TOKYO (AP) — Japan erupted in joy Monday as the samurai series “Shogun” won a record 18 Emmys for the first season.

It won awards including Outstanding Drama Series, as star and co-producer Hiroyuki Sanada became the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Co-star Anna Sawai won the award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series, also a first for Japan.

“You did it. You did it. Congratulations,” Takashi Yamazakidirector of ” Godzilla Minus One”, they wrote on social media.

People followed the awards live as the wins made national headlines. Entertainment outlet Oricon proudly reported that a work with spoken lines mostly in Japanese “made Emmy history.”

“The grand scale of Hollywood combined with the high quality of the production, including costumes, props and mannerisms; the cooperation between the Japanese professional team, led by producer Sanada, and the local production team; as well as the acting that conveyed a strong sense of reality, all came together,” the report said.

Actor Kento Kaku, who played the lead role in the 2024 series “Like a dragon: Yakuza,” said he felt inspired to pursue his Hollywood dreams.

“When you see how cool that was, who wouldn’t want to take on the challenge?” he wrote on X.

Actress Tomoko Mariya said she burst into tears when it was announced that Sanada had won.

“What hardships you must have endured when you chose to leave your entire career in Japan and go to America alone. But it paid off,” she wrote, referring to Sanada’s move to Los Angeles 20 years ago.

The accolades for “Shogun” reflect not only the growing diversity in American entertainment, but also the legacy of Japan’s “jidaigeki” samurai moviesthat have influenced directors all over the world.

The first Asian actor to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series was Lee Jung-jae, for the hit 2022 Korean series “Squid game.”

Sanada is one of the few Japanese actors to have landed major roles in Hollywood, including in “The Last Samurai”, released in 2003, and “The 47 Ronin”, starring Keanu Reeves in 2013.

The role Sanada plays in “Shogun” was first played by Toshiro Mifune in the 1980s.

Sanada, who also starred in Yoji Yamada ‘s 2002 “Twilight Samurai,” referenced his predecessors in his acceptance speech.

“I thank everyone who has supported and kept the legacy of jidaigeki alive,” he said in his speech in Japanese, holding his trophy.

“The passion and dreams we inherited traveled across the seas and crossed borders.”

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama