June 12, 2024 • 15 mins
ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A conversation with venerable actress, and L.A.’s own, Tamlyn Tomita (The Karate Kid Part II, The Joy Luck Club, Cobra Kai, Blue Eye Samurai, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Avatar: The Last Airbender) regarding the Netflix, Tsuburaya Productions, and Industrial Light & Magic release “Ultraman: Rising” (Streaming June 14th on Netflix) which tells the story of “Ken Sato, a star athlete reluctantly returns home to take over his father's duties as Ultraman, shielding Tokyo from giant monsters as he becomes a legendary hero” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Lad with sixty Dad, did youever worry that your power wasn't enough?
(00:21):
Every general day the world leeds yoursto become something more. It's actually kind
of cool. Biting monsters. It'sjust I'm not very good at it.
Come on very as Oh my god, not good. Wer you could package
(01:03):
ken. She thinks you are aliving Okay, it's okay. No,
no, she has acids. Babiesget acid refused? Great, I how
(01:23):
do you do it? Juggle everything? Your job, kid, Honestly,
it's not easy. Like the monsterssometimes do your job. I'm doing Yeah,
finally and bring it back alive.Roder yaf im six forty. It's
(01:45):
later with Mo Kelly. We arelive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app if you
like me. You were first introducedto Tamla Tameda in The Karate Kid Part
two as Kumiko. I'm stupid butno, no, not at all.
What are you doing? Oh?I was just practicing some moves. What
out moves? Well, it's likea update. I'm trying to figure this
(02:05):
thing out here looks like a Vondance. Well, I must be doing
something wrong, doing something right?Fuck, A role she reprised in the
Netflix series Cobra Kai I did Where'sChosen? He had the TAC class.
(02:29):
Hopefully it goes a little easier onthem than he did on me. I
hope you both learned something from metime, and I think so. I
guess that was your plan, huh. Or maybe you fell in love with
her with the Joy Luck Club.The next week, I brought Rich to
(02:49):
Mom's birthday dinner, sort of asurprise present. I figured she was going
to have to accept Rich, likeit or not. Rich. This is
my father and Mom, this isRich regardless. She is beloved the world
over. Now you can hear heras the voice of Imico and the AI
module Mina co starring in Netflix's animatedfeature Ultraman Rising, premiering globally Friday,
(03:15):
June fourteenth. And it's my pleasureto welcome Tamblin to me to later with
Mo Kelly right now, this TMITA. Thank you for coming on today.
How are you very well? Thankyou so very much, and yo Mo,
and thank you so much to allthe iHeartRadio fans out there, thank
you for listening. In what youare. You are so humble in how
you present yourself in and as akid growing up in Los Angeles. You
(03:37):
and me both. You went toGranada Hills High School. You went to
UCLA. Weren't you supposed to becomea history teacher? How did I was?
I was? I was asked toparticipate in what was called the audition
process, the open call process forKarate Kid Part two. And I was
studying history at UCLA in order tobecome a history teacher. And I just
(03:58):
this was the summer of nighteen eightyfour, and I said, or nineteen
eighty five, And I said,yeah, why not? And so I
auditioned and somehow I impressed the directorand he said, want to come in
and meet the producers and da dada da da, and down the line
and you get to meet Ralph MachoAnd I go, what? And so
I jumped through all those hoops andI landed the role of Kumiko in the
(04:20):
summer of eighty five, and wefilmed it and it released in nineteen eighty
six. And here we are intwenty twenty four, still talking about Coomi
Coo. I love it. Andspeaking of growing up, I grew up
watching the original Ultraman television series,which debuted in the mid sixties, but
I saw it in the early seventies. Ultraman is one of the highest grossing
(04:41):
media franchises of all time. Howdid you and when did you come across
Ultimately? Do you remember how youwere watching Ultraman? Was it on PBS
or was it on the Japanese Americanchannel or was it on some kind of
Japanese movie house, because I rememberseeing it very very sporadically because it wasn't
on American tele You had to watchthe UHF or the VHF panels, right,
(05:04):
club titles, right, we hadto watch slub titles. So knowing
that that, you know it wasa super cool superhero and it had all
this other worldliness because being Japanese Americanbut not growing up in Japan, it's
like, what is this other world? And so it kind of opened it
up for so many kids to watchthis new superhero that wasn't Superman or wasn't
(05:26):
the Hulk or any of the otherAmerican superheroes that we saw, and it
was a It just blew my mind. So to be here at Ultraman rising
through Netflix is like, is thatkind of reiteration that a good story will
last forever and that we're just sohappy and thrilled and honored to be a
part of this new franchise. Areyou all right? See for yourselves?
