TAKUYA KIMURA

captain_f4

Originally posted by whitedove at 26-11-2004 03:31 PM:


la, bila birthdaynya tu? Anyway, happy birthday!

:tq::tq: tima ceh....  birthday sama dgn Takuya... tapi umur tak sama :bgrin:

yuriko

Originally posted by nanu_nanu at 15-9-2004 06:00 PM:
Ada org kata Andrew (MI) rupa macam takura kimura, kat thread MI.

muka andrew nampak lebih mcm Wang Li Hom..

st_heaven

Originally posted by whitedove at 26-11-2004 03:01 PM:


laa...sesat rupanya...nasib baik jumpa...welcome welcome! :bgrin:

haha.. thanks! =D

whitedove

Hayao Miyazaki's new animation feature raking in gold

On the 22nd of November 2004, it was reported that the FIRST TWO DAYS since
the opening of this new animation by famous director Hayao Miyazaki called Hauru no Ugoku Shiro aka Howl's Moving Castle, an amazing 1,100,000 fans have watched the movie, and the box office raked in about 1,480,000,000 yen which is about USD$14,340,007. It opened simultaneously to 448 movie screens nationwide in Japan. The previous box-office hit opened to 336 screens. Plans have already been confirmed for it to be shown in Korea, France, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and by the end of its run, it will be shown in at least 50 countries around the world. This has set a NEW RECORD in Japanese box-office ratings.


Goro-chan's new dorama on TBS

Working title: M no Higeki aka M no Higeki
Tentative airing date: 16/1/2005

About a woman, Misa Aihara (Kyoko Hasegawa), with full of revenge and
feelings of hate, who screwed up Mamoru Andou (Goro Inagaki)'s life.


SMAP withdrew from NHK's annual Kouhaku

"This year was taken up with members' individual work in drama and films, which meant we could not release a CD or do a concert tour.We have always seen Kohaku as a place to show what was new from us that year, and therefore have decided not to appear this time. We apologise deeply to our fans and those who might miss us.We hope to make new progress in terms of music in the coming year, and shall
strive to be able to appear on Kouhaku again."

NHK seems to have negotiated with them up to the last moment, but had not been able to persuade them when questioned what song they could possibly sing this year. "We persisted to the very end, but their way of thinking was very samurai-like," commented the NHK spokesperson.

I guess "samurai-like" refers to their feeling honor-bound to offer something worthwhile (in this case, something new) to their audience. It is a fact that many singers do appear on Kouhaku with no new material, but even such people would have been giving concerts and recitals the year round, as they specialise in singing, unlike SMAP who have other work to do.

However, this does raise concern for NHK when the nation's biggest supergroup decided to withdraw. In the poll conducted before this year's Kouhaku list was announced, SMAP has been voted second most favourite to appear in the annual Kouhaku.  Before, Utada Hikaru has also decided to withdraw, and from Johnny's Jimusho, only TOKIO has agreed to attend.


Cover boys

SMAP is once again to grace the covers of the New Year bumper issues of most
TV mags in Japan. They wil be in shops on December 14th.

whitedove

Hollywood has buried 2-D feature animation, with the incredible success of Pixar's "The Incredibles" -- $70 million in its opening weekend -- putting a seal on the tomb, so to speak."

In Japan, however, Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animators are still loyal to the 2-D cause. Why not, given the equally incredible numbers for Miyazaki's 2-D "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)," which grossed 30.8 billion yen in Japan alone in 2001 -- a box-office record for any film here, Hollywood or Japanese. Miyazaki and Ghibli had other reasons for celebration, including an Academy Award for best feature animation -- the first ever awarded.

They may well get a second for "Howl no Ugoku Shiro (Howl's Moving Castle)," Miyazaki's first shojo manga-esque love story, complete with a faux European setting, mousy-but-spunky teenage heroine and androgynously handsome hero, voiced by superstar Takuya Kimura.

Based on a novel of the same title by the British children's author Diana Wynne Jones, "Howl" is less Miyazaki's attempt to wow shojo manga fans (though wowed they will be) than further proof of why his status as the world's greatest living animator is still secure.

