is a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. After studying filmmaking in the College of Art at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

, he won an award for his independent short '' Inaka no hōsoku'' at the

Pia Film Festival The (also known as the PIA Film Festival or PFF for short) is an annual film festival established in 1977. According to film scholar Jasper Sharp, the festival "not only ranks as a vital hotbed from which the careers of some of Japan's most talen ...

in 1984. He directed his first commercial feature, ''Bataashi kingyo'', in 1990 and received a number of awards for best new director, including the

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

. He won the Japan Academy Prize for best director for his film '' Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad''. Matsuoka is known for his delicate depictions of complicated romantic and familial relationships, including a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

triangle in ''Kirakira Hikaru'', a daughter caring for an abusive but now

senile Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

mother in ''Akashia no Michi'', and a son caring for a cancer-stricken mother in ''Tokyo Tower''. He has also shot many television commercials. His best known and most successful TV show is the '' Midnight Diner - Tokyo Stories''.

Director

Films

* ''

Bataashi Kingyo is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Minetarō Mochizuki. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1985 to 1988. A live-action film adaptation, directed by Joji Matsuoka, pre ...

'' (1990) * ''

Kirakira Hikaru Kirakira is the provincial capital of the Makira-Ulawa Province in Solomon Islands. Kirakira is located on the north coast of Makira (formerly San Cristobal), the largest island of the province. It has roads running east to the ...

'' (1992) * ''

Toire no Hanako-san Hanako-san, or , is a Japanese urban legend about the spirit of a young girl named Hanako-san who haunts school toilets. Like many urban legends, the details of the origins of the legend vary depending on the account; different versions of the st ...

'' (1995) * '' Akashia no Michi'' (2001) * '' Sayonara, Kuro'' (2003) * '' Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad'' (2007) * '' Kanki no Uta'' (2008) * ''

Snow Prince is a 2009 Japanese film. This film is adapted from the 1872 novel '' A Dog of Flanders'' and is inspired by the 1971 film '' A Small Love Melody''. Directed by Joji Matsuoka and written by Kundō Koyama—the scriptwriter for the film '' Depart ...

'' (2009) * ''

Midnight Diner Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

'' (2014) *''

Midnight Diner 2 Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

'' (2016)

TV Dramas

* ''Midnight Diner - Tokyo Stories'' (2009 - 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsuoka, Joji Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners Japanese film directors 1961 births Living people People from Ichinomiya, Aichi Nihon University alumni