And Taiwanese-Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro's return to a Japanese-language movie, six years after his last one, was greeted with enthusiasm at the Tokyo International Forum on Sunday.

Some 1,500 ecstatic fans packed the auditorium for the 34-year-old actor's appearance.

The vehicle for his comeback: a fantasy adapted from the best-seller Accuracy Of Death (Shinigami no Seido) by celebrated writer Kotaro Isaka.

Kaneshiro, who stars as a cool, music-loving Angel of Death (shinigami), was wildly cheered when he appeared on stage with the rest of the cast.

The first question thrown at him was how he felt about appearing in his first Japanese movie since the 2002 thriller Returner.

'It didn't feel that long to me. Although I have been making movies elsewhere, I came to Japan often, especially to promote my movies,' he told the audience.

At a press conference before the preview, he was in good spirits, though a tad taciturn.

While his female co-stars Manami Konishi and Sumiko Fuji both spoke obligingly for a minute or so when asked to say a few words, Kaneshiro limited himself to just giving his name.

But it seems he was a different person entirely on the set.

'Kaneshiro has lots of ideas and a good sense of humour. He also gave me many suggestions,' said Konishi, who plays a diffident office worker.

On the first day of shooting, they did a long scene together at a restaurant, where the script requires the two to talk past each other.

'It was a very important scene. We did not discuss how we should do it but it worked the first time we tried it,' said Konishi.

The veteran Fuji, who plays a hairdresser, said she was charmed by Kaneshiro.

'In one scene, I had to wash his hair. Whether it was true or not, he said to me afterwards, 'That felt good',' she gushed.

Sunday's gala event seemed all too much for director Masaya Kakehi, who was making his first full-length feature film and appearing at his first press conference.

'I never knew there were so many cameras in the world,' he said, blinded by the flashlights.

In his official blog, he confessed to having gone to a ticket booth incognito to buy an advance ticket for the movie last month, the moment he heard they had gone on sale.

The movie, titled Sweet Rain - Shinigami no Seido for its Japanese release, opens in Japan on March 22 and is expected to be in Singapore theatres by May.

wengkin@sph.com.sg