Get in the 'Ring' with Sadako!

Takuya Wada and Rie Inoo. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Saturday, June 3, I attended a rather unusual event -- at least for me. It focused on the J-horror classic Ring (1998) and featured two intriguing guests -- animator and designer Takuya Wada and the original Sadako Yamamura actress Rie Inoo.

Takuya Wada and Rie Inoo strike a Sadako-esque pose. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I was fortunate to sit next to Inoo-san during most of the evening, and it was fascinating sitting next to an icon of Japanese horror. I found her to be shy and low-key, very much like other actresses I've met over the years.

While Inoo-san is most widely known around the world for her turn as Sadako, she sees herself as a stage actress. She also doesn't like horror. In fact, she told another patron that this was her first time attending such an event, which I was surprised to hear. That couldn't be true, could it?

Even though she was much less talkative than Wada-san, she was happy to answer questions about her role. When I asked her if she wore a wig to play Sadako, for example, she told me it was her real hair.

Rie Inoo. Photo by Brett Homenick.

At one point, Wada-san was describing Jollibee, the Filipino fast food chain and its mascot to the event-goers (yes, the conversation actually went there), and I dug up the mascot on my smartphone. When Inoo-san looked at it, I thought about how strange it was to have Sadako looking at this random fast food restaurant logo on my phone. But such is the magic of life.

One other note is that Wada-san was discussing the U.S.-produced Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight (2008-09), but he forgot the name of the series. I jumped in to provide the title, to which Inoo-san turned to me and told me that I knew a lot about this stuff. Again, it was a bit surreal to get complimented by Sadako.

All in all, a fun evening with some cool guests. What a memorable change of pace it was!