But it's meaningless if you lose your own colour in the process, so…

“But it's meaningless if you lose your own colour in the process, so you have to find a place for yourself among the symphony but bring out the Japanese part of yourself too. Like, you can hear a Japanese flute from within the symphony.”

Kojima advised Kutsuna as a forerunner among Japanese actors abroad that he thinks she is going to take off from here and that he would want her to come back to Japan from time to time. He said that abroad you meet people from all countries and personalities, whereas in Japan you end up working with the same kind of people, and that the Japanese fit into any team by using their cooperative nature. He added that it is meaningless if you lose your own colour in the process: you have to find a place for yourself within the symphony and still bring out the Japanese part of yourself — so that you can hear a Japanese flute from within the symphony — and that if you do not leave a mark like that it is no fun. He said you cannot suddenly become completely American and that he does not want to see Shioli become an actress like that. His recipe was for her to return to Japan to shoot a low-budget Japanese movie to realize that in that context one take can be enough, you shoot all day and there is no rest. His model was Guillermo del Toro, who makes Hollywood blockbusters under restrictions but sometimes returns to Mexico to make small-budget indies; there are many successful people who can strike that balance and you cannot lean too much to one side. Be successful in Japan and overseas, himself included.