Japan celebrates document Emmy wins for ‘Shogun’

TOKYO — Japan erupted with pleasure Monday because the samurai collection “Shogun” received a document 18 Emmys for its first season.

It took house prizes together with Excellent Drama Collection, as star and co-producer Hiroyuki Sanada grew to become the primary Japanese actor to win the Emmy for greatest lead actor in a dramatic collection. Co-star Anna Sawai received greatest actress in a dramatic collection, additionally a primary for Japan.

“You probably did it. You probably did it. Congratulations,” Takashi Yamazaki, director of ” Godzilla Minus One,” wrote on social media.

Folks adopted the awards stay because the wins made nationwide headlines. Leisure media Oricon proudly reported {that a} work whose spoken traces had been principally within the Japanese language “made Emmy historical past.”

“The grand scale of Hollywood mixed with the prime quality of the manufacturing, together with costuming, props and mannerisms; the collaboration between the Japanese skilled group, headed by producer Sanada, and the native manufacturing group; in addition to the performing that delivered a powerful sense of actuality, all got here collectively,” the report stated.

Actor Kento Kaku, who starred within the 2024 collection “Like a Dragon: Yakuza,” stated he was feeling impressed to pursue Hollywood desires.

“After seeing how cool that was, who’s not going to wish to take up the problem,” he wrote on X.

Actress Tomoko Mariya stated she broke into tears the second Sanada’s win was introduced.

“What hardships you will need to have endured, selecting to depart your total profession behind in Japan and going to America alone. But it surely has borne fruit,” she wrote, referring to Sanada’s transfer to Los Angeles 20 years in the past.

The accolades for “Shogun” mirror not solely the rising variety in American leisure, but additionally the legacy of Japan’s “jidaigeki” samurai movies, which have influenced administrators worldwide.

The primary Asian actor to win the Emmy for Finest Lead Actor in a Dramatic Collection was Lee Jung-jae, for the hit 2022 Korean collection “Squid Recreation.”

Sanada is considered one of a handful of Japanese actors to land main Hollywood roles, together with “The Final Samurai,” launched in 2003, and “The 47 Ronin,” starring Keanu Reeves in 2013.

The function Sanada performs in “Shogun” was first portrayed by Toshiro Mifune within the Nineteen Eighties.

Sanada, who additionally starred in Yoji Yamada ’s 2002 “Twilight Samurai,” alluded to those that went earlier than him in his acceptance speech.

“I thank all those that supported and saved the legacy of jidaigeki alive,” he stated in his speech in Japanese, clutching his trophy.

“The fervour and desires we inherited traveled throughout the seas and crossed borders.”

___

Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama