Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ With the winning of the Venice Film Festival's best director award for the historical drama, Zaitoichi, Takeshi Kitano is back in the news. Although, Kitano's films are the way most people in the West have been introduced to his unique artistic style, in Japan he is more well known by his alter ego―Beat Takeshi. To put it simply, "Beat" is the comedian and "Kitano" is the film auteur.		alter ego　分身 to put it simply　分かりやすく言えば auteur　映画監督
■■ That Kitano is even involved in entertainment is amazing given his background. Born in 1947 in Tokyo to strict parents who did not allow him to see films, read comics or even novels, he did not experience those quite common childhood things until away from home at college. After dropping out in his junior year there, he drifted towards the entertainment world.		born to ...　 …の下に生まれる drift　一定の道からそれる
■■■ Television is where Kitano first gained a bit of fame as part of the alternative comedy duo the Two Beats which he started with fellow stand-up comedian Kiyoshi Kaneko. By the 1980s Beat Takeshi, now going it alone, zoomed to the heights of popularity (especially with the surreal game show Takeshi-jo [Takeshi Castle] which was a cult hit on the U.S. cable TV). Even today, his popularity on TV is unmatched as he hosts, at last count, seven various comedic, talk or variety shows.		fame　名声 alternative　伝統にとらわれない zoom　急に上がる surreal　奇想天外の unmatched　無比の at last count　現時点での集計では comedic　喜劇の
■■■■ With this huge popularity also came scandal as Kitano made the headlines in 1986 for all the wrong reasons. He, and members of his entourage, assaulted staff at the offices of the Friday tabloid magazine. The comedian was angry over a photo published by the magazine of his mistress.		entourage　取り巻き連 assault　…に暴行を加える mistress　愛人
■■■■■ Kitano's anger and violent streak found a much better outlet in acting thanks to the suggestions of Nagisa Oshima. The famed director said Kitano would be great in the role of a criminal, and thus the comedian was cast, against type, as a psycho killer on a hit TV drama. His film career, both acting and directing, has continued in this vein towards portraying men of violence albeit with a humanistic and sympathetic quality that film audiences can relate to.		streak　性質 outlet　はけ口 vein　スタイル；手法 portray　…を演じる humanistic　人道主義の sympathetic　思いやりのある
■■■■■■ Most in the West, though, were introduced to Kitano as an actor from his role as an obedient, often drunk, Japanese soldier in 1983's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. (In an ironic twist Kitano nearly ended his career in 1994 when he suffered terrible injuries crashing his motorcycle while drunk. To this day, the scars are still a bit evident on his face which was partially paralyzed in the crash.) He actually starting his "film" acting career a couple of years earlier playing a cop in the Japanese action film, Danpu-Wataridori. His directorial debut came in 1989 with Sono Otoko Kyobo Nitsuki (released as Violent Cop almost ten years later in the U.S.) but it happened almost accidentally. He was set to star in the film when the director, Kinji Fukusaku, suddenly quit the project. Thrust into the director's chair Kitano proved to be a natural.		obedient　おとなしい to this day　今日まで scar　傷跡 evident　明らかな paralyzed　麻痺した thrust into ...　突然…になる
■■■■■■■ Now with this latest international award to add to his collection, the world has confirmed what Japan has known for decades that Takeshi Kitano is a one-of-a-kind natural talent.		one-of-a-kind　唯一の；特別な

－written by Brian Maitland

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