"Howl" starts with that fairy-story staple -- a young heroine who is poor, plucky and in need of romance in her life. Sophie (voiced by Chieko Baisho) slaves away all day making hats in the family shop, while her fashion-plate mother swans about town and her pretty blonde sister, Lettie, fends off admirers at the nearby cafe where she works. (Their hatter father died before the story begins.) Meanwhile, outside Sophie's workroom, the country is preparing for war and the other shop girls are buzzing on about a reclusive wizard named Howl and his Moving Castle -- an odd assemblage of metal that looks like a cross between a killer whale, a boiler factory and a 19th-century battleship, mounted on skinny, steam-driven legs.

Later, while on an errand, Sophie bumps into Howl (voiced by Takuya Kimura) himself, who looks like a fairy-tale prince, complete with long blonde tresses, but whose uncanny manner implies secrets he is not about to tell. Howl is being pursued by scary blob men (wearing straw skimmers) who are minions of his arch-enemy, the Witch of the Waste (voiced by Akihiro Miwa). He easily evades them by flying off with Sophie in tow -- and takes her on a thrilling walk across the rooftops.

After he leaves her -- dazzled and smitten -- she is confronted by the Witch herself. A grand dame with a plummy voice, multiple chins and a sinister air, the Witch changes Sophie into a 90-year-old crone -- a punishment as seemingly arbitrary as the ones the Queen of Hearts meted out in "Alice in Wonderland."

Unable to show herself in the shop, Sophie ventures out into the witch- and wizard-haunted mountains, to find help in breaking the spell. There she encounters a top-hatted scarecrow, who leads her to the Moving Castle. Inside she meets a sharp-tongued little boy who is Howl's assistant and a testy talking flame, called Calcifer, who keeps the Castle running (and steaming). Sophie decides to join this odd squad as a much-needed cleaning lady. Her ultimate aim, though, is to return to her original form and get closer to the temperamental but charismatic Howl.

In most fairy tales, the heroine finds her happily-ever-after destiny in her prince. "Howl" takes a different route to its ending credits, but one that should satisfy romantics in the audience. Its politics, though, feel too much like wish fulfillment, too little like today's grim reality. Will we ever see the reign of our own evil witches pass over?

More of this review can be found at
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi- ... l5?ff20041124a2.htm

Meteor^Girl

Originally posted by yuriko at 2004-11-27 12:44 AM:


muka andrew nampak lebih mcm Wang Li Hom..

setuju..setuju ngan yuriko... muka andrew MI lebih muka wang lee hom & jay chee (anak jackie chan)

whitedove

the website www.takuyasea.com is UP again and running! (many thanks to the webmistress!)...the latest clip is from SMAPxSMAP 15 Nov 2004 from the Five Nights Classics segment...the song they sang in this segment is the classic version of ORIGINAL SMILE...there's also a Nov 15 clip of Takuya's birthday message & talk...if anyone need help with what they're talking about, just ask me...

to download the clips, go to www.takuyasea.com and then go to DataRoom...happy viewing!

whitedove

yesterday, 8th December 2004, is Goro Inagaki's 31st birthday!

so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR GORO-CHAN...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Goro-chan, OTANJOUBI OMEDETOU!

to commemorate his birthday, I've changed my avatar to his face, hehehe...

whitedove

SMAP's Christmas dorama

Josei Jishin (12/21 issue) has a monochrome full page shot of SMAP with the child actors. It seems to have been taken to advertise the Christmas drama. According to the description, it's not an ordinary drama but will have skits and musical scenes worked into it.

Message taken from http://8204.teacup.com/groundbreaker/bbs


True Horror Stories won an award at the Asian Television Awards 2004

Goro Inagaki's docu-dorama from Fuji TV this year, True Horror Stories has won an award for Best Docu-Drama in the recently concluded Asian Television Awards 2004. True Horror Stories is a compiled series of horror stories told in Goro-chan's perspective, who plays the host of this docu-dorama. Interestingly, because of the work quality and the popularity of this TV show, plans are being made to extend it into its second year. We'll just wait and see whether this will take off.

whitedove

An 18-year-old girl, Sophie, turns into a 90-year-old hag one day by a witch抯 curse. To break the curse, Sophie gets into the 揗oving Castle

captain_f4

uih... byknyer...

whitedove

Originally posted by captain_f4 at 16-12-2004 09:55 AM:
uih... byknyer...

apa yang banyaknya tu...:bgrin:

whitedove

berita ni dah lama, tapi baru teringat nak post...

29/6/2004

Japanese director bags Moscow award

MOSCOW: Film director Hideta Takahata holds the best directorial debut prize after the concluding ceremony of the 26th Moscow International Film Festival on Sunday. He won the award for "The Hotel Venus," the story of a boarding house run by a transvestite.

