Ikumi yoshimatsu biography of abraham
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I had to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water to keep the tears from dying up (laughs). There’s a lot of Japanese content in Hollywood right now. There’s very little flexibility in altering the script or the story. When I ride a horse, I’ll have a costume, weapons, and a hat.
Living in Western society with an American husband and a child growing up in America, Grace takes a life-altering step in the spirit of Japanese culture. Before her are Kris Boeckmans, Bruno Fornaroli, Kim Song-yong, Marc-Édouard Vlasic, John Patrick Amedori, and Kazuyasu Minobe. While swordfights and Ninja moves are mostly choreographed, horse riding is the most intense.
And why do you like it?
Ikumi: We shot the film in Japan. She combined acting and stunts in other projects, such as portraying a geisha uncredited in Michael Bay's 6 Underground (2019), though her primary contributions emphasized physical performance over dialogue-heavy roles.[3]Yoshimatsu's performance arts foundation in Japanese stage traditions informs her stunt approach, emphasizing disciplined movement and cultural authenticity in action sequences.[3] Her work underscores a commitment to high-risk physicality, drawing from generational theatrical training to execute precise, narrative-driven stunts in international productions.[4]
Media appearances and entrepreneurship
Yoshimatsu has featured in television commercials and on billboards in countries including China, Korea, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, France, and the United States.[3]She hosts the interactive live quiz show Quizuna on her YouTube channel "Ikumi's Voice," produced using Blackmagic Design's ATEM Mini Pro switcher and developed in collaboration with RIM Entertainment's Matt Taylor during the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020, with episodes airing multiple times weekly.[25][26]In October 2023, she launched a recurring TV segment on NHK in the Kyushu-Okinawa region.[27] Her travel program NHK Muse Traveler, highlighting destinations such as Ishigaki Island, aired on NHK in August 2025 across the full Kyushu area.[28]Yoshimatsu founded and serves as CEO of IY Global, LLC, a personal management firm handling her representation as an actress, stunt performer, model, and activist, with operations based in Japan and the United States.[29][30] Through IY Global, she produces content including YouTube videos and promotional materials under the channel "IY GLOBAL."[31]Activism and advocacy
Gender equality initiatives
Yoshimatsu served as the youngest female member appointed to a special ministerial task force in Japan focused on devising solutions to the nation's economic stagnation and population decline, challenges exacerbated by gender imbalances in labor force participation, work-life reconciliation for women, and low fertility rates.[32] These issues stem from structural barriers, including limited childcare support and cultural expectations disproportionately burdening women, contributing to Japan's persistent low ranking in global gender parity assessments—104th out of 135 countries in the 2013 World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report.In her public advocacy, Yoshimatsu has connected women's safety and legal protections to broader gender equality outcomes, asserting in a 2014petition that Japan ranked lowest among industrialized nations on gender equality metrics and that failing to shield women from violence impedes economic and societal parity.[33] She argued that robust anti-violence measures are foundational to enabling women's full societal contributions, a view echoed in her 2015 TEDxKyoto presentation calling for legislative reforms to empower women amid Japan's "culture of silence" on such crimes.[34] This perspective aligns with empirical data showing correlations between gender-based violence prevalence and reduced female workforce engagement, as documented in international reports on Japan's equality deficits.[35]Her efforts extend to educational and diplomatic programs, such as founding the Global Student Diplomacy Network, which promotes cross-cultural exchanges potentially fostering awareness of gender norms, though primarily youth-oriented rather than exclusively equality-focused.[32] Yoshimatsu's involvement reflects a pragmatic approach prioritizing causal factors like legal and institutional reforms over symbolic gestures, consistent with first-principles analysis of Japan's demographic data indicating that enhancing women's security and opportunities could mitigate aging population pressures.Anti-stalking campaign and legislative efforts
Following her personal experience with stalking by talent agency executive Genichi Taniguchi, Yoshimatsu initiated a public campaign to combat the pervasive "culture of silence" surrounding stalking and violence against women in Japan.For example, Shogun was shot in Canada, which is good, but from a Japanese perspective, a Japanese viewer can tell that it was not shot in Japan. Read more on Wikipedia
Her biography is available in 14 different languages on Wikipedia. In 2014, she was intimidated and criticized by Japanese nationalist and right-wing groups for publicly advocating on behalf of the historical comfort women issues and has been an outspoken leader for women's rights issues.
Ikumi: I could relate to that because my athletic father was tough and challenged me.
We shot several scenes there, which is a very spiritual place. Did you draw from your friends or family to so convincingly play Grace?
Ikumi Yoshimatsu: In the film, Grace learns she has cancer. Our culture expects us to deal with mental problems rather than seek outside help. So I wondered if, from a Western perspective, the viewing audience would understand Grace’s actions.
We were very close, we spent a lot of time together. Japan still has many laws that fail to protect women against stalking and violence.