This article is a list of Japanese film directors. __NOTOC__

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Yutaka Abe was a Japanese film director and actor. He went to America along with a younger brother to visit an uncle living in Los Angeles. There he enrolled in an acting school, and upon hearing that Thomas H. Ince was looking for Japanese extras to work ...

Masao Adachi 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. Career Best known for ...

Kyōko Aizome is a Japanese erotic actress, singer, writer, and AV and film director. She has been called "the first hard-core porn actress in Japan". Life and career Early life Kyōko Aizome was born in Noda Chiba Prefecture. She grew up in a troubled ho ...

Masatoshi Akihara is a Japanese film director. Filmography A filmography is a list of films related by some criteria. For example, an actor's career filmography is the list of films they have appeared in; a director's comedy filmography is the list of comedy f ...

Keita Amemiya is a prolific Japanese character designer and director from Urayasu, Chiba. Amemiya is known for his distinctive fantasy designs and directorial style. Biography After graduation from the Asagaya College of Art and Design, he joined the Den ...

Tetsurō Amino is a Japanese anime director, born on October 10, 1955, in Chiba Prefecture. In 1988, he started using his name in katakana. Works * '' Arashi no Yoru ni: Himitsu no Tomodachi'' * '' Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!!'' * ''Bubu Chacha'' * ''DT Eightr ...

Hiroshi Ando is a Japanese writer and director. Born 13 June 1965 in Tokyo, Japan. Hiroshi Ando has several films to his credit including ''Saraba gokudo dead beat'', ''Blue'', ''Kokoro to karada'' and ''Boku wa imōto ni koi o suru''. ''Blue'' was entered ...

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

Shinji Aoyama was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, composer, film critic, and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' Eureka''. Biography Shinji Aoyama was born in Kitakyushu, ...

Tarō Araki is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. Including Yutaka Ikejima, Yumi Yoshiyuki and Minoru Kunizawa, Araki is one of the four top ''pink film'' directors of Ōkura Productions (OP) at the turn of the millennium. Life and career T ...

Genjiro Arato was a Japanese film producer, actor and director. Career In 1980, Arato produced '' Zigeunerweisen'' for director Seijun Suzuki. He was unable to secure exhibitors for the film and famously exhibited it himself in a specially-built, inflatabl ...

Mari Asato is a Japanese film director. Primarily known for the film '' Ju-On: Black Ghost'' (2009), part of ''The Grudge'' film installments, her other films include the politically undertoned ''Samurai Chicks'' (''Dokuritsu Shôjo Gurentai'') (2004), ...

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Masanobu Deme was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Shiga Prefecture, Deme graduated from Waseda University before joining the Tōhō studio in 1957. After serving as an assistant director under such directors as Akira Kurosawa, Shūe Matsubayashi, ...

Nobuhiro Doi is a Japanese television and film director. Education Nobuhiro Doi graduated from Waseda University School of Economics and Politics. Works *'' Aoi Tori'' (1997, TV series) *''Majo no Jōken'' (1999, TV series) *'' Beautiful Life'' (2000, ...

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Kei Fujiwara is a Japanese actress, cinematographer, director and writer. Her first role was in the American film '' The Neptune Factor'', but she is perhaps best known for starring in the Japanese cyberpunk cult film '' Tetsuo: The Iron Man''. More recently ...

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

Jun Fukuda was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing five entries in the ''Godzilla'' series starting with '' Ebirah, Horror of the Deep'' (1966) as well as the spy films ''Ironfinger'' (1965) and ''Golden Ey ...

Yasuo Furuhata 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 ''Shin Abashiri Bangaichi''. He won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year and 31st Internat ...

* Tomoyuki Furumaya

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Hideo Gosha was a Japanese film director. Born in Arasaka, Tokyo Prefecture, Gosha graduated from high school and served in the Imperial Navy during the Second World War. After earning a business degree at Meiji University, he joined Nippon television as a ...

