Yōichi Higashi

Directing

Yōichi Higashi

Born — Died

1934-11-14 — 2026-01-21

Place of birth

Nokami, Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

38 titles

Yōichi Higashi (東陽一 Higashi Yōichi) was a Japanese film director. He began his career working on documentaries at Iwanami Productions but, after going independent, turned to fiction film. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for Yasashii Nipponjin in 1971, and then the award for Best Director at the 17th Hochi Film Awards for The River with No Bridge. In 1996, he won the Silver Bear for an outstanding single achievement at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival for the film Village of Dreams.

Known for

Behind the camera

Village of Dreams poster
6.0

Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.

Village of Dreams

1996

Village of Dreams poster
6.0

Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.

Village of Dreams

1996

A Tale of Happiness poster
5.3

A department manager at his company, buys a one-room apartment to have some space to himself. He signs an agreement with a young woman and has an affair with her once a week at the apartment.

A Tale of Happiness

1988

Third Base poster
6.4

Third is an aimless young man who hangs around with a couple of girls who are amateur hookers. One day, while acting as their pimp, he gets into a conflict with a young gangster and winds up killing him.

Third Base

1978

Metamorphosis poster
5.1

A sensuous movie based on a literary work. Hitomi Kuroki stars as the film’s heroine.

Metamorphosis

1986

The Rape poster
4.5

Yahagi Michiko is accosted and raped walking home one evening. From there she maneuvers the logistics of the police, hospital, and criminal justice system while balancing her home life including romantic relationships.

The Rape

1982

The Rape poster
4.5

Yahagi Michiko is accosted and raped walking home one evening. From there she maneuvers the logistics of the police, hospital, and criminal justice system while balancing her home life including romantic relationships.

The Rape

1982

Manon poster
9.0

A story about a woman who is a research student of a theater company and the three men who are at the mercy of her.

Manon

1981

Manon poster
9.0

A story about a woman who is a research student of a theater company and the three men who are at the mercy of her.

Manon

1981

Four Seasons: Natsuko poster
5.9

A young woman breaks off her long-term relationship with her boyfriend to move to Tokyo in search of new experiences.

Four Seasons: Natsuko

1980

Love Letter poster
4.3

Yuko is in love with an old poet who happens to be also a married man. She waits patiently for him and only him, yet she is constantly being lust by others.

Love Letter

1981

Nurse Natsuko's Hot Summer poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Nurse Natsuko's Hot Summer

2010

Nurse Natsuko's Hot Summer poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Nurse Natsuko's Hot Summer

2010

My Grandpa poster
6.8

Kenzo was behind bars for killing a gangster. Upon his release, he goes to live with his son, whose marriage is on the rocks. His 14-year-old granddaughter Tamako is ostracized when she discovers that her grandfather is a murderer. Kenzo soon helps defend Tamako from bullies at school. When Tamako stands up for herself, she comes to believe that she has inherited some of her grandfather’s great strength. Eventually, an associate of the man Kenzo killed comes looking for revenge, along with the dead man’s son.

My Grandpa

2003

My Grandpa poster
6.8

Kenzo was behind bars for killing a gangster. Upon his release, he goes to live with his son, whose marriage is on the rocks. His 14-year-old granddaughter Tamako is ostracized when she discovers that her grandfather is a murderer. Kenzo soon helps defend Tamako from bullies at school. When Tamako stands up for herself, she comes to believe that she has inherited some of her grandfather’s great strength. Eventually, an associate of the man Kenzo killed comes looking for revenge, along with the dead man’s son.

My Grandpa

2003

The River with No Bridge poster
7.0

A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. In the midst of the 1918 Great Rice Riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets with Asako, the daughter of a rice shop owner, and falls in love with her. She too is of Buraku descent. At the same period, Hideaki, an old friend of the brothers returns to Komori, and he along with Koji and the townspeople create "Zenkoku Suiheisha", the National Levelers Association, an organization pledged to build a bridge over the river of discrimination, making all people equal in every way.

The River with No Bridge

1992

The River with No Bridge poster
7.0

A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. In the midst of the 1918 Great Rice Riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets with Asako, the daughter of a rice shop owner, and falls in love with her. She too is of Buraku descent. At the same period, Hideaki, an old friend of the brothers returns to Komori, and he along with Koji and the townspeople create "Zenkoku Suiheisha", the National Levelers Association, an organization pledged to build a bridge over the river of discrimination, making all people equal in every way.

The River with No Bridge

1992

No More Easy Life poster
7.3

Mariko is living the life of a typical Japanese college student in the 70's, spending far more of her time balancing boyfriends and part-time jobs than on her schoolwork. She finds herself torn between a former boyfriend who's the tough, insensitive-but-sexy, type, and a new acquaintance who's more sensitive to her feelings, but who still acts childishly selfish at times. Will she choose one of them, or decide to go her own way?

No More Easy Life

1979

No More Easy Life poster
7.3

Mariko is living the life of a typical Japanese college student in the 70's, spending far more of her time balancing boyfriends and part-time jobs than on her schoolwork. She finds herself torn between a former boyfriend who's the tough, insensitive-but-sexy, type, and a new acquaintance who's more sensitive to her feelings, but who still acts childishly selfish at times. Will she choose one of them, or decide to go her own way?

