Youji Yamada

He was born in Toyonaka, but due to his father's job as an engineer for the Manchurian Railway, he went to Manchuria at the age of two and spent his childhood there. Following the end of World War II, he returned to Japan and subsequently lived in Yamagata Prefecture. After receiving his degree from Tokyo University's Faculty of Law in 1954, he joined Shochiku as a substitute and worked as a scriptwriter and assistant director for Yoshitarou Nomura before making his directorial debut in 1961 with "The Strangers Upstairs."

He won many awards throughout his lengthy career and is well respected in Japan and by critics throughout the world. Yamada continues to make movies to this day. He is a member of the Japan Art Academy, president of the Iwasaki Chihiro Memorial Foundation, visiting professor at the Graduate School of Letters, Kansai University and the School of Film and New Media, Ritsumeikan University, special lecturer at Bunka Gakuin and a member of the Directors Guild of Japan.