Heinosuke Gosho was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed Japan's first sound film, '' The Neighbor's Wife and Mine'', in 1931. His films are mostly associated with the shomin-geki (lit. "common people drama") genre. Among his most noted works ...

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Sachi Hamano a.k.a. ''and'' (born March 19, 1948), is a Japanese film director. She is the most prolific and written-about female ''pink film'' director. Life and career Sachi Hamano was born as Sachiko Suzuki in Tokushima Prefecture on March 19, 1948. Wh ...

Tsutomu Hanabusa 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 ...

Susumu Hani is a Japanese film director, and one of the most prominent representatives of the 1960s Japanese New Wave. Born in Tokyo, he has directed both documentaries and feature films. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his firs ...

Masato Harada is a Japanese film director, film critic, and sometimes an actor; he is best known to foreign audiences as Omura in ''The Last Samurai'' and as Mr Mita in ''Fearless''. In both his acting roles he portrayed the villain who wants Japan to westerni ...

Yasuharu Hasebe 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 d ...

* Kazuhiko Hasegawa *

Ryusuke Hamaguchi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. An alumnus of the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he started getting attention in his home country with the graduate film ''Passion'' (2008). Hamaguc ...

Ryōsuke Hashiguchi is a Japanese film director particularly known for projects concerning LGBT community issues. He won the award for Best Director at the 24th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Hush!'' and at the 33rd Hochi Film Award for ''All Around Us is a 2008 ...

Kaizo Hayashi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with '' To Sleep so as to Dream'' (1986). He is best known for his neo-noir '' Maiku Hama'' trilogy, ''The Most Terrible Time in My Life'' (1994), '' Stairway to the Dist ...

Shinji Higuchi is a Japanese filmmaker and storyboard artist. He is one of the most successful Japanese filmmakers and the top ''tokusatsu'' film director. Higuchi became known for his work on '' Gamera: Guardian of the Universe'', for which he won the Specia ...

Hideyuki Hirayama is a Japanese film director. His theatrical debut was the film '' Maria's Stomach'' in 1990. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for '' The Games Teachers Play'' in 1992. In 1995, '' School Ghost Stories'' was a big hit and ma ...

Ryūichi Hiroki is a Japanese film director. He won critical acclaim for ''800 Two Lap Runners''. Film critic and researcher Alexander Jacoby has described Hiroki as "one of the modern Japanese cinema's most intelligent students of character". Biography ''Pink ...

Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 44 feature films in a career spanning 59 years. The most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki, his films have had a significant influence on the film industry. Honda enter ...

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Jun Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was first a director of television commercials before adding filmmaking to his creative activities. His most famous film outside Japan was ''Tony Takitani'', an adaptation of a short story by Har ...

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won ...

Mako Idemitsu is a pioneer Japanese media artist, known for her experimental video art and film works. Life and family Mako Idemitsu was born in Ōta-ku, Japan and is the daughter of Japanese businessman and art collector Sazō Idemitsu, founder of Idemitsu ...

George Iida is a Japanese film and television director, screenwriter, manga author, and novelist. Iida has worked continually in Japan's film, television, anime and manga industries since the early 1980s, predominantly in the genres of horror and science f ...

* Takahiko Iimura *

Toshiharu Ikeda (23 February 1951 – 26 December 2010) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who worked in pink film and mainstream cinema. He won the award for Best Director at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for ''Mermaid Legend''. Life and career Ea ...

Kazuo Ikehiro is a Japanese film director. He is known for directing Zatoichi series and the highly acclaimed Malay film Onna Gokuakuchō. In 1950, he joined the Daiei Film and started working as an assistant director under Kenji Mizoguchi etc. In 1960, h ...

Yutaka Ikejima is a Japanese film director, actor, and producer. Considered the most successful filmmaker in the ''pink film'' genre in the 2000s, his films are popular with traditional ''pink film'' audiences, fans of cinema, and with critics. Because of his ...

* Kaoru Ikeya *

Kunihiko Ikuhara , also known by the nickname Ikuni, is a Japanese director, writer, artist, and music producer. He has created and collaborated on several notable anime and manga series, including ''Sailor Moon'', ''Revolutionary Girl Utena'', '' Penguindrum' ...

