Word: kitagawa
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...HONORED. GODZILLA, gargantuan, irradiated reptile of film and pop-culture fame; with a star on the Walk of Fame; in Hollywood. The tribute coincided with the monster's 50th birthday and the release of his 28th movie, Godzilla: Final Wars. Tsutomu Kitagawa, 46, the third actor to portray Godzilla since 1954, accepted the honor in full costume...
...master of capturing female beauty and the obvious star of the Paris show (with 46 works) is Kitagawa Utamaro. Little is known of his origins, but in 1791 he won fame both for a series of portraits of "floating-world" beauties and for his notorious affairs with them. Utamaro was arrested in 1804 for an impolitic portrait of the shogun with his concubines, and spent 50 days in irons. He is said to have been so depressed by this public disgrace that he soon died. One of his apprentices married his widow, adopted his name and used it to produce...
...Kitagawa's career trajectory provides a wellspring for conjuring up determined female leads: she clawed her way into the male-dominated TV business, starting as an assistant at a local production company and writing scripts on the side. At the same time she married her longtime boyfriend (though keeping her maiden name, Kitagawa) because, as she explains, "I got so busy that the only way we could spend time together was to get married." It took her nearly three years to finish her first drama, a sci-fi adventure, which was bought for less than $500 and turned into...
...dramas might be Japan's cultural ambassadors to the world. Japanese dramas are often the first medium to discuss controversial social issues, such as teen marriage or sexual harassment, and even to introduce the latest Japanese fashion trends. But unlike many of her peers in the Japanese TV biz, Kitagawa doesn't try to track the country's famously ephemeral trends with a magnifying glass and a questionnaire. Instead she goes straight to the source for inspiration. "I don't think too much about the current situation in Japan," she says. "My marriage, having a child, those are the things...
...land of conformity and caution, Kitagawa stands out for her individualism. But there is one more, equally telling secret to her success: Kitagawa doesn't pen a script until the cast is chosen, so that she can customize each role. "I feel very attached to [Takako] Tokiwa and Takuya [Kimura]," she says of the two performers who have starred in many of her dramas. "I feel that every role I write, I write a great deal just for them." Don't expect to see either of them starring in her upcoming project, though. Kitagawa is planning a new cast...