is a Japanese screenwriter, lyricist, and playwright.

Early life

Yūji Sakamoto was born on 12 May 1967 in

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 ...

Career

At the age of 19, Sakamoto won the 1st Fuji TV Young Scenario Award. At the age of 23, he wrote the screenplay for ''

Tokyo Love Story is a Japanese manga written by Fumi Saimon. It was published by Shogakukan in ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1989 to 1990 and collected into 4 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ''Tokyo Love Story'' was adapted into a Japanese television drama in 1991 which ...

''. He has written the scripts for many popular Japanese television dramas, including '' Our Textbook'', ''Still, Life Goes On'', ''Matrimonial Chaos'', ''

Mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

'', ''Woman'', ''The Best Divorce'', and '' Quartet (Japanese TV series), 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 , known professionally as , is a Japanese actor and singer. He won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. His debut song is "Mita Koto mo Nai Keshiki". Personal life Suda is a close junior to ...

and

Kasumi Arimura is a Japanese actress. Her television roles have included the young Haruko Amano in the 2013 NHK asadora ''Amachan'' and the lead role in the 2017 asadora ''Hiyokko''. She has also appeared in several films, including '' Flying Colors'', for whic ...

. Sakamoto wrote the screenplay for

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including ''Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

's film '' Monster'' (2023). It was the first time since his feature film debut '' Maboroshi'' (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. ''Monster'' premiered at the

2023 Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top pr ...

, where Sakamoto won the Best Screenplay award. In April 2016, he was appointed as a professor at the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

's Graduate School of Film and New Media. In April 2023, Sakamoto was awarded a Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon and in May 2023, he won the

Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay The Best Screenplay Award (french: Prix du scénario) is an award presented by the Jury to the best screenwriter for their work on a film of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival ...

for '' Monster''. Sakomoto will write and produce ''In Love and Deep Water'' for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, the film is scheduled to premiere in 2023. He and Netflix signed a five-year collaboration agreement in June 2023.

Personal life

In 1998, he married actress

Yoko Moriguchi is a Japanese actress. She made her film debut with '' Tora-san Goes Religious?'' in 1983. Filmography Film * '' Tora-san Goes Religious?'' (1983) * ''Final Take'' (1986) * ''Chichi'' (1988) * ''Kacho Shima Kosaku'' (1992) * ''Unloved'' (2001) ...

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people 20th-century Japanese screenwriters 21st-century Japanese screenwriters Japanese male screenwriters Japanese television writers Male television writers 21st-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights Japanese lyricists Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners Academic staff of Tokyo University of the Arts Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon People from Osaka Prefecture Writers from Osaka {{Screen-writer-stub