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is a Japanese actor. He is the son of actor
Rentarō Mikuni was a Japanese actor, writer and director, who starred in films of Keisuke Kinoshita, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai, Shōhei Imamura, Tomu Uchida and many others. He received numerous prizes for his performances and was awarded the Jury Prize at t ...
. He is known for his acting skills and has won three individual
Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...
in the categories of Best Newcomer (1982), Best Actor (2003), and Best Supporting Actor (2024). He is the first actor to win three individual awards since his father, Rentarō Mikuni.


Early years

Sato was born in 1960 in
Kagurazaka is a neighbourhood in Tokyo, northwest of Iidabashi Station. It has a shopping street at its center, lined by numerous cafés and restaurants. It is served by Tokyo Metro Tozai Line and Toei Oedo Line. History The main road of Kagurazaka was ...
,
Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. His mother was a
geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor= ...
working there. His father was actor
Rentarō Mikuni was a Japanese actor, writer and director, who starred in films of Keisuke Kinoshita, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai, Shōhei Imamura, Tomu Uchida and many others. He received numerous prizes for his performances and was awarded the Jury Prize at t ...
, and it was Mikuni ‘s third marriage. Sato’s
given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...
was taken from one
Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
character each from the film directors name and , with whom Mikuni was close at the time. Sato was often taken to the filming location by Mikuni since he was a child. However, Mikuni left home when Sato was in the fifth grade, and his parents officially divorced at the following year, when he was eleven years old. A scene where Mikuni took Sato to Jukkoku Pass in
Izu, Shizuoka is a Cities of Japan, city located in central Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30,678 in 13,390 households, and a population density of 84 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . ...
and said, "This is my last farewell to you. You go back to your mother's. I'm going to start a wandering life." is a well-known episode. Mikuni, known for his free-spirited personality, seldom came home, and his mother was often away from home, so Sato, who was an only child, grew independent from an early age and was used to being on his own. Sato said that he didn't really recognized Mikuni as a father and that it was rather distressing to have dinner with him when he occasionally came home.


Career

Sato left home during his high school years and entered the film department of Tama Art Academy, a vocational school attached to
Tama Art University or is a private Art school, art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) fou ...
, but dropped out after one year. In 1980, while still in school, he was invited by an acquaintance of his father to make his acting debut in the
NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...
TV series ''Sequel to the Case'', starring
Tomisaburo Wakayama , born Masaru Okumura (奥村 勝),Leous, G. (''c.'' 2003)Tomisaburo WakayamaRetrieved on May 23, 2010. was a Japanese actor best known for playing Ogami Ittō, the scowling '' ronin'' warrior in the six ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' samurai films.Stout ...
, and the following year he made his film debut in the movie '' The Gate of Youth''. When he saw this film in the movie theater and saw his own image on the screen, he made a renewed decision to live his life as an actor. His acting ability was recognized early on, and he went on to win a string of awards for the films he appeared in. For '' The Gates of Youth,'' he won
Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...
for Newcomer of the Year and the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Newcomer. He won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for '' KT'' and ''Utsutsu'' in 2002 and '' Best Supporting Actor'' in 2023. He is the first actor since his father,
Rentarō Mikuni was a Japanese actor, writer and director, who starred in films of Keisuke Kinoshita, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai, Shōhei Imamura, Tomu Uchida and many others. He received numerous prizes for his performances and was awarded the Jury Prize at t ...
, to win three
Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...
for individual awards. Sato said that his encounter with the two directors was a major turning point for him. The two directors are Shinji Sōmai, director of the 1983 film '' The Catch'' and Junji Sakamoto, director of the 1994 film '' Tokarev''. Director Somai taught him, "Sadness and anger are not one thing. Try to express your anger in ten different ways. You are not sad because you cry, but you laugh because you are sad." In Sakamoto's '' Tokarev'', Sato played the role of an infant
kidnapper Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
, and he discussed the character of this
villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...
with the director, expressing his opinions. The director acknowledged Sato's opinion, and they worked while discussing, which Sato said was very stimulating for him to act. He and Sakamoto hit it off and became a regular actor in Sakamoto's films and appeared in many of his films, including ''
Face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...
'', '' KT'', '' Children of the Dark'', and '' Human Trust''. Debates about acting can get heated, and Sato and Sakamoto once got into a fight in a bar and were interceded by
Yoshio Harada was a Japanese actor and singer, known for his portrayals of rugged and complex antiheros. He received a variety of accolades, including a Japan Academy Film Prize, two Blue Ribbon Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and five Kinema Junpo Award ...
, who was there. In 2023, Sato and his son Kanichiro co-starred in Sakamoto's film ''Okiku and the World''. Sato also said that his encounter with director
Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest Rikishi, sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics ...
opened up a new path for him. Sato took on the challenge of a full-fledged
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
in '' The Magic Hour'', a 2008 film directed by Mitani, in which he had never acted before. The scene in which he plays Murata, an unsuccessful actor, comically keeps jumping on a
trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes. The fabric that use ...
and licks a knife "with a bizarre look on his face" as described in the script written by Mitani was so impressive that the scene was even imitated by a
impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that ...
. This role, played by Sato, who had a strong image as a serious actor, became a topic of conversation, and the film led Sato to broaden his acting range into the field of
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
.


