Season 3 of Cobra Kai will start streaming on Netflix in January, and one of the fan favorites from The Karate Kid Part II will make a special appearance. Yuji Okumoto, who played Chozen Toguchi in The Karate Kid Part II, talked to Entertainment Weekly about his appearance in Cobra Kai and revealed he almost had to go to the hospital after suffering an injury. This occurred during a fight scene with Ralph Macchio while filming in Okinawa, Japan.
“When I saw the show, I think it might have been the first episode, when William Zabka, the character of Johnny, was fighting these teenagers outside this minimart and he pulls his hammy,” Okumoto said. “I thought, Wow, that’s hysterical because that would happen in a fight — sometimes when you’re older, whatever. And sure enough, on my last fight on the set of Cobra Kai, I threw a kick and I pulled my hammy so bad. My first thought was, ‘Seriously???’”
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Finally! @CobraKaiSeries @netflix #CobraKai #Netflix pic.twitter.com/IVDkeeOrnN
— Yuji Okumoto (@YujiOkumoto) December 9, 2020
Okumoto then said Macchio and the producers came over to see if he was okay. He told them he was but then said he was “basically a one-legged fighter at that point.” They asked Okumoto if wanted to go to the hospital, which led to him saying “You’re going to have to drag me kicking and screaming off of this set before I will go get checked into an ER. I am staying, I am finishing this last fight scene.” They were able to finish the fight scene, and Okumoto then said he started rehab once he got back to Seattle.
Okumoto’s character in The Karate Kid Part II was the main villain and had an epic fight with Macchio’s character Daniel LaRusso. Season 3 of Cobra Kai was filmed in 2019, but Okumoto couldn’t reveal the news of his appearance until earlier this month.
“I believe it was back in September of 2019 when I got a call from my agent regarding the project, and their interest in using me in the upcoming season,” Okumoto said when asked about when the producers approached him to return. I was always hoping that the writers and producers would bring back Chozen into the Cobra Kai world.”
