Viewers might first recognize Mayumi Yoshida as the poised and tough-as-nails Crown Princess of Japan, from Amazon’s 2015 drama series, The Man in the High Castle, but the multi-hyphenated Japanese actress also works behind the scenes as a director and filmmaker of numerous plays and films.
Cold Tea Collective’s Natasha Jung sat down with the Vancouver-based artist to chat about her journey as an actor and the way her outlook on people and community impacts the growth and dynamic of her work.
To hear the complete interview, check out the full Pearls of Wisdom Podcast episode.
Yoshida began her career doing theatre in Tokyo, starring in over twenty theatre productions, despite joking that she’s been a “self-proclaim[ed]” actor for years. “A lot of people think—and I did too: ‘I’m not an actor ‘till I book something.’ [But] if you are pursuing that art, then you are an actor. Maybe in my accounting books, I wasn’t an actor, but in my heart, I was always an actor.” She moved to Vancouver in 2010 to continue pursuing acting in North America.
Her foray into filmmaking came much later, in 2017, when friends encouraged her to submit to Storyhive’s digital shorts competition. Up until that point, Yoshida had only done theatre directing. At the time, she was actually knee-deep in the process of putting up her fringe play, Neon, which was the play version of the film she eventually pitched to Storyhive and won with, Akashi. The film won her awards such as Outstanding Writer at NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, Best Female Director at Vancouver Short Film Festival, and the Matrix Award at the Vancouver Women in Film Festival, catapulting her into the world of directing.
In the space of just a year and a half, Yoshida has directed four shorts and is working on the feature film version of Akashi. In that time, she’s also continued her work on The Man in the High Castle as well as voice acting for Netflix’s Hello Ninja. In 2019, she received the Newcomer Award at the Spotlight Awards by Women in Film and Television Vancouver for her success across multiple fields.
When asked about these successes and wins, Yoshida says of her career trajectory, “Honestly, I’m one of those people that never won anything.” She laughs at a particular memory, “I remember saying, when I won Grand Prize for Storyhive, ‘I really don’t win anything. I really never do.’”
Despite the statement, an exuberant buoyancy and sincerity consistently colours her voice as she speaks. It’s an apt reflection of what Yoshida calls her “wild optimism” in life and people. “I really believe in good in people. I think [by] trusting in that, something good will come and happen.” She affirms her statement by reflecting on how her trust in the community she has created and worked alongside serves as the backbone for her work when she feels imposter syndrome creeping up.
“[T]he people surrounding me are so great that I believe in them,” she says. Her faith in the goodness of people cuts through those moments of self-doubt. “[I]f they believe in me that means something. I think that empowers me a lot.”
It’s a belief that Yoshida attributes to her parents and upbringing. When working with a theatre company back in Japan, the director, Hideyuki Noshimuri, would often tell her, “I can tell how loved you were when you were brought up. I can just tell how much your parents loved you because you just bring that energy to anywhere you go.”
Her response? “Oh, weird!” She laughs. “Because it’s just your life, you have nothing to compare [it to].” She recalls a tweet she read about Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. He was asked, “Who are people you want to work with continuously?” and answered with, “I want people who are loved in their life, who have been raised by their family with love, because then […] they know how to build a community and respect each other and give without wanting anything back from them.”
Yoshida moved a lot as a child and cites her multicultural and multinational childhood as an aid in navigating the tricky backwaters of what it means to create for and be a part of a larger community both in front of the camera as well as behind the scenes. “[W]e’re lucky that we’re in a place where […] we have the luxury to question [our personal values and where they come from]. I’m very privileged to be in a place that that is part of my job.” Like her character in The Man in the High Castle, Yoshida grapples with questions about the big picture of things. “I strive to be the person who challenges others [like the princess] and try to look at the greater good rather than one specific goal that profits myself.”
While speaking of the Crown Princess’ impact on women, leadership, and change, she says, “I think by seeing many different ways of how women can lead the world, that [lets us know that] there’s not this one right way of doing it. There are many different ways of governing or changing the world. Because it’s still a new movement, I think we need to be accepting [of] different shapes and forms of leadership and […] allowing mistakes as well.”
She breaks off a couple of times throughout the interview — “I always ramble, I’m so sorry!” — but her thoughtful responses and self-reflection make you only want to listen more. Yoshida never loses sight of the delightful playfulness of her community and the work that she does, harnessing that vibrant energy to create and share stories that champion uniqueness and put people first. “Don’t do anything that nobody is going to watch. I always have to think, ‘Who am I making this for?’ I want someone to watch this movie. It needs to mean something or it needs to matter to someone, not just us. […] It needs to be bigger than that.”
Keep up with Yoshida on her website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date with her latest projects. To hear the complete interview, check out the full Pearls of Wisdom Podcast episode.
