Yuji Sakamoto

Last updated
Yuji Sakamoto
Born (1967-05-12) 12 May 1967 (age 58)
Osaka, Japan
OccupationWriter
Spouse
​
(m. 1998)​

Yūji Sakamoto (坂元裕二, Sakamoto Yūji; born 12 May 1967) is a Japanese screenwriter, lyricist, and playwright.

Contents

Early life

Yūji Sakamoto was born on 12 May 1967 in Osaka. [1] [2]

Career

At the age of 19, Sakamoto won the 1st Fuji TV Young Scenario Award. [2] At the age of 23, he wrote the screenplay for Tokyo Love Story . [3] In 1996 he wrote the script for the Dreamcast audio drama game Real Sound: Kaze no Regret with Kenji Eno. This game was specially developed for blind and visually impaired players. [4] [5] He has written the scripts for many popular Japanese television dramas, including Our Textbook , Still, Life Goes On, Matrimonial Chaos, Mother , Woman, The Best Divorce, and Quartet . Many of his works have been remade in international productions. His recent works include Anone, My Dear Exes , and Love with a Case. His filmography includes We Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021), starring Masaki Suda and Kasumi Arimura. [2] Sakamoto wrote the screenplay for Hirokazu Kore-eda's film Monster (2023). It was the first time since his feature film debut Maborosi (1995) that Kore-eda was not responsible for the screenplay. The two had expressed a mutual respect for each other's work and had attended the same school when they were younger. [6] Monster premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, [7] where Sakamoto won the Best Screenplay award. [8]

In April 2016, he was appointed as a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts's Graduate School of Film and New Media. [9]

In 2017, Sakamoto won the Best Screenwriter award at the 92nd Television Drama Academy Awards  [ ja ] for his work on the drama Quartet. [10] [11]

In April 2023, Sakamoto was awarded a Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon [12] and in May 2023, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay for Monster . [13]

Sakomoto wrote and produced In Love and Deep Water for Netflix, and the film premiered in 2023. He and Netflix signed a five-year collaboration agreement in June 2023. [14]

Personal life

In 1998, Sakamoto married actress Yoko Moriguchi. [15]

Filmography

Television

YearTitleNotes
1989Dōkyūsei
1990Nippon-ichi no Kattobi Otoko
1991 Tokyo Love Story [16]
1992Hatachi no Yakusoku
1996Tsubasa o Kudasai!
2002Remote
2003Anata no Tonari ni Dare ka Iru
2004 Itoshi Kimi e
Last Christmas
2006 Saiyūki
Top Caster
2007 Our Textbook
2008 Ryokiteki na Kanojo
Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu
2010Cheisu: Kokuzei sasatsukan
Mother
2011Soredemo, Ikite Yuku
2012Makete, Katsu: Sengo o Tsukutta Otoko Shigeru Yoshida
2013The Best Divorce
Woman
2014Mosaic Japan
Oyaji no SenakaEpisode: "Wedding Match"
2015Mondai no Aru Restaurant
2016 Love That Makes You Cry
2017 Quartet [17]
2018Anone [18]
2021 My Dear Exes [19]
2022Love with a Case [20]

Film

YearTitleDirectorNotes
1996YuriYuji Sakamoto
1998 Tokyo Eyes Jean-Pierre Limosin
2004 Crying Out Love in the Center of the World Isao Yukisada
2005Gimî hebunToru Matsuura
2007SaiyūkiKensaku Sawada
2021We Made a Beautiful Bouquet Nobuhiro Doi [21]
2023 Monster Hirokazu Kore-eda [22]
In Love and Deep WaterYusuke Taki [23]
20251st Kiss Ayuko Tsukahara [24]
Unreachable Nobuhiro Doi [25]

References

  1. ↑ 近藤 正高 (12 May 2017). "ご存知ですか？　5月12日は脚本家・坂元裕二の誕生日です". Shūkan Bunshun (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Monster Film Committee. "Monster" (PDF). Festival de Cannes. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  3. ↑ "Faculty". fm.geidai.ac.jp. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  4. ↑ "eno blog: そろそろゲームのことを語ろうか。第２回『リアルサウンド　〜風のリグレット〜』". fyto.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Real Sound: Kaze no Regret (1997)". MobyGames. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  6. ↑ "監督・編集：是枝裕和 / 脚本：坂元裕二". Gaga.ne.jp. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Rooney, David (17 May 2023). "'Monster' Review: Hirokazu Kore-eda Measures the Weight of Bullying on Childhood Friendship in Tender But Diffuse Drama". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  8. ↑ Coyle, Jake (27 May 2023). "'Anatomy of a Fall' wins top prize at Cannes Film Festival". Associated Press . Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  9. ↑ "坂元裕二教授（脚本領域）就任のお知らせ". geidai-film.jp (in Japanese). 20 April 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Winners of the 92nd Television Drama Academy Awards". Arama. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  11. ↑ "第92回 ドラマアカデミー賞 受賞一覧". ザテレビジョン. KADOKAWA . Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  12. ↑ "「カルテット」「東京ラブストーリー」脚本家、坂元裕二さんらに春の褒章". Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  13. ↑ Debruge, Peter (27 May 2023). "Cannes Awards: 'Anatomy of a Fall' Takes Palme d'Or, 'The Zone of Interest' and 'The Pot au Feu' Among Winners". Variety . Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  14. ↑ Brzeski, Patrick (28 June 2023). "Netflix Inks 5-Year Deal With Japanese Screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  15. ↑ "森口瑤子の長女が宝塚音楽学校に在学中　来春初舞台でタカラジェンヌに". www.news-postseven.com (in Japanese). 1 June 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  16. ↑ "東京ラブストーリー". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  17. ↑ "カルテットの出演者・キャスト一覧". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  18. ↑ "anone". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  19. ↑ "大豆田とわ子と三人の元夫". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  20. ↑ "初恋の悪魔". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  21. ↑ "花束みたいな恋をした". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  22. ↑ "怪物". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  23. ↑ "クレイジークルーズ". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  24. ↑ "ファーストキス 1ST KISS". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  25. ↑ "片思い世界". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 March 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.