Film Show 063: Meiko Kaji
An interview with the Japanese actress and singer about overcoming shyness, her yearly tradition of cooking beans, and the enemies she's made throughout her career.
Meiko Kaji (1947) is a Japanese actress and singer largely known for starring in films such as Lady Snowblood (1973), the Stray Cat Rock series, and the Female Prisoner Scorpion series. It was her decision in the latter films to have a heroine who wouldn’t speak much dialogue, and her intense, emotive stare has been iconic in both the world of Japanese exploitation films and beyond. As was common with other actors at the time, Kaji sang songs to promote these films. Recently, Wewantsounds has reissued her 1970s LPs, but Kaji continues to sing and perform live as well. Kaji’s films are currently playing at the Japan Society in New York. Her films will also play as part of Beyond Fest in Chicago. Joshua Minsoo Kim spoke with Kaji on March 28th, 2026 to discuss her childhood, the influence her parents had on her life, and the secret to an entertaining film set. Special thanks to Monika Uchiyama for interpreting.
Joshua Minsoo Kim: I know you were born in 1947, which is shortly after the war ended. What memories do you have of your childhood? What brought you joy?
Meiko Kaji: My father was a cook and he actually had an interesting career: he would teach Japanese cooking on television in the US. He left for the US and was based in Hawaii, and from there would go to the mainland. When I was in the third grade, he took me to Disneyland. I remember eating popcorn that was so delicious—this was a time in Japan when we didn’t have good popcorn—and it was dripping in butter. I had ice cream, too, and chocolate, which I loved. For a 7-year-old girl, that was enough to make me want to move to America (laughter).
Can you talk to me about your father? Was there anything important about seeing him on television as a cook?
When I decided to become an actor, I reported this to my dad. I told him that I was going to do this and his response was, “I think you should do whatever you feel passionately about. But once you become an adult and enter into society, when you decide on a career, you must take it very seriously.” It’s through him and watching him work that I understood how, as long as you take your career seriously, you’ll start to understand the meaning of the work you’re doing, even if slowly. He had a really strong impact on my life.
I know that when you were a child you weren’t really into movies but instead played a lot of sports. What did you play? What did you take away from those experiences?
I played basketball. I was a very introverted child. There was a period where my father was running a restaurant and I’d be very shy around people. Both my parents were worried about that facet of my personality, that I’d be a kid who never made friends. They wanted me to have an opportunity to communicate with others, and that’s why they put me into sports. I will say that playing sports really affected me and changed how I viewed the world. I had so much fun, I made lots of friends, and most importantly, I wasn’t scared of people anymore.
When I was a kid, “first times” were really difficult for me. If I were to meet someone for the first time, it was really hard to get along with them—it was really awkward. It’s difficult to explain this… but I couldn’t pursue opportunities on my own. Part of this is because I was a born-and-raised Edo kid—I was born and raised in Tokyo. People from Tokyo have this certain quality where they’re not that friendly. If you go to the soba shop and see your dad’s friend, you’re taught to not go up to them and say hello—if you’re chitchatting with that man, his hot, delicious soba is going to get soft (laughter). So, not approaching someone that you know is also a kind of politeness. That’s what you’re taught as a child. Playing sports was about overcoming some of those teachings that I had from growing up in Tokyo.
Can you tell me a bit about your mother? What are some memories that you have of her that paint a portrait of who she was?
My mother loved beans (laughter). She loved simmered beans. Of course there are many types of beans you can eat—there’s adzuki beans, there’s soybeans—but she was good at preparing any kind of bean. Think of the kind of Japanese beans where they’re sweet and have soy. There’s a specific kind of black bean near Kyoto in Tamba. These beans [kuromame] are very round and as you cook them, they turn into ovals, but it’s really important that while you cook them, they don’t wrinkle at any point and instead stay glossy and smooth. I’m really good at doing that.
I keep a diary and write in it every single day. My annual New Year’s Eve activity is to cook these beans and reflect on my year by reading my diary. And the reason I do that is because the process of cooking these beans takes seven hours. I remember that my mom and dad gave me the stamp of approval on my bean-cooking skills—they said that I’m really good, that I could be a professional.
How long have you been doing this tradition?
Since my debut as an actor.
Wow. I know it was your birthday recently and it was the beginning of the new year recently, too. What sort of things did you reflect on this past year, and what sort of things did you reflect on when you first debuted in 1965?
This past year, I was reflecting on how my 70s have gone by so quickly. I remember thinking, “Wow, these years are already at their end.” Ever since my late 50s, I noticed that time sped up so much; I don’t remember feeling like a single year was that short when I was young. But as I age, time goes by quicker and quicker—it really goes by in a flash. In 1965, I was reflecting on how fun things were. I was immature and carefree (laughter). I knew that I was at the starting line of my career, that things were becoming very intense, very quickly. I was realizing that the only way to keep on going in a career like this was to develop a very strong sense of perseverance.
