Readers familiar with cult American films might remember Jim Jarmusch’s 1989 movie Mystery Train, which not only put the director on the world map but also turned the then-22-year-old Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase — a high school drop-out from the countryside — into a star.
Fast forward to 2013 and Nagase is in Taiwan as part of the cast of Kano, a baseball drama about a 1931 Chiayi high school team. The film, backed by Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), is directed by Seediq Bale (賽德克‧巴萊) alumnus Umin Boya.
Filming has been going on in five cities around Taiwan since November, from Chiayi to Keelung, and is set to wrap at the end of March.
Photo: Taipei Times
An all-Taiwanese cast comprised of mostly unknown faces, as well as four well-known Japanese actors playing pivotal roles, is bringing the Wei-scripted story to life.
Among the four Japanese actors, Nagase, now 46, has been cast as a strict Japanese high school baseball coach. During a recent press conference in Chiayi, Nagase said he was enjoying his time in Taiwan, even posting photos of various Taiwan scenic locations on his Facebook page.
big budget flick
Nagase told reporters at the conference in Chiayi that he was impressed by the Hollywood-style set that has been built in Chiayi, confessing: “A movie set of that size is rare even in Japan today.”
When asked by the Taipei Times if Jarmusch was aware of his starring role in Kano, Nagase said in English: “I’m not sure if he knows yet, but I hope he will find out later. I love Jim Jarmusch.”
According to the producers, over NT$50 million has been spent to build a 1931-era set, and there are plans to retain some of the Kano main street set as a tourist attraction before and after the movie opens next year.
a taste of old chiayi
There’s a huge wooden replica of an old Japanese-style Chiayi train station from the 1930s, complete with a bright red Japan Post Office collection box made of cardboard, several fake telephone poles with fake telephone wires strung up in the air, and emergency sand containers used to put out fires in the Japanese colonial period days before fire trucks and fire hydrants were put into service here.
The three other actors from Japan cast in the film are Takao Ozawa, Maki Sakai and Togo Ikawa.
Putting Nagase in Kano appears to be a stroke of casting genius since Jarmusch is a big name in America and Europe and it is hoped that Nagase’s star turn will bring in Western viewers to the baseball drama — not to mention his many fans in Japan where he has appeared on TV shows, movies and in an assortment of popular and often humorous TV commercials over the past 20 years.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
In our discussions of tourism in Taiwan we often criticize the government’s addiction to promoting food and shopping, while ignoring Taiwan’s underdeveloped trekking and adventure travel opportunities. This discussion, however, is decidedly land-focused. When was the last time a port entered into it? Last week I encountered journalist and travel writer Cameron Dueck, who had sailed to Taiwan in 2023-24, and was full of tales. Like everyone who visits, he and his partner Fiona Ching loved our island nation and had nothing but wonderful experiences on land. But he had little positive to say about the way Taiwan has organized its
The entire Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) saga has been an ugly, complicated mess. Born in China’s Hunan Province, she moved to work in Shenzhen, where she met her future Taiwanese husband. Most accounts have her arriving in Taiwan and marrying somewhere between 1993 and 1999. She built a successful career in Taiwan in the tech industry before founding her own company. She also served in high-ranking positions on various environmentally-focused tech associations. She says she was inspired by the founding of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in 2019 by Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and began volunteering for the party soon after. Ko
RSS