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Takakura Ken
こんにちは
Ken Takakura (高倉健 Takakura Ken), born Gouichi Oda (小田剛一 Oda Gōichi, on 16 February 1931, in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan), is a Japanese actor best known for his brooding style and the stoic, honorable presence he brings to his roles.
Asahi Shimbun says. ‘Not only does Takakura have a huge following in China, but the president of the prestigious Beijing Film Academy (BFA), Zhang Hui Jun, is a big fan, too.’
Known as the "Clint Eastwood" of Japan, Takakura gained his streetwise swagger and tough-guy persona watching yakuza turf battles over the lucrative black market and racketeering in postwar Fukuoka. You may remember him in Black Rain.
Black Rain is a 1989 American movie starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw and Yusaku Matsuda. The film was directed by Ridley Scott.
The story is centered on two New York City police officers who arrest a member of the Japanese Yakuza and must escort him back to Japan.
Takakura, a graduate of the prestigious Meiji University in Tokyo, happened by an audition in 1955 at the Toei Film Company, and decided to look in. Toei would find a natural in Takakura.
Bōryokudan (暴力団), literally "violence group", is the term used by the Japanese police to describe the organized crime groups commonly known in the English-speaking world as yakuza. The term "yakuza" is actually used in Japan to refer to individual members of these groups. They refer to themselves as "ninkyō dantai" (任侠団体 (or 仁侠団体), "chivalrous organizations").
Signing off, this is your Message from Japan.また
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, January 20, 2007
1 Comments:
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At 12:38 PM,
said... -
As an ex-prison officer and still working in the criminal justice system, I found the information on the YAKUSA very informative. It gave me a better insight into this organisation. Thank you.