| October 13, 2005 On October 12, the official website of SAYURI listed up the titles of the magazines that included the interviews with Ziyi Zang (20), Ken Watanabe (20), Koji Yakusho (11) and Kaori Momoi (2), concerning SAYURI. Figures in bracket show the issue number of the magazines. Here is the list of magazines that include the intervews with Koji. Figures in bracket show the issue date of those magazines: 1. Nikkei Entertainment (Nov.4) 2. Crea (Nov.7) 3. DVD Data (Nov.20) 4. Kinema Jumpo (Nov.21) 5. Screen (Nov.21) 6. FLIX (Nov.21) 7. BS Fan (Nov.21) 8. DVD & Video Vision (Nov.21) 9. Shukan Josei (November) 10. Rantier (Dec.1) 11. Va (Dec.20) ======================================== October 12 The venue of the November 29 world premiere of gMemoirs of a Geisha /SAYURIh in Tokyo! On October 10, Buena Bista announced that the world premiere of gMemoirs of a Geisha/ Sayurih is due to be held at Kokugikan,ithe national sumo wrestling stadium.) on November 29. Taking into consideration the fact that this film is supposed to be set in Kyoto, they say that they have decided on the national sumo wrestling stadium because this venue has the Japanese atmosphere. Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Koji Yakusho, Michelle Yeoh, Li Gong, Kaori Momoi, Youki Kudoh and Suzuka Ohgo will attend the premiere. http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/index.html September 23 IMDb Message Board for Koji Yakusho After the Japanese trailer version of the Memoirs of a Geisha was shown on the internet, I have learned that there are some controversial opinions concerning the image of Nobu. Therefore I have set up a thread entitled, gNobuh on the IMDb Koji Yakusho message board so that those who are interested in this subject can exchange their views on Nobu. I also set up a thread on Babel there. http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0945131/board/threads/ I am afraid that you will need registration in order to read the message board. Please click here first. September 19 The latest issue of "The Weekly Pia" magazine has a four-page introduction to "Memoirs of a Geisha / SAYURI", which includes a synopsis, explanations on the background of the film setting, with lots of photos from the film, and the brief interviews with the seven main characters. I translated Koji's interview into English on my SAYURI page. His view on Nobu is quite exciting. He also tells how long it took him to finish Nobu's burnt-scar make-up! August 25 We can now see the trailer of "Memoirs of a Geisha", (and hear what Nobu actually says in that scene.) http://www.movies.co.jp/sayuri/ August 25 I have just seen a trailer of gMemoirs of a Geisha/ Sayurih in an entertainment program called, gMezamashi Terebih on Fuji Television. Each scene is extremely beautiful, like a fairy tale picture scroll. There were Japanese subtitles and I was able to hear Chiyo (She looks so cute!), Sayuri ,and the Chairman speak English. Their English sounded pretty good, although I noticed a slight Chinese accent in Zhangfs remarks and also caught a slight Japanese accent when Ken Watanabe and Suzuka Ohgo were speaking. At last I have managed to see Nobu on the screen for the first time! His burnt scar on the right side of his face looked much larger, deeper and more tragic than I had expected. Since Nobu was wearing yukata ( light summer kimono), the scene was probably at the hot spring shot episode towards the end the film. It was a great pity that his voice could not be heard then but the Japanese subtitles read : gOre wa omaega hoshiindah, which means gI do want you for myself" (Nobu actually says, "Can't you see that I want you for myself?). That scene was very brief but I managed to catch a glimpse of Kojifs expression which seemed to reveal his inwardly subdued passion toward Sayuri as well as its intensity. On seeing Nobe in this scene, I strongly felt that Nobu is something like gsalt", which accentuates the taste of the film. August 12 Koji Yakusho's official website message was renewed on August 10 and contains the following items of news: Now the time has come to be able to report the whole aspect of gThe Uchoten Hotelh. This film is due to be released at Toho cinemas nationwide from January 14, 2006. The names of the splendid cast, not previously disclosed except for Koji Yakusho and Takako Matsu can