This is a sponsored story, created and edited exclusively by Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Tokyo Updates website. For many directors, cinematographers, and actors, Tokyo is a dream destination to film in. From bustling neon-soaked streets to quiet roads lined with a jumble of houses and apartment complexes, the city offers a rich variety of backdrops.
For Canadian American actor Meisha Brooks, acting in Tokyo was a dream she just recently made reality. Brooks’ initial love affair with Japan began early, at age 11. After moving to a school that did not offer the same opportunity, her mother, seeing her love for the language, stepped in.
At that time, they did not have a class that catered to children, so, at the age of 12, I joined a business level class. It was myself, and six business people learning business level Japanese.” Brooks immersed herself in Japanese culture, interacting with the international exchange students, both at Showa Boston campus, an overseas campus of Tokyo’s Showa Women’s University, and through hosting them at home with her family. I got to experience Japanese culture in the purest sense in the deep countryside, and I still consider my host family as family to this day.” Japanese was not Brooks’ only interest.
At the time I did not choose that path because I felt I could not teach myself engineering, so I decided to study that.” However, the world of arts was waiting for her, she just did not know it yet. After moving to New York to work at a startup, she was scouted by a modeling agency, which led to a handful of commercial acting gigs. I realized this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I have always wanted to do all these different things in my career, be different people, and this is how I do just that.” While her acting career landed her roles on notable American productions such as “Billions” and “Strangers,” her dream of living in Tokyo never faded. With connections in Japan, and her Japanese ability, Brooks was able to take her acting skills across the Pacific, landing a handful of roles and starting her action combat training in Tokyo’s prestigious action stunt studio AAC Stunts, most recently her role as Martha in the NHK drama “Bake Bake,” otherwise known as “The Ghost Writer’s Wife.” Working both in the States and in Japan, Brooks has had to adapt to the different ways of working on sets. In Japan, however, they shoot non-sequential more often so in one day you can shoot scenes from different episodes, which is a wildly impressive feat,” she explains, “It is a huge difference from an organizational standpoint, but the other actors are just used to it.
That was a big learning curve for me.” Day-to-day shooting strategies also differ. While American productions work within specific union rules, Tokyo is much more unpredictable. You need to trust in your preparation, which forces you to almost over-prepare because you never know, you just have to assume anything can happen.” Since “Bake Bake,” a studio-based shoot, Brooks has also worked on a production shot in real locations in and around Japan’s capital.
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