Tadashi Imai was a Japanese film director known for social realist filmmaking informed by a left-wing perspective. His most noted films include ''An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (1953) and ''Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (1963). Life Although leaning towards left-wing p ...

* Shohei Imamura *

Shinji Imaoka a.k.a. is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group of '' pink film'' directors of the 2000s known collectively as the , which besides Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Yūji Tajiri, Yoshitaka ...

Hiroshi Inagaki was a Japanese filmmaker best remembered for the Academy Award-winning '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'', which was released in 1954. Career Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining t ...

Haruo Inoue Haruo Inoue (井上春生 ''Inoue Haruo''), born January 3, 1963 in Nara, Japan. Inoue is a Japanese film director artist. Life and career In 1991, Haruo Inoue started his career by directing a short film titled "An Expressed Messenger and a Wande ...

Umetsugu Inoue was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films. In addition, he worked with all six major Japanese film production companies. His film work e ...

Isshin Inudo is a Japanese film director. Career Inudo began making films on his own in high school, with one of his works being selected for the 1979 Pia Film Festival. After attending Tokyo Zokei University, he found work at Asahi Promotions where he bega ...

* Minoru Inuzuka *

Yu Irie is a Japanese film director / screenwriter who was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and grew up in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture. After a number of short films, including ''Obsession'' and ''Seven Drives'' which were screened at the Yubari I ...

Katsuhito Ishii is a Japanese film director best known for directing '' The Taste of Tea'' (2004), ''Funky Forest'' (2005), and ''Smuggler'' (2011). Career After graduating from Musashino Art University, Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began direc ...

* Sōgo Ishii * Takashi Ishii *

Teruo Ishii was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the ''Super Giant'' series, and for his films in the '' ero guro'' ("erotic-grotesque") subgenre of ''pinku eiga'' such as '' Shogun's Joy of Torture'' ( 1968). He also di ...

* Yuya Ishii *

Kyōhei Ishiguro is a Japanese anime director. He debuted in 2009, and after doing the storyboards for three series, he was given the full directorial role in the anime adaptation of '' Your Lie in April''. After directing other television series, he debuted as a ...

Noboru Ishiguro was a Japanese animator best known for directing the anime series ''Space Battleship Yamato II'', '' Super Dimension Fortress Macross'', '' Super Dimension Century Orguss'', ''Humanoid Monster Bem is a 26-episode Japanese anime tel ...

Hiroshi Ishikawa Hiroshi Ishikawa (石川寛, born May 18, 1963) is a Japanese film director and writer from Ōdate. He is best known for his 2005 film, ''Su-ki-da'' (2005). He won the Silver Iris for Best Director at the New Montreal Film Festival.The Hollywood ...

Itsumichi Isomura is a Japanese film director. He won the award for Best Director at the 20th Yokohama Film Festival for ''Ganbatte Ikimasshoi''. Filmography * ''Ganbatte Ikimasshoi {{Nihongo, ''Ganbatte Ikimasshoi'', がんばっていきまっしょい, " ...

Juzo Itami , born , was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself. Early life Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto. The name Itami was passed on from his fath ...

Mansaku Itami Mansaku Itami (伊丹万作; real name Yoshitoyo Ikeuchi 池内義豊; 2 January 1900 – 21 September 1946) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter known for his critical, sometimes satirical portraits of Japan and its history. H ...

* Daisuke Itō *

Shunya Itō 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 ...

Shunji Iwai is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainment ...

Yuki Iwata is a Japanese film director and illustrator. Career Iwata is the director of the 2011 film '' Looking for a True Fiancee'', which was based on a novel by Takami Itō. References External links * Yuki Iwata at CinemaToday Japanese f ...

Shigeru Izumiya Shigeru Izumiya (泉谷しげる ''Izumiya Shigeru'', born May 11, 1948 in Aomori, raised in Meguro, Tokyo) is a Japanese poet, folk singer, actor, tarento. He established the record company For Life Records with Takuro Yoshida, Yosui Inoue, and ...

