Japan erupted with joy as the samurai series “Shogun” won a record 18 Emmys for its first season.
It took home prizes including Outstanding Drama Series, as star and co-producer Hiroyuki Sanada became the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy for best lead actor in a Dramatic Series.
Co-star Anna Sawai won best actress in a dramatic series, also a first for Japan.
People followed the awards live as the wins made national headlines. Entertainment media Oricon proudly reported that a work whose spoken lines were mostly in the Japanese language “made Emmy history.”
“The grand scale of Hollywood combined with the high quality of the production, including costuming, props and mannerisms; the collaboration between the Japanese professional team, headed by producer Sanada, and the local production team; as well as the acting that delivered a strong sense of reality, all came together,” the report said.
The first Asian actor to win the Emmy for Best Lead Actor in a Dramatic Series was Lee Jung-jae, for the hit 2022 Korean series “Squid Game.”
Sanada is one of a handful of Japanese actors to land major Hollywood roles, including “The Last Samurai,” released in 2003, and “The 47 Ronin,” starring Keanu Reeves in 2013.
The role Sanada plays in “Shogun” was first portrayed by Toshiro Mifune in the 1980s.
Sanada, who also starred in Yoji Yamada’s 2002 “Twilight Samurai,” alluded to those who went before him in his acceptance speech.
