Masaaki Sakai

Acting

Masaaki Sakai

Born

1946-08-06 (80)

Known for

Acting

Credits

58 titles

Born the son of Shunji Sakai, a famous comedian in Japan, Sakai initially came to fame by fronting the group sounds band The Spiders. This group, formed in 1962, was popular throughout the 1960s; they spawned several hit songs as well as thirteen situation comedy films featuring their music. He took the title role of Songoku (Monkey) in the 1970s Japanese TV program Saiyūki. This gained him fame in many English-speaking countries in the early 1980s when it was dubbed by the BBC and retitled Monkey. Due to his fame playing the mythical character Songoku, Sakai created a dance called "the Monkey" which became a craze in Japan. Sakai went on to a successful solo career after The Spiders dis…

Known for

Churasan poster
9.7

The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, from Tokyo come to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly. However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko and her sons came to Okinawa to spend his last moment together in beautiful nature. Fumiya, Kazuya’s younger brother, and Eri promise to marry each other someday. However after Kazuya’s death, Fumiya and his mother leave the island to go back to Tokyo. Years later, they are reunited, Eri as a nurse and Fumiya, a doctor, working at the same hospital in Tokyo.

Churasan

2001

Furuhata Ninzaburo poster
8.8

Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.

Furuhata Ninzaburo

1994

Monkey poster
8.1

Buddhist priest Tripitaka and his three disciples Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy, travel from China to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures. They have been sent by Buddha, and getting these scriptures will bring peace to the people of the world.

Monkey

1978

Tokugawa Yoshinobu poster
10.0

The 37th NHK Taiga Drama is Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The series focuses on the life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th and final ruler of the Tokugawa period. Born the seventh son of Lord Nariaki of Mito, Yoshinobu is named shogun when he is just 29 years old. With a wisdom and vision beyond his years, he tries to prolong the life of this 200-year-old dynasty which began with Ieyasu. However, he is unable to forestall the winds of revolution as clans in Choshu, Satsuma and Tosa, with the help of the Imperial Court, clamor for change.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu

1998

時間ですよ poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

時間ですよ

1970

The Black Swindler poster
7.5

Kurosaki is a vigilante who scams criminals to rectify their misdeeds, driven by his father's attempted suicide after being deceived by criminal mastermind Toshio Katsuragi, who cost Kurosaki his family.

The Black Swindler

2006

Film credits

2000s · 5 titles

A Hardest Night!! poster
6.1

A celebration of the ancient art of Japanese rakugo, roughly translated as “comic storytelling”. The film is interspersed with numerous funerals and wakes, songs, dances, and often disgustingly crude jokes.

A Hardest Night!!

2005

Yunagi City, Sakura Country poster
7.0

Thirteen years afterward, I wonder if those who bombed Hiroshima are looking at me and saying: 'We did it! We were able to kill another person!' They should be," murmurs Minami (played by Kumiko Aso), one of the two leading female characters in Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni, as she lies dying in 1958, her life brought to a premature end by sickness resulting from her exposure to atomic bomb radiation. This is a story about those who at least initially survived the first U.S. atomic bombing of 1945 and their descendants in contemporary times. The film, based on a comic by Fumiyo Kono, jumps between the two time frames and quietly depicts the sorrow and mortification experienced through the everyday lives of laid-back and soft-spoken Hiroshima people. Only a few scenes of the bombing and the ensuing devastation are featured.

Yunagi City, Sakura Country

2007

Long Wedding Road! Tokyo vs. Osaka Wakeari Kon Monogatari poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Long Wedding Road! Tokyo vs. Osaka Wakeari Kon Monogatari

2007

The Fearless Otojiro's Company poster
NR

In 1897, actor, director, producer and theatre company leader Kawakami Otojiro set off on a tour of the USA with his wife Sadayakko and theatre company members, but in a foreign country where he could not speak the language, he had to struggle against a succession of adversities, including lawyers absconding with the proceeds and actors going on strike. One day, however, Otojiro arrives in Boston on his arduous tour and sees a packed house for a performance of The Merchant of Venice by the famous British actor Henry Irving. In just one night of rehearsals, they concoct a Japanese version of The Merchant of Venice, and perform the play to a foreign audience with bullshit dialogue and a reckless performance that can be cut short by "Sucharaka poko poko" when they get stuck on a word.

