Hideo Kojima explains why he uses so few Japanese actors in his games

If you've played a Hideo Kojima game of late, you will likely be familiar with the fact that despite the developer being Japanese, he does like to use Western actors as his leads and main characters. In fact, there's traditionally a more limited array of Japanese stars featured, at least when looking at photo-realistically-scanned models as is the case in the Death Stranding series. But why is that? Kojima has explained his reasoning to IGN Japan.

He notes that basically the photo-realistic software has struggled to truly capture the likeness of Japanese and Asian folk, and also notes that many Japanese people in particular lack a degree of native-level English skills, making it more challenging to cater his games to the wider world. The former part has changed as of late, and the latter part has been solved by bringing on an actress that speaks both English and Japanese fluently, namely Shioli Kutsuna.

In full, Kojima explains: "We record with other actors in a studio in Los Angeles, so it's a bit of a problem if they don't have native-level English skills. I searched for someone who could speak Japanese and also native-level English, but it was difficult. Kutsuna grew up in Australia, can speak English, and when I met her, I found her to be a nice person, so we decided to work together."

He expands: "It's difficult to make Asians look like their real-life counterparts. Women and young people in particular have such beautiful, smooth skin. Asians, and not just Japanese people, are known for their beautiful, smooth skin, so it ends up looking like CG.

"On the other hand, it's easier to bring out the details in older people or people with lots of freckles. I've tried to use Japanese people in the past, but it's hard to make them look like their real-life counterparts. However, this time I used new technology, and I'm quite satisfied with the results. Well, I'd like to do even better next time."

Would you like to see even more Japanese actors appearing in Kojima games in the future?