Kazuo Hara (Japanese: 原一男, Hepburn: Hara Kazuo; 8 June 1945) is a Japanese documentary film director. After dropping…
Kazuo Hara (Japanese: 原一男, Hepburn: Hara Kazuo; 8 June 1945) is a Japanese documentary film director. After dropping out of university to work at a special education school, he made his 1972 debut work Goodbye CP about a group of individuals with cerebral palsy. He won the award for Best Director at the 12th Hochi Film Award and at the 9th Yokohama Film Festival for The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On. That film also earned him the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award. In 2017 he released the documentary Sennan Asbestos Disaster which received the 2017 Audience Award at the Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival and the 2017 BIFF Mecenat Award at the Busan International Film Festival. His documentary works often depict people who push against the boundaries of propriety and obedience in Japanese society.
Famous Japanese People: Film Director
Film Director: 429 people
Takashi Koizumi (小泉堯史 Koizumi Takashi) (born November 6, 1944, in Mito) is a Japanese film director. After graduating…
Takashi Koizumi (小泉堯史 Koizumi Takashi) (born November 6, 1944, in Mito) is a Japanese film director. After graduating from Waseda University, he served as an assistant director for Akira Kurosawa for many years.
Shunichi Kajima (梶間俊一, Kajima Shun'ichi) is a Japanese film director. After working for a publishing company, he joined…
Shunichi Kajima (梶間俊一, Kajima Shun'ichi) is a Japanese film director. After working for a publishing company, he joined Toei in 1970. He studied under Shunya Itō, Kinji Fukasaku, and Junya Sato, and was also involved in labor union activities. In 1983, he made his directorial debut with Praying Mantis. Kajima won the award for Best Director at the 9th Yokohama Film Festival for Chōchin.
Ikuo Sekimoto (関本郁夫, Sekimoto Ikuo; born July 18, 1942 in Kyoto) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Haruki Kadokawa (角川 春樹, Kadokawa Haruki; born January 8, 1942, in Tokyo) is a Japanese entrepreneur and filmmaker. He…
Haruki Kadokawa (角川 春樹, Kadokawa Haruki; born January 8, 1942, in Tokyo) is a Japanese entrepreneur and filmmaker. He is the son of Genyoshi Kadokawa, the founder of the publishing company Kadokawa Shoten. He took over as president of the company in 1975 after his father's death. He entered the film industry as a producer and introduced a technique called media mix, which involved mass promotion and talent scouting for new artists in publishing, film, and television. In 1993, he was arrested for drug smuggling. He resigned as president of Kadokawa Shoten, founding Kadokawa Haruki Corporation instead.
Seijirō Kōyama (神山征二郎, Kōyama Seijirō) (born 16 July 1941) is a Japanese film director.
Yukiko Takayama (Japanese: 高山 由紀子, Hepburn: Takayama Yukiko; 4 April 1940 – 2 June 2023) was a Japanese screenwriter…
Yukiko Takayama (Japanese: 高山 由紀子, Hepburn: Takayama Yukiko; 4 April 1940 – 2 June 2023) was a Japanese screenwriter and director known for Terror of Mechagodzilla, Hoshi no Ko Chobin, Monarch: The Big Bear of Tallac, Hissatsu Shigotonin, and Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo.
Seiichi Motohashi (本橋 成一, Motohashi Seiichi; 1940 – December 20, 2025) was a Japanese photographer and film director.…
Seiichi Motohashi (本橋 成一, Motohashi Seiichi; 1940 – December 20, 2025) was a Japanese photographer and film director. He died on December 20, 2025, at the age of 85.
Masahiko Tsugawa (津川 雅彦, Tsugawa Masahiko), born Masahiko Katō (加藤 雅彦 Katō Masahiko; January 2, 1940 – August 4, 2018)…
Masahiko Tsugawa (津川 雅彦, Tsugawa Masahiko), born Masahiko Katō (加藤 雅彦 Katō Masahiko; January 2, 1940 – August 4, 2018) was a Japanese actor and director.
