Taichi Yamada (山田 太一) was a Japanese screenwriter and novelist. His real name was Taichi Ishizaka (石坂 太一).

Life and career

Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, Yamada attended Waseda University before entering the Shōchiku film studios, where he trained as an assistant director under Keisuke Kinoshita. He left the company at age 30 to focus on writing scripts for television dramas, penning such successful series as Kishibe no arubamu and Fuzoroi no ringotachi. He also wrote scripts for film and the stage. As a novelist, his novel Ijintachi to no natsu (異人たちとの夏), published in 1987, won the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize. It was translated into English, in 2003, as Strangers. Another Yamada novel, In Search of a Distant Voice, was translated and published in 2006 from a novel originally published in Japan in 1989. A third Yamada novel, I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While (飛ぶ夢をしばらく見ない), was translated into English and published in 2008. The first film adaptation of Strangers, The Discarnates, competed for the Golden St. George at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival in July 1989 and won other select film awards. The second film adaptation, All of Us Strangers, premiered at Telluride Film Festival in August 2023 and also went on to be nominated for and win many film awards. Yamada died on 29 November 2023, at the age of 89.

Selected works

Television

Film

Literature