now be made known, viz:-- Koji Yakusho, Takako Matsu, Koichi Sato, Shingo Katori Ryoko Shinohara, Keiko Toda, Katsuhisa Namase Kumiko Aso, YOU, Jo Odagiri Takuzo Kadono, Susumu Terashima, Kazuyuki Asano, Yoshimasa kondo Jiei Kawahira, Keiko Horiuchi, Zen Kajiwara, Masanori Ito Mieko Harada, Toshiaki Karasawa, Masahiko Tsugawa, Shiro Ito, Toshiyuki Nishida Now, how does that list of cast members strike you? The setting of the film is a hotel. The time is from just after 10:00 p.m. to just after midnight on a New Yearfs Eve. It is a two-hour-long, real-time story. The major characters have been increased up to 23. There are the nine episodes through which these people weave their way, rushing towards the year-end count-down party, complicatedly interacting one with another. The structure is extremely elaborate, which reminds us of arabesque art, and the under-plots are, so to speak, webbed all around the episodes. It is a non-stop comedy, in which not even a single scene becomes estagnantf. Letfs look forward to the release of gThe Uchoten Hotelh. July 28 It has turned out that Koji Yakusho will appear in the 2006 Hollywood movie,"Babel", directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Koji fans were excited to hear the news! Reportedly the filming is due to start in October in Tokyo. July 13 At last there has been a press release about Koji's new film, "The Uchoten Hotel or the ecstasy hotel". Koji's role is that of Deputy Manager of a first-rate hotel in Tokyo. Koji's fans are so excited to learn that Koki Mitani is both director and scenario writer for this film. Now Mitani has so far written the scenarios of "Warai No Daigaku/University of Laughs", a stage play called "Ganryujima" , and a TV serial drama:"Aikotoba Wa Yuki", but he has never actually directed Koji's films. This will be director Mitani's third film, following"Rajio no Jikan or Radio Time (English title:"Welcome Back, Mr. Mcdonald" and "Minna No Ie" (English Title: "Everyone's House". The romantic comedy, "The Uchoten Hotel" seems to be a a film happening chronologically , which of course means that the story proceeds as time passes. The setting of the story is a gorgeous hotel on New Year' Eve, two hours before midnight. July 12 A set of two DVDs of "Tampopo" and its making is due to be on sale from September 22, 2005. The DVD of the making version is really worth seeing. You can see lots of interesting scenes concerning young Koji! July 5 Koji's official website introduced an interesting site where we can see some photos of Koji recording his narration at a Nihon TV studio for a five minute program, entitled, "Tokyo Biyori"(Fine days in Tokyo). "Tokyo Biyori" sponsored by a subway company, Tokyo Metro, introduces a township around a subway station every Thursday evening. Koji is also interviewed about his view of Tokyo. June 30 Koji Yakusho's official website was renewed today, and it says that Koji will start filming a new film with a gorgeous cast on July 1, 2005. The title of the film will be announced soon. May 30 "Warai no Daigaku/University of Laughs" is due to be shown at the 2005 New York Asian Film Festival in June. Here is the URL: http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff05-university.htm May 28 Koji Yakushofs official website announced on May 27 that the TV drama, gToride-naki-mono g(A person without a fortress) first broadcast by TV Asahi on April 2, 2004@had won the 31st Broadcast-Culture (Hoso-Bunka) award, and furthermore that Koji himself had won the same award for his starring role in this drama. The scenario of this TV drama was written by Mr. Hisashi Nozawa who committed suicide in his office in June 2004, rather eimpulsively,' so it is reported. Incidentally, Koji appeared in some of Mr. Nozawafs TV dramas, and two of his stage plays, i.e. gKoibito tachino Mijikai Yoruh(1993) and gFutatabi-no-koih (2003). Koji's office staff comment that it is indeed regrettable that Mr. Nozawa died last year. At his funeral, held on July 4 last year, Koji gave one of the funeral orations. May 20@ On May 18, the message page of Koji Yakusho's official website has been renewed to give various pieces of information on Koji: 1) The showing of gLoreleih starring Koji Yakusho is coming to an end in Japan, bringing in 2.4 billion yen since its release in Japan on March 5.