Kazuyuki Izutsu is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and film critic. Career Born in Nara Prefecture, Izutsu started making 8mm films in high school, and directed his first 35mm film, a pink film, in 1975. He earned a citation from the Directors Guild ...

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Norimasa Kaeriyama (1 March 1893 – 6 November 1964) was a pioneering Japanese film director and film theorist. Biography Beginning with articles he submitted to Yoshizawa Shōten's magazine ''Katsudō shashinkai'' while still a student, Kaeriyama developed ...

Shusuke Kaneko is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Shūsuke Kaneko was born in Tokyo on June 8, 1955. According to the biography on his official website Kaneko was interested in science fiction, particularly Godzilla and Gamera films, from a young age. ...

Yoshikazu Katō is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Yoshikazu Katō was born in Kyoto in 1972, and became a fan of the ''pink film'' while still in junior high school. He graduated from the Nikkatsu Visual Arts Academy in 1993, and b ...

Naomi Kawase is a Japanese film director. She was also known as , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including ''Embracing'', about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and ''Katatsumori'', about ...

* Yūzō Kawashima * Keisuke Kinoshita *

Teinosuke Kinugasa was a Japanese filmmaker. He was born in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture and died in Kyoto. Kinugasa won the 1954 Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival for '' Gate of Hell''. Biography Kinugasa began his career as an onnagata (actor specializing in ...

Ryuhei Kitamura (born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Early life Kitamura was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He dropped out of high school at age 17 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he attended a sch ...

Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, best known for the epic trilogy ''The Human Condition'' (1959–1961), the samurai films '' Harakiri'' (1962) and '' Samurai Rebellion'' (1967), and the horror anthology ''Kwaidan'' (1964). ''Sens ...

* Satoru Kobayashi *

Takashi Koizumi Takashi Koizumi (小泉堯史 ''Koizumi Takashi'') (born November 6, 1944, in Mito, Ibaraki, Mito) is a Japanese people, Japanese film director. After graduating from Waseda University, he served as an assistant director for Akira Kurosawa for many ...

Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art Univer ...

Masaru Konuma is a Japanese film director known for his '' Roman Porno'' films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s. Life and career Early life Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a te ...

Hirokazu Koreeda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

Seijirō Kōyama (born 16 July 1941) is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Gifu Prefecture, Kōyama attended Nihon University but quit midway to join the independent production company Kindai Eiga Kyokai, where he worked as an assistant director under s ...

Kei Kumai was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he began work as a director's assistant. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first film, '' Nihon ...

Tatsumi Kumashiro was a Japanese film director known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning '' Roman Porno'' films, such as ''Ichijo's Wet Lust'' (1972) and '' The Woman with Red Hair'' (1979). He was the most highly acclaimed director of the early Nikkatsu ...

* Minoru Kunizawa *

Kazuo Kuroki was a Japanese film director who was particularly known for his films on World War II and the question of personal guilt. Career While Kuroki was often listed as being born in Miyazaki Prefecture, he was actually born in Matsusaka, Mie. He atten ...

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Although he has worked in a variety of genres, Kurosawa is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre, his honorific ...

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Kunitoshi Manda is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and film critic. Biography Kunitoshi Manda was a student at Rikkyo University, where he took Shigehiko Hasumi's filmology class. Manda directed his first feature film, '' Unloved'', in 2001. It won the ...

Yasuzo Masumura was a Japanese film director. Biography Masumura was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei Film studio, later returning to university to study ph ...

Mitsuru Meike is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent '' pink film'' directors known collectively as the which comprises Meike, Toshiya Ueno, Yūji Tajiri, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomo ...

Mitsuhiro Mihara Mihara Mitsuhiro (三原光尋; born 1964 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese film director. Filmography *真夏のビタミン (''Manatsu no bitamin''; lit. "Midsummer vitamin") (1994) *風の王国 (''kaze no oukoku''; lit. "Kingdom of the wind") ( ...

