Q : Well, this film kind of reminded me of the film “Lost in Translation”, I heard that this is your first leading role, so could you talk about the audition process or how you got this role? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : So, actually the audition process…the other lead actor, Reza Emamiyeh, he got this role first, and Joshua Woodcock, the director, they were looking for the other lead, and they  took time to find the other lead, so they asked Reza, if you have someone’s recommendation, and then he gave his recommendation to his friends, like several, or I don’t know how many, but I was one of them. 

Q : So, you knew the lead actor, Reza, previously before this project? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, actually, Reza and I have had other commercial jobs before like many, many years ago, and he remembered me. And later, we started to do an actor session like almost every Monday, every week. So we had been practicing, like, my zone technique, those methods of acting for a while, like a few years. So he knew me. 

Q  : I see. So I’m curious, are you still based in Japan, or are you based in the United States now? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, I’m in Tokyo. 

Q : But you travel with lots of different projects such as modeling and acting. 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, so I’m still based in Tokyo. 

Q : I heard that you didn’t have the experience as an exchange student. So how did you become so fluent in English to begin with? Do you have a good teacher or do you just study by yourself? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : As I studied by myself, I graduated college at Kansai Gaidai University(Kansai Gaidai University is a private university in Osaka, Japan, that offers various programs in Japanese and English). 

©Courtesy of Kitsune Pictures

Q :  Oh, I see. 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, so but I’ve never been in abroad to study before even though I graduated Kansai Gaidai University, my English was still feel like my weak point,  it was kind of difficult to get the jobs, so I started to work with the Hong Kong production people, so I started to learn English by myself and keep studying English for everyday. So, watching films or TVs in English and reading in English. So I started to have my English speaking friends and yeah  my community is wider and wider and more like overseas people who speak English. 

Q : Well, your character Ayaka is very mysterious in the beginning of the film, she didn’t even introduce much to Reza’s character, Sam and take him around in Tokyo. So I’m curious to know director Joshua, did he feed you about the background of Ayaka’s characters because in the beginning of the script it doesn’t have much dialogue or explanation about her, so what kind of conversation did you have with Joshua about this character? 

Tokiko Kitagawa: So, Joshua gave us a very detailed background of characters and Joshua and I had a lot of zoom meetings before the shooting, like three or four times in a week for one or two hours each time, like very often we discuss the background of the characters or what’s happening in each scene. It’s like their emotions,  so we discussed many things even if it’s not in the script. So at the beginning of the movie, it doesn’t really give you(the audience) the information of Ayaka. Of course that was the purpose and because of her background, she has kind of like a wall to interact with people. Yeah, that’s why she didn’t really want to talk with a stranger in the beginning. 

Q : Well, I thought that was kind of interesting when Sam and Ayaka finally got into the bar and Ayaka was talking with other friends there. I find it’s very rude to foreigners but when you think about the Japanese customs they usually talk to the foreigners first and they try to have a conversation. I’ve never seen people just completely neglect foreigners like that. So I thought that was kind of fascinating. So, did you mention and Joshua that this is kind of rude and we don’t usually do a custom like that..lol

Tokiko Kitagawa :  Well, I didn’t really mention that because as an actor I wanted to create how the director wanted to do as much as possible and I thought I should respect his point and so I’m not sure if it’s okay to share this, but so that Izakaya scene is supposed to meet with friends, Ayaka is like one of her  happy time to spend time with her friends and so it’s very important time, but because of he was there, so it’s very awkward and Ayaka didn’t really know about him and also frustrated about her relationship and Sam is the friend of Ayaka’s boyfriend, so that frustration to Ayaka’s boyfriend is kind of approach in the beginning. 

Q :  Speaking of Joshua, because they shot this film in Japan, and Joshua, he’s not originally from Japan, did you feed any Japanese cultures or customs or any rituals in order to make it a little bit authentic?

Tokiko Kitagawa : So, he actually used to live in Japan for like three years..

©Courtesy of Kitsune Pictures 

Q: Oh, So he knows a lot about Japanese cultures…

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, yes. And the other crew members also are bilingual. They really are familiar with Japanese culture. 

