Old-School Cool

Shido Nakamura is the proud bearer of a long-lost brand of cool. It's a cool recovered from the mists of history, a pre-TV cool, a primordial cool from an age before cool became bankable. Born and bred in the rarefied world of classical Kabuki—a 400-year-old Japanese theatrical form originated by troupes of itinerant artists and prostitutes—the 30-year-old actor has managed over the past year to convert his tradition-tempered stylishness into modern star power through a series of spectacularly successful film and TV roles. Sipping cranberry juice in a Tokyo café before a performance, dressed in a silk summer jacket and jeans...