Japanese or Korean actors who could play Doctor Who

In the UK right now, a major cultural shift is taking place: the actor who plays the lead role in Doctor Who (technically speaking the character is called “The Doctor”, not “Doctor Who”) is stepping down, and now we have months of speculation about the future of the show and who will take over.

So, as I was wondering who I’d like to see in the role, I thought, if language were no barrier, which Japanese or Korean actors could take the role? Who has the required air of alien-ness and childlike qualities? This is the list I came up with. It's in order from "unlikely" to "you know, I think this might work!"


Nukumizu Youichi

One of my favourite actors, even if he only ever plays one role: the downtrodden ordinary man. But I think he’d be good at this. Something about his self-deprecating sense of humour appeals. I’m not sure how good he’d be at action scenes, though.

Kimura Takuya

To be honest, he’s practically already played Dr Who. His performance in Mr Brain was a great example of eccentric genius, all nervous smiles and sudden bursts of energy. And his character’s constant bemusement at how other people think or feel is another aspect that I found quite Doctor-ish. The down side is that he never does two series of the same show, effectively ruling him out for this role.

Abe Hiroshi

Putting to one side the fact that Abe Hiroshi could play any role and be brilliant, I think he’d be great in this. He has physical presence, but also a subtlety in his acting which I think would fit perfectly.

Kuriyama Chiaki

I poo-pooh the idea that the Doctor must be played by a man (otherwise the British Empire will fall or something like that) and I’d be very pleased if producer Steve Moffat chooses a woman for the next series. And if so, why not the striking and unique Kuriyama Chiaki. She's a decent actress who knows how to do an action scene.

Bae Doo Na

In Air Doll, the role she played was of a newcomer to a strange world, and I think she has the right qualities of slight eccentricity and vulnerability necessary for playing the Doctor. Maybe her boyfriend (?) Jim Sturgess can convince her to go for the part.

Odagiri Joe

Slightly alien air about him? Check. Eccentric taste in roles? Check. Can do comedy and drama, even in the same scene? Check. Well, I can’t find anything wrong with this idea. Plus, he speaks English (at least, he studied drama in the US). He could actually do this! Please? Pretty please? Someone send the producers of Dr Who a link to this page, and then when he gets the job, you can all thank me later.

Just watched: As One

With the Olympics closing, and only a week since South and North Korea last played each other at table tennis, it seems like a good time to sit down with this film telling the story of how both Koreas decide to field a united team for one Table Tennis World Championship.

It follows the women's team as they play through the competition, eventually winning by beating the Chinese in the final. But it's also about national identity and friendship as well as politics and culture clashes.

For such a huge topic, you can forgive the writers for trying to cram in as much as possible. Like a kid offered a chocolate from a box who can't chose just one, the writers go a little overboard in adding one sub-plot after another. Apart from the usual friendships, love stories and sick members of families, we also have an injury, a corrupt referee and fainting due to hepatitis and that's just in the final!

In fact, the writers could have gone further. While doing a bit of searching after I'd seen the film, I found out that one of the North Korean officials met his sister for the first time in four decades.

Despite such a huge amount of potential material, the film still almost ruins it. The writing is not very subtle. The Chinese are just stereotypes – uncaring bad guys who need to be defeated. And the endless problems put in Korea's way during the final are just a distraction from what they actually achieved: a brief unification of a very divided country.

But for all that, the story is an interesting one and the acting is very good, with Ha Ji Won and Bae Doo Na both excellent in the lead roles. And the scene in which the team says goodbye did raise a tear, but I found myself thinking "but won't they meet again at the next table tennis tournament?" And it turns out they did, two years later, but that was the only time they've met since then.

It's a moving story, whose moral is "why can't we all just be friends?" which is a bit simplistic, but well-meaning. A great story, but not a great film.

Just watched: Spring Bears Love

A woman is sitting on a train reading a book about art that she got from the library. She finds a romantic note written in the margin with a reference to another art book. Later, she reads that and finds another note. She becomes convinced these messages are meant for her, so she tries to work out who the mystery writer is.

Bae Doona (The Host) stars in this lightweight romantic comedy from 2003. It’s enjoyable and Doona is great as the confused optimist trying to find her ideal man. Yoon Jong-sin (the permanently tired/ill singer from Family Outing) pops up as the librarian, which I wasn’t expecting. Of course, there are misunderstandings and lies along the way and she even meets another woman who also thinks the messages are for her.

It’s a romantic notion – a painfully shy lover of art trying to woo a woman with poetic notes written beside classic paintings. It has a mix of curiosity as to who this person might be and also the hope that perhaps he’s the one man she’s been looking for.

But the moral of the story is don’t let an image of a perfect man blind you from the reality of what’s in front of you. It also highlights the many problems with trying to get a girlfriend by leaving notes in a book. There must be easier ways than that.

Recommended: Linda Linda Linda

I first watched this ages ago. Then, the other day, I was going through an old hard drive when I saw it and thought “I’d like to watch that again.” Not sure why. I just did. I hadn’t thought about the film much in the past year or so, except for sometimes listening to the soundtrack.

In this film, three schoolgirls form a band for the school’s cultural festival. They choose some songs by the old Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts and a Korean class-mate as their lead singer and then it's just a case of learning the songs in time for the big day. The synopsis might have you thinking this is a peppy feel-good knockabout comedy. But the film has a quite different feel than, say, Swing Girls. There’s a strange quality to it, where it feels like time seems to hang in the air, perhaps thanks to James Iha’s fantastic soundtrack and the director Nobuhiro Yamashita’s sense of composition and pacing, which is perfect.

It has a more realistic idea about school life than most dramas. At least, I recognise it more than the usual portrayal of school as full of wisecracking students falling in and out of love. These students are awkward once they’re outside their circle of friends. Doona Bae is great as the gawky lead singer, perfectly capturing that slight lack of coordination that teenagers have, even though she was in her mid-20s when she made the film. Kashii Yuu also excels as the band leader and guitarist.

Perhaps the ending is a bit disappointing, with a fairly unlikely dash to the venue at the last minute, but then again, you’ve got to end on some kind of excitement.

In conclusion, this is a great film and I’m a little surprised that I’d forgotten how good this is, and I’m glad that I stumbled upon it again while looking for something else. Something that, by the way, I never found. There's a moral in there somewhere.