was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Career

Born in

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview Ha ...

, Sawai studied German at

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies , often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan. TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies. It also features an Asia-African institution. History The Uni ...

. Graduating in 1961, he joined the

Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...

as an assistant director and worked under such directors as

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). Career Masa ...

and Noribumi Suzuki. He also collaborated on scripts such as those for the ' Truck Yarō' series. He made his debut as a director in 1981 with ''Nogiku no haka'', a vehicle for the

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

singer

Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she is still actively releasing new singles and albums, doing annual summer concert tours, win ...

. He won the

Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award The is given annually by the Directors Guild of Japan to a new director of a film released that year who is considered the most "suitable" for the award. The winner is selected by a committee formed of DGJ members. All formats—feature film, docu ...

in 1985, and the

Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year The of the Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本ア� ...

in 1986.

Selected filmography

* ''

W's Tragedy is a 1984 Japanese film directed by Shinichirō Sawai, based on the novel by Shizuko Natsuki (published in English under the title '' Murder at Mt. Fuji''). At the 9th Japan Academy Prize it won three awards and received three other nominations ...

'' (1984) * '' Early Spring Story'' (1985) * ''

Maison Ikkoku is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1980 to 1987, with the chapters collected into 15 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ' ...

'' (1986) * '' Bloom in the Moonlight'' (1993) * '' Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea'' (2007)

Television credits

asterisk = series director * ''Daigekito Mad Police ‘80'' (1980) * '' G-Men ‘75'' (1982) * ''Getsuyo Wide Gekijo'' (1982) * ''

Space Sheriff Shaider is a tokusatsu television show that aired from March 2, 1984 to March 8, 1985. It is the last of the "Space Sheriff Series" of the broader Metal Hero Series franchise, the previous two being '' Space Sheriff Gavan'' and ''Space Sheriff Sharivan ...

'' (1984–1985)* * ''

Juukou B-Fighter , is a 1995 Japanese tokusatsu television series. B-Fighter is short for "Beetle Fighter". It was part of Toei's Metal Hero Series franchise. It dealt with three members of the prestigious fighting against the evil forces of the otherworldly J ...

'' (1995–1996)* * '' Shogun no Onmitsu! Kage Juhachi'' (1996) * ''Keijo!'' (1996) * ''Non X'' (1996) * ''Gamotei Jiken'' (1998)

Bibliography

References

External links

* 1938 births 2021 deaths Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners Japanese film directors People from Hamamatsu Japanese screenwriters {{Japan-film-director-stub