(05:48):
And you really are high on thatlife? Of course I'm high on that
and nobody else? Is that clear? Keptain? Has the monster been destroyed?
Destroyed to a man out of thisguy, a man from space to
today? It's too bad we can'tthank him for all he's done for us?
Who saved you when you're crashing tothe monster? Yes, hey,
(06:09):
just a minute, you're talking.You know all the answers. So tell
me what the man is called?He hasn't got a name, he doesn't
they listen? I bet he does. Now, what is it? I'll
think of one. Does Ultraman soundall right? Uh? Huh? Ultraman
but not only a good story.You can add to a different chapters,
(06:31):
add more chapters to that story,and an Ultraman rising. He tells the
story of Kenji Sato, a superstarbaseball player who returns to Japan to take
on the mantle of Ultraman because therise and Kaiju attacks on Tokyo. In
your character is Kenji's mother, andthere's an la tie in for both of
those characters. Who is Kenji andhow is his mom so important to him?
(06:55):
Kenji's Santo is the superstar of theLa Dodgers, and so shout out
to show hew Otani, and Ithink it's just serendipitous that we see that
Ultraman Rising is the film is thefilm's titled from Netflix, Ultraman Rising,
but that just in March of thisyear that Robert Varga, is a very
famous Los Angeles muralist, painted theOtani mural in Little Tokyo and it's called
(07:19):
La Rising. So it's like thatkind of connection of a Japanese American baseball
hero, where Shohotani is a Japanesebaseball guy who plays for the Dodgers,
where's Kenji Sato's now playing for theyomi Uri Giants. Emiko is that mother
to Kenji, and she is thatkind of motherly force who is always going
(07:40):
to be sacrificing and loving and caringfor her son, knowing that he can
only do the best that he canand to be a superhero at the same
time he's being a baseball hero isa mighty big plate to fill or plates
to fill, and she does herbest. And in the iteration of what
you see is the ai in Mina. She's just the continuation of what it
(08:01):
means to be a mother who lovesher son. She thinks you are her
mother. I am not feel forthis. I've got a life, a
title. Poen you do something niceand now I'm babysitting atade bed lizard thing.
We've got to get it out ofhere. And where would you suggest
we take her? Ken? Oh? Oh oh, We'll take her to
(08:26):
Kaiju Island. Unfortunately, Ken,no one knows where to find it,
either your parents nor the Katif we'reever able to locate the island, Ken,
it would be very bad if youchange back. Right now. My
guest right now is actress Tamlin Tamita. You know her from the Karate Kid
(08:46):
Too, and she's reprised her roleas Kumiko on Cobra Kai and you know
her from The Joy Luck Club andmore. But today she is sharing and
previewing her starring role in Netflix's UltramanRising, streaming nationwide this Friday, June
fourteenth. It's Later with mo Kelly, More with Tamlin to media in just
a moment. You're listening to Laterwith Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM
(09:09):
six forty and right now I'm joinedby venerable actress and LA's own Tamlin to
Meda. We all first met Tamidaas Kumiko in The Karate Kid Part two.
We remember her as Waverley in TheJoy Luck Club, and we loved
seeing her once again as Kumiko inNetflix's Cobra Kai. But speaking of Netflix,
(09:30):
this Friday, June fourteenth marks theglobal streaming premiere of the highly anticipated
animated feature Ultraman Rising, in whichto Meeta stars as both Imiko and the
Ai module Mina double duty for Tamlinto Meda. But Tamlin in the last
segment we talked about how Ellie isa prominently featured character as you had he
(09:52):
plays for the Dodgers. There areshout outs to show hey Otani, and
there's even and there's also a Digitianimated hologram version of Dodger Stadium. Tell
me about why La is such agood and prominent character for this. You
know what, mo, You livehere in La. You know that it's
on the west coast, the bestcoast, and it's literally a bridge between
(10:15):
the US of A and Japan.It is literally has been the gateway to
what it means to be Japanese American. But I think what it means also
to be an American of Japanese assent. So it's a kind of a switch
in our brains is that we asAmericans all come from somewhere else. You
know, we're either brought here likeAfrican Americans. We're either immigrants here or
(10:37):
we're indigenous here. So let's rectifythat idea of what it means to be
American and what it means to bea superhero. Superheroes can really come from
everywhere, because superheroes care for everyone. And so just because Ultraman traditionally came
from Japan, it is like inNetflix's Arms, he becomes the superhero of
(10:58):
the world. And I think that'sit's such an eye opening, a brain
opening, and a heart opening experienceto be part of this new iteration of
ultra Man. It's Dad, you'remad at me. I get it.