The Fearless Otojiro's Company

2007

Locomotive Teacher poster
10.0

Seigo Yoshioka (Kenji Sakaguchi) is a teacher that became mute after a kendo accident. He feels lost after the accident and eventually decides to teach again on a small island where his mother was born. The children there on the island quickly name him "Kikansha Sensei" (Teacher Locomotive) after learning he is mute. The parents on the island are mostly hostile to Seigo Yoshioka, believing he is incapable of teaching their children. But with Seigo Yoshioka's determination and kindness, a strong bond develops between the students and the mute teacher, which then changes the parents' opinions of Seigo Yoshioka. Suddenly, tragedy then strikes ...

Locomotive Teacher

2004

1990s · 3 titles

1980s · 3 titles

Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies poster
6.6

Director Ogata discovers a new female star in Koharu Tanaka, who works selling candy at a studio theater and she is given a part as a bit player. After the studio's top leading lady is embroiled in a scandal, Koharu is suddenly thrust into the limelight when she replaces her in a film and gains instant fame and fortune. But the going is not always easy, and she soon seeks help from unexpected quarters.

Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies

1986

No artwork available
NR

The Satsuma clan conspires with key figures in the shogunate to overthrow the government. However, the head inspector, Naito Yamashiro no Kami, cannot find the sworn statement of rebellion and takes responsibility by ending his own life. This deeply affects Mondonosuke Saotome, who was close to Yamashiro no Kami and who is known for his restless nature. Seeking an audience with Shogun Tsunayoshi to request a view of the sworn statement, Mondonosuke Saotome is granted permission to go to Satsuma. He sets off on this journey accompanied by Sasao Kinai and Yamashiro no Kami's sister, Shizue . However, on the way, they are attacked by a group of mountain monks. Mondonosuke Saotome manages to repel the monks in a brawl but becomes separated from Kinai and Shizue. Afterward, he encounters a mysterious woman named Oren, and with her guidance, he finally arrives in Satsuma.

The Notorious Bored Samurai 2

1988

Trinacria: Porsche 959 poster
NR

A film director plans to make a film about a man who embarks on a journey to find a missing musician, who has disappeared after becoming obsessed with the sound of a Porsche engine.

Trinacria: Porsche 959

1987

1970s · 6 titles

I Am A Man of Honor poster
9.0

The sixth film of the “Truck Yaro” series. Two long-distance truckers, Momojiro and Kinzo, travel around Japan in highly decorated trucks. In Kyushu, Momojiro falls in love again... this time with a beautiful college student Masako.

I Am A Man of Honor

1977

喜劇 右向けェ左! poster
NR

Mamoru Hirayama, the sales manager of Clover Shoji, a women's underwear manufacturer, was selected by President Usui to be the manager of the foreign affairs section newly established in the sales department. Masaaki Sakata, Yasushi Inoda, Osamu Yamabe, and Jiro Oi were assigned to this foreign affairs section. Hirayama, a former soldier, is suddenly enthusiastic when the company orders him to join the Self-Defense Forces. One day, in the library where the records of the former army are displayed, Hirayama recalls his memories of that time. It turned out that the bundle of bills that the captain had made a mess of was packed in a box and buried somewhere.

喜劇 右向けェ左!

1970

Toshigoro poster
NR

Teenage film

Toshigoro

1973

Kigeki dokkiri dai tōsō poster
NR

1970 Japanese movie

Kigeki dokkiri dai tōsō

1970

Japan Beauty Story poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Japan Beauty Story

1974

Machi no Hi poster
8.0

Chiyomatsu under the hill, also known as Choromatsu. He is a young man whose occupation is an approach shop, that is, a phony business of sex brokerage. Choromatsu is partnered with Umekichi, whom he calls "big brother," in this business. They live on the second floor of the aka-chochin (red lantern) owned by Takeko, where boys and girls who were abandoned at the abandoned children's temple on Mukojima also live together, making up a family of people who are not related to each other.

Machi no Hi

1974

1960s · 21 titles

High School Third Graders poster
NR

In 1963, Funaki Kazuo's debut song of the same name was released and then it was adapted to a movie based on Kenji Tomishima 's novel “Shake to Tomorrow” with the same title, produced by Daiei with this song as a motif. Singer and actor Funaki Kazuo also appears in the movie, which depicts the fun, love and heartbreak in a Japanese school.

High School Third Graders

1963

The Greatest Challenge of All poster
7.0

After an argument with his father a son leaves his home and comes back only, as an adult, many years later just to cause them problem after problem.

