Meta-Commentary on Article "Japanese actors who can actually act"

Yesterday a piece I wrote entitled "Japanese actors who can actually act" went live on CNNGo and has spawned hundreds of comments on Twitter and around the net, particularly on J-dorama or J-pop fan sites (this particular blog spawned 200 remarks).

The piece was commissioned by CNNGo Tokyo editor David Marx (aka Marxy) and I readily agreed. Originally it was simply going to be Japan's best actors of the current generation. The kind of names listed in the intro -- Watanabe, Asano etc. But I thought it'd be more worthwhile to highlight some lesser-known names, as in lesser-known outside of Japan.

Beginning with the headline -- article headlines, which any journalist or media literate person will tell you, are written by editors, not writers. It seems it was taken the wrong way by a certain amount of readers. Further to what I tweeted, the article contains absolutely no implication that Japanese actors are any worse than those of any other country. Headlines are meant to grab attention, which it did. Personally I would've qualified it with: "Japanese actors who can actually act (unlike what often passes for acting on TV and in movies)".

The point of the article wasn't only the names chosen, but the fact that it's difficult for good actors not attached to the right agency to break through. And even when they do, there are those who take risks and those who don't (see this article by Philip Brasor in the Japan Times for what I'm talking about). Some of those on the list are attached to bigger shops, but I believe they moved up by virtue of their talent, not their ability to shill.

In Japan's unique talent agency infrastructure, jimusho wield much more power than the equivalent entities in any other country I can think of. Managers are able to move and insert actors (who are salaried employees) at their will and hold sway over the major broadcasters and movie studios. They often join movie production consortiums and are usually the strongest voice at the table.

And forget the romantic image of open auditions -- small agencies aren't even given the chance to send their people, many of whom have devoted their lives to acting rather than just becoming famous. There are occasional exceptions for young female roles (Taira Airi from the 2nd and 3rd installments of 20th Century Boys for example).

Moving on, while the text about each actor was untouched, the intro to the piece was considerably rewritten to stick the knife in more. It amused me and put things into starker relief so I didn't protest the changes. Dear David has a love for collusion in the entertainment industry that's unmatched. My original version read:

If you've ever watched Japanese television dorama, there's a style of highly-mannered, predictable "acting" that dominates. With tight schedules and performers juggling several commitments, TV can be forgiven, but the lazy habits have carried over to movies, too (many of which are produced by the major broadcasters).

It doesn't come off as dismissing all TV drama acting, just most of it. While I fully admit being a film person with only minor interest in J-television, in my ten years here I have watched my share. I don't deny that that many fine actors got their starts on TV, and there are examples of strong performances but it's not where I would tell someone to look for good acting -- because too much of it is awfully telegraphed "pretend." I won't go too far with comparisons to the astounding quality of writing and acting in the likes of The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men or numerous shows in the UK (take your pick) because the production and financing scenarios are so different, but you get my point. Period dramas are another story, I would say. Many people who do feel obligated to pay for their NHK service probably watch the Taiga dramas, which are undeniably prestigious and last all year long. I like the successive renditions of Chûshingura myself, which feature many of the biggest names around.

The part about the actors on the list not "get[ing] enough love in the Japanese media" is of course at odds with someone like Ninomiya constantly being in the spotlight (Johnny & Associates make sure of that with all their signees). If it said "English language media" instead it'd work. As a member of Arashi, Ninomiya is one of the biggest idol names there is, with a million engagements from product endorsements, photo shoots, live concerts, variety bangumi appearances and on and on. That's why it's even more impressive to me that he's able to concentrate on creating a character. It's also why I made a point of mentioning his "natural talent" -- his acting ability has nothing to do with what he would've learned at his jimusho, other than getting over stage fright perhaps (I doubt he ever had it). I assume his career will follow a similar trajectory to the members in SMAP and TOKIO, but it'll be interesting to see what kind of characters he plays in his 30s, 40s and beyond. It looks as if October 1st release Oh-oku (『大奥』) will be a major test of his appeal as a leading man.

Regarding the responses saying "Where is such-and-such actor?" -- obviously space was limited (paid wordage is not blogging). Rather than expand it to 10 or 12 names and only write a couple of lines I wanted to give a full graph to each person.

There also seemed to be a lot of calls for Kubozuka Yôsuke to be on the list. If they hadn't skimmed over the Kimura Tae entry they would see that he is mentioned. The original list of names I submitted had him with a full graph but I looked at his filmography again and I thought "So close, but..." He didn't really belong with the actors mentioned in the intro but Tokyo Island gave me a way to include him.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that happily, nobody called for anybody to be taken off the list and the piece gets quite high marks despite the slamming in the intro. Thanks to all the Nino fans out there?

So who are your favourite unsung thespians in J-cinema today?