Protestors in Japan back fired thesp

Tokyo -- Supporters of Sosuke Takaoka, a thesp fired from his agency for tweeting against the influx of Korean dramas on Japanese networks, protested his ouster at Fuji TV's headquarters in Tokyo's Daiba district on Sunday.Some 1,000 to 2,000 demonstrators marched to a Fuji-sponsored outdoor event from a nearby park, waving Japanese flags and shouting slogans, some with an anti-Korean flavor.Police assigned to the event did not attempt to disperse the protesters, though they did not have permission for the march.Takaoka did not participate, having said on his blog that, though he doesn't regret his comments, "I feel that the direction things have taken recently clearly differs (from what I intended)."Korean dramas and pop acts have invaded the Japanese market in what has been called the Korean wave ("hanryu" in Japanese).But Takaoka's ouster from Stardust Promotions has stirred a widespread anti-hanryu backlash on the Internet.Best known as husband of local megastar Aoi Miyazaki, Takaoka has a long list of supporting credits in major pics, including Takashi Miike's 2010 smash "13 Assassins." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com