Portraits of actor Saotome Taichi

Saotome Taichi is a very young actor (born 1991) who grew up in theatre, his father being head of the Gekidan Sujaku troupe. From an early age he showed a talent as an onnagata, that is, a male actor who plays female roles. In addition to stage roles, he has also appeared in two films directed by Takeshi Kitano. His stage name is a combination of a fairly common family name Saotome, which means "Maiden" approximately, and a very masculine given name Taichi.