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent a ...

Takahiro Miki is a Japanese film, television and music video director. Works Films TV series *''Dragon Seinendan'' (2012) *''Irodorihimura'' (2012, episode 4) Music videos *"Tomorrow's Way" *"Life" *"Tokyo" *"Rolling Star" *"Cherry" *" LOVE & TRUTH (Movi ...

Kenji Misumi (2 March 1921 – 24 September 1975) was a Japanese film director. He created film series such as ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' and the initial film in the long-running ''Zatoichi'' series, and also directed ''Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice'', starri ...

Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon U ...

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Ugets ...

Yoshimitsu Morita was a Japanese film director who was born in Tokyo. Career Self-taught, first making shorts on 8 mm film during the 1970s, he made his feature film debut with ''No Yōna Mono'' (''Something Like It'', 1981).Mark Schillin"Director Yoshimitsu Mo ...

* Katsuyuki Motohiro *

Kan Mukai Kan or KAN may refer to: Places * Kan (river), a tributary of the Yenisey in Russia * Kan District of Iran * Kan, Kyrgyzstan, a village in Batken Region * Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Nigeria, IATA code * Kannapolis (Amtrak s ...

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...

Minoru Murata was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor who was one of the major directors of the silent era in Japan. Career Born in Tokyo, Murata started out as a shingeki actor on the stage. Murata's troupe appeared in the first " pure films ...

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Kenji Nagasaki is a Japanese anime director employed by Madhouse. He made his full directorial debut in 2011 with ''No. 6''. Starting in 2016, he directed the anime adaptation of ''My Hero Academia'', which has received praise from critics. Biography Kenji Na ...

Shunichi Nagasaki is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Filmography Director * 1982 '' Yamiutsu shinzo'' a.k.a. ''Heart, Beating in the Dark'' *1988 '' Rock yo shizukani nagareyo'' *1988 '' Yojo no jidai'' *1989 '' Yuwakusha'' a.k.a. ''The Enchantmen ...

Masahiko Nagasawa Masahiko Nagasawa (長澤雅彦 ''Nagasawa Masahiko'', born 28 February 1965 in Akita, Japan) is a Japanese film director. He was given a Best New Director award for his film ''Koko ni irukoto'' at the 2002 Yokohama Film Festival The is an a ...

Sadao Nakajima is a Japanese film director and screenwriter (born 8 August, 1934) known for his work in yakuza films and jidaigeki. Career Born in Chiba Prefecture, he attended Hibiya High School and then the University of Tokyo before joining the Tōei studi ...

Hiroyuki Nakano is a Japanese film director. Filmography * ''Watching People'' (1989) * ''Spiritual Earth: Aloha Wave'' (1995) * '' Samurai Fiction'' (1998) * ''Pop Group Killers'' (2000) * '' Red Shadow'' (2001) * ''Stereo Future'' (2001) * ''Slow Is Beautifu ...

Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as '' Ring'' (1998), ''Ring 2'' (1999) and '' Dark Water'' (2002). Several of these ...

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

* Giichi Nishihara *

Katsumi Nishikawa (1 July 1918 – 6 April 2010) was a Japanese film director most famous for his youth films (seishun eiga). Graduating from Nihon University, he started out at the Shochiku studio in 1939 and directed his first film in 1952. He moved to Nikkats ...

Miwa Nishikawa is a Japanese director and screenwriter. Nishikawa received a degree in literature from the University of Waseda, and after working on several independent films as well as catching the eye of Hirokazu Kore-eda, her film making career took off ...

* Yoshitaro Nomura

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* Mipo O *

Nobuhiko Obayashi 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 film ...

* Masayuki Ochiai *

Motoyoshi Oda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed over 50 films in his career. An English major who graduated from Waseda University in 1935, Motoyoshi Oda was accepted into the directors' program at Tokyo's P.C.L. (Photo Chemical Laboratories, a film comp ...

