Japan once had a flourishing star system -- with names like Yujiro Ishihara, Shintaro
Katsu, Toshiro Mifune, Ken Takakura and Sayuri Yoshinaga lighting up marquees and
drawing fans in the system's golden years, from the 1950s to the early 1970s. With the
migration of much of the audience to television in the 1960s, the system began to falter
and finally collapsed, together with several of the studios that supported it.
In the years since the industry has tried to generate new stars, with intermittent success,
But ask industry observers today "Who is a star?" and the answers are as hedged with
qualifications as a John Kerry press conference. Ken Watanabe -- if he makes it in
Hollywood. Yuji Oda -- if he is in a "Bayside Shakedown" episode. Takanobu Asano -- if
you only count the arthouse crowd. Takeshi Kitano -- though to the masses he's more of a TV comedian than a movie actor.
"The fact is that there are no big stars in Japan," says Kiyo Jo, a veteran producer and
distributor who has long worked with indie icon Shinya Tsukamoto. "Now they become
famous first on television, then start appearing in films. -- but no one becomes a big star
appearing in films alone." Also, notes Jo, whereas in the old days newcomers would
become stars by appealing directly to audiences, what pass for the stars of today are often "manufactured by talent agencies -- without the backing of the agencies, they are
nothing."
Also, instead of building careers over a period of decades, today's hot talents often burn
out quickly. Popular TV dramas -- the launching pads for many -- are "all form, no
content -- they are just trying to latch onto a popular formula," says Jo. "The sort of
stardom they produce doesn't last."
There are still at least two Japanese actors who meets the traditional definition of a star:
i.e., an ability to open a film, regardless of genre. But Ken Takakura, an yakuza action
star of the sixties who has become a John-Wayne-like national icon, and Sayuri
Yoshinaga, once a spunky girl-next-door type who has transformed into the ideal image
of Japanese womanhood for millions, have made over a hundred films each and are in the twilight of their careers.
Among the current generation, says Yoko Narahashi, a casting director who worked on
The Last Samurai and now Memoirs of a Geisha, only Ken Watanabe and possibly Koji
Yakusho may soon meet that definition. After his success in The Last Samurai and his
recent casting in the latest Batman episode and Memoirs, Watanabe "is flowering with
confidence," says Narahashi. "He's developing that star charisma."
Meanwhile, Yakusho, who starred in the international comic hit "Shall We Dance?" and
has been cast in Memoirs, "comes as a close as any actor in Japanese films" to stardom," says Narahashi. "But he does small indie films as well as bigger ones -- he's not into the whole star charisma thing." But if Memoirs does well, note Narahashi, he "may move up internationally." In other words, in the Japanese industry of today, the road to stardom runs through Hollywood.
