Steven Frederic Seagal is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-law's dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he had the same profession. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in Above the Law. By 1991, he had starred in four films.
Aki Olavi Kaurismäki is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the award-winning Drifting Clouds (1996), The Man Without a Past (2002), Le Havre (2011), The Other Side of Hope (2017) and Fallen Leaves (2023), as well as Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). He has been described as Finland's best-known film director.
Shiki-Jitsu, also known as Ritual, is a 2000 Japanese art film written and directed by Hideaki Anno. The film is Anno's second live-action feature. The screenplay is an adaption of Ayako Fujitani's novella Tōhimu, which was inspired by an emotionally difficult time in Los Angeles working on her father Steven Seagal's 1998 film The Patriot.
Godzilla: Final Wars is a 2004 kaiju film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, with special effects by Eiichi Asada. An international co-production between Japan, Australia, the United States, and China, the film was produced by Toho Pictures, CP International, Zazou Productions, and Napalm Films, and is the 29th film in the Godzilla franchise, the sixth and final film in the franchise's Millennium series and Toho's 28th Godzilla film. The film stars Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Maki Mizuno, Kazuki Kitamura, Kane Kosugi, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Masami Nagasawa, Chihiro Otsuka, Shigeru Izumiya, Masakatsu Funaki, Masato Ibu, Jun Kunimura, and Akira Takarada. In the film, when a mysterious race of aliens known as the Xiliens arrive on Earth, the Earth Defense Force find themselves locked in battle with various monsters attacking cities around the world, leading them to revive the only chance to save their planet: Godzilla.
Ayako Fujitani is a Japanese actress and writer.
The Patriot is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Dean Semler. Starring Steven Seagal, the film is loosely based on the novel The Last Canadian by William C. Heine. Seagal's first direct-to-video film, it features him as a local doctor and former immunologist who races against time to find a cure for an active viral outbreak, the origins of which trace back to a militia leader who injected himself with a deadly virus.
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is a 1995 Japanese kaiju film directed by Shusuke Kaneko and written by Kazunori Itō, with special effects by Shinji Higuchi. It is the ninth installment in the Gamera film series, serving as a reboot of the franchise, and is the first entry in the franchise's Heisei period. The film stars Tsuyoshi Ihara, Akira Onodera, Shinobu Nakayama, Ayako Fujitani, and Yukijirō Hotaru, with Naoki Manabe and Jun Suzuki portraying the giant monster Gamera, and Yuhmi Kaneyama playing Gyaos.
Fred Kida was a Japanese-American comic book and comic strip artist best known for the 1940s aviator hero Airboy and his antagonist and sometime ally Valkyrie during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. He went on to draw for Marvel Comics' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, in a variety of genres and styles, and then again for Marvel superhero titles in the 1970s. He drew the company's The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip during the early to mid-1980s. Kida also assisted artist Dan Barry on the long-running strip Flash Gordon from 1958 to 1961 and then again from 1968 to 1971.
Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira, known as Pepe, is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Porto, which he captains. Born in Brazil, he plays for the Portugal national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation.
Pepe Serna is an American film and television actor and artist.
Tokyo! is a 2008 anthology film containing three segments written by three non-Japanese directors, all of which were filmed in Tokyo, Japan. Michel Gondry directed "Interior Design", Leos Carax; "Merde", and Bong Joon-ho; "Shaking Tokyo".
Yakuza: Like a Dragon, is a 2007 Japanese crime film directed by Takashi Miike, based on the 2005 PlayStation 2 video game Yakuza. The film stars Kazuki Kitamura, Goro Kishitani, Show Aikawa, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Kenichi Endō and Tomorowo Taguchi.
Kazuki Kitamura is a Japanese film and television actor who won the award for best supporting actor at the 21st Yokohama Film Festival for Minazuki, Kyohansha and Kanzen-naru shiiku as well as the CUT ABOVE Award for Excellence in Film at JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film in New York in 2014.
Dave Boyle is an American director, writer, editor, and actor. He has written and directed several movies that utilize primarily Asian or Asian-American casts, including the feature films Big Dreams Little Tokyo (2006), White on Rice (2009), Surrogate Valentine (2011), Daylight Savings (2012), and Man from Reno (2014), several of which have won awards at film festivals around the world.
Killers is a 2014 neo-noir action horror film directed by Indonesian directing duo The Mo Brothers. A co-production between Japan and Indonesia, the screenplay was written by Takuji Ushiyama and The Mo Brothers' Timo Tjahjanto with Kazuki Kitamura and Oka Antara in the starring roles. The film won two out of its three nominations at the 34th Citra Awards, for Best Original Score and Best Sound.
9 Souls is a 2003 Japanese crime drama film directed by Toshiaki Toyoda. It was released on July 19, 2003.
Yamegoku: Yakuza Yamete Itadakimasu (ヤメゴク〜ヤクザやめて頂きます〜) is a Japanese television drama series that premiered on TBS on 16 April 2015. This is Yuko Oshima's first time starring in the lead role of a serial drama. It received an average viewership rating of 6.5%.
The Lion Standing in the Wind is a 2015 Japanese drama film directed by Takashi Miike. It was released on March 14, 2015. It is based on the true story of a Japanese doctor working in Africa using information from letters sent home to the girl he left behind in Japan. The letters originally formed the basis for the popular 1987 Japanese song "Kaze ni Tatsu Lion" by Masashi Sada, who was encouraged by actor Takao Osawa to adapt the song into a novel. The novel was released in 2013 and was later adapted into the 2015 film directed by Takashi Miike.
Javier Gullón is a Spanish screenwriter.
Scarlet is a Japanese television drama series and the 101st Asadora series, following Natsuzora. It premiered on September 30, 2019, and concluded on March 28, 2020.