Daisaku Kimura (木村 大作, Kimura Daisaku) is a Japanese film director and cinematographer.
Masao Adachi (足立 正生 Adachi Masao, born May 13, 1939) is a Japanese screenwriter, director, actor and former Japanese…
Masao Adachi (足立 正生 Adachi Masao, born May 13, 1939) is a Japanese screenwriter, director, actor and former Japanese Red Army member who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi; born Sadaho Maeda; 22 January 1939 – 19 August 2021) IPA…
Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi; born Sadaho Maeda; 22 January 1939 – 19 August 2021) IPA: [tɕiꜜba ɕiɰ̃itɕi], known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later to an international audience. Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984. Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two tokusatsu superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask (Nana-iro Kamen) in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film The Street Fighter. Before retiring, Chiba had also appeared in a number of English language American films, including Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82.
Shingo Yamashiro (山城 新伍, Yamashiro Shingo; November 10, 1938 – August 12, 2009) was a Japanese television and film…
Shingo Yamashiro (山城 新伍, Yamashiro Shingo; November 10, 1938 – August 12, 2009) was a Japanese television and film actor.
Toshio Gotō (後藤 俊夫, Gotō Toshio; 1938 – 22 November 2025) was a Japanese film director. He was born in Ina, Nagano…
Toshio Gotō (後藤 俊夫, Gotō Toshio; 1938 – 22 November 2025) was a Japanese film director. He was born in Ina, Nagano, Japan and was primarily known for films about humanity's relationship with nature. Gotō worked as an assistant director of Satsuo Yamamoto from 1962 to 1978. He made his directorial debut in 1978 with Komugīro no tenshi suzume to shōnen. His 2009 film Beauty was entered into the 31st Moscow International Film Festival. Gotō died from lymphoma on 22 November 2025, at the age of 87.
Shinichiro Sawai (澤井 信一郎, Sawai Shin'ichirō; 16 August 1938 – 3 September 2021) was a Japanese film director and…
Shinichiro Sawai (澤井 信一郎, Sawai Shin'ichirō; 16 August 1938 – 3 September 2021) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Nobuhiko Obayashi (大林 宣彦, Ōbayashi Nobuhiko; 9 January 1938 – 10 April 2020) was a Japanese director, screenwriter, and…
Nobuhiko Obayashi (大林 宣彦, Ōbayashi Nobuhiko; 9 January 1938 – 10 April 2020) was a Japanese director, screenwriter, and editor of films and television advertisements. He began his filmmaking career as a pioneer of Japanese experimental films before transitioning to directing more mainstream media, and his resulting filmography as a director spanned almost 60 years. He is best known as the director of the 1977 comedy horror film House, which has garnered a cult following. He was notable for his distinct surreal filmmaking style, as well as the anti-war themes commonly embedded in his films.
Masaru Konuma (小沼勝, Konuma Masaru; December 30, 1937 – January 22, 2023) was a Japanese film director known for his…
Masaru Konuma (小沼勝, Konuma Masaru; December 30, 1937 – January 22, 2023) was a Japanese film director known for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.
Chūsei Sone (曽根 中生, Sone Chūsei; 1 October 1937 – 26 August 2014) was a Japanese film director known for his stylish…
Chūsei Sone (曽根 中生, Sone Chūsei; 1 October 1937 – 26 August 2014) was a Japanese film director known for his stylish and popular Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu, particularly the first two installments of the Angel Guts series. Despite a somewhat uneven career, many mainstream critics consider Sone the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors.
