Asian Beauty Appreciation

I guess I saw Koyuki for the 1st of many times in The Last Samurai (2003). She had a key-role in the film as Taka, the widow of a warrior slain by Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise). In her role she spoke only Japanese, but it was her ethereal beauty, and her soulful eyes that captured my attention.

I’ve since watched this film again and again. The reality is that Koyuki was so mesmerizing, that I’ve wanted to see her in other roles. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to see Koyuki in a good number of Television drama series. Read more…

There is no denying the sex appeal of the present day gravure girls, it is delightfully displayed in photo-books and videos, in skimpy swimsuits and costumes. I love them all, so bravo to them!

Though it also holds true that no matter how many sexy girls we might meet,our first encounter will always be the one we remember most fondly, and this is how I feel about Yuko Aoki, my first guilty pleasure! She’s the girl who first got me hooked on Asian models and actresses for life. Read more…

Chinese actress and  singer, Fan Bingbing’s star has been glowing brightly ever since she starred as Jin Suo in the ever popular TV drama series “Huan Zhu Ge Ge”.

And she became popularly known in the international film scenes after starring in the controversial Chinese film by director Li Yu, “Lost in Beijing” (苹果). The film was banned by Chinese authorities in January 2008, even though it was successfully released internationally by French company Films Distribution.

Bingbing has a very busy schedule this year filming several high budget movies. After “Shinjuku Incident”, in which she starred alongside Jackie Chan was released in April, she starred in director He Ping’s US$6 million historical drama film “Wheat” (麦田).
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Remember Yuka, or was it Yuuka? Maybe you called her Yu-ka? However her name appeared in print, she was unforgettable. Her series of gravure videos back in 1998 and 1999: Breath, to, and be, became instant classic collectors’ items.

And if you look closely  on the cdjapan page for each of these DVDs, you will see that on each of the DVD covers, her name appears as Yu-ka. Despite this, cdjapan lists her as Yuuka. And as you will see, her name has undergone yet another change.

She took leave of the gravure world after her Yuuka DVD in 2002, and headed for TV, print ads, and movies. She got work, and was never forgotten, but she was no longer a headliner.

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According to multiple  news reports, and many media outlets, actress Erica Sawajiri has lost the leading lady role in a 2010 blockbuster movie called Space Battleship Yamamoto. Sawajiri, 23,  had originally beaten out Meisa Kuroki, 21, and other actresses for this role that would mark her comeback as an actress.

This film which was to have begun shooting next month, and was tentatively scheduled for release in December 2010, was rumored to be a very expensive production with an projected budget of around 1 billion JY. Read more…

What begins as a Yakuza drama, changes direction rather quickly. You see, as we are told by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi who stars as Hikoichi Tsubasa, a Yakuza underboss, the heroic fighting, and feats of derring-do, are just in the movies. In real life, a Yakuza has a real struggle on his hands just to make a living. It seems that extortion and loansharking aren’t all that profitable. Instead of strong arming plain folks out of their money, nowadays the Yakuza must connive and scam – and it just isn’t that easy. Read more…

Written by siewaun    Reference: english.cri.cn

To mark the 7th anniversary of Pink Ribbon in China,  Trend Health magazine will be featuring 3 top Chinese celebrities baring their bodies to endorse the Pink Ribbon campaign.

Singer Mao Amin, actresses Ning Jing and Hao Lei are doing nude photoshot for the magazine, following last year’s celebrity trio of Joan Chen, Ma Yili and Ke Lan.

Pink ribbons is an emblem for raising awareness of breast cancer.
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It’s difficult to take hold of a dream, but a chance can come to anyone, at any time.

This was the closing line (translated to English) from the 2009 Japanese TV Series Chance. I’ve included it as the introduction for this article and it leads us to a question: Do all the best Japanese actresses in TV series come from Okinawa? Probably not. Make that definitely not, but for some inexplicable reason (the water? the climate? the local rice?) the list of well known and well received Okinawan actresses seems to be growing rapidly. I’ll give you a look at some of them, but I’ll limit myself to those who have appeared in a TV Series that I’ve seen.

Let’s lead with Yukie Nakama who is 29 and is from Urasoe, Okinawa. Her best know work is from the beloved series Gokusen which has been so popular that it since its first season was broadcast in 2002, it was renewed for another full season in 2005, and in 2008 a 3rd full season was aired. In 2009 a movie special was broadcast. But I first became aware of Yukie in the 2004 series called Tokyo Wankei aka Destiny of Love. Read more…