The Greatest Challenge of All

1967

Friends poster
NR

Today is a new day with hopes. A youth hymn that depicts a young truck driver growing up in love with a dream while being supported by his friends who are always close to him. A movie adaptation of a hit song by Kazuo Funaki.

Friends

1964

Tokyo In Love poster
NR

Akio Tsukaro, dreaming of working for a beauty school's flag shop one day, stayed at Bunta Tadokoro without being involved in salon art, even though he graduated from beauty school. One day, Akio saw Michiko, a beautiful girl raining in Ginza. Since then, Akio has become unforgettable with the mascot that Michiko has taken away...

Tokyo In Love

1965

A Girl of the Plateau poster
8.0

Kazuo Kitagawa lives on a farm on the Tateshina Plateau with his late teacher's widow and daughter, continuing his research. One day, Kazuo is attracted to the beautiful young lady who is visiting the villa when he goes out to the town…

A Girl of the Plateau

1965

The Spiders' The Road to Bali poster
7.0

The Spiders, a 1960s Japanese Group Sounds band, star. During their Asian tour spies try to smuggle plutonium hidden in The Spiders' guitar amps, but the boys just want to Rock and Roll!

The Spiders' The Road to Bali

1968

The School Cap poster
NR

A Tokyo student transfers to a rural school and finds it difficult to adjust himself to its customs and traditions. One of the customs is the wearing of an old school cap by a senior. It is a symbol of courage and bravery and is handed down to a new senior each year.

The School Cap

1963

No artwork available
9.0

Japanese comedy directed by Noriaki Yuasa.

Song of Happiness

1964

My Sweetheart poster
NR

It had been a year and four months since Mitsuo was last on a movie set. Welcomed back by director Ishizaki and his film crew, Mitsuo is excited to star as the lead in "My Sweetheart". One day, half way through production, he meets his friends from a popular rock group, "The Spiders". Through their discussion regarding the climax scene, they criticize that the script is too grim. In a notion to protect their friend's career, they decide to pay the scriptwriter a little visit.

My Sweetheart

1967

Here Because of You poster
5.5

An uplifting drama about the bond between a group of high school seniors and their kind-hearted teacher, Mr. Yabuki. Faced with the rigors of growing up in modern times, students often look to Mr. Yabuki for advice and guidance. But when Mr. Yabuki’s career is threatened as a result of a false accusation from the school’s PTA, the students band together to stand up for their beloved teacher and help him to save his good reputation and job.

Here Because of You

1964

Let's Dance Bon-Odori in Hawaii poster
5.3

A young man longs to travel to Hawaii, the birthplace of his deceased father, against the wishes of his family, who are estranged from those relatives in Waikiki.

Let's Dance Bon-Odori in Hawaii

1964

The Wonderful Ones poster
7.0

Village Singers film

The Wonderful Ones

1968

The Age of Undutiful Children poster
7.0

Comedy with music starring the rock band The Spiders.

The Age of Undutiful Children

1968

The Spiders: The Reckless Operation poster
7.0

The Spiders, a Japanese pop group, in their first starring role, walk from Yokohama to Tokyo, to prove their love for a girl who told them "the person who can overcome any obstacle will be my lover"! Neither traffic, buildings, nor the police can stop them, in this madcap rock musical adventure!

The Spiders: The Reckless Operation

1967

Flowering Maidens poster
NR

The young yakuza who have arrived in the city are being taught the beauty of work and the pleasure of learning by hard-working young people of the same generation. Youth masterpiece created based on the hit Kazuo Funaki.

Flowering Maidens

1965

Youth A Go Go! poster
NR

Kenichi and Satoru join up with three other electric music lovers to form their own band, "The Young and Fresh."

Youth A Go Go!

1966

The Tempters: Smile After Tears poster
7.0

Layabout teen Shoken is dissatisfied with his nagging single mother and bullies at school. He and his friends decide to form a cool rock band, but a tragic discovery about his family weighs on Shoken heavily.

The Tempters: Smile After Tears

1969

High School Juniors (Part II) poster
NR

A story full of youthful vigor and spirit as high school students try to work out their problems, realize the awakening of love and growing maturity and find fun and happiness in helping others.

High School Juniors (Part II)

1964

The Spiders' The Noisy Parade poster
8.0

Gangsters smuggle diamonds through customs by embedding them in The Spiders' tambourine, then go on a cross-country chase of the rock-and-roll band in order to get them back. Another gang is searching for something The Spiders have, too, and now the two gangs are willing to kill to get it, with the boys caught in the middle!

