“Perfect Days” Koji Yakusho Interview
Japanese actor Koji Yakusho did an outstanding job in Wim Wenders’ movie “Perfect Days.” He won Best Actor award at the Canne Film Festival in 2023. The Academy Award nominated the film for the Beset International Film. Read excerpts of his interview.
How unique was “Perfect Days” as a film?
Yakusho: “Perfect Days” did not start as a commercial film, as it was produced for “The Tokyo Toilet” project. The idea was to create a story of a person who worked as a cleaner of these toilets, and there was only one goal: make a good movie. There was no restrictions what kind of story it could be, and we didn’t have to worry about costs or box office results. I’ve never been in a project like that. (Yakusho was also the Executive Producer of the film.)
I think we were able to pull of a story that can have multiple takes. Everyone can interpret it in his/her way based on his/her own life experiences.
NOTE: The Tokyo Toilet project installed about a dozen public restrooms in central Tokyo to re-imagine and find new values for them. (Top-notch architects and designers including Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma and Sou Fujimoto participated. See the list of toilets that appeared in the film.)
What was your reaction when you saw it for the first time after the film was finished?
It’s usually difficult for me watch my movies objectively. However, “Perfect Days” was different. I was genuinely impressed how “rich” Hirayama’s life was. He lives a small life in the corner of a big city, almost buried. But he is able to keep his life at his pace and allow himself to enjoy things he loves.
He is not that interested in buying new stuff. Instead he truly enjoy what he has. I was actually a bit jealous. When I go to bed, my head is full of “Oh I should have or could have done this or that.” (laugh) This movie will definitely provide some kind of healing effect for those who are living a busy life in big cities.
Hirayama has a fixed daily routine, and the story follows his day-to-day life in which he does the same things over and over again. But you were slightly different everyday, depending on the events that happened to Hirayama on that day. How did the shooting go to capture the subtle differences?
(Hirayama’s room doesn’t have a bath, so he uses a 銭湯 (sento, public bath) every day. There were several scenes at the public bath.) We filmed the public bath scenes in one day, which means we kept shooting that routine one after another by following through the scenario. Wim Wenders (director) would give me directions on the spot, like “smile now,” or “Hirayama is upset.” I felt like I might have been overacting when I was filming, but I was totally wrong. When I watched the film when it was finished, I realized that Wim was right. His directions gave reality to Hirayama’s personality in a way audience could relate to him.
What was the direction from Wim about what kind person Hirayama was?
There was no details about his background in the scenario, and he was determined not to let us know. The only information I got from him was a brief note. It read like a poem that described the relationship between Hirayama and the sunlight that came through tree leaves. (It was referred as “komorebi” at the end of the film). It was really powerful, and guided me throughout for me to play Hirayama.
Reference
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