Saki Takaoka
PHOTO BY MARIE WANIBE

Bridge over troubled waters

By Chris Betros

TOKYO —

World War II finished 64 years ago but bad feelings still live on among some Japanese and Americans. “The Harimaya Bridge,” directed and written by Aaron Woolfolk, executive produced by Danny Glover, and starring Ben Guillory, Saki Takaoka, Misa Shimizu and Glover, examines the prejudice between an African-American man and Japanese lingering since the war.

The story, set mostly in Kochi Prefecture, follows Daniel Holder (Guillory) who visits Japan to retrieve a collection of paintings produced by his late estranged son Mickey (the son has died in a traffic accident in Kochi). Holder, whose own father died at the hands of the Japanese during World War II, is in no mood to forget or forgive “the enemy,” nor is he moved by their politeness (it doesn’t help when he is offered “natto” for his first meal in Japan). Things get complicated when Holder finds out his son was married to a local woman (Takaoka) who gave birth to a daughter after his death.

“It’s a powerful film with a message that is still important today,” says Takaoka, 36, herself a mother of two young boys. “Fortunately, I have never experienced that sort of discrimination. When I first read the script, as a mother, I could understand my character’s predicament. Yet, her love for her haafu child transcends the prejudice.”

Takaoka said she got on well with first-time director Woolfolk who spent a year in Kochi on the JET program, and who went on to direct short features about an African-American teacher in Kochi (“Eki” and “Kuroi Hitsuji”) as part of his thesis for a master’s degree in film at New York’s Columbia University. “There was a gap between the type of Japanese woman that I play and Aaron’s idea of a Japanese woman, so we had a lot of discussion about it. I like a give-and-take relationship with directors. It was an interesting experience on set. On the production side, Aaron was the only foreigner, while Ben was the only foreign actor. There were Japanese crew who did not understand English at all. Despite the language barrier, we could all look at our work through multiple perspectives.”

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Takaoka started her career as an actress in earnest in the film “cf Girl” in 1989, and followed that up with many movies, TV dramas and theater productions. She won the 1995 Rookie of the Year Award at the Japan Academy Prizes for “Crest of Betrayal,” directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

Learning English dialogue was a challenge for Takaoka on the set of “The Harimaya Bridge.” “I had a script with English in one side and Japanese translation in the other side. But I decided to think my role in English because English dialogue did not come out when I thought about it in Japanese.” She also had to relearn Kochi dialect. “I have had to use that dialect before in a movie, so it wasn’t a big problem. Kansai dialect is harder to master.”

Last summer, after filming finished in Kochi, Glover and Takaoka gave a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. “Danny Glover is a very delightful and kind man,” said Takaoka. “I only spent about 2-3 days with him. At that press conference, he spoke so passionately about this project. I didn‘t understand everything he was saying but I could see it was very close to his heart.”

Takaoka says he would like to make a movie in Hollywood one day, but admits she needs to get better at English. “My two sons go to an international school and sometimes I try to speak English with them at home. They are getting very good. They laugh at jokes in movies and I don’t get it.”

“The Harimaya Bridge” opens on June 13.

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Latest 15 of 39 Total Comments Show All

SiouxGirl at 03:24 AM JST - 2nd June

My mom doesn't like Japanese people. She doesn't like Germans or Russians, either. She also has never known anyone who's Asian, German or Russian but she still doesn't like any of them. I blame this on propaganda, which she buys into wholeheartedly and defends with a, "Why would your own country lie to you?" I don't have the same prejudices, but I'm also alert to the stuff my own country tries to feed me and I was born quite a bit after war time. I'd like to see this movie, but I don't think my mother will. I don't think the rest of my family would be interested in seeing this movie, either. They only watch assembly line hollywood no-brainers.
JeffLee at 07:21 AM JST - 2nd June

Saki is/was a nude model. Just did a Google image search...and wow!
TheGeneral at 12:42 PM JST - 2nd June

LoveUSA

Bit Intrigued more about these people and even to find out if indeed the movie is any good.

no, it is not good.

Did you get into a special pre-release screening or time-travel?

Something tells me neither.
TheGeneral at 12:55 PM JST - 2nd June

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/attractions/entertainment/rtp/eastchugokushikoku/day1.html

It seems it is still under construction.