@Kojifs office is pleased to receive quite a lot of letters praising this film. 2) Koji is now in Los Angeles to work on gMemoirs of a Geishah voice dubbing. 3) Koji is scheduled to appear in a Japanese film in summer, and in autumn, he will join in some filming overseas. April 8, 05 "Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean" will be shown overseas. Toho Distributor announces that " Lorelei" is due to be released in six countries: France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Thailand; and that they are now in the final stage of negotiation with more than 20 other countries. Among those countries are: Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Rwanda, Cameroon, Chad, Algeria, Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, the UK, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. April 3, 2005 Koji Yakusho's new film, gLakeside Murder Casehdirected by Shinji Aoyama, which was released from January 22 this year in Japan is due to be shown at The Philadelphia Film Festival on April 11 and 12, 2005. This film was shot from early May till early June, 2003 in a villa built for this film near Lake Saiko and Lake Motosuko in Yamanashi Prefecture. After this film, Koji started rehearsing the stage play, gFutatabi no Koih (Falling in Love Again). April 1, 2005 The American version of "Shall We Dance?" starring Richard Gere will be released nationwide in Japan from April 23 (Sat.). The Tokyo premiere of this film was held at a big hotel in Tokyo on March 31. Richard Gere, who visited Japan to promote his film made a press conference on March 30. Director Masayuki Suo and his wife, Tamiyo Kusakari (who performed the role of Mai in the original version) attended the premiere. When asked about Koji Yakusho, Mr. Gere mentioned, "Mr. Yakusho-san is perfect!." March 21, 2005 The Daily Yomiuri for March 21 has a reprinted review of Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha" from the Los Angeleles Times World Report section, entitled "Geisha in Age of Diversity"written by Bruce Wallace. Michelle Yeoh Fan Site has posted the same article (first published on March 6, 2005). March 19, 2005 March 17 brought the good news that Kojifs latest film gLoreleih has brought in over one billion yen since its release in Japan on March 5. Reportedly 798,299 people have seen the film so far, and to celebrate this surprising and happy result, Koji Yakusho, together with director Shinji Higuch, Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Yu Kashii, greeted the audience from the stage on the same date at Toho Cinemas Fuchu, a movie theater which opened on that very day. http://www.507.jp/fuchu.html March 17, 2005 The film, "Lorelei" has already become a great hit in Japan. The front cover of the March issue of "Kinema Junpo" (No.1425) features Koji Yakusho and Satoshi Tsumabuki. March 8, 2005 On March 5, Koji made a speech to the audience at the Tokyo premiere of gLoreleih, saying, g Now that it is nearly 60 years since the end of the Pacific war, I feel that, in this film, there are messages from those who died, during the wartime, for the sake of the nation and their families. I sincerely hope that as many people as possible will come to see this film." February 28, 2005 All Koji Yakusho fans are now eagerly looking forward to March 5, since from this day on, Koji Yakushofs latest film, gLorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Oceanh will be released nationwide in Japan. At gNichigeki 2h Theater in Ginza, Tokyo, Koji is due to greet the audience from the stage twice in the morning of the opening day, both after the first showing and before the second showing, in company with some major co-stars such as Satoshi Tsumabuki, Toshishiro Yanagiba, Ken Ishiguro, Shinichi Tsutsumi and Yu kashii, and the director Shinji Higuchi. Incidentally, the author of the novel on which this film is based, Harutoshi Fukui is also going to join them. Koji seems to have devoted himself very hard to various campaign activities for this film, soon after he came back to Tokyo from Hollywood in the middle of January. Reportedly, for instance, he had 10 magazine and TV interviews from noon till 20:00 at a hotel in Tokyo during one day in January, and on another day, he also had lots of interviews from 14:00 to 21:30. On some other days, he visited some theaters where the premieres of this film were held, not