Question on Yasuaki Kurata

[sonnychibaidol]

I have heard that Yasuaki Kurata not only speaks his mother tongue (Japanese) but also can speak Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Can this be confirmed? If this is true, then was he speaking in his original voice in those Hong Kong movies where he was starring in, when it required his character to speak in either Cantonese or Mandarin?

[KUNG FU BOB]

Well obviously Japanese is his native language. But he can definitely speak English too- I've heard him speak it in a few roles. Until 1993 though, all Hong Kong movies were post-dubbed, so you didn't hear his voice in anything made in HK before then. I'm not sure if he can speak Cantonese or Mandarin. I seem to recall him talking about that in an interview on the HEROES OF THE EAST DVD from Dragon Dynasty, but I can't remember what he said.

[Asmo]

I think he dubbed his own speaking voice when he spoke Japanese (and possibly English) in certain HK films.

[AlbertV]

In 1987, Kurata-san made a movie called Final Fight on location in Hong Kong. It was released in 1989 as Bloodfight. The film was shot entirely in English to gain international recognition, especially after the release of Bloodsport, in which Bolo Yeung played the bad ass villain fighter in both movies. Simon Yam plays Kurata-san's student and speaks total English in the film too only to get killed by Bolo, prompting Kurata, who plays a retired fighter, to return to the Free Fighting Tournament to get revenge.

And Yasuaki does have an English name as well, David Kurata, as listed on his official website:

http://kurata-promotion.web.infoseek.co.jp/kurata_english_3_1.htm