New Sulu Speaks About Not Being Japanese

[Mulboyne]

This isn't worth a new thread so I'll stick it here since it is vaguely related. The new season of US TV series "Dexter" features a Japanese-American character called Yuki Amado who is played by Liza Lapira. According to IMDB, Lapira has Spanish, Filipino and Chinese ancestry. She will be the show's second Japanese American character: C.S. Lee already plays Vince Masuka. Lee himself was born in South Korea. With Korean actor James Kyson Lee playing Ando in "Heroes" and Jamie Chung playing Heaven in "Samurai Girl", there seems to be a mini-boom in Japanese characters on US TV series but few of them are played by actors with Japanese ancestry. This thread starts with an interview with Korean actor John Cho who will play the role of Sulu in the new Star Trek movie. James Kyson Lee was also up for the job but he has said elsewhere that he couldn't get time away from "Heroes". The actor playing Sylar in that show will play Spock in the film and the producers didn't want to lose two charcters at the same time.

You might think, with all this Korean acting talent, that it would just be easier to write a whole slew of Korean characters instead. However, I think maybe a Japanese character brings more associations for an American audience than a Korean character. Despite the large Korean-American population and the prominence of performers like Margaret Cho, I wonder whether the average Americans associates the population with much more than convenience stores. On the other hand, Japan brings to mind sushi, yakuza, salarymen, samurai just on a first pass.

[Greji]

Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim on "Lost" are the exception.

He don't look "Lost" to me. I think he knows exactly where he's going....

[kamome]

And the Korean actors on Lost are exceptionally good. I think using Korean actors to portray Korean characters makes the show seem much more realistic.

[Samurai_Jerk]

And the Korean actors on Lost are exceptionally good. I think using Korean actors to portray Korean characters makes the show seem much more realistic.

The only reason characters like Ando on "Heroes" being played by a Korean bothers many of us on here is most of us speak Japanese well enough to realize his accent is shit and his Japanese is unnatural. My Korean friends feel the same way about Daniel Dae Kim on "Lost" because he doesn't actually speak Korean and is just faking it. Since I don't speak Korean it doesn't bother me and since most Americans don't speak Japanese or know much about Japan they don't care who plays the characters. For Japanese-American characters who don't have to speak Japanese I don't know why anyone would care what ethinicity the actor is. I don't see anyone bitching about a guy of Italian and Irish decent (Deniro) playing a Jew in "Casino".

[American Oyaji]

I dunno. The Ando character speaks Japanese quite well. At least it sounds like Tohoku Japanese to me.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I dunno. The Ando character speaks Japanese quite well. At least it sounds like Tohoku Japanese to me.

No offense and not that I'm really one to talk, but that probably says more about your Japanese ability than his.

[omae mona]

I dunno. The Ando character speaks Japanese quite well. At least it sounds like Tohoku Japanese to me.

If you watch Heroes broadcast with a Japanese-dubbed soundtrack on Japanese cable or satellite, or rent the DVDs in Japan, you'll notice something interesting. The Japanese dialogue spoken by the Hiro and Ando characters is dubbed. Yes, that's right, they hired Japanese voice actors to replace the original Japanese with correct Japanese

[Samurai_Jerk]

If you watch Heroes broadcast with a Japanese-dubbed soundtrack on Japanese cable or satellite, or rent the DVDs in Japan, you'll notice something interesting. The Japanese dialogue spoken by the Hiro and Ando characters is dubbed. Yes, that's right, they hired Japanese voice actors to replace the original Japanese with correct Japanese

The actor who plays Hiro was born in Japan but grew up in the States. He speaks Japanese but it may sound a little funny since he spent most of his life abroad. To me he sounds fine, my Japanese girlfriend says his accent is a little strange, and my Japanese coworker says his Japanese is perfect.

[American Oyaji]

Actually, Masi Oka's Japanese sounds more odd to my ear than the Korean dude.

Then again, the Korean guy never speaks in long sentences. But his Japanese does sound Tohokuish to me.

[Buraku]

Sulu replaced



http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/10/17/even-more-star-trek-photos/

[TennoChinko]

Actually, Masi Oka's Japanese sounds more odd to my ear than the Korean dude.

Then again, the Korean guy never speaks in long sentences. But his Japanese does sound Tohokuish to me.

Does a Tohoku accent sound like a Korean one? He sometimes mixes up his pronounciation on "g" and "k" as well as "p" and "b" ... which indicates Korean was his native tongue.

[Buraku]

[james]

i thought he looked familiar but i couldn't put the name to the face until they mentioned "harold and kumar".

does anyone know if this film will be released in japan? i'm not holding out for a concurrent release but being able to see it at all would be nice.