, known professionally as , is a Japanese actor and film director.

Career

Born in

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

, Sabu studied at an

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

school before deciding to go to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to become a professional musician. It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in ''

Sorobanzuku is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Awards 8th Yokohama Film Festival *Won: Best Screenplay - Yoshimitsu Morita *Won: Best Actress - Narumi Yasuda is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 8th Yokoh ...

''. He earned his first starring role in the 1991 ''

World Apartment Horror is a 1991 Japanese comedy horror film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, with a screenplay by Otomo and Keiko Nobumoto from a story by Satoshi Kon. The film stars Sabu (credited as Hiroki Tanaka) as a yakuza , also known as , are members of ...

'', a live-action film directed by

Katsuhiro Ōtomo is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of t ...

of '' Akira'' fame. Working from a script he wrote himself, he made his directorial debut with the 1996 ''

Dangan Runner is a 1996 Japanese comedy film directed by Sabu. Cast *Shinichi Tsutsumi as Takeda * Tomorowo Taguchi as Yasuda *Diamond Yukai as Aizawa *Akaji Maro is a Japanese actor, Butoka, and theater director. Early life In 1943, Maro was born i ...

'', a film that set his early style of "quirky action-comedies propelled by characters who hurtle headlong though squirming narratives steered more by the forces of incidence and coincidence than the actions of the protagonists themselves."

Shin'ichi Tsutsumi is a Japanese stage and screen actor. Internationally, he is best known for his roles as Koichi Takagi in the ''Monday'' films, Tetsuya Ishigami in the ''Suspect X'' films, and Jo Sawashiro in '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon.'' In Japan, he is best kno ...

played the lead in Sabu's first five films. '' Blessing Bell'', starring

Susumu Terajima is a Japanese actor. Though he has played a wide range of characters, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of ''yakuza'' figures, most notably in the films of Takeshi Kitano. Terajima made his acting debut in 1986's ''A Homansu''. He ...

(who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabu's films), was a turn away from his kinetic, parodic, and black comedy narratives, and earned the

NETPAC Award The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the inst ...

at the 2003

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. Later films featured the

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

band V6. In 2009, he directed ''

The Crab Cannery Ship ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', a modern adaptation of a classic of

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 ** Japanese diaspor ...

proletarian literature Proletarian literature refers here to the literature created by left-wing writers mainly for the class-conscious proletariat. Though the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states that because it "is essentially an intended device of revolution", it is ...

written by

Takiji Kobayashi was a Japanese writer of proletarian literature. He is best known for his short novel '' Kanikōsen'', or ''Crab Cannery Ship'', published in 1929. It tells the story of the hard life of cannery workers, fishermen and seamen on board a cannery ...

. He has continued to work as an actor, such as in

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 an ...

's ''

Ichi the Killer Ichi the Killer may refer to: * ''Ichi the Killer'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film based on the manga series of the same name * ''Ichi the Killer'' (manga), a manga series written and illustrated by Hideo Yamamoto {{disambig ...

'' (2001). His film ''

Chasuke's Journey is a 2015 Japanese comedy film directed by Sabu. It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Ken'ichi Matsuyama as Chasuke * Ito Ohno as Yuri * Ren Ôsugi as Taneda * Yūsuke Iseya a ...

'' was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

Selected filmography

Director

* ''

'' (1996) * ''

Postman Blues is a 1997 Japanese criminal action comedy-drama film directed and written by Hiroyuki Tanaka under the name Sabu. The film features Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Keisuke Horibe, Ren Ohsugi and Kyōko Tōyama in the lead roles. It tells the story of a post ...

'' (1997) * ''

Unlucky Monkey Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

'' (1998) * ''

Monday Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is ...

'' (2000) * ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...

'' (2002) * '' Blessing Bell'' (2002) * '' A1012K'' (2003 - short film) * '' Hard Luck Hero'' (2003) * ''

Hold-Up Down Hold Up, hold up, or Hold-Up may refer to: Film * Hold-Up (1974 film), ''Hold-Up'' (1974 film), an Italian film * Hold-Up (1985 film), ''Hold-Up'' (1985 film), Franco-Canadian crime comedy * Hold-Up (2000 film), ''Hold-Up'' (2000 film), Austrian f ...

'' (2005) * ''

Dead Run A point of sail is a sailing craft's direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface. The principal points of sail roughly correspond to 45° segments of a circle, starting with 0° directly into the wind. ...

'' ( Shisso) (2005) * ''

'' ( Kanikōsen, 2009) * '' Troubleman'' (2010) TV Series * ''

Usagi Drop is a Japanese manga series by Yumi Unita. The plot follows thirty-year-old Daikichi as he becomes the guardian of Rin, the illegitimate six-year-old daughter of his grandfather. ''Bunny Drop'' was serialized in Shodensha's monthly ''jos ...

'' (2011) * '' Miss ZOMBIE'' (2013) * ''

'' (2015) * ''Happiness'' (2016) * '' Mr. Long'' (2017) * ''Jam'' (2018) * ''Dancing Mary'' (2020) * ''My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy'' (2021)

Actor

* ''

'' (1986) * ''

'' (1991) * ''

Zeiram 2 , stylized as ''ZËIЯAM'' (originally marketed in English as ''Zeram''), is a 1991 Japanese science fiction film directed by Keita Amemiya. The film stars Yūko Moriyama as an alien bounty hunter named Iria, who comes to Earth to do battle with ...

'' (1994) * ''

800 Two Lap Runners ''800 Two Lap Runners'' is a 1994 Japanese film directed by Ryūichi Hiroki starring Shunsuke Matsuoka and Eugene Nomura. For director Hiroki, the film marks a transition from his early work in ''pink film'' to mainstream cinema. Plot This comin ...

'' (1994) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Katte ni Shiyagare!! Gyakuten Keikaku'' (1996) * '' Ghost Actress'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997) * ''

'' (2001) * ''

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish is a 1984 Japanese short story by author Seiko Tanabe. It was first published in the June 1984 issue of ''Monthly Kadokawa''. It was later included alongside various stories in the short story collection ''Josee, the Tiger and the Fish'', whi ...

'' (2003) * ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...

'' (2016)

References

External links

*
Sabu's Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabu Living people 1964 births People from Wakayama (city) Actors from Wakayama Prefecture Japanese male film actors Japanese film directors Yakuza film directors