The Spiders' The Noisy Parade

1968

The Sunset Is Crying poster
NR

Young men get together and dream of becoming a successful band, while a young woman (Masako Izumi) dreams of becoming a successful manager. Inspired by her brother, a Jazz Guitarist (Shoji Yokouchi) and the successful band The Spiders, they form a new band called "Young & Fresh" and work hard to make it.

The Sunset Is Crying

1967

The Spiders: Big Commotion! poster
10.0

The Spiders arrive back in Tokyo and end up in a car accident with a beautiful fan, Yuko, who the lead singers fall in love with while she convalesces at the Hospital.

The Spiders: Big Commotion!

1968

Series credits

Churasan poster
9.7

The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, from Tokyo come to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly. However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko and her sons came to Okinawa to spend his last moment together in beautiful nature. Fumiya, Kazuya’s younger brother, and Eri promise to marry each other someday. However after Kazuya’s death, Fumiya and his mother leave the island to go back to Tokyo. Years later, they are reunited, Eri as a nurse and Fumiya, a doctor, working at the same hospital in Tokyo.

Churasan

2001

Furuhata Ninzaburo poster
8.8

Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.

Furuhata Ninzaburo

1994

Monkey poster
8.1

Buddhist priest Tripitaka and his three disciples Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy, travel from China to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures. They have been sent by Buddha, and getting these scriptures will bring peace to the people of the world.

Monkey

1978

Tokugawa Yoshinobu poster
10.0

The 37th NHK Taiga Drama is Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The series focuses on the life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th and final ruler of the Tokugawa period. Born the seventh son of Lord Nariaki of Mito, Yoshinobu is named shogun when he is just 29 years old. With a wisdom and vision beyond his years, he tries to prolong the life of this 200-year-old dynasty which began with Ieyasu. However, he is unable to forestall the winds of revolution as clans in Choshu, Satsuma and Tosa, with the help of the Imperial Court, clamor for change.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu

1998

時間ですよ poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

時間ですよ

1970

The Black Swindler poster
7.5

Kurosaki is a vigilante who scams criminals to rectify their misdeeds, driven by his father's attempted suicide after being deceived by criminal mastermind Toshio Katsuragi, who cost Kurosaki his family.

The Black Swindler

2006

Kono Subarashiki Sekai poster
6.0

A 'spoof comedy" in which a housewife who lives an ordinary life is forced to live a double life while pretending to be a major actress active in the entertainment industry.

Kono Subarashiki Sekai

2023

Tennō no Ryōriban poster
8.0

A biographical series about Tokuzō Akiyama, who served as the imperial cook, from his youth until he became the chief cook of the Ministry of the Imperial Household.

Tennō no Ryōriban

1980

Best Friend poster
NR

Kouhei asks his girlfriend Kaede to marry him. He also reveals that his company going to transfer him to London office and that he would like his bride-to-be to come along. As Kaede walks home she bumps into Yuuko, a girl from far-off Yaizu who has come to town for meeting with her ex-boyfriend's buisiness partner. The girls inadvertently swap addresses books in the confusion, leading Kaede to discover that Yuuko has meeting planned with Kouhei. She immediately expects the worse.

Best Friend

1995

Impossible Love poster
NR

Shogo is a divorced man with one daughter. In his younger days, he was briefly in a band but it quickly broke up, and he took on a job at a record company. At the age of 60, he falls in love with the 35-year-old Kaede, but her career and values are very different from his own. In addition, Kaede already has an "ikemen" boyfriend. --Tokyograph

Impossible Love

2008

No artwork available
1.0

No synopsis available yet.

Papa Survival

1995

パパ・サヴァイバル poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

パパ・サヴァイバル

—

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

ザッツ宴会テイメント

2008

Sayonara Sankaku Mata Kite Shikaku poster
NR

The interactions of two families that have lived next door to each other for generations.

Sayonara Sankaku Mata Kite Shikaku

1982

The Most Useful School in the World poster
NR

This show's educational philosophy is to call professors of all ages and countries, and have them lecture on 「Useful Studies」 By solving the「Honyarara Questions」,this show will give out the「Living Hints」that you can learn to change your living. This means, by watching this show at home, you can take classes that are held at the world's highest learning institution, which will make the scales on your eyes fall off.

The Most Useful School in the World

2004

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The TOP10

1981