Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ It's odd that actor Ken Takakura is known as the Clint Eastwood of Japan. It certainly isn't for the actual roles he is most known for―playing bad guys in yakuza movies. It must be more for the stoic yet honorable presence he brings to these and other roles that remind people of Eastwood.		odd　変な honorable　尊敬に値する presence　存在
■■ In some ways Takakura is more like a mixture of Eastwood and the late James Cagney and John Wayne. Sort of "the good, the bad and the ugly" all in one. The yakuza roles parallel Cagney's start in the studio system and the quiet brooding hero (albeit more an anti-hero in Takakura's case) parallels John Wayne's screen persona. Even in his Western films he has often been very typecast in strong, "man of few words" roles up to the late '80s.		sort of　すこし all in one　すべて一体になって parallel　…に相当する brooding　陰気な albeit　…ではあるが typecast　型にはまった
■■■ Most people in the West got to know him better for his portrayal of a tough cop in the Ridley Scott-directed Black Rain (1989). The Japanese actor more than held his own with co-stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia. That film involved other yakuza characters as did Takakura's first Western foray, funnily enough titled The Yakuza (1974). This cult classic starring Robert Mitchum has Takakura playing a yakuza member. The film, though a cult favorite, really did nothing in raising Takakura's profile in the West.		portrayal　役を演じること co-star　共演者 foray　進出
■■■■ Being able to play tough guys, though, comes pretty naturally to this Meiji University grad who got his start in films way back in 1955 as a fresh 24-year-old studio actor with Toei. Growing up in Fukuoka Prefecture and watching the postwar fight for turf among Japanese, Korean and American gangsters is where he got that streetwise knowledge he's used to perfect his yakuza screen persona. It's also probably why he ended up being cast in over 180 different films for Toei up to 1976. Nowadays some of these yakuza films are laughable especially the ones Toei set in the twentieth century that had yakuza fighting each other with samurai swords. Luckily, Toei had Takakura lending his air of mystery to whatever role no matter how inaccurately written.		come naturally to ...　…にはお手のものである grad　卒業生（graduateの略） way back　ずっと昔 turf　（やくざなどの）縄張り streetwise　世慣れた perfect　…を完成させる laughable　ばかばかしい air of mystery　神秘的な雰囲気 inaccurately　不正確に
■■■■■ In 1993, Takakura finally broke from the yakuza/cop mold, at least as far as his Western films are concerned, by playing a gruff baseball manager with a heart of gold in the comedy Mr. Baseball which starred famous American TV actor Tom Selleck. It's in the recent rebirth of the Japanese film industry, though, where his career has gained more critical attention. The critics overseas have noticed too with a Best Actor award at the 1999 Montreal Film Festival for his portrayal of a train station master in the sentimental drama Poppoya (released as Railroad Man in the U.S.). Not just overseas, but at home as well, Takakura has won various Best Actor awards including three of them at Japan's version of the Academy Awards.		mold　（人の）タイプ gruff　荒々しい heart of gold　高潔で崇高な心 rebirth　復活
■■■■■■ So although Takakura has not garnered any Oscar nominations stateside, like his younger compatriot Ken Watanabe did this year, many film fans feel Takakura's time will come again and not just at another film festival. We shall see but who would bet against the Clint Eastwood of Japan achieving that?		garner　…を手に入れる stateside　米国内で compatriot　同国人

－written by Brian Maitland

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