Noboru Tanaka (田中 登, Tanaka Noboru; August 15, 1937 – October 4, 2006) was a Japanese film director known for his Roman…
Noboru Tanaka (田中 登, Tanaka Noboru; August 15, 1937 – October 4, 2006) was a Japanese film director known for his Roman Porno films, including three critically respected films known as the Showa trilogy: A Woman Called Sada Abe (aka Sada Abe: Docu-Drama) (1975), Watcher in the Attic (1976), and Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! (1977), all three starring Nikkatsu Roman porno queen Junko Miyashita. The first film in this trilogy recounted the story of Sada Abe a year before Nagisa Oshima's internationally released In the Realm of the Senses (1976), which told the same story. Though at the time he was working, his career was overshadowed by directors such as Tatsumi Kumashiro and Chūsei Sone, many critics today judge Tanaka the best of Nikkatsu's Roman porno directors.
Atsushi Yamatoya (大和屋 竺, Yamatoya Atsushi; 19 June 1937 – 16 January 1993) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter…
Atsushi Yamatoya (大和屋 竺, Yamatoya Atsushi; 19 June 1937 – 16 January 1993) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor. His son is a fellow screenwriter and race horse owner Akatsuki Yamatoya (大和屋 暁, Yamatoya Akatsuki).
Akio Jissoji (実相寺昭雄, Jissōji Akio; March 29, 1937 – November 29, 2006) was a Japanese television and film director best…
Akio Jissoji (実相寺昭雄, Jissōji Akio; March 29, 1937 – November 29, 2006) was a Japanese television and film director best known outside Japan for the 1960s tokusatsu TV series Ultraman and Ultraseven, as well as for his auteur erotic ATG-produced Buddhist trilogy Mujo (無常), Mandala (曼陀羅), and Uta (哥). He was also known for his film adaptations of Japanese horror author Edogawa Rampo. Jissoji possessed a very distinctive visual style that was notable even in Japanese cinema which is known internationally for its visual style. Every project he directed, from children's action shows to disturbing adult films had an uncompromising approach to cinematic story telling. His episodes of the Ultraman TV shows are unique and quite unusual for children's television. His career is also unusual in that he went back and forth from children's television to film projects that were sexually provocative in some way or another. It is perhaps this aspect of his work that has prevented wider distribution of his films. Sadomasochistic and non-consensual sexual practices are featured in many of his film works with women receiving the brunt of the abuse. Most of his work is not available outside Japan or with English subtitles. Other notable films include: Utamaro: Yume to Shiriseba (歌麿 夢と知りせば; Utamaro's World, 1977), a visually sumptuous telling of the famed Japanese printmaker's life centering on the years he was forced to make pornographic prints for a living. Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis (帝都物語, Teito Monogatari; 1988), a live-action science fiction/horror film. Rampo Jigoku (乱歩地獄; 2005), Jissoji directed the lead segment of this horror anthology. Yume Jū-ya (ユメ十夜; Ten Nights of Dreams, 2006), Jissoji contributed a selection in this anthology of short films based on the writings of Natsume Sōseki. He died of stomach cancer, aged 69, in his birth city of Tokyo in 2006 just after starting work on a revival of his Silver Mask live action children's show.
Tōru Murakawa (村川透, Murakawa Tōru; born March 1937 in Yamagata Prefecture) is a Japanese film director. He is most…
Tōru Murakawa (村川透, Murakawa Tōru; born March 1937 in Yamagata Prefecture) is a Japanese film director. He is most famous for his collaborations with the actor Yūsaku Matsuda in both film and television.
Masayuki Akehi (明比 正行, Akehi Masayuki; Born March 17, 1937) is a Japanese anime director.
Shunya Itō (伊藤 俊也, Itō Shun'ya; born February 17, 1937) is a Japanese film director known for starting the Sasori /…
Shunya Itō (伊藤 俊也, Itō Shun'ya; born February 17, 1937) is a Japanese film director known for starting the Sasori / Female Prisoner Scorpion series of 1970s exploitation films starring Meiko Kaji. Itō worked for Toei Company for most of his career. In 1972, he won a Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Citation for his first film, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion. He won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 with his film Gray Sunset, a story of a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This thus became Japan's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film instead of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, which caused a slight uproar in Western media as many critics thought Ran had a real chance of winning, whereas Gray Sunset was not even shortlisted. In 1995, he directed Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus. In 1998, he directed the World War II drama Pride: The Fateful Moment, presenting a sympathetic view of Hideki Tōjō on trial at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, attracting accusations of revisionism.
