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Koji Yakusho

Yakusho Koji is an acclaimed and famed Japanese actors who has appeared in many notable films, including Tampopo, Unagi and Babel, but may be best known internationally for his role in Shall We Dance, which at the time of its release was Asia's biggest film export. He was born in the southern city of Nagasaki as Koji Hashimoto, but moved to Tokyo and began working in the city's municipality from which he borrowed his alias. Yakusho means 'government office.' While at acting school he met actress Saeko Kawatsu whom he soon married in 1982. He picked up stage roles, moved to a TV serial on Japan's national broadcaster NHK in 1983 and had his first major break playing a mostly silent role in the avant-garde food drama Tampopo. Koji has collaborated with director Kurosawa Kiyoshi several times, won the Best Actor Award at the Japanese Academy Awards more than once and been nominated for it and other awards even more often. He directed Gaman No Abura in 2009.


Aliases
  • Kôji Yakusho
  • Kouji Yakusho
  • Yakusho Kouji
English 日本語

13 Assassins

2010
as Shinzaemon Shimada

Argentine Baba

2007
as Satoru Wakui

Babel

2006
as Yasujiro Wataya

Charisma

1999
as Goro Yabuike

Cure

1997
as Kenichi Takabe

Doppelganger

2003
as Michio Hayasaki

Ekiro

2009
as Det. Yobuno

Eureka

2000
as Makoto Sawai

Gama no abura

2009
as Takuro Yazawa

Gurenbana

1993
as Kenzo Nakada

I Just Didn't Do It

2007
as Masayoshi Arakawa, Lawyer

Jubaku: Spellbound

1999
as Hiroshi Kitano

KAMIKAZE TAXI

1995
as Kantake

Kizuna

1998
as Takaaki Ise / Tetsuro Haga

Lost Paradise

1997
as Shoichiro Kuki

Making of 'Tampopo'

1986
as Kôji Yakusho

Nemuru otoko

1996
as Kamimura

Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban

2015
as Korechika Anami, Army Minister

Oh Lucy!

2018
as Komori

PERFECT DAYS

2023
as 平山

Sekigahara

2017
as Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shabu gokudo

1996
as Makabe

Shall We Dance?

1996
as Shohei Sugiyama

Silk

2007
as Hara Jubei

Subarashikisekai

2020
as Masao Mikami

Suite Dreams

2006
as Heikichi Shindo

Séance

2000
as Sato

THE DAYS (2023)

2023
as 吉田

Tampopo

1985
as Man in White Suit

The Boy and the Beast

2015
as Kumatetsu (voice)

The Choice of Hercules

2002
as Atsuyuki Sassa

The Eel

1997
as Takuro Yamashita

The Kiyosu Conference

2013
as Katsuie Shibata

The Lakeside Murder Case

2004
as Shunsuke Namiki

The Password is "Courage"

2000
as Akatsuki Nitaro

The World of Kanako

2014
as Akikazu Fujishima

Tsui no shintaku

2012
as Shinzo Egi

Twelve Months

1980
as Young soldier

Tôno monogatari

1982
as Hatsutaro

University of Laughs

2004
as Mutsuo Sakisaka

VIVANT

2023
as ノゴーン・ベキ

Yudan taiteki

2004
as Detective Jin

Zô no senaka

2007
as Yukihiro Fujiyama

ファミリア

2023
as Seiji Kamiya

三匹が斬る!

1987
as 久慈 慎之介

冰峰暴

2019
as 姜月晟

2006
as Noboru Yoshioka

回路

2001
as Ship Captain

孤狼の血

2018
as Shogo Ogami

峠 最後のサムライ

2022
as 河井継之助

徳川家康

1983
as 織田信長

最後の忠臣蔵

2010
as Magozaemon Senoo

未来のミライ

2018
as Grandfather (voice)

竜とそばかすの姫

2021
as Suzu's father

銀河鉄道の父

2023
as 父・宮沢政次郎

陸王

2017
as Koichi Miyazawa

Director

Movie Gama no abura 2009

Writer

Movie Gama no abura 2009

Guest Star

Episode おやじの背中
ウエディング・マッチ
2014