I know it wasn't an easy choice, leaving your life behind La the Dodgers,
(11:18):
millions of adoring fans. But whatI'm asking is bigger than baseball.
The world needs you to become somethingmore. Sorry, your mom was better
at this anyway, I'm around forthe last few weeks, one name has
(11:43):
dominated the headlines and what is sureto be a historic moment in baseball.
In just three days, Giants fanswill welcome a legend to the new Tokyo
door as Ken Sazo returns to theland of his birth. Please show me
(12:05):
I can subtle, folks. Ilove your enthusiasm, but tell me if
I'm reading something into this that's notfair given just your own personal history of
being born in Okinawa, didn't growup there, but you still have ties
to your heritage that just kind offit into your own life. Yeah.
(12:30):
Absolutely, there's aspects of it thatfit in because it's like, what am
I going to claim as an Americanof Japanese, Okinawa and Filipino descent.
I'm going to pull the best thingsfrom all of those cultures and live here
in America and share it with Americabecause I think these wonderful qualities are present
(12:52):
in every culture, are present inevery society around the world. That's the
blessing of what it means to behere in America is that we get to
pull from all the other world culturesand say we're going to be here and
we're going to live and do ittogether. My time is growing short with
you, so let me ask youthis Ultraman Rising. I've had the opportunity
to see it. There's some twists, there's some turns, but it is
(13:18):
it is a very nice iteration onthe character, and I've seen it grow
and evolve over years. Do weknow? Do we know what the future
may hold for the Ultraman franchise?Do we get Can we say whether this
is company something coming more in thefuture. I think, as with every
family, we can only hope forthe best, and with every family,
we know that every good family grows. All right, speaking, good family
(13:43):
grows? Before I let you go, any thoughts on Copra Kai last season.
I know that's the last season.Just finished filming and I talked to
Yuji Okamoto just the other day andhe says it's going to be a slam
banging season. Netflix love the smellof karate in the afternoon. No,
(14:05):
mercy, get your asses ready,We're not keeping up without a fighting Cobra
Kai is back. Well, allI can say is I cannot wait.
(14:33):
I've already seen Ultraman Rising. Itpremieres globally June fourteenth, Do not miss
it and of course, Cobra Kabyright there. For it tendly to me
that it has been always been adream for me to have a conversation with
you. Oh you're so sweet.Oh my god, I love you.
Thank you so very much, andgo la. It's Later with bo Kelly
camp I AM six forty. We'relive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You're
(14:56):
listening to Later with Moe Kelly ondemand from KFI a M six forty
Lad with sixty Dad, did youever worry that your power wasn't enough?
(00:21):
Every general day the world leeds yoursto become something more. It's actually kind
of cool. Biting monsters. It'sjust I'm not very good at it.
Come on very as Oh my god, not good. Wer you could package
(01:03):
ken. She thinks you are aliving Okay, it's okay. No,
no, she has acids. Babiesget acid refused? Great, I how
(01:23):
do you do it? Juggle everything? Your job, kid, Honestly,
it's not easy. Like the monsterssometimes do your job. I'm doing Yeah,
finally and bring it back alive.Roder yaf im six forty. It's
(01:45):
later with Mo Kelly. We arelive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app if you
like me. You were first introducedto Tamla Tameda in The Karate Kid Part
two as Kumiko. I'm stupid butno, no, not at all.
What are you doing? Oh?I was just practicing some moves. What
out moves? Well, it's likea update. I'm trying to figure this
(02:05):
thing out here looks like a Vondance. Well, I must be doing
something wrong, doing something right?Fuck, A role she reprised in the
Netflix series Cobra Kai I did Where'sChosen? He had the TAC class.
(02:29):
Hopefully it goes a little easier onthem than he did on me. I
hope you both learned something from metime, and I think so. I
guess that was your plan, huh. Or maybe you fell in love with
her with the Joy Luck Club.The next week, I brought Rich to
(02:49):
Mom's birthday dinner, sort of asurprise present. I figured she was going
to have to accept Rich, likeit or not. Rich. This is
my father and Mom, this isRich regardless. She is beloved the world
over. Now you can hear heras the voice of Imico and the AI
module Mina co starring in Netflix's animatedfeature Ultraman Rising, premiering globally Friday,
(03:15):
June fourteenth. And it's my pleasureto welcome Tamblin to me to later with
Mo Kelly right now, this TMITA. Thank you for coming on today.
