Yuko Takeuchi’s five best films: remembering the popular Japanese actress, found dead at 40

Actress played a detective in TV series Strawberry Night, appeared in J-horror Ring and was a versatile performer in romantic, horror and dramatic roles
Takeuchi was found dead by at her Tokyo home in an apparent suicide. Her death follows the recent suicides of performers Sei Ashina and Haruma Miura

Asian cinema: Japanese films

James Marsh

Published: 10:57am, 28 Sep 2020

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Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi was found dead at her family home in Tokyo on Sunday morning by her husband, the actor Taiki Nakabayashi.

The cause of death is presumed to be suicide, making the 40-year-old mother of two the latest in a string of high-profile performers in Japan to take their own lives in recent months, following the deaths of Sei Ashina earlier this month and Haruma Miura in July.

A prolific film and television actress, Takeuchi found fame in the 1996 Fuji TV drama Cyborg, and scored a small yet pivotal role in Hideo Nakata’s J-horror classic Ring (1998), as the teenage niece of Nanako Matsushima’s heroine, and the first on-screen victim of the cursed videotape.

In the decades since, she has transitioned between cinema and television, finding commercial success and critical acclaim. Highlights include Asuka (1999), The Queen of Lunch (2002), and as police detective Reiko Himekawa in the long-running series Strawberry Night.

Yuko Takeuchi (right) and Masami Nagasawa in a still from The Confidence Man JP: Princess.

In 2018, Miss Sherlock saw Takeuchi star as a female version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s genius detective. She played opposite Shihori Kanjiya, as a female Watson, in modern-day Tokyo, and the eight-part series garnered favourable reviews at home and abroad, particularly for its lead actresses.

Takeuchi can be seen in Hong Kong cinemas later this month, in the comedy crime caper The Confidence Man JP: Princess, in which the recently departed Miura also appears.

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Here are five of Takeuchi’s best film roles:

1. Yomigaeri (2002)

Akihiko Shiota’s romantic ghost story casts Tsuyoshi Kusanagi from the pop group SMAP as an inspector who returns to his hometown to investigate stories of the dead coming back to life. There he is reunited with an old friend (Takeuchi), whose former lover has been mysteriously resurrected.

This trope was reversed in the popular 2004 film Be With You (also remade into a Korean film in 2018), in which Takeuchi’s character returns from beyond the grave “when the rains come” to be reunited with her husband (Shido Nakamura) and young son.

2. Dog in a Sidecar (2007)

Takeuchi displayed her versatility as a performer and won numerous awards with this charming coming-of-age drama. She plays Yoko, the young lover of a used-car salesman, and the unlikely role model for his 10-year-old daughter.

Laid-back, outspoken, and unbridled by traditional parental behaviour, the young Kaoru (Hana Matsumoto) is initially wary of this new arrival in her chaotic broken home, but over the course of one summer, a tender and mutually beneficial relationship blossoms.

3. Airport (2013)

Shot in a single 100-minute take, Koki Mitani’s ambitious television movie chronicles the goings-on at a small rural airport, after a Tokyo-bound flight is diverted due to poor weather.

The ensuing chaos is anchored by Takeuchi’s remarkable performance, as Okouchi, head of the airline’s ground crew. As she juggles the requests of increasingly impatient passengers, she must also manage the other airport staff, as well as a bombshell marriage proposal from her overly anxious boss (Masahiro Komoto).

4. The Inerasable (2015)

Takeuchi reunited with her Golden Slumber director Yoshihiro Nakamura to portray a famous mystery author, known only as “I”, who investigates supernatural goings-on in the flat of a young university student (Ai Hashimoto).

The Inerasable again casts Takeuchi as a sharp-minded sleuth pitted against the elements, while the film brilliantly recaptures the unsettling atmosphere of encroaching dread that came to define the very best entries in the J-horror canon.

5. Creepy (2016)

While Takeuchi rarely played the victim, her performance in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s psychological suburban horror film ranks among her very best.

Moving to a quiet neighbourhood after her husband (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a police profiler, is injured on the job, Yasuko (Takeuchi) has a series of strange, confusing encounters with their secretive neighbour (Teruyuki Kagawa). Her initial warmth and openness turns to unease and ultimately fear, as the true horrors of what lurks next door are revealed, and Creepy builds to its violent, shocking climax.

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If you, or someone you know, are having suicidal thoughts, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255.

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