusho's official site has announced that "13 Assassins" will be shown at the 2011 Dallas Film Festival and that the film will start being shown in some US cities from April 29. |
 |
| US poster for "13 Assassins" |
| Koji Yakusho News 12 (April 5, 2011 ~ |
 |
 |