He prepared for these movies by practicing other disciplines such as Kenpo, Iaido, Kendo, or Bo-Jutsu. portrayed Kiichi Hogan in the TV series The Mute Samurai, Shikoro Ichibei in the 1975 TV series The Bounty Hunter and his most famous role: Ogami Itto, the Lone Wolf. After that, Wakayama starred in many films. His only roles in American movies were as a baseball coach in The Bad News Bears Go To Japan and as a Yakuza boss playing opposite Michael Douglas in Black Rain.