* Akira Ogata *

Shinsuke Ogawa (25 June 1935 - 7 February 1992) was a Japanese documentary film director. Ogawa and Noriaki Tsuchimoto have been called the "two figures hattower over the landscape of Japanese documentary." Career Ogawa began his career at Iwanami Production ...

Naoko Ogigami is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. She first began gaining attention after winning several prizes at the PIA Film Festival for her short film ''Hoshino-Kun, Yumeno-Kun'' (2001). Among her most notable works are her f ...

Kōhei Oguri is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Born in Gunma, Oguri first became a freelance assistant director after graduating from Waseda University. He made his directorial debut in 1981 with '' Muddy River'', which earned him both a J ...

Kōyū Ohara 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, ...

Kihachi Okamoto was a Japanese film director who worked in several different genres. Career Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an experience that had a profound effect on his l ...

Eiji Okuda is a Japanese actor and film director. Born in Kasugai, Aichi, he was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 1990 Japanese Academy Awards for his performance in '' Sen no Rikyu''. He won the award for best actor at the 37th Blue Ribbon Awar ...

Shutaro Oku is a Japanese film and stage director. Biography Shutaro Oku was born in 1975 in Tokyo, Japan. From 2000 to 2009, Oku directed many theatrical films, notably ''The Labor Cop'', ''Japanese Naked Tribe'', ''Aka-sen'', ''Cain's Descendant'', and ...

Kazuki Ōmori was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Born in Osaka, Ōmori studied at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and held a license to practice medicine. While in school, he began making films independently, with ''Kuraku naru ...

* Tatsushi Ōmori * Hideo Onchi *

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including '' Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), ...

Nagisa Oshima NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...

Kentarō Ōtani is a Japanese film director. Filmography *'' Avec mon mari'' (1999) *'' Travail'' (2002) *''Nana'' (2005) *'' Rough'' (2006) *'' Nana 2'' (2006) *''Runway Beat According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runw ...

* Katsuhiro Otomo *

Keiichi Ozawa 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 o ...

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

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* Sabu (Tanaka Hiroyuki) *

Yoichi Sai was a Japanese film director. He was the president of the Directors Guild of Japan. Life and career Sai was born on 6 July 1949 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. His mother was Japanese and his father was Zainichi Korean. Sai won the Best Screenp ...

(Choi Yang-il) * Kōichi Saitō * Torajiro Saito *

Junji Sakamoto is a Japanese film director. Career After working as a set assistant or assistant director under such filmmakers as Sogo Ishii and Kazuyuki Izutsu, he made his directorial debut in 1989 with '' Dotsuitarunen'' (earning the Directors Guild of Ja ...

Kazuhiro Sano is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor best known for his '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Toshiki Satō and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . Sano's films differ from those of o ...

Hirohisa Sasaki is a Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** ...

Hisayasu Satō is a Japanese exploitation film director. He has worked prolifically in the genre of '' pinku eiga'' films, which refers to Japanese films that prominently feature nudity or sexual content. His best-known works are the 1992 pink film ''The Bedr ...

Junya Sato was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His son is a fellow film director . Career Born in Tokyo, Satō graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in French literature. He joined the Toei studio and worked as an assist ...

Shimako Satō (born in 1964) is a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Career Born in Iwate Prefecture, Satō attended the Asagaya College of Art and Design before studying filmmaking at the London International Film School. Her 1995 film ''Wizard of D ...

Toshiki Satō a.k.a. , , ''and'' is a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Kazuhiro Sano and Hisayasu Satō, he is known as one of the . Life and career Toshiki ...

Yūichi Satō is a Japanese film director. Filmography *''Pray'' (2005) *''Simsons'' ( ja) (2006) *'' Kisaragi'' (2007) *''Guardian Angel'' ( ja) (2009) *''A Man on the Verge at a Black Company'' ( ja) (2009) *'' Strawberry Night'' (2013) *'' Poison Berry in ...

* Kōji Seki *

Kazuyoshi Sekine Kazuyoshi Sekine (関根和美 ''Sekine Kazuyoshi''), also known as Kazumi Sekine, is a Japanese film director, a dramatist, and a movie producer and the president of Sekine Production production company (関根プロ). He mainly directs movies pr ...

