Actress Chiaki Kuriyama, who appeared in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," has been awarded the annual best-looking celebrity in leather title.

Clad in a black leather one-piece suit, Kuriyama appeared excited about the honor she was given during an award ceremony held at the Omotesando Hills shopping complex in Tokyo's Shibuya-ku on Monday.

"I love leather because it can be enjoyed both when new and used. My family is also happy about the award," the 22-year-old actress told reporters.

This year's award highlights the "age softening" of leather and Kuriyama is set to appear in two variations of promotional pin-ups that show leather outfits that are relatively new and aged.

When presented with a leather-made motorcycle jacket as one of her prizes, she beamed and said, "I had intended to buy a leather jacket this year, so I'm really happy," adding that she would wear it when she meets the press next time.

Past winners of the annual award include Ryoko Yonekura, Anna Tsuchiya, Asami Ishikawa, Ayako Kawahara, Ai Tominaga and Eriko Sato. This year's award was the seventh annual event in honor of leather-clad celebrities. The prize is sponsored by the Tanners' Council of Japan (http://www.tcj.jibasan.or.jp).

"I am honored to hear that the award has been given to so many cool people," Kuriyama said when commenting on the past winners.

Kuriyama's love of leather started as early as in her elementary school days, when she wore a leather jacket that matched her mom's. Even now, Kuriyama regularly slips into leather and even wears leather boots in summer.

Asked about what she thinks of men in leather outfits, Kuriyama said, "Men look cool (in leather). It reminds me of Kaneda (Shotaro), a boy I loved in the animated film 'Akira.'" When a leather tanner later told her that some customers order leather jackets modeled after what Kaneda wore in the popular Akira flick, Kuriyama replied, "I'd love to get one, too!"

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment

---

Share this article