How are you very well? Thankyou so very much, and yo Mo,
and thank you so much to allthe iHeartRadio fans out there, thank
you for listening. In what youare. You are so humble in how
you present yourself in and as akid growing up in Los Angeles. You
(03:37):
and me both. You went toGranada Hills High School. You went to
UCLA. Weren't you supposed to becomea history teacher? How did I was?
I was? I was asked toparticipate in what was called the audition
process, the open call process forKarate Kid Part two. And I was
studying history at UCLA in order tobecome a history teacher. And I just
(03:58):
this was the summer of nighteen eightyfour, and I said, or nineteen
eighty five, And I said,yeah, why not? And so I
auditioned and somehow I impressed the directorand he said, want to come in
and meet the producers and da dada da da, and down the line
and you get to meet Ralph MachoAnd I go, what? And so
I jumped through all those hoops andI landed the role of Kumiko in the
(04:20):
summer of eighty five, and wefilmed it and it released in nineteen eighty
six. And here we are intwenty twenty four, still talking about Coomi
Coo. I love it. Andspeaking of growing up, I grew up
watching the original Ultraman television series,which debuted in the mid sixties, but
I saw it in the early seventies. Ultraman is one of the highest grossing
(04:41):
media franchises of all time. Howdid you and when did you come across
Ultimately? Do you remember how youwere watching Ultraman? Was it on PBS
or was it on the Japanese Americanchannel or was it on some kind of
Japanese movie house, because I rememberseeing it very very sporadically because it wasn't
on American tele You had to watchthe UHF or the VHF panels, right,
(05:04):
club titles, right, we hadto watch slub titles. So knowing
that that, you know it wasa super cool superhero and it had all
this other worldliness because being Japanese Americanbut not growing up in Japan, it's
like, what is this other world? And so it kind of opened it
up for so many kids to watchthis new superhero that wasn't Superman or wasn't
(05:26):
the Hulk or any of the otherAmerican superheroes that we saw, and it
was a It just blew my mind. So to be here at Ultraman rising
through Netflix is like, is thatkind of reiteration that a good story will
last forever and that we're just sohappy and thrilled and honored to be a
part of this new franchise. Areyou all right? See for yourselves?
(05:48):
And you really are high on thatlife? Of course I'm high on that
and nobody else? Is that clear? Keptain? Has the monster been destroyed?
Destroyed to a man out of thisguy, a man from space to
today? It's too bad we can'tthank him for all he's done for us?
Who saved you when you're crashing tothe monster? Yes, hey,
(06:09):
just a minute, you're talking.You know all the answers. So tell
me what the man is called?He hasn't got a name, he doesn't
they listen? I bet he does. Now, what is it? I'll
think of one. Does Ultraman soundall right? Uh? Huh? Ultraman
but not only a good story.You can add to a different chapters,
(06:31):
add more chapters to that story,and an Ultraman rising. He tells the
story of Kenji Sato, a superstarbaseball player who returns to Japan to take
on the mantle of Ultraman because therise and Kaiju attacks on Tokyo. In
your character is Kenji's mother, andthere's an la tie in for both of
those characters. Who is Kenji andhow is his mom so important to him?
(06:55):
Kenji's Santo is the superstar of theLa Dodgers, and so shout out
to show hew Otani, and Ithink it's just serendipitous that we see that
Ultraman Rising is the film is thefilm's titled from Netflix, Ultraman Rising,
but that just in March of thisyear that Robert Varga, is a very
famous Los Angeles muralist, painted theOtani mural in Little Tokyo and it's called
(07:19):
La Rising. So it's like thatkind of connection of a Japanese American baseball
hero, where Shohotani is a Japanesebaseball guy who plays for the Dodgers,
where's Kenji Sato's now playing for theyomi Uri Giants. Emiko is that mother
to Kenji, and she is thatkind of motherly force who is always going
(07:40):
to be sacrificing and loving and caringfor her son, knowing that he can
only do the best that he canand to be a superhero at the same
time he's being a baseball hero isa mighty big plate to fill or plates
to fill, and she does herbest. And in the iteration of what
you see is the ai in Mina. She's just the continuation of what it
(08:01):
means to be a mother who lovesher son. She thinks you are her
mother. I am not feel forthis. I've got a life, a
title. Poen you do something niceand now I'm babysitting atade bed lizard thing.
