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Beat Takeshi

Our Japanese team star in Takeshi’s Castle on Amazon Prime!

Watch our team of zany reporters run around in loincloths as they attempt to beat Beat Takeshi.

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Takeshi’s Castle, Japan’s craziest game show, is getting a new series from Amazon Prime Video

The king returns to his castle.

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Pickax-wielding yakuza member ambushes movie star Beat Takeshi in Tokyo

Famous director’s real life suddenly turns into what could be a scene from one of his organized crime movies.

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Ultimate “crap game” Takeshi’s Challenge coming to smartphones this summer!

Experience all of the fun and frustration – mostly frustration – of the classic Nintendo game with some added features.

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New gachapon vending machine capsule toy range features miniature sweaters for water bottles

Move over water bottle panties, it’s time to dress up your drinks with a fashionable over-the-shoulder sweater that takes its styling cues from Beat Takeshi.

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69-year-old set to play key role in Hollywood anime adaptation.

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Yakuza 6 to feature baddest Yakuza film dude of all time: Japanese actor Beat Takeshi 【Video】

Japanese actor and director “Beat” Takeshi Kitano is an instantly recognisable face over here in Japan, but westerners might be more familiar with him in his role as sadistic homeroom teacher Kitano in Battle Royale, or perhaps as the host of the madcap 1980s Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle.

But it turns out that ol’ Beat is no longer just the face of Japanese TV and gritty movies, as he has recently joined a long line of celebrities lending their voices and images to video games. Check out Beat Takeshi’s appearance in the upcoming Sega game, Yakuza 6, in the following trailer.

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Don’t want to pay your NHK TV licence fee? Beat Takeshi doesn’t think you should have to

In Japan, it’s mandatory to pay for a TV licence if you own a television set or device that can receive a broadcast signal. The money goes to NHK, Japan’s national broadcasting service. It’s much the same deal as in the UK, where your television licence funds the BBC.

But what if you don’t even watch any BBC or NHK channels? Should you still have to pay? Actor, director and outspoken comedian Beat Takeshi doesn’t think so – in fact, he’s calling for the option to “opt-out” of accessing Japan’s NHK’s programming for people who don’t want to pay the licence fee.

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Hugh Jackman stars, sings J-pop cover, and speaks Japanese in ads for Toyota【Videos】

When you get to be as big a company as Toyota, you can afford to go out and get A-list talent for your commercials. Over the last few years, the automaker’s created a series of ads starring boy band SMAP’s Takuya Kimura and film icon Beat Takeshi.

In the commercials, collectively known as ReBORN, Kimura and Takeshi play historical figures Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, reincarnated in modern Japan. The latest installment even has a special guest star as Hugh Jackman, Wolverine himself, shows up to help spread the word about Toyota’s newest eco-friendly cars.

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Japanese scientist predicts another major earthquake in Japan by 2017

According to Japanese scientists, Japan might be in for another big one.

Dr. Masaaki Kimura, a seismologist who reportedly predicted the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, recently appeared on Japanese TV to share his theory about the next major earthquake to strike Japan. Based on his estimates, the quake will occur by 2017 and will be of similar magnitude to 2011’s. Similarly, astronomer Yoshio Kushida continues to insist that a big quake is not too far away. Keep reading to find out more about their respective theories and which specific areas of Japan they’ve got on the radar.

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