The film, starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of the pop group SMAP as the owner of a cafe-boarding house, features Japanese and South Korean actors and Korean dialogue. Most of the film was shot in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.

The jury praised the film for bringing fresh vitality to the movie world through its unique characters and distinctive ways of videotaping landscape. Takahata, a freelance director of TV variety shows and commercials, said the
award was a "big surprise."

Source: The Japan Times


dan ini berita yang masih baru & 'panas'...

2046 wins in Europe

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY NON-EUROPEAN FILM 2004 - Prix Screen International:
2046 by Wong Kar-Wai (China)
Starring Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Carina Lau, Faye Wong, Takuya Kimura, Chang Chen, Maggie Cheung


SMAP's New Single - Eric Clapton Lends A Hand

This will be a date to remember, because after almost 2 years, idol supergroup SMAP will release their new single on 19th January 2004. This is to coincide with Japan's EXPO 2005 Musical Program that month, as SMAP will be the 'musical voice' of the big event. The single's title will be "Tomodachi e ~ Say What You Will". What's more interesting is the fact that this new single is written by the renowned world's musician/singer, Eric Clapton, with lyrics by Mariya Takeuchi.


SMAP's Christmas Dorama - The Tiger, the Lion, & the Five Men

This 2-hour dorama special will air at Fuji TV on Dec 25th at 9.00 pm, featuring SMAP in a collaboration after a 5-year hiatus of acting together. The title is to be The Tiger, the Lion, & the Five Men. The roles have already been decided and the shooting has started.

Nakai Masahiro - policeman
Kimura Takuya - burglar
Inagaki Goro - department store manager
Kusanagi Tsuyoshi - curry rice shop master
Katori Shingo - burglar

For the first time in ANY dorama, Kimura & Shingo will play brothers. This is also a first for SMAP themselves.

captain_f4

Originally posted by whitedove at 16-12-2004 11:17 AM:


apa yang banyaknya tu...:bgrin:

banyak info whitedove bab2 japan nie.... takuya..

whitedove

Originally posted by captain_f4 at 17-12-2004 08:39 AM:


banyak info whitedove bab2 japan nie.... takuya..

ooo ;)

whitedove

It was reported that Eric Clapton writes the song "Tomodachi e ~Say What You Will~" specifically for the 2005 Aiji Music EXPO (one of the biggest musical event in Japan), and he was looking for a Japanese singer to sing it. After hearing "Sekaini Htotsu Dake no Hana", SMAP's recent record-breaker, million-seller hit single of 2003, he liked it a lot and felt that he could connect with the song. Eric Clapton has already known that SMAP is the most popular group in Japan, so he did not hesitate to give the song for SMAP to sing. So instead of a singer, he has selected a supergroup to sing his song.

whitedove

18 December 2004

Commercials' Kings & Queens

CM Databank, a company that analyzes the performance of TV commercials, has released its report for 2004. The most popular male and female commercial stars were SMAP member Kimura Takuya and Hello! Project member Matsuura Aya. SMAP again dominated the rankings, despite the fact that they didn't release any CDs or do any touring this year. In 6th and 7th places in the overall rankings are Kuu-chan and Shimizu Shogo. The names may not be familiar, but they are the chihuahua and its middle-aged owner who star in the hugely popular commercials for credit company Aiful.

Male

1. Kimura Takuya (SMAP)
2. Shimizu Shogo (Actor)
3. Nakai Masahiro (SMAP)
4. Katori Shingo (SMAP)
5. Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (SMAP)
6. Bae Yong Joon (Korean actor)
       
Female

1. Matsuura Aya (Singer)
2. Matsushima Nanako (Actress)
3. Ueto Aya (Singer)
4. Yada Akiko (Actress)
5. Sato Eriko (Actress)
6. Kiki Kirin (Actress)

Credits to http://www.japan-zone.com/news




More on Christmas dorama special

All five members of SMAP will celebrate Christmas with their own original two-hour fantasy on Christmas night with "X'Smap: The Tiger, the Lion and the Five Men" (Fuji TV, 9 p.m.).

Two young brothers, Leo and Toranosuke, arrive in a strange town on Christmas Eve. The first person they meet is the local policeman (Masahiro Nakai) who is patrolling the town and trying to catch two brothers who work as thieves, Aji (Takuya Kimura) and Oto (Shingo Katori). They also meet the president of the town's department store, Junior (Goro Inagaki), as well as a famous curry chef (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi).

