Akemi's Anime World

Akemi’s Anime Blog AAW Blog

Harry Potter Does Japan

Not to be outdone by the Pirates of the Caribbean stars’ Japan appearance, the latest Harry Potter film’s premier was celebrated in Tokyo’s posh Roppongi Hills district.

Order of the Phoenix’s Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, appeared along with one of the film’s producers for a brief public appearance, including some reasonably well-pronounced Japanese from the young star. The appearance ended with a real life “lumos maximus,” with Radcliffe’s exclamation turning on a 14m (45 ft) wide, 600m (2000 ft) tall tower of light composed of 29 searchlights pointed straight up.

Some video from Yahoo! Japan’s PR section:

What they said:

David Heyman: “I am this film’s producer, David Heyman. I am grateful for everyone in Japan’s support of the movie.”

Daniel Radcliffe: “Hello, everybody in Japan. I am Daniel Radcliffe. Japanese fans are the best. Thank you for coming.”

Pirates Actors Take A Shot At Japanese

This week’s Pirates of the Caribbean mania spans the globe, as the film also opens in Asia on the 25th. As is often the case with big Hollywood films, much of the cast headed to Tokyo to do an appearance promoting it. There was of course a translator on hand, but all of them (except Johnny Depp and Chow Yun-Fat) took a shot at speaking some Japanese for the crowd of 5800, eliciting plenty of cheers.

I’m quite pleased that they were willing to take a shot at the native language. If you’re interested in seeing Orlando Bloom try to speak Japanese or what Bill Nighy’s heavily British-accented Japanese sounds like, you may find it interesting or amusing.

If you’re wondering what they’re saying, here’s our translation:

Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) [Strong British accent]: I am excited about being at the Budoukan where Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones had concerts. I’m happy about coming to Tokyo for the first time.

Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer) [Passable accent]: Good evening everybody. Have a good time. Thank you.

Chow Yun-Fat (Captain Sao Feng) [He's speaking Chinese; rough translation based on the Japanese subtitles]: I’m excited to be able to act with wonderful actors in this big film.

Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) [Short words, but good accent]: Good evening Tokyo! How are you? Thank you! I love you all! I love you all!

Gore Verbinski (Director) [Lots of feeling, hard to understand]: Japan is the best! Tokyo #*%$#! [Unintelligible; even the Japanese subtitler couldn't figure it out.] Thank you very much!

Geoffrey Rush (Captain Barbossa) [So-so accent, but managed to sound a lot like a pirate]: Good evening everyone. I’m feeling on top of the world because I was able to come to Tokyo. Extend the same warm welcome to Jack the monkey, too. You’re welcome. [He said this wrong, but understandable.] Gachon! [This is a nonsense exclamation that a Japanese comedian uses in his act.]

The premier was reported at Yahoo Japan’s Showbiz Section.