Makoto Shinkai , known as , is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, author, and manga artist. Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) ' ...

Yasujirō Shimazu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, and a pioneer of the '' shomin-geki'' (common people drama) genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan. Biography Shimazu was born in Tokyo, the second son of merchant Otojirō Shim ...

* Hiroshi Shimizu *

Takashi Shimizu Takashi Shimizu (清水崇 ''Shimizu Takashi'', born 27 July 1972) is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for being the creator of the ''Ju-On'' franchise, and directing four of its films, internationally, in both Japan and the U.S. Accor ...

Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include '' Children of Hiroshima'', '' The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', '' Kuroneko'' an ...

Kōji Shiraishi is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is primarily known for directing Japanese horror films, most notably '' Noroi: The Curse''. Background Kōji Shiraishi was born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan. After graduatin ...

Masahiro Shinoda is a retired Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s. Early life Shinoda attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also partici ...

Tetsuo Shinohara is a Japanese film director. His film ''First Love'' was the 3rd Best Film at the 22nd Yokohama Film Festival. Filmography * ''Running High'' (1989) * ''Work on the Grass'' (1993) * ''One More Time, One More Chance'' (1996) * ''Aku no hana'' (1 ...

Makoto Shinozaki (born 1963 in Tokyo) is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Tokyo, Shinozaki attended Rikkyo University, where he studied under Shigehiko Hasumi, made 8mm films, and appeared in the then amateur works of other Rikkyo graduates such as Kiy ...

Akihiko Shiota (born 11 September 1961, Maizuru, Kyoto) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Shiota attended Rikkyo University, where he was in a film club with other students such as Makoto Shinozaki and Shinji Aoyama and began making 8mm f ...

Chūsei Sone 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 ...

Masayuki Suo Masayuki (written: , ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese animator and director *, Japanese actor *, Japanese baseball player and manager *, Japanese politician *, ...

Nobuhiro Suwa is a Japanese film director working in Japan and France. His directorial works and screenplays often make use of improvisation techniques. Currently, Suwa is the President of Tokyo Zokei University. Biography Having graduated from Hirosh ...

Seijun Suzuki , born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...

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Yūji Tajiri is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of '' pink film'' directors collectively known as the , a group which also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomoto a ...

* Gō Takamine *

Lisa Takeba is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Lisa Takeba was born in Japan in 1983. She has worked in several media, writing a screenplay for a game for the Nintendo DS, writing novels for mobile devices, and beginning in 2009 ...

Tetsuji Takechi was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic, and author. First coming to prominence for his theatrical criticism, in the 1940s and 1950s he produced influential and popular experimental kabuki plays. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he conti ...

Tetsuya Takehora is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Tetsuya Takehora studied at the , founded by director Shōhei Imamura in 1975 as the Yokohama Vocational School of Broadcast and Film. He entered the film industry as an assistant ...

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' Departures''. It marked the first time a Japanese film won the awa ...

Yuki Tanada is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Born in Kitakyushu, Tanada pursued theater in high school before entering the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image to study filmmaking. Her newest work, My Broken Mariko, released on September 3 ...

Eizō Tanaka was an early Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. Life and career Tanaka initially trained as a stage actor in the shingeki movement under Kaoru Osanai, but eventually joined the Nikkatsu film studio in 1917. He debuted as a directo ...

Noboru Tanaka 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), ...

Tomotaka Tasaka was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 193 ...

Shūji Terayama was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (''Angura'') theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema ...

Hiroshi Teshigahara was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and artist from the Japanese New Wave era. He is best known for the 1964 film '' Woman in the Dunes''. He is also known for directing other titles such as '' The Face of Another'' (1966), ''Natsu No Heitai'' ( ...

Shirō Toyoda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed over 60 films during his career spanning 50 years. Career Born in Kyoto, Toyoda moved to Tokyo after finishing high school and studied scriptwriting under the pioneering film director ...