The "heartwarming program" will feature singing and dancing, as well as cameo appearances by famous musicians and actors. However, there has been no indication so far as to whether or not SMAP will use the special show to debut their new single, which reportedly was written by Eric Clapton.

The Japan Times: Dec. 19, 2004

whitedove

New clips from SMAPxSMAP 27 Dec 2004 are available for download at www.takuyasea.com and www.nakaimasahiro.net...as for www.nakaimasahiro.net, the clips are much better in quality but you have to hurry up before Totoro takes them down! the songs SMAP sang this time are:

1. Theme song from Winter Sonata, sang with guest artiste Ryu, with bits in both Korean & Japanese
2. Song from Beautiful Days (Korean drama), sang with guest artiste Zero, with bits in both Korean and Japanese
3. Yozora no Mukou, a SMAP single from 1998, also in both Japanese & Korean

[ Last edited by whitedove on 31-12-2004 at 02:08 PM ]

whitedove

Kimutaku takes to the mountains

By MARK SCHILLING

Interviewing Takuya Kimura at the Tokyo International Film Festival was like being a commoner guest on a reception line for show-business royalty -- I had media ahead of me, media behind me, handlers all around me and only a short time to say my piece. But Kimura, while glowing with that peculiar aura of superstars whose every wish is someone's command, gave me his full attention and thought through his answers -- even to questions he had no doubt been hearing for years. Or was that another flawless performance by the biggest name in Japanese business?



Takuya Kimura speaks at the opening for "Howl no Ugoku Shiro" aka "Howl's Moving Castle" at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.

Why was Kimura meeting me and the rest of the journalistic hoi polloi? He and fellow members of SMAP -- the pop group that has been everywhere on Japanese television, collectively and individually, for more than a decade -- were promoting their latest films at TIFF on a special SMAP day. Kimura's were Wong Kar-wai's romantic drama "2046," which premiered in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and Hayao Miya zaki's "Howl no Ugoku Shiro" (Howl's Moving Castle)," which screened on TIFF's opening night. Kimura and his fellow SMAPsters long stayed away from the big screen, but are now moving full speed ahead with their film careers. Kimura was kind enough to tell me why.

MS: I didn't think the role you played in "2046" -- a mature man disappointed in love -- was not one you could have played a decade ago. It seemed to bring out something in you that your fans in Japan may not have known was there.

Kimura: That's Wong Kar-wai's style. I went to his shoot after preparing various things that went beyond my character's age and nationality, but he told me I didn't need any of them. He didn't have a script either. We all only really existed inside his head.

MS: Did you find a gap between what you thought you were doing and what you actually saw on the screen?

Kimura: Yes, here and there. On the set [Wong] would tell me to express "coldness" -- then he would shout "rolling, action." I'd try to do what I'd been told, but the scene would have nothing to do with "coldness" at all. So that sort of thing happened. If you wanted to put a bad spin on it, you could call it a sort of scam. If you wanted to. But I don't think of it as a scam really. Directors have different ways of cooking the meal we call a film -- and his way is as legitimate as any other.

MS: So you felt you were a well-used ingredient?

Kimura: Was I being used? Well, maybe. But I was the one doing the expressing. So was I being used really? This may be a heavy way of putting it, but I think allowing yourself to be used implies a certain responsibility. It also gives you a certain confidence.

MS: You were working with a great director, so you had the confidence that, in his hands, you could do anything?

Kimura: Not exactly. What does it mean to call a director "great" anyway? Even Spielberg, [Francis] Coppola and [Stanley] Kubrick -- all those wonderful directors -- even a lot of directors at this film festival have this one thing in common: When they start to be called "world famous" everyone thinks they're great, but once a director is on the set all that "world famous" stuff is no longer important.

MS: In a way, that was also true for you when you went to Cannes with "2046." The audience wasn't reacting to Takuya Kimura the television personality but to one actor on the screen.

Kimura: I was really happy about that. I still remember at the film festival -- well, the whole town was the film festival actually -- I was at a cafe away from the main theater, when this old couple -- they looked like someone's grandfather and grandmother -- told me they'd seen my film and they loved me in it. They said it just like that -- bang! It was a wonderful feeling. I was also moved when the world media applauded the film and gave it a standing ovation. What can I say? I was really happy.

