Born in Tokushima in 1961, Show Aikawa began as a delinquent-movie action star and became one of the emblematic actors of Japanese direct-to-video crime cinema of the 1990s. He worked repeatedly with Takashi Miike, most memorably in Rainy Dog (1997), Dead or Alive (1999) and its two sequels, delivering an iconic laconic hitman. He also anchored yakuza and V-Cinema titles across two decades and appeared in genre pieces like Zebraman (2004). Aikawa is regarded as a cornerstone of the V-Cinema era and its transition into international cult recognition. Read more