30 Years After Moving to the U.S., Eisaku Yoshida Reflects on His Ongoing Journey and Bold Past Statements

“With the hit drama Mou Daremo Aisanai, he became the darling of the era, but at the age of 26, he declared an indefinite hiatus and moved to the United States.

Nearly 30 years later, he has expanded his activities to period dramas and stage performances, stepping onto a new stage alongside his wife.”

“When I announced my indefinite hiatus at the age of 26 and moved to the United States, I had no intention of returning to Japan. I thought I had done everything, but I realized that I hadn’t done nearly as much as I thought.”

Looking back on that time, Yoshida Eisaku (55) had a calm and natural expression.

He made his film debut at the age of 19 in the movie Glass no Naka no Shōjo (1988) starring Kumiko Gotō, and at 22, he took on the lead role in the drama Mou Daremo Aisanai (1991, Fuji TV), which became a huge hit with a viewership rating of over 23%. As an actor, he appeared in many popular works and, along with Taishu Kase (54) and Yuji Oda (56), became known as part of the “Trendy Three,” gaining widespread popularity.

Though Yoshida became the darling of the era, he reflects, “At the time, I had complex feelings.”

“When I was 16, I aspired to enter the entertainment industry, and I felt a sense of mission that I had to become famous to move forward in this path. That’s why I made sharp statements, but now, looking back, I think it was ultimately a good thing.

At 21, I performed Kokoro no Tabi on the NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen (New Year’s Eve Music Festival), and the following year, Mou Daremo Aisanai became a hit. I had become the person I had envisioned, yet I still hesitated. It was because I had a sense of loss from having achieved my dreams in my early 20s without much struggle. I thought this wasn’t good. I wanted to take time to balance things out, so I began thinking about moving to the U.S.”

He threw away his success in the entertainment industry and crossed the ocean, but Yoshida has no regrets.

“I’m really glad I went to Los Angeles. If I had continued working in Japan, I probably would have earned a decent amount of money, but I feel like I was able to grasp what you can’t buy with money.

 

Period dramas are a guiding light.

 

In Los Angeles, Yoshida handled everything on his own. He studied acting, attended auditions, and also focused on live performances. Looking back, he recalls making friends with people he could be comfortable with.

“One day, I walked into my regular soba restaurant in LA and unexpectedly ran into Hiroyuki Sanada (64). It turns out we had both attended the same audition nearby (laughs). Even after I returned to Japan, whenever I visit LA, he always makes time to meet me. For someone from my generation who watched his work with JAC (Japan Action Club) in films, it’s really exciting.”

This year, Sanada won the Best Actor award at the Emmy Awards. Yoshida, naturally drawn to the period dramas that his idol was involved in, began to feel a strong connection to them.

“Back in 1995, on the Asian channels in America, they used to air NHK’s historical dramas like ‘Hideyoshi’ and ‘Mōri Motonari’ with English subtitles once a week. I had never watched them when I was in Japan, but when I saw them in the U.S., I got hooked. Just like how being surrounded by English and Spanish makes you crave Japanese food, watching a genre I had never tried made me realize that I hadn’t even scratched the surface, and I thought, ‘I want to do this.’ Around that time, I received an offer for a big historical drama, which led to my decision to return to Japan.”

In 1999, Yoshida appeared in the NHK Taiga drama “Genroku Ryōran,” playing an original character, Tadatsugu Okajima. He had to stay in Japan for a year to film. As a result, he concluded his three-year life in America and moved his base of activities back to Japan. Since then, he has continued to appear in period dramas, which became a significant turning point in his career.