By Mark Schilling
Though the outside world seldom takes notice, Japanese celebrities, including film stars, find themselves the subject of screaming tabloid headlines as often as do their Western counterparts. The effect of scandal on careers can be as devastating as the coverage is relentless. Former uber producer Haruki Kadokawa is only now recovering from a 1993 cocaine smuggling bust that made him an industry non-person -- his first major film since his arrest, the World War II sea epic Yamato, is only now about to start production.
Sometimes the effect is minor -- if highly embarrassingly. Young kabuki actor Shichinosuke Nakamura, who played Emperor Meiji in The Last Samurai, was recently arrested for striking a policeman. The unfortunate officer was trying to mediate a dispute between a drunken Nakamura and a cab driver over the fare when Nakamura knocked off his glasses. Given Nakamura's distinguished lineage -- his father is a Kabuki star, as was his grandfather -- the media uproar was loud, but given traditional Japanese tolerance for most acts committed under the influence, his social punishment will probably be light.
Not so for Kenichi Hagiwara, arrested for attempted extortion on February 7. Cast as the lead in the drama Toko no Ki, he received Y7.50 million ($71,000) of his Y15 million ($143,000) fee before the start of production in March of last year. He deboarded midway, after verbally abusing the film's cast and crew. On June 29, he reportedly threatened producer Yutaka Okada with gangster violence if Okada's production consortium did not pay the remainder of the fee. Hagiwara later denied making the call -- but police voice analysis of the message on Okada's phone recorder determined otherwise.
A 1960s pop star whose group The Tempters was called Japan's Beatles, Hagiwara later become a successful TV and film actor, with credits that include Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha and Kon Ichikawa's Matatabi. This is his fourth bust, however, and jail time looks likely. His career? The media consensus is sayonara. Unless, that is, he can make a film out of his turbulent life story.
