Cover Takeshi Kaneshiro, who turned 53 on October 11, is best loved for romantic roles in ‘Chungking Express’ and ‘Perhaps Love’ (Photo: IMDB)
Takeshi Kaneshiro, who turned 53 on October 11, is best loved for romantic roles in ‘Chungking Express’ and ‘Perhaps Love’ (Photo: IMDB)
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From ‘Chungking Express’ to ‘This Is Not What I Expected’, Takeshi Kaneshiro made heartbreak look effortless across Taipei, Hong Kong and Tokyo
He was born on the 11th day of the tenth month, and his father read that date as destiny: stack the characters for ten and one, and you get 士, the scholar-warrior, which pairs with 武 to spell “bushi”, or “samurai”. Yet Takeshi Kaneshiro, who turned 53 on October 11, also became famous for something far gentler than swordplay. Across Taipei, Hong Kong and Tokyo, he played men undone by love—lovesick cops, grieving producers, reluctant stars—in several languages and with a melancholy that never felt rehearsed. For readers who came of age in the 1990s and 2000s, these six romances remain the ones to revisit, tissues at the ready.
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‘Chungking Express’ (1994): when love comes with an expiration date
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro plays lovelorn Cop 223 in the film 'Chungking Express'
Wong Kar-wai’s cult classic casts Takeshi Kaneshiro as Cop 223, a Taiwanese-born officer in Tsim Sha Tsui who cannot accept that his girlfriend has left. His ritual is oddly precise: a can of pineapple for every day she stays away, each expiring on May 1, his 25th birthday. He jogs to keep himself from crying, then meets Brigitte Lin’s blonde-wigged stranger after the 30th can. Delivering monologues in several languages, Kaneshiro turned his own cultural hybridity into the film’s emotional signature.
‘God, Please Give Me More Time’ (1998): a tear-jerking race against time and stigma
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro and Kyoko Fukada star in the Japanese drama ‘God, Please Give Me More Time’ (Photo: IMDB)
Takeshi Kaneshiro and Kyoko Fukada star in the Japanese drama ‘God, Please Give Me More Time’ (Photo: IMDB)
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This Fuji TV drama, written by Taeko Asano, stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as Keigo Ishikawa, an emotionally detached music producer mourning his late partner. He meets Kano Masaki (Kyoko Fukada), a high school student who contracts HIV while trying to buy a ticket to his concert. Scored to Luna Sea’s I for You, it averaged a 22.5 per cent rating, topped 28 per cent for its finale and won Best Drama and Best Actor at the 18th Television Drama Academy Awards.
‘Tempting Heart’ (1999): guitars, first love and decades of regret
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro and Gigi Leung star in the film 'Tempting Heart'
Directed by Sylvia Chang, this quietly aching romance frames its story through an older director, played by Chang, who develops a screenplay based on her own youth. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays the teenage Ho-jun opposite Gigi Leung’s Sheo-rou, and the pair trace a relationship complicated by social class and years of separation. Guitars and wistful glances set the tone, making this a bittersweet portrait of young love and the regrets it leaves behind.
‘Love 2000’ (2000): the millennial espionage affair that kept Japan glued to the screen
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro and Miho Nakayama, stars of the drama ‘Love 2000’ (Photo: IMDB)
Takeshi Kaneshiro and Miho Nakayama, stars of the drama ‘Love 2000’ (Photo: IMDB)
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In this Fuji TV thriller, Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Yuri Maroev, a deep-cover operative from the fictional totalitarian Ural Republic, sent to Tokyo on a lethal assignment. Posing as a diplomat named Nogami, he targets a systems engineer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, played by Miho Nakayama, only to find his mission compromised by romantic attachment. The Takeshi Kaneshiro drama pairs high-stakes tension with a slow-burning love story.
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‘Perhaps Love’ (2005): a bitter winter love triangle set to music
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhou Xun in the musical film 'Perhaps Love'
Peter Chan’s sweeping musical sees Takeshi Kaneshiro play film star Lin Jian-dong, reunited with his former love (Zhou Xun) on a movie set run by an obsessive director, played by Jacky Cheung. The production closed the 62nd Venice International Film Festival. Kaneshiro also contributed to its soundtrack with a duet with Zhou on Crossroad (十字街頭), which won the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Song, proof that his talents extended well beyond acting.
‘This Is Not What I Expected’ (2017): falling in love one bite at a time
Above Takeshi Kaneshiro in the romantic comedy 'This Is Not What I Expected'
Produced by Peter Chan and directed by Derek Hui, this screwball romance pairs Takeshi Kaneshiro’s Lu Jin, a demanding hotel acquisitions magnate with scientific standards for dining, with Zhou Dongyu’s freewheeling chef. Food becomes the language between two opposites. The standout scene, in which Lu Jin prepares instant ramen using laboratory scales, exact boiling times and precise condiment rituals, became a viral phenomenon, inspiring recreations across social media.
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After more than a decade in lifestyle media, Clifford has mastered the art of writing seriously about things that are fun—and writing fun things about people who take themselves very seriously. At Tatler Asia, he helped steer its flagship lists, Tatler’s Most Influential and Asia’s Most Stylish. And today, he leads T-Labs, Tatler Asia’s content innovation hub, where he continues the noble pursuit of lifestyle storytelling, spinning stories on wealth, entertainment, necessary style, Hallyu, Hollywood, beauty and more for audiences across Asia.
