Kimiko Yo

Acting

Kimiko Yo

Born 1956-05-12 · Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Kimiko Yo was born in Yokohama, a city just south of Tokyo to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father on the 12th of May 1956. Her cousin was actress Bunjaku Han. She became active in front of the camera in 1987 and has been a feature of Japanese television and cinema ever since. She had begun acting on the theatre stage in 1976. Audiences may mostly know her for her supporting role in Shin Gojira, as a sympathetic colleague in the 2008 films Departures, which won an Oscar, and kind wife and waitress in Ramen Girl, but she has almost 200 credits to her name. These include an abnormal neighbour in The Drugstore girl and serene presence in Café Lumière where she was directed by a Taiwanese director in Japan. Dear Doctor (2009) propelled her name forward in Japan and was an award winner. She has several Japan Academy prizes to her name. Like most celebrities she pushes products and has done commercials for telephone companies, shampoos and cosmetics manufacturers. Yo is married to a man who at the time was a NHK employee in 2006 and is managed by the Alpha Agency.

Acting credits

Shin Godzilla poster
7.2

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Shin Godzilla

2016

Departures poster
7.9

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

Departures

2008

Galileo XX poster
7.1

A spin-off from popular Japanese TV series "Galileo". Episode XX tells the story of female detective Utsumi Kaoru's final case before she went to Oklahoma for further training.

Galileo XX

2013

Sheep in the Box poster
6.4

In the near future, architect Otone Komoto is married to Kensuke, who runs a construction company. The married couple decide to welcome a humanoid robot into their home as their son.

Sheep in the Box

2026

Shield of Straw poster
6.3

Ninagawa is a powerful man in Japanese politics and with top economic connections.His granddaughter is then murdered. The suspect is Kunihide Kiyomaru. Kunihide Kiyomaru has a prior conviction for assaulting and killing a girl 8 years ago. The police could never apprehend the suspect in the prior killing.

Shield of Straw

2013

Worst by Chance poster
9.0

Hidenori is a Japanese-Korean man with no sense of belonging, destination or education. He drifts around and meanders through life until a death reminds him of his heritage and so begins a journey to South Korea.

Worst by Chance

2003

Parasyte: Part 1 poster
7.0

Humanity is suffering from a series of mysterious murders across the globe, known as the 'Mincemeat murders'. High school student Izumi Shinichi has a parasite living off him, having replaced his right hand, and he might be the discoverer of truth.

Parasyte: Part 1

2014

Villain poster
6.8

Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo, berates and mocks the troubled loner.

Villain

2010

Rebirth poster
7.6

After the collapse of their relationship, Kiwako abducts the 6-month old child of a man she was having an affair with. Raising the child as her own, it is four years before the authorities catch up with her and the young child.

Rebirth

2011

Yamato poster
5.4

Directed by Junya Sato and based on a book by Jun Henmi, "Yamato" has a framing story set in the present day and uses flashbacks to tell the story of the crew of the World War II Japanese battleship Yamato. The film was never released in the United States, where reviewers who have seen it have compared the military epic to "Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan."

Yamato

2005

Dearest poster
6.7

The posthumous wish of Eiji's wife is for her ashes to be scattered in the ocean near her hometown. Eiji also learns that his wife letter for him at the post office before she died.

Dearest

2012

Parasyte: Part 2 poster
7.0

Humanity is under attack by human-mimicking flesh-eating alien parasites. One parasite bonds with his young high school student host, and he convinces the parasite to help him stop the others.

Parasyte: Part 2

2015

Suicide Club poster
6.5

When the bizarre mass suicide of 54 high school girls throwing themselves in front of a subway train appears to instigate a string of suicides around the country, Detective Kuroda strives to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.

Suicide Club

2001

The Ramen Girl poster
6.5

An American woman is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend. Searching for direction in life, she trains to be a ramen chef under a tyrannical Japanese master.

The Ramen Girl

2008

To Me, the One Who Loved You poster
6.1

Koyomi Hidaka and Shiori Sato meet at his father’s research center and begin to fall in love, but so do their parents, who eventually marry. To avoid becoming stepsiblings, they decide to run away to a parallel universe. Traveling between dimensions is common in their world, but not without repercussions. Does a universe exist for the young couple, and what will it cost them to find it?

To Me, the One Who Loved You

2022

To Every You I've Loved Before poster
6.8

While struggling to make friends after his parents’ divorce, Koyomi Takasaki meets Kazune Takigawa, but apparently, they already have. Kazune reveals that she’s from World Line 85, an alternate universe in which she and Koyomi are lovers. But in a reality where moving between dimensions is natural, could Koyomi be the one from another world?

To Every You I've Loved Before

2022

Hiruko the Goblin poster
6.3

A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons' spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths.

Hiruko the Goblin

1991

Hiruko the Goblin poster
6.3

A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons' spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths.

Hiruko the Goblin

1991

AI Amok poster
7.1

In 2030, AI is everywhere including the medical field, finance and security. Artificial intelligence has become essential in people's lives. They have come to completely trust AI, but artificial intelligence becomes out of control and it causes disaster.

AI Amok

2020

Music of Remembrance -Gb- poster
NR

A boy who suffers from impaired hearing and a young girl pianist try to solve the mysterious connection between a series of murders and the boy's entangled memories.

Music of Remembrance -Gb-

2002

Ace Attorney poster
6.1

Based primarily on the first game in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the film focuses on rookie defense attorney Phoenix Wright, as he strives to protect his clients in various murder trials, including the death of his mentor, Mia Fey, and the accusation of rival prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth. Phoenix's greatest ally is Mia's younger sister Maya, a spirit medium whose body is possessed by Mia to communicate with him.

Ace Attorney

2012

Air Doll poster
6.9

A life-size, inflatable sex doll suddenly comes to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her until something unexpected happens.

Air Doll

2009

A Story of Yonosuke poster
7.2

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

A Story of Yonosuke

2013

Soup Opera poster
8.0

Sakai plays Rui, a 35-year-old single woman forced to live alone after the aunt who raised her suddenly decides to get married and move out. Through an unexpected set of circumstances, she winds up becoming roommates with an aging ladies’ man named Tony and a timid younger man named Kosuke.

Soup Opera

2010