Kazuhiko Yamaguchi (山口和彦, Yamaguchi Kazuhiko; born 5 February 1937) is a Japanese film director.
Katsu Kanai (金井 勝, Kanai Katsu; 9 July 1936 – 22 April 2026) was a Japanese experimental and avant-garde film director.…
Katsu Kanai (金井 勝, Kanai Katsu; 9 July 1936 – 22 April 2026) was a Japanese experimental and avant-garde film director. The Harvard Film Archive has called him "one of the most vital and inventive filmmakers in the history of Japanese underground film".
Makoto Wada (和田誠, Wada Makoto) (10 April 1936 – 7 October 2019) was a Japanese illustrator, essayist, and film director.
Kōji Wakamatsu (若松孝二, Wakamatsu Kōji; 1 April 1936 – 17 October 2012) was a Japanese film director who directed such…
Kōji Wakamatsu (若松孝二, Wakamatsu Kōji; 1 April 1936 – 17 October 2012) was a Japanese film director who directed such pink films as Ecstasy of the Angels (天使の恍惚, Tenshi no Kōkotsu; 1972) and Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (ゆけゆけ二度目の処女, Yuke Yuke Nidome no Shojo; 1969). He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses (1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s". His 2010 film, Caterpillar, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.
Shōichirō Sasaki (佐々木昭一郎, Sasaki Shōichirō; January 25, 1936 – June 14, 2024) was a Japanese filmmaker.
Koji Hashimoto (橋本 幸治, Hashimoto Kōji; January 21, 1936 – January 9, 2005) was a Japanese film director and producer.…
Koji Hashimoto (橋本 幸治, Hashimoto Kōji; January 21, 1936 – January 9, 2005) was a Japanese film director and producer. He directed the 1984 films Sayonara Jupiter and The Return of Godzilla. He died of coronary disease at age 69 while mountain climbing.
Isao Takahata (高畑 勲, Takahata Isao; October 29, 1935 – April 5, 2018) was a Japanese director, screenwriter and…
Isao Takahata (高畑 勲, Takahata Isao; October 29, 1935 – April 5, 2018) was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he earned international critical acclaim for his work as a director of Japanese animated feature films. Born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Takahata joined Toei Animation after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1959. He worked as an assistant director, holding various positions over the years and eventually directing his own film, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968). Under Nippon Animation he directed the television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974), 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (1976), and Anne of Green Gables (1979). He also collaborated with colleague Hayao Miyazaki on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986). Takahata, Miyazaki and others formed Studio Ghibli in 1985, where he would direct Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), and My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999). His last film as director was The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013), which was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Animated Feature Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
Yukio Ninagawa (蜷川 幸雄, Ninagawa Yukio; October 15, 1935 – May 12, 2016) was a Japanese theatre director, actor and film…
Yukio Ninagawa (蜷川 幸雄, Ninagawa Yukio; October 15, 1935 – May 12, 2016) was a Japanese theatre director, actor and film director, particularly known for his Japanese language productions of the Greek tragedies as well as Shakespeare—he directed eight distinct renditions of Hamlet. Ninagawa was also emeritus of the Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music. Although most famous abroad for his touring productions of European classics, Ninagawa also directed works based on contemporary writing from Japan, including the Modern Noh plays of Yukio Mishima (which toured to New York's Lincoln Center in early summer 2005) and several other plays by Japanese dramatists, including Shūji Terayama and Kunio Shimizu. His production of Titus Andronicus was performed in England in June 2006, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford and the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. In 2007 his company participated in the Barbican International Theatre Event (BITE) series at the Barbican Arts Centre in London, with their production of Coriolanus.
