With the new season of Japanese TV dramas into its 3rd or 4th week, I figured it was time to update my list of the Top 5 J-Actresses. Before doing that, though, I should explain the basic criteria for an actress to be ranked:

1) Be over 20.
2) Be single.*
3) Acting should be individual's primary occupation. (So, Talents - タレント -, Announcers, Singers, etc., are not included).

The Top 5 is in a constant state of flux, though I usually don't do a formal shuffling of rankings except at the beginning of the drama seasons in January, April, July, and October. Anyway, on to the rankings.

1) Takako Tokiwa (常盤貴子): She'd been No. 3 and 2 for a long time and has moved up as a sort of "lifetime" achievement award. She was fantastic in the '90s dramas "Just Tell Me That You Love Me" (愛してると言ってくれ), "Beautiful Life", etc., but never seemed to get over the hump. I recently watched her in the movie "Akai Tsuki" (赤い月), though, and that sealed it. She was stunning.

2) Yuko Takeuchi (竹内祐子): Deceptively beautiful. She seemed to have sort of plain, girl next door looks when I first saw her, but by the last episode of the drama "Pride" I had the feeling that if I actually ever met her, I probably wouldn't know what to do or say. Under normal conditions her ranking would be in jeopardy due to the fact that her current drama is more or less unwatchable. She's lucky, though, that the numbers 3-5 actresses are also involved in relatively forgetttable programs this season.

Having said that Yuko's position would normally be in jeopardy, though, I should point out that I consider Takako and Yuko to be relatively safe in their rankings for the time being. Until someone new comes on the block with serious potential, there just isn't enough power in the lower three to challenge for a top ranking.

3) Ryoko Kuninaka (国仲涼子): Sort of epitomizes cute, I think. She was the title character in the NHK morning serial "Chura-san", following in the footsteps of Hall of Famer Nanako Matsushima in parlaying that turn on NHK into parts in mainstream popular dramas. She has yet to overcome that "NHK-esque" image of absolute purity, though, and until she does that and gains 5 pounds, I don't see her moving up.

4) Miho Shiraishi (白石美帆): She's basically here on the strength of her role as the weather girl in the Nanako Matsushima/Masaharu Fukuyama drama "Beauty and the Beast". She was the revelation of that drama - a "whoa, who is that?" double take kind of woman - but has been pretty stagnant since.

5) Yukie Nakama (仲間由紀恵): She was stunning in "Trick" and "Game", but a real disappointment in "Tokyo Wan-kei". Granted, she was up against the Olympics in that season, but still. A real dud. Like Kuninaka, she could stand to gain 5 pounds, but does have a sort of "sporty" look that few J-actresses can carry off.

*The Hall of Fame: Like any Hall of Fame, the criteria for entrance here are stringent. Basically, if an actress reaches the No. 1 slot and gets married while holding that position, she is eligible. I figured there had to be a way to continue to honor these women, even if I no longer had a "chance". These are presented in reverse chronological order of their elevation.

Miho Nakayama (中山美穂): All you need to see is the Shunji Iwai movie "Love Letter." If that doesn't make you a fan of Nakayama Miho, then I don't know what the problem is. She was absolutely captivating. "Oishii Kankei", "Nemureru Mori", and "Home and Away" rank with some of my favorite dramas of all time. She held the No. 1 slot between 2000 and 2002.

Nanako Matsushima (松嶋奈々子): I first saw Nanako in the GTO TV series that she starred in with future husband Takashi Sorimachi. She's a classic beauty, and as this season's "Emergency Room 24 Hours" drama is proving, has not lost a step since marriage and having a child. Still a magnetic presence. Her Sakurako character in "Yamato na deshiko" has been described as one of the 3 seminal female TV Drama characters of the 1990's. She held the No. 1 position between 1998 and 2000

Noriko Sakai (酒井法子): Still gets my vote for the perfect face. If I could meet one J-Actress (she was still single), it would be Noriko. I first saw her in "All Under One Roof" (一つ屋根の下), but really "got it" when I watched "Hoshi no Kinka", in which she played a deaf and dumb hospital worker. It probably helped that I didn't understand Japanese in those days, and since she didn't speak in the drama I was never distracted by trying to figure out what she was talking about. I could just watch. She was No. 1 from 1995 until getting married in 1998.

Next time: Drama reviews for the January-March 2005 season.