Singer/ actors... and/ or actor/ singers

by Chris MaGee

A week or so back we posted a video of Tadanobu Asano thrashing it out with his punk rock trio Peace Pill. Since then I've been thinking about which other Japanese stars either had their start in the music business or, despite their success in film, still foster dreams of musical glory. Below are three examples, but these are only the tip of the iceberg. We could be looking at a semi-regular feature if we wanted to dig them all up. Well, for now:


Kenji Sawada, a.k.a. Julie - "Oh Girl!" (1979)

Here's a performance that's just loaded with style. Anyone who's seen the final film in Seijun Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy, "Yumeji" or Takashi Miike's hilarious "The Happiness of the Katakuris" will recognize actor Kenji Sawada; but many of you might not know that he started out as a pop music superstar, first with the 60's "group sounds" band The Tigers and then as the gender-bending solo artist, Julie (ジュリー). This song, "Oh Girl!" is taken from his then upcoming 1980 album "TOKIO".




Bachikaburi (feat. Tomorowo Taguchi) - Live at the Public Hall, Toshima-Koukaido, Tokyo (1986)

I'm impressed with this one. I've been a fan of actor Tomorowo Taguchi since seeing him in Nagisa Oshima's "Gohatto" and Yoichi Sai's "Doing Time", but it wasn't until I read Tom Mes' review of his 2003 directorial debut "Iden & Tity" did I find out that he used to front the Japanese punk band, Bachikaburi. Between 1984 and 1992 the band released five albums and put on in your face live shows that featured Taguchi behind the mic giving furious, theatrical and sometimes offensive performances (vomitting on stage would be a good example of this). This live show taped at Toshima-Koukaido's Public Hall in 1986 features songs from their 1985 self-titled album.




Riki Takeuchi - "Ma-tsu-ri" (2008)

Wow! Riki Takeuchi? Singing??? That's kind of like Steven Seagal doing sychronized swimming. (But wait, Steve has his own band too, right? Geez!) This song, "Ma-tsu-ri" comes from Takeuchi's current release "Kurenai no Backfire" that has the star of such yakuza classics as "Dead or Alive" and "Deadly Outlaw Rekka" laying down the beats and bravado BIG time. Get a load of him taking on a bear (well, that's not a real bear, I don't think) à la Sonny Chiba circa 1977. Again, wow! Thanks to Patrick Macias for the heads up on this one.