Kōyū Ohara (小原 宏裕, Ohara Kōyū) was a Japanese film director known for his popular Roman Porno films, Fairy in a Cage…
Kōyū Ohara (小原 宏裕, Ohara Kōyū) was a Japanese film director known for his popular Roman Porno films, Fairy in a Cage (1977) and the Pink Tush Girl series (1978–1980). One of Nikkatsu's most versatile and prolific directors, filming eight movies in 1979 alone, his stylistic preoccupations led him to be known as "King of Pop Art Porn."
Shinsuke Ogawa (小川紳介, Ogawa Shinsuke) (25 June 1935 – 7 February 1992) was a Japanese documentary film director. Ogawa…
Shinsuke Ogawa (小川紳介, Ogawa Shinsuke) (25 June 1935 – 7 February 1992) was a Japanese documentary film director. Ogawa and Noriaki Tsuchimoto have been called the "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."
Masaaki Ōsumi (大隅 正秋, Ōsumi Masaaki; born November 26, 1934) is a Japanese theatre director and film director who is…
Masaaki Ōsumi (大隅 正秋, Ōsumi Masaaki; born November 26, 1934) is a Japanese theatre director and film director who is known for his work in animated television series and films. He was born in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. He completed the Master's Program in Media Science, Graduate School of Media Science, Tokyo University of Technology. He is also the creative advisor at the Katayanagi Research Institute, Tokyo University of Technology.
Yōichi Higashi (東陽一, Higashi Yōichi; 14 November 1934 – 21 January 2026) was a Japanese film director. He began his…
Yōichi Higashi (東陽一, Higashi Yōichi; 14 November 1934 – 21 January 2026) was a Japanese film director. He began his career working on documentaries at Iwanami Productions but, after going independent, turned to fiction film. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for Yasashii Nipponjin in 1971, and then the award for Best Director at the 17th Hochi Film Awards for The River with No Bridge. In 1996, he won the Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival for the film Village of Dreams. Higashi died on 21 January 2026, at the age of 91.
Yasuo Furuhata (降旗 康男, Furuhata Yasuo; 19 August 1934 – 20 May 2019) was a Japanese film director. He was a director of…
Yasuo Furuhata (降旗 康男, Furuhata Yasuo; 19 August 1934 – 20 May 2019) was a Japanese film director. He was a director of Toei film company and he often worked with Ken Takakura in such films as Eki and the Shin Abashiri Bangaichi series. He won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year and 31st International Film Festival of India for Poppoya. He died 20 May 2019.
Sadao Nakajima (Japanese: 中島貞夫, Hepburn: Nakajima Sadao; August 8, 1934 – June 11, 2023) was a Japanese film director…
Sadao Nakajima (Japanese: 中島貞夫, Hepburn: Nakajima Sadao; August 8, 1934 – June 11, 2023) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter known for his work in yakuza films and jidaigeki.
Juzo Itami (伊丹 十三, Itami Jūzō), born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘, Ikeuchi Yoshihiro; May 15, 1933 – December 20, 1997)…
Juzo Itami (伊丹 十三, Itami Jūzō), born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi (池内 義弘, Ikeuchi Yoshihiro; May 15, 1933 – December 20, 1997), was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself. He is the namesake of the Juzo Itami Award, founded in 2009 to honor his legacy.
Yoshishige Yoshida (吉田 喜重, Yoshida Yoshishige; 16 February 1933 – 8 December 2022), also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a…
Yoshishige Yoshida (吉田 喜重, Yoshida Yoshishige; 16 February 1933 – 8 December 2022), also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Hideo Onchi (恩地日出夫, Onchi Hideo; 23 January 1933 – 20 January 2022) was a Japanese film and television director.
