Hayao Miyazaki, a man with god-like status in Japan, has directed some of the most imaginative animated films ever made. Six of his films are among the top 20 highest-grossing Japanese films of all time. For that, Spirited away The film won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2002, but director Miyazaki did not show up to accept the award, protesting the Iraq war that had begun a few days earlier.
His first feature film was Lupin III The Castle of Cagliostro, released in 1979, six years before he co-founded Studio Ghibli.Manga Entertainment's DVD release of him contained unverified material Quote Steven Spielberg called the film “one of the greatest adventure films of all time.” Director Miyazaki's latest work, boy and heron Recently, it became the first non-English animation work. win a golden globe award. This was supposed to be his last movie, but he'd heard about it for a while.
Takeshi Kitano
3. Takeshi Kitano
The man who adopted the stage name Beat Takeshi is best known in the country as one of Japan's “big three” television comedians, along with Tamori and Sanma Akashiya. Worldwide, he is better known as the director of critically acclaimed films in which he has also appeared. sonatine and Hanabi. Quentin Tarantino was so impressed with the former that he planned to distribute it in North America, and Akira Kurosawa rated the latter as one of his 100 favorite films.
As an actor, Kitano gained worldwide attention in the 1983 war film directed by Nagisa Oshima. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Starring David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and almost 20 years later, an action thriller directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Battle Royale.his television work Takeshi Castle It gained popularity overseas as well. In fact, a poll on X by digital media Ladbible revealed that it was the game show Brits missed the most. Kitano is also active as a writer of novels and poetry.
Haruki Murakami “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle”
4. Haruki Murakami
Compared to novelists like Bret Easton Ellis and Milan Kundera, Haruki Murakami is a global superstar whose work has been translated into 50 languages. Despite calling himself an “outcast of the Japanese literary world,” he is extremely popular in Japan, with his novels selling millions of copies. Every year, devoted believers called “Hallquists'' gather from all over the country to hear the news of his winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, he continues to miss out on awards.
Before his career as a writer took off, Murakami ran Peter Cat, a Tokyo coffee house and jazz bar, with his wife Yoko. He says the idea to become a writer came to him on April 1, 1978, when he saw Dave Hilton hit a double against his beloved Yakult Swallows. His first book was listen to the song of the wind, published 15 months later. The novel that propelled him to global stardom was norwegian woodwhich has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Photo by Tinseltown via Shutterstock
5. Ken Watanabe
The person I introduced was Yoko Narahashi, a woman known as the gatekeeper to Japan's Hollywood. last samurai From director Edward Zwick to Ken Watanabe. Zwick was initially unconvinced by Watanabe's lack of English, but Narahashi convinced him to give the Niigata-born actor another chance. The rest, as they say, is history. Watanabe played the role of Moritsugu Katsumoto well and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 76th Academy Awards.
That was just the beginning of Watanabe's Hollywood adventure. Since then, he has gone on to star in several blockbuster films. batman begins and inception. In addition to the silver screen, Watanabe has also made a name for himself on Broadway.debuted in the king and me He became the first Japanese man to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The 64-year-old has overcome battles with leukemia and stomach cancer.
6. Ichiro Suzuki
Before Ohtani, the man known as Ichiro was considered Japan's most iconic athlete. A 10-time All-Star who broke several records, he finished his career with 4,367 hits, more than any other player in top-level baseball history. More than 3,000 of those hits came in the majors, fueling debate over how close he would have been to matching Pete Rose's MLB record if he had started his career in the United States.
Ichiro's baseball career began at the age of three, playing catch with his father every day. Gradually, their practices became more intense. Speaking to Robert Whiting, the former outfielder described the sessions as “almost abusive.” Ichiro made a name for himself in Japan with the Orix Blue Wave (now the Orix Buffaloes) before moving to the Seattle Mariners in 2001. Seventeen years later, he re-signed with the Mariners and played his final game in front of an emotional crowd. Tokyo Dome.
People of Kishin: Lennon Ono-2016
7. Yoko Ono
If this survey had been conducted 50 years ago, Yoko Ono would definitely have come out on top. She was held responsible for the breakup of the Beatles and was arguably the most hated woman on the planet at the time. Her rant was both sexist and racist. A newspaper headline in 1970 read: “John Lennon's Most Extravagant Groupie.” esquire Magazine article. Thankfully, public perception has changed since then. according to Ono-san, it's simply because people have become smarter.
Mr. Ono was born into a semi-aristocratic family (his great-grandfather founded the Yasuda Zaibatsu) and was a classmate of the future Emperor Akihito. She met John Lennon at London's Indica Gallery in 1966 and they married three years later. They then used their honeymoon to protest the Vietnam War from their beds at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. John Lennon, who once described Ono as “the world's most famous unknown artist,” was shot and killed in 1980.
