Tampopo Revelation

[Mulboyne]

I've only just realized that Hollywood leading man Ken Watanabe played a major role in Juzo Itami's 1985 film, Tampopo. He was "Gun" who was the sidekick to the trucker "Goro", played by Tsutomu Yamazaki. Nearly 20 years separates that film from Watanabe's big break in The Last Samurai but, apart from a bit more hair, he's pretty recognizable. Which makes me feel stupid for missing it before. This is probably not news to anyone else.

[GuyJean]

Which makes me feel stupid for missing it before..

I can't believe how dense you are sometimes, Mulboyne..

GJ

[Charles]

Yeah, this sort of thing happens all the time, when an actor is hot, it seems like he's in everything.
I remember back when I was taking language classes, we watched an NHK drama "Seishun Kazoku" in class as part of our assignments. I kept wondering about the father figure, he seemed familiar. After weeks and weeks, it finally dawned on me, he was the waiter in a scene in Tampopo. You might remember the scene, it's where the old farts from a bank go to lunch at a fancy restaurant and they all order the same bland meal, but the young kid orders an elaborate gourmet meal.
I mentioned it in class once I figured it out, and the reaction was priceless, all the students went "Oh yeah!" all at once. ha..

[Mulboyne]

The cast list reveals you are talking about Isao Hashizume. And I can picture him in the waiter role now that you've mentioned it.

[Charles]

The cast list reveals you are talking about Isao Hashizume. And I can picture him in the waiter role now that you've mentioned it.

Yes indeed, that's him. If I'd known you were that interested, I would have put up the IMDB cite, I had to look him up to check before I posted. I was surprised to see there's a dorama wiki with a listing for Seishun Kazoku too.
I thought he was really good in Seishun Kazoku, it was an interesting story, although I don't know how it turns out because we never got to see the final episodes. His wife is an executive, he's a salaryman, and one day he quits his job and sells their home without consulting his wife. Hey everyone guess what? We're all moving to my old home town of Beppu and we're going to live and work on the wasabi farm I just bought! To hell with the Tokyo rat race!
I still have fond memories of that class. Just as an example, at one point the father starts describing "furusato no aji" and the teacher launched into a long speech about furusato no aji. Um, excuse me sensei, I don't think that's what he's talking about at all. Let's go to the videotape.. rewind a bit.. notice that pile of newspaper clippings on the table in this closeup? They're all about the excellent aji fishing in his old town, it is a local delicacy. Aji to iu sakana, desune!