TOKYO (AP) — There was great joy in Japan on Monday as the samurai series “Shogun” won a record 18 Emmys for his first season.
The series won awards including Best Drama Series, and its star and co-producer Hiroyuki Sanada became the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Anna-Lena Schröder was awarded Best Actress in a Drama Series, which was also a first for Japan.
“You did it. You did it. Congratulations.” Takashi YamazakiDirector of “ Godzilla Minus One”, they wrote on social media.
People watched the ceremony live and the awards made national headlines. Entertainment media Oricon proudly reported that a work whose spoken lines were mostly in Japanese made “Emmy history.”
“The grand scale of Hollywood coupled with the high quality of production, including costumes, props and gestures, the collaboration between the Japanese professional team led by producer Sanada and the local production team, and the acting that conveyed a strong sense of reality all fit together,” the report said.
Actor Kento Kaku, who starred in the 2024 series “Like a Dragon: Yakuza”, said he felt inspired to pursue his Hollywood dreams.
“After seeing how cool this was, who wouldn’t want to take on the challenge,” he wrote on X.
Actress Tomoko Mariya said she burst into tears when Sanada’s victory was announced.
“What hardships you had to endure when you decided to leave your entire career in Japan behind and go to America alone. But it has borne fruit,” she wrote, referring to Sanada’s move to Los Angeles 20 years ago.
The awards for “Shogun” reflect not only the growing diversity in American entertainment, but also the legacy of Japanese “jidaigeki.” Samurai filmswho have influenced directors worldwide.
The first Asian actor to win the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series was Lee Jung-jae for the hit 2022 Korean series “Squid Game.”
Sanada is one of the few Japanese actors to land major Hollywood roles, including in “The Last Samurai” (2003) and “The 47 Ronin” (2013) starring Keanu Reeves.
The role Sanada plays in “Shogun” was first portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the 1980s.
Sanada, who also Yoji Yamada In his acceptance speech for “Twilight Samurai” in 2002, he alluded to his predecessors.
“I thank everyone who has supported and kept the legacy of jidaigeki alive,” he said in his speech in Japanese, clutching his trophy.
“The passion and dreams we inherited traveled the seas and crossed borders.”
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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama
