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My life in film making is long. A scout found me when I was five years old and my movie debut was a part in "A Lullaby for the Baby".
As I became aware of the surroundings, I thought there was no place like the studio, it was the most fun place to be in. During my juvenile period, I had to give up the movies temporarily, but when I paid for a movie at the cinema, I realized the joy of movie making and wanted to get back into it. That was the beginning of my awareness of wanting to be an actor. At 13, I joined the Japan Action Club and at 17, I debuted (again) in the movie "Conspiracy of Yagyu Clan" and became an action actor immediately. The catch phrase for the action actor is "Let this be the point of passage or a priming drug to an acting career."
As I started to train myself as an action actor, I felt the danger of being type cast as one, so I began to change and to choose the different types of scripts. When I was a child actor, I saw some young actors career either stay afloat or sink and that started me to think that the true worth as an actor would start at the age of forty to fifty. I did not expect a break as a star, but I wanted to grow as an actor in a long range timetable and also to become a decent person. That was my stance. Now, I feel my roles in drama and the action films have become well balanced. It is as though, now at last, I am able to catch a ball I tossed high and far in my youth. I always aimed high and far since I was young. When I was in my 20's, if I had a 3-day break, I went overseas. I have flown to New York and took in Al Pacino's play, or to London to see Dustin Hoffman's play. In the one day stay, I saw the play and the movies during the day and in the evening, enjoyed the Jazz club then slept on the plane back to Japan and got back to the movie set. I wanted to see the world's top level talents and recognized the gap between them and myself. And that motivated me to fill the distance.
Though I am fussed over in Japan, I am completely ignored in the foreign countries. I felt small and insignificant. I felt it was useless to try to live and protect what I have.
I became aware of the challenge these talents represented and wanted to be part of them, as I aim high.
To be continued ...
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