I interviewed Yakusho Koji on December 19 of last year at a studio in Yokohama where he was shooting a commercial. Then about to turn 70 (his birthday is on January 1) Yakusho looked healthy and fit, if with a face a bit more lined than when I had sat down with him in 2017 for a brief Q&A at the Singapore International Film Festival, where he was presented with the festival’s Cinema Legend Award.
Yakusho was also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s Asian Film Awards, one of many honors he has garnered over a four-decade career.
A native of Nagasaki, he studied acting at the school of Japanese cinema’s Golden Age legend Nakadai Tatsuya and rose to domestic fame for portraying 16th Century warlord Oda Nobunaga in a popular 1983 TV drama.
Yakusho first came to international attention as a sybaritic gangster in Itami Juzo’s 1985 comedy Tampopo. But his real breakthrough to stardom was his portrayal of a shy salaryman who takes up ballroom dancing in the 1996 Suo Masayuki’s hit Shall We Dance?, which became a worldwide sensation.
He affirmed his artistic credentials by appearing in Imamura Shohei’s 1997 Palme d’Or winner The Eel, while scoring another box-office success in the Morita Yoshimitsu love-suicide drama Lost Paradise. That same year he starred as a police detective confronting a creepy serial killer in Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Cure, a pioneering J-Horror film that became an acclaimed cult hit abroad. Yakusho has had a total of seven films with Kurosawa, most recently the 2009 family drama Tokyo Sonata.
Another frequent collaborator was the late Harada Masato (1949-2025). Yakusho appeared in six of the director’s films, including Bounce Ko Gals, a 1997 crime drama in which he played a yakuza who becomes the client – or rather the mark – of a teenaged prostitute.
Yakusho ventured to Hollywood with a supporting role in Rob Marshall’s 2005 drama Memoirs of a Geisha and starred in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s four-part drama Babel, which screened in competition at Cannes and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
He returned to the period genre in cult favorite Miike Takashi’s 13 Assassins (2010), playing the samurai leader of a band of assassins hired to kill an out-of-control lord. He also appeared in Miike’s 2011 follow-up Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, a remake of Masaki Kobayashi’s 1962 classic.
In the past decade, Yakusho has essayed serious dramatic roles, such as the murderous ex-cons in Koreeda Hirokazu’s 2017 The Third Murder and Nishikawa Miwa’s 2019 Under the Open Sky. He also romped in Shiraishi Kazuya’s 2017 The Blood of Wolves, starring as a scapegrace police detective who hangs out with yakuza – and is half a gangster himself.
His most internationally recent role, however, was as Hirayama in Wim Wenders’ 2022 hit Perfect Days. Cleaning architect-designed toilets in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward and taking photos of the light falling through trees on his lunch breaks, Hirayama is enjoying an idyllic existence – until his troubled past begins to intrude. The role won Yakusho a Best Actor prize at Cannes, as well as other domestic and international acting awards.
— So your visit to Udine will not be your first time in Italy?
I’ve been to the Venice festival twice. Other than that, just trips. I’ve heard that Udine is a nice spot. So I’m looking forward to (the festival).
— The first film of yours I saw was Itami Juzo’s Tampopo (1985). I was in a theater in Tokyo that was almost empty. (laughs) But the film really stuck with me – I thought it was wonderful. Back then, you were mainly known for period dramas. So playing a gangster in Tampopo was a complete change in image.
I absolutely loved his first film, The Funeral. And then, I heard that Itami saw me in a TV drama where I wore a white suit and said, “the man in a white suit in my film should be him.” Actually, I only had about three days in my schedule. I had to go to Canada for location work. Itami said that’s okay, so we shot those scenes in three days. He watched a monitor while directing his movies. That was very unusual for Japanese filmmaking back then. It was my first experience like that. The director would usually be right next to the camera, ready to yell “Action!” But Itami would go somewhere else and watch the monitor.
— Back then Japanese films didn’t do well, except for Kurosawa Akira. So, Tampopo was an exception.
In Japan, Tampopo wasn’t a commercial success among all of Mr. Itami’s works. It was the most popular in America. I heard that it drew huge audiences there.
— You also worked with Imamura Shohei (in The Eel). He was quite different from Itami wasn’t he?
As a director, yeah, Itami’s films had this Western feel. On the other hand, Imamura’s films really felt like Japanese cinema. He took time on each shot and never shot what he wouldn’t use in the end. So, he used only a few shots for the whole film, like 200 shots or so. This is a smaller number compared to Itami’s. Sometimes Itami would take one long shot, other times he’d break (a scene) down into smaller takes.
