Yoji Yamada

Biography

Yoji Yamada (山田 洋次 Yamada Yōji, born September 13, 1931 in Toyonaka City, Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films. He was born in Osaka. But because of the work of his father, who was an engineer for the South Manchuria Railway, from the age of 2 he was brought up in Manchuria. Following the end of World War II, he came back to Japan and subsequently he lived in Ube in Yamaguchi Prefecture. After receiving his degree from Tokyo University in 1954, he entered Shochiku and worked under Yoshitaro Nomura as a scriptwriter or as an assistant director. He has won many awards throughout his lengthy career and is well respected in Japan and by critics throughout the world. He wrote his first screenplay in 1958, and directed his first movie in 1961. Yamada continues to make movies to this day. He once served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan, and is currently a guest professor of Ritsumeikan University.

Directed

1. The Twilight Samurai (2002) — Director
2. The Hidden Blade (2004) — Director
3. Love and Honor (2006) — Director
4. Tokyo Family (2013) — Director
5. The Little House (2014) — Director
6. Kabei: Our Mother (2008) — Director
7. The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) — Director
8. What a Wonderful Family! (2016) — Director
9. A Distant Cry from Spring (1980) — Director
10. What a Wonderful Family! 2 (2017) — Director
11. Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969) — Director
12. Tokyo Taxi (2025) — Director
13. About Her Brother (2010) — Director
14. Where Spring Comes Late (1970) — Director
15. Nagasaki: Memories of My Son (2015) — Director
16. A Trap (1965) — Director
17. What a Wonderful Family! 3 (2018) — Director
18. Tora-san's Cherished Mother (1969) — Director
19. My Sons (1991) — Director
20. Mom, Is That You?! (2023) — Director
21. The Village (1975) — Director
22. It's a Flickering Life (2021) — Director
23. Home from the Sea (1972) — Director
24. Downtown Heroes (1988) — Director
25. Tora-san Loves an Artist (1973) — Director
26. Tora-san's Forget Me Not (1973) — Director
27. Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies (1986) — Director
28. Tora-san's Runaway (1970) — Director
29. A Class to Remember II (1996) — Director
30. Tora-san's Love Call (1971) — Director
31. Tora-san, the Good Samaritan (1971) — Director
32. Tora-san's Dream-Come-True (1972) — Director
33. A Class to Remember (1993) — Director
34. Kyoto Story (2010) — Director
35. Tora-san's Shattered Romance (1971) — Director
36. Tora-san's Dear Old Home (1972) — Director
37. Tora-san's Lullaby (1974) — Director
38. The Sunshine Girl (1963) — Director
39. A Class to Remember III: The New Voyage (1998) — Director
40. Tora-san's Sunrise and Sunset (1976) — Director

Also appeared in

1. I Lived, But... (1983) — Self
2. Ken San (2016)
3. Sat-chan Tadashi-chan: Sengo minshu-teki dokuritsu pro funtō-ki (2015) — Self
4. 700 Days with Ryuichi Sakamoto (2015) — Self
5. Seijo Story: 60 Years of Making Films (2019) — Self
6. 55th anniversary performance of Tora-San: Rakugo, Talk and Tora Jiro Returns (2024)
7. Film Director Satsuo Yamamoto (1993) — Self