No More Easy Life

1979

A Japanese Demon poster
7.7

A psychotherapist suffers from the onslaughts of Satori, the demon whose name is paradoxically homonymic to the word used for enlightenment experiences in the Zen tradition. Many people mistakenly believe that such a state is the goal of Zen practice; however, the demon strikes at people who are in a state devoid of thought or feeling. Satori's influence spreads from the psychotherapist to a couple who grow increasingly uninhibited.

A Japanese Demon

1973

A Japanese Demon poster
7.7

A psychotherapist suffers from the onslaughts of Satori, the demon whose name is paradoxically homonymic to the word used for enlightenment experiences in the Zen tradition. Many people mistakenly believe that such a state is the goal of Zen practice; however, the demon strikes at people who are in a state devoid of thought or feeling. Satori's influence spreads from the psychotherapist to a couple who grow increasingly uninhibited.

A Japanese Demon

1973

Jealousy Game poster
5.8

Set in the wilderness of Hokkaido, the story of a couple in their 30s and a couple in their 20s is drawn, and the subtle emotions of the two men and women are depicted with intense Eros and delicate images under the theme of marriage exchange.

Jealousy Game

1982

The Second Love poster
6.3

Kazumi - whose sensitivity does not undermine her strength when she handles her second husband's emotional conflicts with the wisdom of an adult. Kazumi's younger and more inexperienced husband Hideo is continually suspicious of her fidelity.

The Second Love

1983

The Second Love poster
6.3

Kazumi - whose sensitivity does not undermine her strength when she handles her second husband's emotional conflicts with the wisdom of an adult. Kazumi's younger and more inexperienced husband Hideo is continually suspicious of her fidelity.

The Second Love

1983

The Wangan Highway poster
8.0

Based on the novel of the same name by Yoshio Kataoka.

The Wangan Highway

1984

The Wangan Highway poster
8.0

Based on the novel of the same name by Yoshio Kataoka.

The Wangan Highway

1984

Wandering Home poster
6.4

War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

Wandering Home

2010

Wandering Home poster
6.4

War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

Wandering Home

2010

Somebody's Xylophone poster
6.3

A married woman obsesses over a hairstylist she becomes involved with.

Somebody's Xylophone

2016

Somebody's Xylophone poster
6.3

A married woman obsesses over a hairstylist she becomes involved with.

Somebody's Xylophone

2016

The Gentle Japanese poster
10.0

A survivor of the tragic mass suicides on Tokashiki Island in 1945 falls in love with a near-mute motorcycle engineer.

The Gentle Japanese

1971

The Gentle Japanese poster
10.0

A survivor of the tragic mass suicides on Tokashiki Island in 1945 falls in love with a near-mute motorcycle engineer.

The Gentle Japanese

1971

The Crying Wind poster
6.6

Seikichi, makes his living fishing from a small boat off the coast of Okinawa. He and his 12-year-old grandson Akira live in a small, tree-lined village in the northern part of the island which is surrounded by a white-sand beach and plots of pine and flowering bushes. On the cliff that skirts the shore sits an open-air burial ground containing the skull of a kamikaze pilot who was shot down during the last days of World War II. When the wind blows through the bullet hole in the skull, it produces a whistling sound. The locals call it the "Crying Head."

The Crying Wind

2004

Mad Sultry Sisters poster
NR

One day, Yoko visits her long-distance lover on a whim, but finds her older sister Mikiko sleeping in his bed. Brokenhearted, Yoko begins a relationship with a man she meets by chance…

Mad Sultry Sisters

2011

Mad Sultry Sisters poster
NR

One day, Yoko visits her long-distance lover on a whim, but finds her older sister Mikiko sleeping in his bed. Brokenhearted, Yoko begins a relationship with a man she meets by chance…

Mad Sultry Sisters

2011

The Crossing poster
8.0

14-year-old Takuya lives in a rural town near mountains and rivers. His 29-year-old uncle Koji works as a graphic designer in urban Tokyo. Koji's father dies and Takuya is arrested for attempted robbery-the two young men must now face a crucial crossing in their lives. The concluding chapter to director Higashi Yoichi's "boy and river" trilogy, the film highlights contemporary themes like family, adolescence, and the healing properties of nature. The wild but beautiful Kuma River stars as a threatening symbol for the boy's rite of passage. Supernatural beings reign in the mountains above the village.

The Crossing

2000

The Crossing poster
8.0

14-year-old Takuya lives in a rural town near mountains and rivers. His 29-year-old uncle Koji works as a graphic designer in urban Tokyo. Koji's father dies and Takuya is arrested for attempted robbery-the two young men must now face a crucial crossing in their lives. The concluding chapter to director Higashi Yoichi's "boy and river" trilogy, the film highlights contemporary themes like family, adolescence, and the healing properties of nature. The wild but beautiful Kuma River stars as a threatening symbol for the boy's rite of passage. Supernatural beings reign in the mountains above the village.

The Crossing

2000

Okinawa Islands poster
7.0

A film documenting life in Okinawa under the domination of American military bases

Okinawa Islands

1969