Arguments with the director

Since his debut, Sato used to insist what he thought as an actor and argued vehemently with the director on the set, as did his father. His attitude was sometimes described as cheeky. When he was over 30 years old, Sato received a letter from Mikuni one day. In the letter, Mikuni wrote only one sentence, "." It meant, "You are kept alive by those around you." Initially, Sato did not quite understand what the words meant. Sato said that Mikuni probably did not think well of his attitude and behavior at the time, as if he was living by himself, and that in later years he gradually came to feel the weight of those words within himself. In addition to that, one day when he was over 40 years old, a veteran female staff member said to him, "You may think you have won by arguing with the director, but it is not only the director who has lost, but all the staff members on site are feeling miserable." He realized that the director represents the entire staff. Since then, he has taken the approach of having the director listen to his opinions in advance and discuss them until he is satisfied.


Relationship with Mikuni

Since his debut, he has felt conflicted about being called "Rentaro Mikuni's son," and in his 20s and 30s he often felt anger at being called that no matter how hard he worked at acting and achieved results. For many years, Sato had been said to have a feud with Mikuni. Sato and Mikuni first worked together in 1986 in '' A Promise'', but there was little contact between the two in that film. Ten years later, in 1996, the two co-starred in earnest on a film adaptation of a manga series ''
Oishinbo is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by . The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "delicious", , and the word for someone who loves to eat, . The series depicts the adventur ...
''. Mikuni, who was cast to play the role of Yuuzan Kaibara, nominated Sato to play his son Shiro Yamaoka. However, during the press conference, the two called each other "Mikuni-san" and "Sato-kun" as if they were strangers, and they were reportedly at odds over their acting theories, reporting to a father-son feud. However, since the content of the movie was also about a father-son feud, Sato did not dare to deny the "non-getting along" theory at the time. However, after Sato's son Kanichiro was born in 1996, Mikuni dearly loved on his grandson and showed up at his sports event at school, and the father-son rift is said to have disappeared gradually. When Mikuni died in 2013, Sato said of his father, "He was a terrible man as a father. The only thing that existed between him and me was the word 'actor'." Before his debut, Sato told his father that he would become an actor. Mikuni's only response was "Ah, so." When he later asked, "Why did you say it like that?" Mikuni replied he had been concerned, "Ah, this guy is going to do acting. But what would this guy do if he didn't have anything?" Actually, after Sato's debut, Mikuni went around asking people who were going to work with Sato to take good care of his son. Later Sato's son, Kanichiro, later told him that he also hoped to be an actor, Sato understood the concern his father had felt about him. Sato could only say "Ah, so," like his father.


Musical Activities

Sato began singing at the urging of senior actor
Yoshio Harada was a Japanese actor and singer, known for his portrayals of rugged and complex antiheros. He received a variety of accolades, including a Japan Academy Film Prize, two Blue Ribbon Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and five Kinema Junpo Award ...
, and since his first stage appearance in 2012 at the ''Yoshio Harada Memorial Live'', he has regularly sung on stage with fellow actors. On December 10, 2021, his first album as a singer, ''Yakusha Uta 60 Alive'' was released on his birthday. According to
Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in Japan regarding music distribution. The company is responsible ...
, the genre in which he sings is
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
. This album is a double CD and DVD set, and the DVD includes a live performance without an audience recorded at
Blue Note Tokyo Blue Note Tokyo is a jazz venue in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan. It is a branch of Blue Note Jazz Club in New York and located about 400 metres east of the Aoyama Gakuin University. It has been described as Tokyo's best venue for live jazz. It was esta ...
. Close actor friends
Akira Terao is a Japanese musician, singer and actor. As of 2012, he is the only male actor to have received both the Japan Record Award and the Japan Academy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Early life Terao was born in Yo ...
,
Ryudo Uzaki is a Japanese musician, composer, and actor. His group, the Down Town Boogie-Woogie Band, was one of the most prominent 1970s Japanese rock bands. He also composed many of Momoe Yamaguchi's songs with Yoko Aki. Uzaki has also worked as a film co ...
,
Noritake Kinashi is a Japanese comedian, actor, singer and artist. He is the short member of the comedy duo Tunnels (owarai), Tunnels, with whom he was a member of the pop group Yaen. His partner is Takaaki Ishibashi. He is the executive vice president of the ent ...
,
Yōsuke Eguchi is a Japanese actor and singer. Since 1986, he has appeared in a number of television series and movies. Personal life He is married to the singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is ...
, and
Yukiyoshi Ozawa is an American-born Japanese actor. He gained notable fame near the end of 2017 for his involvement in the ''Long Long Man'' commercials produced by UHA for their Sakeru Gummy brand, in which he portrayed the titular character. Biography He is ...
also participated in the live performances as guests.


Personal life

In his personal life, he married in his 20s and had one child, but later divorced. He remarried in 1993 to stage actress Ayako Hirota, and their first son, Kanichiro, made his acting debut in 2017. Accepting the wishes of his wife, who is a volunteer, he has been working with the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government The is the government of the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 47 Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, headquarters build ...
's "Friend Home" program since around 2018 to temporarily care for children from
infant In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...
homes and
orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...
s on weekends and during vacations through the foster care system.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


Awards won


Awards nominated


Notes


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Koichi 1960 births 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors Living people Male actors from Tokyo People from Shinjuku