Q :  So it’s not much of a problem, I see. 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, I believe so. I still pointed out to him about the script. I saw some direction that it’s not really believable Ayaka would do that and we discussed that. So, Joshua always respected actor’s comments or perspectives. And he accepted a few changes. 

Q : Even though the film is only showing their “One Night in Tokyo”, you need to have chemistry with Reza’s character, Sam. So talk about what kind of conversation you had with him in order to build a relationship and a chemistry because it initially started off very distant but slowly getting closer.

Tokiko Kitagawa : So, before the shooting, Reza and I had one kind of rehearsal together, but it was good. But in the end, we noticed that it wasn’t so good to communicate with each other like this. Because in the beginning, we were still not so close with each other as friends in real life. So we decided to go, maybe we can keep this distance until we finish the shooting. So we had built our relationship as a cast, as a role, on the set. That’s why it’s so natural to build a relationship. 

Q : I’m also curious to know that  there’s a Japanese talent in the film that her name is Anmika-san(Mika Ahn) which is I’m not really familiar with living in New York, but I heard that she’s like a very popular in Japan, so talk about working with her and I think I believe her husband was there also. I know that her husband is the brother of  Bennett Miller who made the “Capote” film. 

Tokiko Kitagawa :  They’re in that movie as a cameo. 

Q : Oh, you didn’t get to see them while you were shooting? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, we did, we met on the set together and they were such nice people and after the shoot we had a little conversation together and took a photo of every other cast who were so excited that she was there on the set. 

©Courtesy of Kitsune Pictures 

Q : Well,  Sam initially didn’t tell Ayaka that his girlfriend initially at the bar that was his girl friend which I find that was very like a Japanese’s perspectives in a certain sense because they’re trying to hold on to their own feeling they’re trying to hide that so I thought that was kind of opposite perspective and I thought that was interesting to talk about creating that  sequence because I thought that was really interesting chemistry each other at the bar, so talk about creating that sequence? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : So those scenes…I think we had a long take like almost 20 minutes, we did like a few takes but it’s one sequence for 20 minutes. Yeah, so that sequence was one of the very hardest scenes for me. It was right after this(incident) happened to both of them. And so for Ayaka, that time was the almost first time to really have a conversation with a foreign person who has a different culture.

So for her, the foreigner is not really familiar, but she asked him to let’s go out to drink. She did without much thought, so she started to feel awkward and actually they started to feel awkward, but then she thought i need to handle this and like many emotions and the feelings are mixed together. but Sam always likes listening to Ayaka and also he’s kind of accepting of her, so she started to feel closer to him little by little. 

Q : I understand. I heard that you also have a YouTube channel. What do you do over there for your YouTube channel? 

Tokiko Kitagawa : In my YouTube channel, I explore many places in Japan, showing our culture, and we have an English translation as well. 

Q: Now, you have worked with the American production that is also showing it in the US as well. They are more actual projects that you want to take in the future, so not just a Japanese one because it seems like you can branch it out to some of the American projects. You want to pursue your career in the US?  Could you talk about what you want to do after this project?

Tokiko Kitagawa : Yeah, so I still want to do some Japanese production projects in Japan. Actually, this May, I have one film project, and it’s a Japanese production, and the lead of the film is Mao Daichi-san, she’s a very successful actress in Japan. My role is the sister of her character. And it’s still like a supporting role for that movie. But I hope I keep taking Japanese production films as well. But my main purpose is going overseas, and I’m wanting to move overseas to build my career as an actress. So after the film festival for “One Night in Tokyo” in Conquest, which is in California. 

So, that was our first film festival and we met many producers, directors, actors and also local audiences, they really loved the film. And also some producers and directors talked to me after the screening. Why don’t you move to the US or why don’t you start your career overseas or US? So my next goal….I decided to move here. 

Q : Okay, pursue your career in the U.S. That’s great,  if you have a next project in the U.S, then that’d be great.

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Here’s the trailer of the film.