Here's a photo of/some info on the bridge: http://www.kochi-kia.or.jp/english/kochitourist.html

According this same page, there are three tourist attractions in Kochi City, not one :-)

Unless you count the fourth that's apparently 13km out . . .
dennis0bauer at 03:19 PM JST - 2nd June

i like Danny glover, so i am curious about this film
Wakarimasen at 03:39 PM JST - 2nd June

I'd watch this just to see Saki and Misa - both fantastic actresses and stunning too!
Wakarimasen at 03:42 PM JST - 2nd June

PLus it's true about old animositiesd dying hard. I hate the Americans for what they did to Japan (and Korea and Vietnam). hope this movie gives vent to some of those feelings.
mshimusa at 08:10 PM JST - 2nd June

I am gladly heartened to know that Koreans and Japanese aren't the only couples who have experienced friction..Japanese and Chinese don't get along well with each other and Japan and Russia also have an islet dispute over four Kuril islands occupied by former Soviet Union..

I think the best way to ameliorate often difficult Korea-Japan ties is to increase exchanges of young people from both countries and share opinions and ideas on how to genuinely break the deadlock and open their hearts & minds to each other..Koreans both Government and people always say Japan hasn't apologized enough for its past misdeeds in Korea while Japan says it has said sorry to Korea more than enough..At the behest of U.S.Government in 1965, Korea & Japan set up full diplomatic ties and Japan offers some money as a compensation for damage it caused on Korea..U.S. $ 300 million reparation cost from Japan to Korea is a drop in a bucket relatively speaking but Korean Government used that money to build steel factories and highway from Seoul to Pusan, the Korean port city closest to Fukuoka,Japan..

That money didn't go to Korean victims of Japan's colonization of Korea so those victims are filing lawsuit against POSCO, the South Korean steelmaker who used reparation money to build factories.. I love Korea and I like Korean patriotism but I wish Koreans stop hating Japan right now..Because I realized the better relations between Seoul & Tokyo, the more Japanese are willing to open up to Koreans..Some positive progress has already been made in Korea-Japan ties so I think good momentum is already showing up in Korea & Japan..Also a Japanese girl in U.S.A. told me that Japan's ancestor originated from Korean Peninsula..Korean themselves are a mixture of Manchurians,Mongols,some Han Chinese and even Japanese races..A lot of Western people know China and Japan well but they don't know Korea well unless CNN shows North Korea fires missiles into East Sea or tests underground nuclear explosions..

North Korea is tempting Japan to go nuclear so for time being U.S.A. troops must remain in Korea & Okinawa,Japan to stop escalation of potential military build-up competition among China,Korea and Japan and even Russian Far East..We don't need another war to solve regional security dilemmas in Korean Peninsula & North East Asia and prevent mishaps because I think Asia is heading in a wrong direction in the absence of genuine trust between 2 Koreas or among Sino-Korea-Japan triangular relations..We don't have much time to waste anymore discussing Japan's armed invasion of Asia nor can we afford to do so..What we must do is to increase people-to-people exchanges among the neighbouring countries concerned and share ideas on how to build a peaceful community in East Asia..Let's pray for peace in this region and calm down a little bit...I wish my comment will elevate Korea-Japan relations to a new horizon!!!!!
Leopalace at 08:52 AM JST - 3rd June

Too much time on my hands and just looked up the bridge on Google Earth, looks pretty lame, so does Kochi. The locals seem pretty excited about the movie being set in their town though.
CultureChange at 12:42 PM JST - 3rd June

JeffLee, oh my goodness, yes I saw the nude shots. What a magnificant body. I just love an all natural woman.
Beelzebub at 02:31 PM JST - 3rd June

Based on this superficial description, the plot sounds horribly contrived. Movies like this might have been useful maybe 40 years ago, when it was considered "progressive" to change people's hearts and minds. But people who are old enough to remember the war probably make up less than 1% of all moviegoers now. Most of the people who see it will be under 35, and aren't especially likely to benefit from its message. I remember one of Kurosawa's last films, with Richard Gere, took on a vaguely similar theme. We can all certainly benefit from morality plays, but the events of WW2 are fading fast in our collective memories.
Yelnats at 02:36 PM JST - 3rd June

JeffLee at 07:21 AM JST - 2nd June Saki is/was a nude model. Just did a Google image search...and wow!

She looks better in underwear though as she has nice legs. I will watch the movie,
usaexpat at 12:02 AM JST - 4th June

I would be interested to see this film it sounds like it could be good. As for the hatred of the "enemy" I have to say I've never seen it. My wife's grandparents on both sides are survivors of the bombing of Nagasaki and I was welcomed into the family from day one. Most people who can't let the war go seem to be armchair historians rather than people who were actually affected by it.
pathat at 03:18 AM JST - 4th June

Bridge over troubled waters

Or is the whole point of this movie simply an attempt to stir up the waters to make some money six and half decades after World War II?

It's time to move on and away from issues related to the war.
womanforwomen at 06:46 AM JST - 4th June

When are you going to get over with the WWII topic? Forgive and forget. no need to make money from war related themes. Grand Torino - good message, sense of humor, specific cultural issues depicted with taste and humor..