Son of a Japanese father and American mother, James was born in Yokohama and raised in Yamagata, Japan. He was educated in the Japanese system for the nation's compulsory education and moved to the U.S. after high school. He received an MFA in acting and directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. James moved to NYC in '98 and has worked since as an actor for the stage, TV and film. He has originated many roles on and off Broadway including Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out" (2003 Tony Award for Best Play), "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way" (costarring with Jill Clayburgh and Matthew Morrison), John Guare's "A Few Stout Individuals," Julia Cho's "Durango," and Sarah Ruhl's "The Oldest Boy." His credits also include characters in world-premier stage adaptations of literary classics such as Yunioshi in Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on Broadway and Toru in Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" at the Edinburgh Int'l Festival and the Singapore Arts Festival. For the stage, he has directed "My Friend Has Come" for the Asian American Writers Workshop, "Dancing with the Bird" at the Japan Society in New York, and is a frequent participant in the 52nd Street Project Playmaking series. He made his filmmaking debut in '11 with "Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty," which won Best Feature in the DIY film competition at Northside Festival, a trendsetter art festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. James was the conceiver of the theater benefit "SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan" which took place on March 11, 2012, the one-year anniversary of the disasters in Japan, with participation from nearly 100 theaters, internationally. He also collaborates frequently with Japanese artists, translating award winning contemporary Japanese plays and subtitling major Japanese studio films.