The Japanese Voice of ‘Sex & the City’

Warner Bros./Everett Collection

Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex & the City 2.”

Meet Yuko Nagashima, Japan’s very own Carrie Bradshaw, known to her friends and family as Yuppi.

Originally from Kansai, Ms. Nagashima has been the “Sex & the City” lead’s Japanese voiceover since the early days of the HBO series. She continued to play her in the first “Sex & the City” movie and is back at it for the sequel — which, despite a heap of negative reviews, continues to have a world-wide following.

We met Yuppi ahead of the June 1 premiere to talk about Carrie, what it’s like to play her (faults and all), and why women from Manhattan to Tokyo love her.

The Wall Street Journal: Do you like playing Carrie and do you like her as a character?

Ms. Nagashima: I don’t think it’s possible to dislike someone you are going to play. Carrie is very real — she has many faults and is by no means perfect. She makes mistakes and sometimes I think, “Why did you say or do something so stupid!”

But these weaknesses make her all the more interesting and endearing as a character to play and perhaps it’s this kind of honest naivete that Big and we all love her for.

WSJ: You’ve been playing Carrie for a long time. Do you feel an affinity with her?

Ms. Nagashima: Yes, definitely. In the TV series, she was having all kinds of relationship trouble, which struck a chord with me, because I was too. Then in the first film, Carrie gets married — at about the same time I did too, so it’s funny but it’s like our lives are in sync.

WSJ: Could you tell us what the Japanese Carrie Bradshaw sounds like?

Ms. Nagashima: Sarah Jessica Parker and I sound very different in both the way we speak and the timbre of our voices. Sarah’s is very husky and coquettish and mine is not, so I avoid “putting it on” and trying to copy it.

I do my best to include some elements of Sarah’s voice, though, whilst concentrating on getting across a “flavor” of myself — a kind of “Nagashima Carrie” if you like.

WSJ: What do you think it is it about “Sex & the City,” clothes, handbags and shoes aside, that interests and draws Japanese women in?

Ms. Nagashima: I was a little apprehensive when I first about heard about “Sex & the City.” I thought it was just going to be about sex, and I wondered how it would sit with a more reserved Japanese audience. But I quickly realized that “Sex & the City” touches on common issues women worry about, like love, sex, their partners, their careers, etc. These issues are universal to all women, regardless of where they are from, and I think this why it also appeals to Japanese women.