MS: Here you stand out because you're the only Japanese in the cast, but to the audience at Cannes, everyone in the film was Asian. You might say you were competing with them on an even playing field.

Kimura: A lot of people have told me that. We're all in the same film so we're on the same playing field. For outsiders, it may seem as though it's actor-vs.-actor or director-vs.-director. They like to pin the "versus" label on us, but I don't see myself as being "versus" anyone in the cast because we're a team. Also, there's this big hard mountain called Wong Karwai to climb and to make it to the top everyone in the cast has to pull together.

MS: I'd like to talk about another kind of mountain: "Howl no Ugoku Shiro." That was one you hadn't climbed before. You had to do all your acting with your voice.

Kimura: Well, I'm 31 now -- I'm part of the generation that grew up with animation. That's what excited us the most. So I was thrilled that I could be part of this thing that had excited me and my friends so much as kids -- but it wasn't a mountain.

MS: I suppose you'd seen all of Miyazaki's films, so you had some idea of what was expected.

Kimura: When I got the part, I had all these thoughts -- I was nervous and tense, but when I actually got down to work, the film carried me along -- the animation, the setting, the colors.

MS: In the case of Pixar or Disney the voice actors record their parts first, then the animators create the characters based on the voices. In Japan it's the opposite. Is the Japanese way easier? Would it have been harder for you to create the character without the visual cues?

Kimura: I think "harder" or "easier" depends on the case. The way you climb the mountain may differ, but no matter whether you do it the Japanese way or the American way, the peak is the same.

MS: The character of Howl has a certain ambiguity: He's spoiled and temperamental, but he has his good side too. Could you identify with that ambiguity, that sense of mystery?

Kimura: I truly felt that about him -- and when I did the part, that feeling was definitely there. But even if he weren't actually an animation character, even if he were to become a real breathing human being living a real life, I would have the same sense about him. There are things about human beings that you can't understand. But because Howl's an animation character, you can more readily accept it. In a real human being, though, that sort of thing can be a turn off.

MS: Animation has its own style of acting. In Japanese animation in particular, there's a tendency toward exaggeration.

Kimura: More than being concerned about the voice I was projecting or the sound I was making, I was guided by the character's expression -- if he looked surprised or doubtful.

But when I look at "Howl" and Miyazaki's other films, I wonder why they have to be animated. The town, the sky look so life-like -- and when you act against that backdrop you may seem to be overdoing it. Even though Miyazaki is world famous now, his point of view is still very down to earth -- ordinary people can understand it.

MS: You've been in these two projects that have gotten international attention. Do you want to build on that -- try your hand at Hollywood?

Kimura: I don't feel that I have to go to Hollywood. The package is what's important, not who is delivering it. It could be Hollywood, it could be Japan -- it doesn't matter which.

MS: You've been in this business nearly 15 years now. Do you have any sense of where you'd like to be in another 10 or 15? Is there a plan?

Kimura: I don't especially think in terms of plans. But I have these visions -- that I'd like to do this or that with a certain person. I'd like to do something similar to "Howl," but in a real situation, not an animation.

There are a lot of remakes now -- it's a trend -- but I'm not so interested in remakes. The "Taku" in my name means "pioneer." I'd like to be a pioneer of some kind.

MS: I've been wondering for a long time why I haven't seen more Takuya Kimura films. (laughs)

Kimura: That's just the way things happened. If I want to change that and expand my range of activities, it's up to me.

MS: Talking about expansion, more Japanese films are getting out into the world. The Hollywood remake of "The Grudge" was No. 1 at the U.S. box office -- and that's drawn more attention to the original.

Kimura: There are a lot of problems with Japanese films, technical and financial, but the ideas are there -- and the ideas are free. It's not a case of "versus." There's definitely potential in the ideas.

MS: In Japan you have a certain image to uphold -- that if Takuya Kimura appears in a TV drama it's going to get high ratings. But abroad that doesn't matter.

Kimura: I want to trash that image. I want to change my image every chance I get. There's nothing sadder than an actor who only has one image.

The Japan Times: Nov. 24, 2004

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi- ... l5?ff20041124a5.htm

[ Last edited by whitedove on 31-12-2004 at 02:18 PM ]

whitedove

From Anan magazine, special edition for January 2005...

Credits to http://www.geocities.com/gimgabinko/