Prepared to step out of his comfort zone and say what he really thinks, Yusuke Iseya is something of a rarity in the Japanese entertainment industry. An actor with a conscience, he's most well-known for movies such as "13 Assassins," "Tomorrow's Joe" and the Hollywood film "Blindness," yet rather than talking about any of that, the 39-year-old would prefer to speak about the environment.

That's not to say he doesn't care about his profession. He's passionate about every role he plays — including his latest part as Hikomura in Hiroyuki "Sabu" Tanaka's romantic comedy "Chasuke's Journey" ("Ten no Chasuke") — it's just that he believes there are more important things to worry about, most notably the state of the planet and the amount of damage we're doing to it.

"If you pretended you were from outer space or something and actually looked at humans in an objective way, you'd think we were incredibly stupid for the way we use and waste resources well beyond our means," Iseya tells us from the Rebirth Project office in Tokyo's Gaienmae neighborhood. "I could have sat around all day getting depressed about that or spent my time lamenting the mainstream media for its lack of interest, but that wouldn't have done any good. I needed to be more proactive."