Yoshihiro Kato

Acting

Yoshihiro Kato

Born 1958-10-07 · Akita Prefecture, Japan

Zenpaku Kato, also known by his birth name and former stage name Yoshihiro Kato, was a Japanese actor born on October 7, 1958, in Akita Prefecture. He was affiliated with the SAI Production agency. He stood at a height of 174 cm and enjoyed music appreciation as a hobby. His special skill was illustration, and his favorite color was blue. He graduated from Akita Prefectural Yuri Technical High School. Kato made his debut in the stage play "Shitaya Mannencho Monogatari," directed by Yukio Ninagawa. He was known for portraying eccentric antagonistic roles, such as a strict physical education teacher in the 1983 film "Kazoku Geemu" (Family Game), who methodically decides students' desired high schools for exams. He also played the role of Mr. Sugimoto, a department head who bullies subordinates through workplace harassment and power dynamics in the 1992 TV drama "Ai to Iu Na no Moto ni" (Under the Name of Love). Throughout his career, Kato was recognized for his distinctive performances in various mediums, including film, television, and stage. However, on April 27, 2007, at the age of 48, he tragically took his own life through hanging in a park located in Shibuya, Tokyo. His passing was mourned by fellow actors, including Toshi Kazawa, Yoji Tanaka, and Mako Maekawa, who expressed their condolences. (Translated from WIkipedia Japan "加藤善博")

Acting credits

Tampopo poster
7.8

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

Tampopo

1985

A Taxing Woman poster
6.7

Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.

A Taxing Woman

1987

Captured Mother and Daughter: She Beast poster
4.8

After watching her friend fall from a building a depressed high school girl runs away from home. When she is picked up by a nice guy on a phone date she realizes too late that he has plans to use her for his own ends.

Captured Mother and Daughter: She Beast

1987

Bonds poster
5.6

Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to escape jail for gunning down his cruel adoptive father. His life begins to unravel when a journalist following him takes an interest in the wife of a boyhood chum, and the wife of another close friend takes an interest in Ise. A couple of murders later, Ise/Haga goes on the run and also sets out for revenge.

Bonds

1998

The Funeral poster
7.1

When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.

The Funeral

1984

The Family Game poster
6.9

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor proceeds to blow the entire family apart.

The Family Game

1983

The Files of Young Kindaichi: Snow Yaksha Legend Murder Case poster
8.0

Hajime Kindaichi is working a part time job as an assistant to a TV station for the filming of a shock show. They have invited celebrities in Segori Village and are planning to scare them by playing pranks on them such as fake deaths. However, a threatening letter arrives and soon, a real murder occurs broadcasted in front of everyone.

The Files of Young Kindaichi: Snow Yaksha Legend Murder Case

1995

Woman in Witness Protection poster
6.4

Vain, middle-aged actress Biwako is placed in witness protection while authorities investigate the brutal murder she witnessed. Under the watch of two dedicated cops, Biwako struggles to maintain her career, her public image, and her personal life as she prepares for her new role on the witness stand.

Woman in Witness Protection

1997

A Taxing Woman's Return poster
6.4

Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath.

A Taxing Woman's Return

1988

Maria's Stomach poster
10.0

A carnivorous monster lives on the island of Sipang. A group of office ladies band together to fight it.

Maria's Stomach

1990

Tales of a Golden Geisha poster
6.2

Nayoko, a good-hearted geisha, brings luck to the men she sleeps with, even though most are scoundrels who don’t deserve it.

Tales of a Golden Geisha

1990

The Last Dance poster
7.0

A successful Japanese movie director in his sixties becomes increasingly ill while working on his latest film. Though his family, friends, and doctor try to keep the secret of his terminal cancer from him, Buhei gradually comes to realize the truth of his condition, leading him on a journey of despair, anger, and – ultimately – acceptance.

The Last Dance

1993

The Gentle 12 poster
6.6

The film opens as a jury is about to acquit a defendant -- a bar hostess who pushed her ex-husband path of an oncoming truck, supposedly in self-defense. Just as everyone seems to be in agreement over the woman's innocence, one juror voices second thoughts.

