Norika Fujiwara performed the stunts herself in China Strike Force.

When people think of Japanese movie stars that have appeared in foreign movies, fans of older films may remember Sessue Hayakawa from The Bridge on the River Kwai. Recently, a new generation of Japanese actors and actresses has been appearing in foreign movies, and it seems that the world of movie stars is undergoing globalization.

Popular Actresses Lead the Way
One movie that attracted a lot of attention was Wasabi, a French production starring Ryoko Hirosue (site is Japanese only) and Jean Reno that was released in Japan in January 2002. Most of the other foreign films featuring Japanese stars, however, have been made in other Asian countries. Actress Takako Tokiwa appeared in two Hong Kong movies, Moonlight Express in 1999 and A Fighter's Blues in 2000. The popular Norika Fujiwara appeared in China Strike Force, a Hong Kong-American action movie featuring stunts reminiscent of Jackie Chan. This movie was made in 2000 and released in Japan this summer. Rie Miyazawa, meanwhile, won the Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her role as a Kunqu opera singer in Peony Pavilion, a Hong Kong movie that depicts the decadent lifestyle of the upper class in 1930s Suzhou.

There have also been a number of joint South Korean-Japanese projects of late. The abduction of current South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Japan in 1973 was made into a movie this year, titled KT. While this film features a primarily Japanese cast, there are other such efforts that rely on a mainly Korean cast. 2009 Lost Memories is one such example, and co-star Toru Nakamura won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Daejong Awards, the South Korean equivalent of Hollywood's Academy Awards.

And as for Chinese movies, Teruyuki Kagawa played a Japanese soldier during World War II in Devils on the Doorstep, a film that won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for director Jiang Wen. Kiichi Nakai, meanwhile, plays a Japanese emissary serving the Chinese emperor in the seventh century B.C. in Warriors of Heaven and Earth, a film slated for release in 2003.

Merit in Using Japanese Actresses
Yuko Sekiguchi is the editor in chief of Kinema-Junpo, a magazine that collects in-depth articles on movies. Sekiguchi, who has recently presented in the magazine a feature on movies that cross borders, says, "Hong Kong movies can't raise the funds needed to produce them if they are just intended for a domestic audience, so they include Asian actors and actresses from other countries. They are always considering the market in neighboring countries. In Japan, however, enough money can be scraped together for producing movies intended only for a Japanese audience. This is why Japanese movie makers have not been proactive in trying to expand their appeal abroad."

There are a number of different reasons why Japanese actors and actresses are being used in foreign movies. Tokiwa and Fujiwara are already quite popular in a number of Asian nations due to their appearances in TV dramas that have aired there. When Miyazawa was hired by Hong Kong director Yonfan to star in Peony Pavilion, however, the director had only seen her picture before deciding that she had the elegant look appropriate for the film. It is interesting that it is not necessarily admiration for Japanese movies themselves that is behind the increasing roles being offered to Japanese actors and actresses abroad. Sekiguchi says, "When considering funding and the idea of expanding the market, collaboration and exchanges of actors and staff have merit."

According to Sekiguchi, the international success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, an Asian movie produced by Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has led Hollywood to begin investing in Asian films. Warriors of Heaven and Earth is such an example, as it is a Chinese movie produced with backing from Sony Pictures Entertainment. The world of movies is undergoing globalization as both capital and talent freely move across borders. The trend of actors and actresses from different Asian countries working together appears likely to grow, so Japanese stars may soon be coming to a theater near you.