Okada Masaki Monogatari

Hamlet (Okada Masaki) vs Laertes (Aoyagi Shō), photo by Hosono Shinji  In which I quoted Simon Godwin’s reason for choosing Hamlet for his first work in Japan. In which I presented some Hamlet quotes in Japanese. And in which I posted some Tweets about Okada Masaki’s and Simon Godwin’s Hamlet (because apparently there are two other Japanese Hamlets floating around the Tweeter-sphere these days). In other words: “assorted Hamlet”, Hamlet Moriawase. よろしくね！ First thing first: The ONLY interview so far that mentioned the importance of Masaki in Simon Godwin’s decision for choosing Hamlet:

Update 24 May : have added Simon Godwin's endorsement for Okada Masaki's Hamlet and also a snippet of the Hamlet show in Bunkamura Simon Godwin (photo by Moriyama Yūko) Simon Godwin was interviewed by Otocoto last April for his stage play “Hamlet”. Thus, I’ve translated the Japanese interview below for us to understand Godwin’s vision on the 2019 Hamlet starring Okada Masaki, Kuroki Hana et al. It’s worth noting another interview of Simon’s from Japan Times (30 April 2019), this time in English, with the director mentioning how Okada Masaki was the reason that he (Godwin) chose Hamlet as his first stage play in Japan. The Japan Times article can be read here . Simon Godwin has come to Japan to direct Okada Masaki’s “Hamlet”

Okada Masaki, Feb 2019. Photo: Johnny Terasaka, Spice Okada Masaki: on the memories of the late Ninagawa Yukio and challenging Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” 14 Feb 2019 Interview by Fujimoto Mayu (translated by Icha)

Update 24 May : have added Simon Godwin's endorsement for Okada Masaki's Hamlet and also a snippet of the Hamlet show in Bunkamura Well, isn't it about time! I missed this announcement today because of work, BUT now that I finally watched the Bunkamura Hamlet 2019  teaser, I have to put it here! It's a short teaser and thus a very short post for now. But I will populate this post with more teasers as we march closer to May. Well, okay, it's still 5 months or so away, but tomorrow is February already, so you know... time flies! Meanwhile, enjoy Okada Masaki as the charming but troublesome Hamlet ! Update 24 May 2019 The following is Simon Godwin's encouraging comment on Okada Masaki's Hamlet: サイモンさんニンゲン御破産観に来てたのね🎶 pic.twitter.com/u5Mwlz7lNQ — さくら (@sakurasakuhime) May 23, 2019 And this is a snippet of the Hamlet show, a promotion for Osaka's show. I wish the announcer didn't talk over Masaki's dialogs, but hey, better than...

The lovely Ningen Gowasan team...  明けましておめでとうございます！これはニンゲン御破算の最初のシーン、灰次と黒太郎の対話です。よろしくお願いします！ Happy New Year! This is the Ningen Gowasan script Chapter 1, the part where Haiji started to appear. I bought the script book when I was watching the show in Osaka in July 2018. Prior to this part, a group of soldiers were harassing some peasants (including old women who stubbornly and verbally fought back). I couldn’t get the nuances of some parts, hence I put the Kanji and kana first here before the English translation.  P 13 官軍１：（遮って）豆の色の情報はいらぬ！新しいゴザも敷くな！ 新しいゴザも敷くな！（婆あたらゴザを回収しはじめるので） ゴザの回収しの音！うるせ！見れ！婆あが弁当食いながら見学してるという、緊張感のない戦争は、戦争としてとう終わってるという話である。 別の侍たらが数人出てくる。汚 い。 (Note: the radical in 汚 is the “three water splashes” on the left hand side. It looks different from what Jisho.org writes because it seems the Japanese uses different font types between writing and typing. I thought I’d leave this note to anyone who’s scratching their heads, trying to find the...

The late Ninagawa Yukio's " Cymbeline ", photograph by Watanabe Takahiro A rather belated Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope your Christmas has been peaceful and full of love… This time, I just want to share a short epiphany about one of Okada Masaki’s mentors. When I first learned that Okada Masaki was going to star as the titular character in the Bunkamura “Hamlet” 2019 production, I was very excited. When I realised that Simon Godwin was going to direct the production, I was even more excited . I thought, how amazing it was to have Masaki being tutored by a British Shakespearean director?! I wasn’t trying to have the white supremacy here at all; it was just an excitement to have a British Shakespearean director directing the 2019 Hamlet production. At that time, I didn’t know that Shakespeare stories had often been performed in Japan, and that there was a number of Japanese directors who had actually directed such performances.

The three main cast of Daiyukai 2018: Okada Masaki, Fuji Sumiko, and Watabe Atsuro In which I learned that timing for release can be a major issue for a series… Friday last week, I managed to squeeze the two hours for Okada Masaki’s 大誘拐 Daiyukai  or the Great Kidnapping before watching the final SGRS episode , so I thought I better release this article. The main cast of Daiyukai 2018 are Fuji Sumiko-san as the rich lady Yanagawa Toshiko, Okada Masaki as Tonami Kenichi and Watabe Atsuro-san as Detective Ikari Daigoro. Watabe-san played with Masaki in the ST MPD Scientific Investigation Squad. He also paired up with Sato Takeru in the very funny Bitter Blood. The story revolved around Kenichi who wanted to kidnap Yanagawa-san and thus he listed his two friends. On the D-day, the trio kidnapped Yanagawa while she was sightseeing in a mountain with her aid. I originally thought the movie would be a serious movie… but it was actually silly movie. Well, at least we have t...

Right. I’m typing with red eyes because I just finished crying. I wasn’t expecting the last episode to be very emotional. I mean, it’s the last one, so of course it was emo. But I didn’t cry mostly because it’s the last episode. Rather, it was because of what this episode revealed… (so DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED!) ( Update 17 Dec 2018: I've just re-watched the last episode and realised I have mis-heard some sentences, particularly in the last few scenes. I'm trying to fix my misinterpretations now, and will put tags if I question my own interpretations but haven't got time to fix them) Now. We’re back in 1995. The episode started with Mangetsu arriving with the Shikoku Rakugo film he obtained from the Shikoku inn owner.  Unlike in the manga where Yotaro and Mangetsu (and another guy I forgot the name – will check later), here Mangetsu went to Shikoku and brought the film with him. In this drama, Konatsu and Matsuda-san also watched the film togeth...

I'm sad that this Friday is the last episode of SGRS... but I'm relieved that I have finally translated Okada Masaki's looooong interview with NHK that was uploaded on 12 October 2018. Enjoy!  The septuagenarian Yakumo ( source ) A long interview of Okada Masaki as the lead actor for the “Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū” 12 October 2018 This is Shibuya Hanako from the Dorama club AD. Did you see the “Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū” last night? Celebrating the first episode, I interviewed the lead actor Okada Masaki. Okada-san is playing the Shōwa Rakugo story teller named Hachidaime Yūrakutei Yakumo. I will talk about the original work, the shootings and the Rakugo! Q: First of all, please tell me whether you’ve read the original work.  A: I have. The original work was truly readable. I was scared but also drawn into it to the extent that I couldn’t open the next page to see what it would be. Also, I thought that Yakumo would be a difficult role to play…(laugh...