— From the start, you wanted to explore a wide range of genres, period dramas, modern dramas, all sorts.
You could say so. The character in the project I’m doing now and the character in the next one would be different. I wanted to appear in films with different flavors. I wanted the audience to enjoy fresh, new characters. But it was also important for me personally to be able to approach the character I’m playing with a fresh perspective. For example, after I did Shall We Dance?, I got a lot of offers for salaryman characters. But after Shall We Dance? I played a yakuza in Shabu Gokudo who is addicted to stimulant drugs. Like this case, I want the audience to enjoy new characters while I approach new characters with fresh perspective. This is important for me.
— Shall We Dance? made you known abroad.
I never went to overseas film festivals to promote films myself, so I didn’t know what kind of reaction they got abroad. But when I traveled to Italy, someone just stared at me. I’m like, huh, what is she looking at? I thought maybe Japanese people were rare, but then this lady said “Shall We Dance?.” She spoke to me. She was British and did ballroom dancing. And she has watched Shall We Dance? That time I realized for the first time that people in foreign countries did enjoy the film.
When I first went to Cannes film festival for The Eel, I learned Westerners like you watched the Japanese films like Shall We Dance? or Shabu Gokudo. Until then I’d never imagined they’d enjoy watching the films I’d made.
It was also the first time I watched with my own eyes how much Imamura Shohei was loved by overseas film fans. It was a great experience.
— I wish there were more Japanese films like these.
Shall We Dance? was supposed to be nominated for the foreign film award at the Oscars, but it already aired on TV in Japan. Then it turned out that anything aired on TV wasn’t eligible for that category so it didn’t get nominated for the foreign film award. That’s what I heard.
And then, a couple years later I met Mr. Spielberg. He really liked Shall We Dance? and said, “If Shall We Dance? had been included, it probably would have won Best Foreign Language Film.” Then, I got a letter from Spielberg for the film’s director, Suo (Masayuki), and I gave it to him.
— After that you got roles in Hollywood films such as Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel.
Memoirs of a Geisha was going to be directed by Spielberg originally. He invited me and I went to see him. But it was Rob Marshall who was going to do it in the end. There was another audition.
Well, I often watch American films. I was really interested in how they shoot them. I wanted to experience a real (Hollywood) film set, so I auditioned for the Nobu role.
— Yeah. I see. Then you have someone like Sanada Hiroyuki, who really immersed himself in Hollywood. Did you ever feel like following his lead?
Working on Memoirs of a Geisha made me realize, with my English skills…, I wouldn’t find a role I would enjoy there. I thought that working hard in Japanese films and getting people from different countries to see them would suit me better.
Sanada and Watanabe Ken are working really hard. I think they’re doing really good work over there. But I think maybe I should just focus on what I am doing in Japanese cinema.
— You’ve got an image as the Japanese Tom Hanks, but you’ve done a lot of different roles. Like the heroes in Koreeda Hirokazu’s The Third Murder and Nishikawa Miwa’s Under the Open Sky who are both murderers.
Tom Hanks? Really? Tom Hanks is a wonderful actor. Yeah, I want to play a simple ordinary man in Shall We Dance? and those murderers, too. There’s more than one side to a person. And I have more than one side, too. So, I enjoy finding films and roles to be able to reflect those multiple sides.
— The heroes of The Third Murder and Under the Open Sky have their commonalities but your performances are totally different.
You could say that.
— Misumi (the hero of The Third Murder) is hard to figure out. It’s as though he’s not quite human. But Mikami (the hero of Under the Open Sky) is a bit more relatable.
Misumi in The Third Murder endured hardship in his childhood, so did Mikami in Under the Open Sky. There must be such a thing as an inborn personality that people generally possess? I think people raised in that sort of environment have that moment when they change, you know? Misumi in The Third Murder might have played some immense monster after encountering a girl with a fragile leg.
— One of the directors you worked with the most was Kurosawa Kiyoshi.
How many films? About six, maybe? Yeah, that’s a lot. Lately, I haven’t been doing much with him.
— Especially Cure got an amazing response overseas.
I was invited to a screening of Cure in Los Angeles last year and went on stage. The audience was so enthusiastic. I really felt that Kurosawa has a loyal fan base there.
I hardly ever go see my own movies in theaters. But (when Cure was released) I heard that screenings were empty, and sure enough, when I went to see it in a theater, there were only two or three people. The audience was quiet, which made it even scarier (laugh).
— It really is scary. I went to see it when it first opened for the Japan Times. Then I got home and couldn’t get it out of my head. It had a new approach to horror. And then it became a global phenomenon.