only in Tokyo but also at some big cities such as Fukuoka, Sapporo, Osaka, and Nagoya. February 26, 2005 The DVD of the second half of Koji Yakusho's 1984-85 TV drama (NHK) "Miyamoto Musashi" is now on sale from February 25. January 12, 2005 On January 12, Koji Yakusho's official website for January 12 says that Koji returned to Tokyo from Los Angeles on December 24 and left for San Francisco for the shooting of gMemoirs of a Geishah on January 2. While he was in Tokyo, he reportedly spent quite hectic days working on for various TV programs, such as gTokyo Biyori (as narrator) and gGaia no Yoakeh (as commentator) as well as a special program on Ichiro Suzuki (as narrator). He is due to return from San Francisco to Tokyo on January 22 on the starting day of gLakeside Murder Casehand is expected to greet the audience from the stage of a movie theater in Hibiya, Tokyo. December 25 , 2004 Koji Yakusho was nominated as a Best Actor for the 2004 Awards of the Japanese Academy, for his starring in "Warai no Daigaku/University of Laughs". The Award Ceremony is due to be held on February 18, 2005. September 10 According to the Koji Yakusho official website for September 10th, Yakusho has officially accepted an offer to appear in the Hollywood movie, gThe Memoirs of a Geishah. Yakusho had actually been asked to appear in this movie by the director, Rob Marshall, at an earlier stage, but because of the delay in developing the scenario, Yakusho and his staff had been considering whether or not he should accept the offer, having regard to his current work schedule. The shooting will be from October to the middle of January next year, so Yakushofs schedule will be very tight and he will have to make several round trips between Los Angeles and Tokyo. He left Japan for Los Angeles on September 4, and after a rehearsal will return to Japan; but Yakusho will be back in Los Angeles again in October. Yakusho's role was not announced on the website, but it is understood that he will appear as Toshikazu Nobu. August 16 , 2004 Koji Yakusho's website has recently been updated and the news is that he may possibly visit New York City in October to attend the premiere of the Miramax remake version of "Shall We Dance?", starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. The office staff say that Yakusho wants to go to the premiere, but that because of his tight schedule, it may be difficult for him to do so. The reason is that he is due to be in the middle of the filming for a new film around that time. March 20, 2004 Koji Yakusho's new TV drama, entitled, "Toride Naki-mono" (The one who has lost his fort) will be on air from 21:00-23:00 on TV Asahi on April 2. His role is that of Fumio Nagasaka, a TV newsreader. You will be able to see a photo of Yakusho in this drama on Yakusho's official website. February 23 "Tokyo Genpatsu/Tokyo:Level One" will be released from March 13(Sat) at two movie theaters in Tokyo: Shinjuku Musashino-kan, Shinjuku and Shibuya Cinema Society, Shibuya (late show only). February 11, 2004 Good news for both Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Koji Yakusho fans!: The DVD of "Doppelganger" is due to be on sale from April 23, 2004. "Tokyo Genpatu" will start being shown sometime in March! In March, Koji Yakusho reportedly start filming a film called "Lorelei". This film is based on a best-selling novel by Harutoshi Fukui, entitled "Shuen-no-Lorelei" or war-ending Lorelei voyage. This film is due to released in Japan sometime in 2005. Yakusho's role is that of a wartime submarine captain. January 9, 2004 On January 8, 2004, "Kinema Jumpo" magazine announced the 2003 top- ten Japanese films. Koji Yakusho's "Doppelganger" by Kiyoshi Kurosawa was ranked the 9th. ........................................................... In 2004, the following four new Koji Yakusho films are due to be shown : Yudan Taiteki (The Hunter and the Hunted) by Izuru Narushima (The release date: January 17) Tokyo Genpatsu (Tokyo: Level One) by Gen Yamakawa (Due to be released from March 13 in Tokyo) Lakeside Murder Case by Shinji Aoyama (Due to be released in autumn, 2004 ) Warai no Daigaku or College of Laughter written by Koki Mitani (Due to be released in autumn, 2004) |
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| Koji Yakusho: News 6 |
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