The Gentle 12

1991

Detective Story poster
6.7

A private detective and a college student find themselves in hot water while investigating the murder of a night club owner.

Detective Story

1983

Love Bites Back poster
4.0

Yuichi Koga is an upper-class business executive, running his own adult video company, and living a successful life with his wife and daughter. Outwardly, his family seems really happy, but in reality Yuichi enjoys sex with everyone but his wife Chikako. One day, he gets a phone call from a woman named Sanae, an old elementary school classmate of his.

Love Bites Back

1988

Drop Out: Supple Female Leopard poster
NR

A story about a female hitman, Lisa Yajima, who carries out an assassination at the command of an organization, gets involved in an organization's plot.

Drop Out: Supple Female Leopard

1992

Let's Go to the Hospital poster
7.5

When a hard-driving copywriter (Hiroyuki Sanada) discovers his comely wife (Keiko Saito) is involved in a scintillating game of strip rock-paper-scissors with some guy clad only in a pair of boxer shorts and Mickey Mouse ears, he is less than happy. When the stranger tries to make a run for it, a fight ensues between the two men, and they accidentally tumble down several flights of a concrete stairwell. One hurried ambulance ride later, the copywriter finds himself in a private teaching hospital equipped with the latest gleaming gizmos. Meanwhile, a young internist (Hiroko Yakushimaru) girds herself for her first emergency room case -- the battered copywriter. After giving a curt bow and a nervous "Good Evening," she accidentally jams a syringe into his bloody wound. Soon the absurdity of their situation, along with their medical misery, binds the two men and their blundering nurse together.

Let's Go to the Hospital

1990

Lost in the Wilderness poster
8.5

The life and travels of adventurer Naomi Uemura, who disappeared in Alaska in 1984. A member of the first Japanese expedition to reach the summit of Mt Everest in 1970, Uemura also accomplished several "firsts". He was the first man to reach the North Pole solo, climb Denali solo, and float down the Amazon river solo. In the film, Uemura returns to Tokyo after a stint in Siorapaluk in Northern Greenland. In Tokyo, he reconnects with an old friend and, over coffee, shares his life story - from his days as a college dropout to his successful expedition to the top of Everest.

Lost in the Wilderness

1986

Hawaiian Dream poster
10.0

Tatsuhiko and Shofumi are hoodlums living in downtown Hawaii, having flown out of Japan and entered the country illegally for a reason. The two make a living by trafficking pakalolo – marijuana – under the pretext of selling tea leaves, but they are in a foreign land where they don't speak the language well. When they get busted by the chief of police, they're forced to make a deal and and help get a local crime boss masquerading as a benevolent celebrity arrested.

Hawaiian Dream

1987

Main Theme poster
6.4

A kindergarten teacher meets a novice magician and together they travel to another city to find love.

Main Theme

1984

Stay or go? poster
10.0

Shohei Taguchi is a salaryman who works for a securities company and loves women like no other. One day, he plans to use the cash borrowed from the gangsters and snatch to repay his debt . However, Sayoko Mukai, who said that she used the money of the company for gambling , took over the money. Shohei and Sayoko plan a robbery and steal cash from the gallery, but another man steals it.

Stay or go?

1988

The Glorious Asuka Gang! poster
8.0

In the year 199X, on the dark, shady streets of New Kabuki Town, the free-for-all between gangs of young delinquents and a corrupt police force is further complicated by the appearance of a mysterious girl named Asuka.

The Glorious Asuka Gang!

1988

Deaths in Tokimeki poster
7.2

Deaths in Tokimeki tells the story of a nondescript hitman, in a remote country villa, waiting to carry out a job: the assassination of the leader of a religious cult.

Deaths in Tokimeki

1984

Forbidden Affair poster
10.0

Ryô is a young leopard, Maki a rhythmical wave. The barrier between a teacher and a student gives way to the passionate embrace of a man and a woman desperately in love.

Forbidden Affair

1970