Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 564 Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in 1952 and is now a man in his early thirties.

At that age, many people are still following orders from their bosses, while Ryuichi Sakamoto is already a well-known composer in Japan.

Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in Tokyo and is a true Kyoto native. During his junior high school years, he was influenced by the then-active left-wing ideology in Japan and frequently participated in some of the activities at that time.

Yes, it's the kind of activity that everyone understands.

In short, after his activities in Japan came to an end, Ryuichi Sakamoto went to university and became a professional musician. Now he not only has experience in performing concerts around the world with his team, but also provides songs for many well-known works.

Due to some mysterious change, Nagisa Oshima didn't contact him this time, but instead contacted Akira Tani first. Thanks to this, Ryuichi Sakamoto naturally didn't come into contact with Mr. Merry Christmas Lawrence.

This is probably both a blessing and a curse.

It's a pity because Ryuichi Sakamoto did create an excellent soundtrack, but that soundtrack will probably disappear from history from now on.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to act in a blockbuster this time.

At this moment, in Roppongi, Tokyo, Ryuichi Sakamoto is standing in a 91 Video Store.

As the most popular and only systematic video store in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas of Japan, 91Video has a large number of loyal fans. Many Japanese film and television enthusiasts go to 91Video to find movies to watch, since the movies are updated quickly and many of them are also translated.

This also includes Ryuichi Sakamoto.

"Hmm, should I choose the European and American ones, or the domestic ones? The European ones seem pretty good too. Slavs have such big frames, they must be hard to conquer, right? So this mosaic is definitely still..."

Ryuichi Sakamoto, standing in front of the shelf, fell into deep thought.

Western films are indeed very open-minded, but shouldn't we still support domestic films? However, there are also some excellent works from Europe, which is really a dilemma.

Of course, he wasn't talking about Ivy, but rather mill films, a type of low-budget video release.

Takeshi Kitano is doing this right now, and doing it very well. He often takes out millions of yen to make a big-budget video production with violent and erotic themes that make people want to watch it again and again. He is now a rising star director in the video industry.

Many people buy the videotapes specifically to watch them when they see Takeshi Kitano's name on them.

Suddenly, someone beside me let out a gasp.

"Aki Furuya!"

Ryuichi Sakamoto was slightly surprised.

"What? Akira Furuya is in this too?"

Ryuichi Sakamoto put down the videotape and looked at the counter.

However, the shop owner had posted the week's new movies next to the counter and even included a poster.

Ryuichi Sakamoto leaned closer to look and saw that the poster clearly depicted a tense boxing scene, with a line of numbers highlighted in the background.

five billion!
The box office revenue of "Onimusha" has exceeded 5 billion yen.

This is the unique Japanese way of winning. Although they usually announce the allocated income, when they need to win, they will change it to announcing the box office revenue.

It's really hard to tell unless you look closely.

Ryuichi Sakamoto didn't realize it; he was simply amazed by it.

Unexpectedly, just a few years later, Japan is now able to produce films with box office revenue of 5 billion yen.

"It's already grossed 5 billion at the box office. If this continues, it might even surpass foreign films."

Ryuichi Sakamoto clicked his tongue in amazement, but then the video store owner said, "Look, there's news here too. It says a foreign film producer made a special trip to visit us three times, inviting Akira Furuya to star in a war epic, with Nagisa Oshima, a native Japanese, as the director! Apparently, a red handkerchief was left behind at the scene..."

A polite yet playful laugh erupted from the shop.

A red handkerchief!

You're very lucky!
"The director is Japanese, the lead actor is Japanese, and even Americans are playing supporting roles for us. Japan is really doing well now." The boss patted his chest.

Thinking about Japan's current achievements on the international stage, even white-collar workers in the suburbs of Tokyo who have to commute three hours by subway can proudly stand tall.

Ryuichi Sakamoto nodded in agreement.

That's not bad.

However, speaking of which, there are films co-produced with foreigners, and even war blockbusters at that.

"They must really need music production!"

He couldn't find foreigners, but Akira Furuya was easy to find. Ryuichi Sakamoto gripped the videotape in his hand, suddenly feeling a strong urge to volunteer.

The shopkeeper turned another page and continued reading the newspaper.

"Look, Akira Furuya has announced that he's fulfilling his promise. The first donation will be 400 million yen from the Killing Array Masters Association, and subsequent donations will be announced as they become available. He really did donate!"

Immediately, someone questioned: "Didn't you say 20%? Shouldn't that be 1 billion yen? How come you only donated 400 million? This is fraudulent donation!"

This time, the boss didn't even need to explain; Ryuichi Sakamoto glanced at him instantly.

"Sir, you can't talk like that! You're even questioning Akira Furuya, are you even Japanese?!"

He immediately began to explain the differences in taxation and box office allocation, which made the other person blush.

"I... I'm not questioning it, I just don't understand! You know, I watch every single movie, and this new one is really amazing, with time and wormholes and stuff, it feels even better than American blockbusters, I've already watched it twice!"

The man was eager to prove himself and talked for a long time in one breath.

Ryuichi Sakamoto let out a surprised and doubtful sound.

Two or three viewings? Is this even possible?
"Yeah!"

Watching it a second time is fine too.

We all owe Akira Furuya a movie ticket!
……

……

Universal Pictures, as those who frequently watch American entertainment news know, is one of Hollywood's top film companies, having distributed many well-known films, such as Fast & Furious.

In Japan, Universal Pictures also has good distribution channels. For example, Universal Pictures promoted and distributed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in Japan.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is a film produced by Universal Pictures.

At this moment, it seems that the company is planning to invite Gu Ming to its films. In a gesture of goodwill, Universal Pictures has indeed contributed some of its Japanese resources to assist with the promotional work.

Clearly, the Americans themselves knew this was a box office blockbuster and that it wouldn't be easy to attract a wide audience when it was released, so they simply ignored other details and only mentioned that it was set against the backdrop of war and told the story of Japanese soldiers.

Gu Ming was happy with this arrangement, since he wouldn't actually be acting in it anyway, and it would be enough to just use the American channels on a small scale.

As for whether it will offend Universal Music? Of course it will. Using their resources and not performing is a huge problem.

But Gu Ming didn't care; he didn't rely on Universal for his livelihood. In contrast, the idea of ​​Universal Pictures asking him to act in a blockbuster was a much more serious matter.

The matter of Global Times is not the problem; rather, today's visitor is a bit of a surprise to Gu Ming.

"You mean, that man claimed his name was Ryuichi Sakamoto, a music producer, and wanted to do the music production for the film?"

Tanaka nodded: "I've already asked him to wait in the reception room."

"Ouch!"

Gu Ming clapped his hands.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is no ordinary person. It can be said that, in terms of his status in the Japanese composition world, he is basically equivalent to Ken Takakura's status in Japanese dramas in the 1970s.

That's very high!
Big thing!

"Let's go see him! Luckily I was at the office today, otherwise I would have missed it!"

Gu Ming had only taken two steps when he suddenly remembered something.

"Where's Zhenxialong?"

"Oh, Seto-kun is in Nara wrapping up Ultraman Leo, filming the final episodes. There are only two episodes left until the finale."

"Really? He's still in Nara." Gu Ming said with a hint of regret.

Well, although it's just unofficial history, many people say that Ryuichi Sakamoto is the illegitimate son of Ryu Manatsu...

Gu Ming knew, of course, that wasn't the case, but he was still quite interested in arranging for the two of them to meet.

How fun!

(End of this chapter)