Kurosawa has a unique and consistent vision. He made a lot of horror films, but even his family dramas show his own unique vision. There’s a distinct Kurosawa Kiyoshi style to his films. He has a fan base around the world.
— You also worked a lot with Harada Masato, who recently passed away. You made films with him, beginning with Kamikaze Taxi. I went to see you make one of them – The Choice of Hercules (2002). I was even an extra. (laughs)
I made about eight films with him. You went to the set?
— I was invited by the film’s PR team. And of course, I was observing the actors – and you seemed to be closest to him.
I met him for the first time to make Kamikaze Taxi, and I think of him as someone I shared a certain period of time with through his movies. He was kind like an American. Maybe because he studied American films. Harada’s films show his own unique vision, too. I believe he had so many more films left in him. It’s a great loss.
— We’re also showing one of the films you made with Shiraishi Kazuya, Blood of Wolves. You play a police detective who’s like a yakuza, breaking all the rules. You seem to really enjoy playing that sort of dirty hero role.
Yes, he is a detective who is like a yakuza. It was fun to shoot the film.
— Do you think work can be enjoyable at times?
Well, basically, memorizing lines and worrying about how to act is tough. But by the time we start filming, when a director says, “Action!,” I really feel that if you’re not enjoying your role, it will come across to the audience. I believe the audience enjoys it more when you’re acting freely and comfortably, rather than looking like you’re struggling or feeling constrained.
— Right. I got that feeling with your performance in Perfect Days. Watching that movie, I felt like redoing my own life. (laughs)
Just hearing that Wim Wenders was going to direct this film, I was already excited. He also wrote the script. My shooting schedule was only 16 days. It was the set where you could trust the director Wim Wenders completely. Everyone, cast and crew, was there for him. There was this mood, like, let’s do our best for this person’s film!
When we were filming there was no stress, you know? Everything just flowed along smoothly. And if the weather was bad or it rained, we’d shoot in the rain. And even if an ambulance passed by and a siren went off, filming would continue.
Normally in Japan, if an ambulance comes by, we’d pause a bit. But Wenders said at the start of filming, basically, “We won’t wait for sound. Even with noise, we will keep shooting.” As he said, we just kept shooting.
— You won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.
I just thought, Cannes could invite Wim Wenders of course. I went without thinking much. I heard this later that Wenders was saying, “This is a film to get Yakusho awards.” And I never expected it but I was honored to receive such a wonderful award.
Well, I’ve worked with all kinds of directors, but I guess you could call him very compassionate. I felt that if you just leave everything up to Mr. Wenders, this film will probably turn out well somehow.
— In January you turn 70 (note: Yakusho was born on January 1, 1956). How do you feel about that milestone?
The question is physical stamina. How long will my stamina last, and how do I keep going from here? Figuring this out and putting a system in place to manage my physical condition is quite important. My face and body experience aging and that can be an advantage as an actor at times. But without stamina, filming is really tough. And your stamina inevitably decline as we get older, so resisting that – that’s going to be my theme from now.
When you ask senior actors, they generally say that you really start to feel your stamina decline around 70. And, yeah, I think that’s probably true.
My mentor, Nakadai Tatsuya, performed on stage until he was 92. Then I’ve got 20-some years left. I want to keep going.
— Are there any people you still want to work with?
Well, I’d love to work with Mr. Wenders again. If possible, once again. And then, well, I haven’t worked with Kurowasa Kiyoshi recently, so it’d be fun to make a horror film with him where an old man is the main cast. (laugh)
— You started out in period dramas. Are they still fundamental to you as an actor?
In Japanese movies and TV, the number of period dramas has drastically decreased. The crew who make period dramas, and the actors – they’re not being nurtured, either.
And because young people today grow up with chairs, so there are young people who can’t sit in seiza (Japanese formal sitting posture with the back straight and the legs tucked under). But I still think period dramas are an important genre in Japanese cinema.
So I feel strongly that what I can do is to participate in making period dramas and leave something behind. Making period pieces cost money, and it is said to be difficult to bring in the audience. But Kurosawa Akira left wonderful films and I believe there are period-drama fans around the world.
— There are still a lot of period drama fans around the world. You could see that with a film like Miike Takashi’s 13 Assassins.
On the set it was tough. Going to the set every day and getting covered in blood. Blood all over my body and the director Miike shout, “Action!” And then we keep doing all the sword fighting. (laugh)
— That kind of film shooting is tough on your body. But you could still make great films like Nakadai Tatsuya.
Action scenes are getting harder and harder to do for me. But there’s still 22 years left until the age Nakadai Tatsuya passed away. I believe in the words. The next film will be my signature work. With these words, I’ll keep doing my best.
Mark Schilling