Keiichi Ozawa (小澤 啓一, Ozawa Keiichi; born January 5, 1933 in Kagoshima) is a Japanese film director. He joined Nikkatsu…
Keiichi Ozawa (小澤 啓一, Ozawa Keiichi; born January 5, 1933 in Kagoshima) is a Japanese film director. He joined Nikkatsu studio and worked as an assistant director under Toshio Masuda. He made his director debut in 1968 with Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2. Including the Outlaw series, Tetsuya Watari appeared in most of the films he directed when he was a director of Nikkatsu company.
Junya Satō (佐藤 純彌, Satō Jun'ya; 6 November 1932 – 9 February 2019) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His…
Junya Satō (佐藤 純彌, Satō Jun'ya; 6 November 1932 – 9 February 2019) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His son, Tōya Satō (佐藤 東弥, Satō Tōya), is also a film director.
Masanobu Deme (出目昌伸, Deme Masanobu; 2 October 1932 – 13 March 2016) was a Japanese film director.
Kiyoshi Nishimura (西村 潔, September 7, 1932 – November 17, 1993) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was…
Kiyoshi Nishimura (西村 潔, September 7, 1932 – November 17, 1993) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was best known for working as an assistant director for filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa and Ishiro Honda, and for directing numerous films under Toho.
Yukio Aoshima (青島 幸男, Aoshima Yukio; 17 July 1932 – 20 December 2006) was a Japanese politician who served as Governor…
Yukio Aoshima (青島 幸男, Aoshima Yukio; 17 July 1932 – 20 December 2006) was a Japanese politician who served as Governor of Tokyo from 1995 to 1999. He is also well known as a TV actor, novelist, film director, screenwriter and songwriter.
Kōsei Saitō (斎藤 光正, Saitō Kōsei; 17 July 1932 – 25 November 2012) was a Japanese film director. He is known for…
Kōsei Saitō (斎藤 光正, Saitō Kōsei; 17 July 1932 – 25 November 2012) was a Japanese film director. He is known for directing the film G.I. Samurai.
Yasuharu Hasebe (長谷部安春, Hasebe Yasuharu; April 4, 1932 – June 14, 2009) was a Japanese film director best known for his…
Yasuharu Hasebe (長谷部安春, Hasebe Yasuharu; April 4, 1932 – June 14, 2009) was a Japanese film director best known for his movies in the "Violent pink" subgenre of the Pink film, such as Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976), Rape! (1976), Rape! 13th Hour (1977) and Raping! (1978). Earlier genre films directed by Hasebe include Black Tight Killers (1966) and the Alleycat Rock series (1970).
Nagisa Ōshima (大島 渚, Ōshima Nagisa; March 31, 1932 – January 15, 2013) was a Japanese film director, writer, and…
Nagisa Ōshima (大島 渚, Ōshima Nagisa; March 31, 1932 – January 15, 2013) was a Japanese film director, writer, and left-wing activist who is best known for his fiction films, of which he directed 23 features in a career spanning from 1959 to 1999. He is regarded as one of the greatest Japanese directors of all time, and as one of the most important figures of the Japanese New Wave (Nūberu bāgu), alongside Shōhei Imamura. His film style was bold, innovative and provocative. Common themes in his work include youthful rebellion, class and racial discrimination and taboo sexuality. His first major film was his second feature, Cruel Story of Youth (1960), one of the first Japanese New Wave films, a youth-oriented film with an earnest portrayal of the sexual lives and criminal activities of its young protagonists. He came to greater international renown after Death By Hanging (1968), a film on the theme of capital punishment and anti-Korean sentiment, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1968. His most controversial film is In the Realm of the Senses (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930s Japan.
Toshio Matsumoto (松本 俊夫, Matsumoto Toshio) (25 March 1932 – 12 April 2017) was a Japanese film director and video…
Toshio Matsumoto (松本 俊夫, Matsumoto Toshio) (25 March 1932 – 12 April 2017) was a Japanese film director and video artist.