Anna Sawai on Her Emmys Win for Shogun, Naomi’s ‘Pachinko’ Heartbreak

It’s incredibly important, because he is the only male figure to her that understands where she’s coming from, even though what they want is different and the way they execute things in their business is different. They have a mutual respect for each other and understanding — because they’re both misfits. Naomi is a woman in a male-dominant industry. He is a Korean and she’s Japanese in Japan, so I think they can feel each other’s pain. And so they bond in that way.

But it’s hard, because Naomi’s family wants something different for her, because they’re from an older generation. They don’t understand the bond between Koreans and Japanese. They are on opposite sides, so she’s trying to navigate that, and it’s hard because it is her family. She wants her family to want what she wants, and she can’t just push them away. Solomon doesn’t understand what she’s going through. He expects her, I guess, to choose one or the other. It’s very heartbreaking to see them fall apart, because I think that how they view each other is so genuine. But everything else is pulling them away from each other.

But his timing is also not great, because he ends things with her and then immediately asks her to do call in this loan, which she’s not going to do. Do you think she would have had a different reaction if the timing had been different?

I don’t believe she would have had a different reaction, because he’s giving her information that is new to her and she’s seeing his true colors. Whether their relationship personally was great or not, she would still have been shocked to find out about what he had done and what he’s asking for. The timing is strange, but I think that he was at that moment, like, “I don’t care anymore. This is what is important to me now.” I’m talking on Solomon’s behalf, and I don’t know what Jin’s going to say about it — but what is important to Solomon is this business. He just didn’t care anymore.