We've got to get it out ofhere. And where would you suggest
we take her? Ken? Oh? Oh oh, We'll take her to
(08:26):
Kaiju Island. Unfortunately, Ken,no one knows where to find it,
either your parents nor the Katif we'reever able to locate the island, Ken,
it would be very bad if youchange back. Right now. My
guest right now is actress Tamlin Tamita. You know her from the Karate Kid
(08:46):
Too, and she's reprised her roleas Kumiko on Cobra Kai and you know
her from The Joy Luck Club andmore. But today she is sharing and
previewing her starring role in Netflix's UltramanRising, streaming nationwide this Friday, June
fourteenth. It's Later with mo Kelly, More with Tamlin to media in just
a moment. You're listening to Laterwith Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM
(09:09):
six forty and right now I'm joinedby venerable actress and LA's own Tamlin to
Meda. We all first met Tamidaas Kumiko in The Karate Kid Part two.
We remember her as Waverley in TheJoy Luck Club, and we loved
seeing her once again as Kumiko inNetflix's Cobra Kai. But speaking of Netflix,
(09:30):
this Friday, June fourteenth marks theglobal streaming premiere of the highly anticipated
animated feature Ultraman Rising, in whichto Meeta stars as both Imiko and the
Ai module Mina double duty for Tamlinto Meda. But Tamlin in the last
segment we talked about how Ellie isa prominently featured character as you had he
(09:52):
plays for the Dodgers. There areshout outs to show hey Otani, and
there's even and there's also a Digitianimated hologram version of Dodger Stadium. Tell
me about why La is such agood and prominent character for this. You
know what, mo, You livehere in La. You know that it's
on the west coast, the bestcoast, and it's literally a bridge between
(10:15):
the US of A and Japan.It is literally has been the gateway to
what it means to be Japanese American. But I think what it means also
to be an American of Japanese assent. So it's a kind of a switch
in our brains is that we asAmericans all come from somewhere else. You
know, we're either brought here likeAfrican Americans. We're either immigrants here or
(10:37):
we're indigenous here. So let's rectifythat idea of what it means to be
American and what it means to bea superhero. Superheroes can really come from
everywhere, because superheroes care for everyone. And so just because Ultraman traditionally came
from Japan, it is like inNetflix's Arms, he becomes the superhero of
(10:58):
the world. And I think that'sit's such an eye opening, a brain
opening, and a heart opening experienceto be part of this new iteration of
ultra Man. It's Dad, you'remad at me. I get it.
I know it wasn't an easy choice, leaving your life behind La the Dodgers,
(11:18):
millions of adoring fans. But whatI'm asking is bigger than baseball.
The world needs you to become somethingmore. Sorry, your mom was better
at this anyway, I'm around forthe last few weeks, one name has
(11:43):
dominated the headlines and what is sureto be a historic moment in baseball.
In just three days, Giants fanswill welcome a legend to the new Tokyo
door as Ken Sazo returns to theland of his birth. Please show me
(12:05):
I can subtle, folks. Ilove your enthusiasm, but tell me if
I'm reading something into this that's notfair given just your own personal history of
being born in Okinawa, didn't growup there, but you still have ties
to your heritage that just kind offit into your own life. Yeah.
(12:30):
Absolutely, there's aspects of it thatfit in because it's like, what am
I going to claim as an Americanof Japanese, Okinawa and Filipino descent.
I'm going to pull the best thingsfrom all of those cultures and live here
in America and share it with Americabecause I think these wonderful qualities are present
(12:52):
in every culture, are present inevery society around the world. That's the
blessing of what it means to behere in America is that we get to
pull from all the other world culturesand say we're going to be here and
we're going to live and do ittogether. My time is growing short with
you, so let me ask youthis Ultraman Rising. I've had the opportunity
to see it. There's some twists, there's some turns, but it is
(13:18):
it is a very nice iteration onthe character, and I've seen it grow
and evolve over years. Do weknow? Do we know what the future
may hold for the Ultraman franchise?Do we get Can we say whether this
is company something coming more in thefuture. I think, as with every
family, we can only hope forthe best, and with every family,
we know that every good family grows. All right, speaking, good family
(13:43):
grows? Before I let you go, any thoughts on Copra Kai last season.
I know that's the last season.Just finished filming and I talked to
Yuji Okamoto just the other day andhe says it's going to be a slam
banging season. Netflix love the smellof karate in the afternoon. No,
(14:05):
mercy, get your asses ready,We're not keeping up without a fighting Cobra
Kai is back. Well, allI can say is I cannot wait.
(14:33):
I've already seen Ultraman Rising. Itpremieres globally June fourteenth, Do not miss
it and of course, Cobra Kabyright there. For it tendly to me
that it has been always been adream for me to have a conversation with
you. Oh you're so sweet.Oh my god, I love you.
Thank you so very much, andgo la. It's Later with bo Kelly
camp I AM six forty. We'relive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You're
(14:56):
listening to Later with Moe Kelly ondemand from KFI a M six forty
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