Wakako Sakai, a 76-year-old actor, appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on June 26th. She talked about her memories of Yuzo Kayama and Sadako Sawamura.
His first overseas location shoot was in the filming of the movie "New Zealand's Young Master" (1969), starring Kayama. He was shy at the time, and could only reply with "yes" or "no" when Kayama asked him questions. "I probably never would have spoken up myself," he recalls.
After that, the Young Master series was broadcast on TV. When it ended, the cast members were invited to the boat "Koushinmaru" that Kayama owned. Kayama and the crew cooked a meal for them, and he remembers, "It was delicious."
He also talked about his memories of Sadako Sawamura, who passed away in 1996. Sawamura said she had the image of him as if she was "following me." During filming of a drama starring Sakai, he was shy and didn't use the dressing room as he pleased, but Sawamura came in and told him, "You're the main character, so you have to sit here." He recalled that he was attracted to her "good spirit" and "leadership."
Last November, he finally made a trip to Egypt, which he had longed for. He visited the Pyramid of Khufu and the Abu Simbel temples, revealing his love of travel.
