Most of the actors I'm looking forward to seeing on screen in 2018 have only managed to make waves in the Japanese entertainment industry fairly recently, which, of course, just adds to the buzz they're likely to see this year.

One of my new favorite actors is Issey Takahashi. The 37-year-old made his cinema debut at the age of 10 and has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows since, but he had never quite landed on the A-list until last year. As of December, though, his name was the most-searched on Yahoo, apparently dethroning the country's reigning heartthrob, Masaharu Fukuyama.

We can look forward to watching Takahashi rise higher this year as he is set to appear in at least five major titles. First up will be the Kazuhito Nakae-directed "The Lies She Loved" (Japanese title: "Uso o Aisuru Onna") on Jan. 20. It's about a young woman (played by Masami Nagasawa, another talent I'm looking forward to watching) who discovers that everything about her live-in boyfriend of five years is untrue. Based on an actual story in which a woman discovered that her husband of many years had fabricated his entire identity, "The Lies She Loved" lets viewers bask in the acting prowess of both Takahashi and Nagasawa.