On January 14th, the winners of the ‘54th Blue Ribbon Awards‘, which were announced in January, gathered at the Iino Hall in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo in order to receive their respective awards.

The award ceremony was hosted by last year’s winners of the Best Starring Actor and Best Starring Actress awards, Tsumabuki Satoshi and Terajima Shinobu. Moreover the awards are very special this year, because the record for the youngest and oldest award recipient was broken at the same time by child actress Ashida Mana (7) and director Shindo Kaneto (99).

It was such a memorable moment when they both were next to each other on stage. Shindo also revoked his earlier declaration that “Ichimai no Hagaki“, for which he won the Best Director award, was hist last film after Ashida told him that she definitely wants to work together with him.

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Sono Sion received the Best Film award for “Cold Fish” this year and commented, “When I filmed this movie, I never expected it to win such an award.”

From left: Tsumabuki Satoshi, Ashida Mana, Terajima Shinobu & Shindo Kaneto

Ashida was honored for her great performances in “Usagi Drop” and “Hankyu Densha“. She commented, “I’m very happy to receive such a wonderful award. From now on I’d like to learn much more about acting and become a great actress.”

Terajima asked her what kind of role she would like to try next. She replied, “Helen Keller. I’m reading her biography right now and it’s such an interesting story. I want to challenge her role one day.” Terajima was delighted to hear, since she already portrayed the role of Helen Keller in the play “The Miracle Worker“. She said, “I’d love to pass the baton on to you as well.”

Nagasaku Hiromi

The award for Best Starring Actress went to Nagasaku Hiromi and her performance in “Youkame no Semi“. Four years ago she received the award for Best Supporting Actress and vowed, “The next I come here I’m definitely going to win it for Best Starring Actress!”

Now she finally achieved her goal and commented, “I love this award for allowing you to host the ceremony in the coming year. I really wanted to get this, so I’m really happy to be able to receive it today.”

Takenouchi Yutaka

Takenouchi Yutaka’s performance in “Oba: The Last Samurai” earned him the Best Starring Actor award this year.

He commented, “I can’t believe that I’m receiving the same award that was already won by so many incredible actors. I performed this role with the wish that people will never forget the spirit and the pride of the people that protected our country during the war.”

However, unlike Nagasaku he doesn’t like the fact that he will have to host the ceremony next year. “I don’t think I can do it,” he said. “I don’t like to appear in public too much. Even now I’m all tensed up.”

Nagasawa Masami

Nagasawa Masami challenged new things in “Moteki” and received the award for Best Supporting Actress for the second time after “Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World” (2004).

She said, “I was surprised when I heard the news. ‘Am I really deserving this?’ At first I didn’t really know what to think of the award, but the director and the people around me were really happy for me, which gave me a lot of self-confidence again.”

You can check out all of the winners below!

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Best Film: “Cold Fish” (Sono Sion)

Best Director: Shindo Kaneto (“Ichimai no Hagaki”)

Best Starring Actor: Takenouchi Yutaka (“Oba: The Last Samurai”)

Best Starring Actress: Nagasaku Hiromi (“Youkame no Semi”)

Best Supporting Actor: Iseya Yusuke (“Ashita no Joe”, “Kaiji 2″)

Best Supporting Actress: Nagasawa Masami (“Moteki”)

Best New Artist: Ashida Mana (“Usagi Drop”, “Hankyu Densha”)

Special Award: Harada Yoshio

Best Foreign Film: “Black Swan” (Darren Aronofsky)

Sources: Oricon [2] [3] [4] [5], Sanspo [2] [3] [4] [5]