I know that with director Shunya Ito and the Female Prisoner Scorpion movies, you initially asked for your character to not have any dialogue at all. Is that something you saw in your own life? Were there soft-spoken women who had a lot of confidence around you, or were these based on any actors you’d seen?
There wasn’t anyone around me that was like that (laughter).
What was it like to take on that character then? Do you think it had any impact in the way you lived your own life? I know that you also picked out the costumes for your character, too.
I will say that I have never been more worried in my life than when I was filming that first Scorpion film. We decided together that the heroine wouldn’t have very much dialogue, and we knew it was a bold choice, but it was also the director’s debut film. We knew it was something we couldn’t fail at—it could ruin both of our careers. So from the very beginning, we knew we had to confront this challenge with everything we had. The director also wanted to shoot everything chronologically, which is such an impossibility (laughter). If you have scenes 1 through 100, you never do them in order because there are sets, locations, actors’ schedules—all these things you have to manage—and if you were to shoot chronologically, it’d mean that the actors would have to keep coming back.
The shoot ended up taking about four months. I remember that by the second month, the producer came to us and said, “This is too big a challenge, I don’t know what we were getting ourselves into.” The director said, “Well, from the beginning we decided that we’d shoot chronologically, so we all knew what was going to happen and the challenges this would bring.” The director was also the president of the union, so I think everyone on set wanted to work really hard to impress him and make sure he was happy. It was through that passion that we were able to complete that film. This was during a time when films were being made in two weeks, so the fact our film took four months was really challenging.
I know you’ve played a lot of similar roles in this vein, but was it any different to move from this to the role you had in Sadaro Saito’s There Was a War When I Was a Child (1981)?
I wouldn’t say that I approached the acting element of that role any differently from any of my other roles. I think of acting as just being about expression. I was very surprised, though, that I was offered the role. I play the protagonist, and it takes place in Fukushima. It’s about a parent who has a relationship with an American G.I.—the child is half-Japanese. In that era, this would’ve been very frowned upon. Perhaps it would’ve been more acceptable in a place like Tokyo, but in Fukushima, which is more rural, it was very unacceptable. So in order to protect her child, she has to live in a shed. I was really compelled by the motherly devotion that’s depicted in that film. It was very moving for me to be offered a role that’s like that. She wasn’t a typical mom though, and I think that this role, which has so much complexity, was offered to me because of the roles I had earlier in my career.
You’ve made a lot of music throughout your career, too. I know that Shunsuke Kikuchi initially asked you to approach singing as if you were also acting, like you were a performer. You also made an album a couple years ago, 7 (Sette) (2024). Can you talk to me about singing and what it’s like for you to engage in this practice? How does it compare to acting?
This isn’t to say that I’m so used to acting that I don’t get nervous anymore, but when I’m singing, I sense a different kind of tension in my body. It’s very fresh for me, to get that twinge of nervousness. Singing is giving me a new experience compared to my acting.
You’ve stated that you didn’t like Jeans Blues: No Future (1974). Was there anything about the production of that film or just the final product that explains why you didn’t like it?
It wasn’t entertaining (laughter). It was both not entertaining to watch and not entertaining to act in it.
What’s needed for acting to be entertaining for you? What sets have been fun for you?
Stray Cat Rock. That wasn’t even about acting. The director was trying to create something that he’d already given up on—it was no longer a reality—so it wasn’t as if he would nitpick on specific acting directions. It was such a free set where I could do anything I wanted, and that’s why I think the director was amazing and made the film so entertaining and great.
You’ve once said that you made a lot of enemies throughout your film career. Who are these people, and how did this happen? Were they just unwilling to hear out your ideas?
I don’t know if I’d call them enemies (laughter). And it’s because my biggest enemy is myself! That’s how I’ve always worked. Perhaps there are people who don’t like me, but I’m not interested in other people! I simply don’t have the time and don’t want to make the effort to care about other people. If other people don’t like me, it’s probably because I don’t like them either! And that’s completely fine. I just can’t bring myself to make any effort to make people like me.
I end all my interviews with the same question and I wanted to ask it to you. Do you mind sharing one thing you love about yourself?
It’s my honesty. Ever since I was little, I’ve been very honest.
Meiko Kaji’s films are currently playing at the Japan Society in New York. Her films will also play as part of Beyond Fest in Chicago.
Thank you for reading the 63rd issue of Film Show. No time for enemies.
If you appreciate what we do, please consider donating via Ko-fi or becoming a Patreon patron. Film Show is dedicated to forever providing its content for free, but please know that all our writers are paid for the work they do. All donations will be used for paying writers, and if we get enough money, Film Show will be able to publish issues more frequently.