Born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto in 1933, the son of the director Mansaku Itami, Juzo Itami worked as an actor and essayist before directing at fifty. He wrote and directed ten features, all starring his wife Nobuko Miyamoto, beginning with The Funeral (1984), which won the Japan Academy awards for best picture, director and screenplay. Tampopo (1985), a comedy about food that he called a 'noodle western', and A Taxing Woman (1987) were hits. After Minbo (1992), a satire of the yakuza, he was attacked and slashed by gangsters. He died in 1997 after falling from the roof of his office in Tokyo, which was ruled a suicide, though friends disputed it.
Filmography
- The Funeral (1984) (1984)
- Tampopo (1985)
- A Taxing Woman (1987)
- A Taxing Woman's Return (1988)
- Minbo (1992)
- A Quiet Life (1995)
- Supermarket Woman (1996)