Taichi Yamada

Yamada was born in Asakusa, Tokyo, a setting used in his novel Ijintachi to no natsu. He attended Waseda University before entering the Shōchiku film studios, where he trained as an assistant director under Keisuke Kinoshita.

Yamada 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, 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 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. Tobu yume o shibaraku minai was adapted into a 1990 film of the same name by director Eizō Sugawa, who also wrote the screenplay. It was nominated for several awards, winning the Japan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Eri Ishida's performance, as well as the Golden Raven for Best Film at the 1991 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

Yamada died on 29 November 2023, at the age of 89.

• Kishibe no arubamu (1977) • Omoide Zukuri (1981) • Fuzoroi no ringotachi (1983) • Fuzoroi no ringotachi II (1985) • Fuzoroi no ringotachi III (1991) • Fuzoroi no ringotachi IV (1997)