Toshiaki Toyoda is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Born in Osaka Prefecture, Toyoda was first a prodigy in the game of shogi or Japanese chess. He attended the Japan Shogi Association's apprenticeship (Shōreikai) from age 9 with the aim of be ...

Eiji Tsuburaya was a Japanese special effects director and cinematographer. Known as the he worked on 250 feature films in a career spanning 50 years. He is regarded as one of the co-creators of the ''Godzilla'' series, as well as the main creator of the ...

Yutaka Tsuchiya (born 11 December 1966) is a Japanese film director, documentary film, documentary film maker, and video activist. His works have focused on the search for identity amongst Japanese youth, particularly the allure that nationalism or extreme ideolo ...

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter, editor, director, cinematographer, art director, production designer and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad, Tsukamoto is best known for his body horro ...

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Kenji Uchida is a Japanese anime producer. He is noted anime studio Sunrise's president. Debuting in 1980, with '' Muteki Robo Trider G7'', among Sunrise's first works in the 1980s, Uchida has gone on to produce numerous of Sunrise's works, such as various i ...

Tomu Uchida , born Tsunejirō Uchida on 26 April 1898, was a Japanese film director. The stage name "Tomu" translates to “spit out dreams”. Early career Uchida started out at the Taikatsu studio in the early 1920s, but came to prominence at Nikkatsu, ad ...

* Toshiya Ueno *

Kirio Urayama was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Born in Hyōgo Prefecture, Urayama graduated from Nagoya University before joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1954. After working as an assistant director to Yūzō Kawashima and Shohei Imamur ...

Kiyohiko Ushihara was a Japanese film director most famous for his gendaigeki of the silent era. Career Born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduating from Tokyo University, Ushihara joined the Shochiku studio in 1920 on the invitation of Kaoru Osanai. Starting ou ...

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Kōji Wakamatsu was a Japanese film director who directed such ''pinku eiga'' films as and . 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 ...

Mamoru Watanabe was a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in the '' pink film'' genre. Along with directors Genji Nakamura and Banmei Takahashi, Watanabe was known as one of the "Three Pillars of Pink". Life and career Early l ...

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Takeshi Yagi is a Japanese TV director/producer whose credits include Tsuburaya Productions' popular Ultra Series. Personal history Born in 1967, Yagi grew up during the boom of tokusatsu television shows in Japan. In the mid-1990s, he joined Tsuburaya Pr ...

* Yamada Yoji *

Kazuhiko Yamaguchi is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Nagano Prefecture, Yamaguchi graduated from Waseda University and began working at the Tōei studios in Kyoto. He directed a number of action movie series in the 1970s and has also helmed many TV ...

Masashi Yamamoto (born 24 January 1956) is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Ōita Prefecture, Yamamoto attended Meiji University but left early to concentrate on making independent 8mm films. His '' Carnival in the Night'' screened at the 1983 Berlin F ...

Satsuo Yamamoto was a Japanese film director. Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to ...

Sadao Yamanaka was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the ''jidaigeki'', or histori ...

Mitsuo Yanagimachi is a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Career Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at Waseda University but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he ...

* Keisuke Yoshida * Kōta Yoshida *

Isao Yukisada is a Japanese film director from Kumamoto. He served as assistant director on Shunji Iwai's ''Love Letter'', ''April Story'', and '' Swallowtail Butterfly''. Filmography Director * ''Open House'' (1998) * (Sunflower) (2000) * ''A Closing Day'' ...

Yumi Yoshiyuki is a Japanese film director, actress, and screenwriter best known for her work in the ''pink film'' genre. Early life and education Yoshiyuki studied economics at Dokkyo University. Career During her studies at Dokkyo University, Yoshiyuki deve ...

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Takahisa Zeze is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic ''pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . In recent years, he ha ...

External links

Japanese Documentary Retrospective at the Punto de Vista Documentary Film Festival of Navarra, Spain
{{Asian film directors Japan

Film directors 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 Goal, vision. The director has a key role in choosing the Casting (per ...