Takahisa Zeze’s ‘Sukiyaki’ Premiers at Tokyo Film Festival

For audiences at the 2026 Tokyo International Film Festival, the opening night screening marks a return to a specific moment in Japanese cultural history. The film, titled Sukiyaki and directed by Takahisa Zeze, chronicles the creation of a song that transcended its origins in 1961 to become a global phenomenon. For viewers, the story offers a concrete look at how a local musical partnership evolved into a symbol of postwar national identity.

The narrative focuses on composer Hachidai Nakamura, portrayed by Junichi Okada, and lyricist Rokusuke Ei, played by Tori Matsuzaka. The film depicts their collaboration in the late 1950s, a period when rockabilly was overtaking jazz in popularity. Nakamura, who struggled with debt and addiction after a failed recital, found a way forward by teaming up with Ei, a radio writer with no prior experience in songwriting. They composed a score for a 1959 Toho film, which also serves as the distributor for the 2026 release.

The song in question, originally titled “Ue o Muite Aruko,” was released in 1961. Nakamura blended traditional Japanese scales with jazz chords and American pop influences. Ei’s lyrics, inspired by the failed Anpo protests against the Tokyo-Washington security treaty, featured a character who looks upward to stop tears from falling. The premiere at Tokyo’s Sankei Hall on July 21, 1961, featured singer Kyu Sakamoto, played by Taiga Nakano in the film, who received the sheet music only two hours before the performance.

Sakamoto’s unrehearsed delivery introduced distinct deviations from the written score. He sang in a minor key, altered the rhythm, and entered the melody late, styles he had absorbed from Japanese balladeers. This version, released as a single, sold 300,000 copies in Japan and held the top spot on the Music Life domestic chart from November 1961 to January 1962.

The track gained international traction in 1962 when Louis Benjamin of Pye Records visited Japan. He selected the melody for an instrumental version by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, titled “Sukiyaki,” which reached the British top ten in February 1963. After U.S. instrumental covers failed to gain traction, Capitol Records released the original Japanese version under the “Sukiyaki” title on May 3, 1963. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in June 1963, making Sakamoto the only Japanese artist to achieve a U.S. No. 1 until BTS’s “Dynamite” in 2020.

Global sales eventually exceeded 13 million copies, with the song topping charts in countries ranging from Australia to Norway. In Japan, the success coincided with double-digit economic growth and the rise of brands like Sony and Toyota. The 1963 reissue featured the title in katakana and the packaging legend “global hit,” reinforcing the song’s status as a source of national pride.

Subsequent decades saw the song covered in dozens of languages, including Chinese, Spanish, German, and French. In 1981, the R&B group A Taste of Honey released a version that topped the Billboard R&B chart and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. The group’s lyrics were later sampled in the 1985 hip-hop track “La Di Da Di” by Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick. Sakamoto died in 1985 when Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashed, killing 520 of the 524 people on board. The song has since been used in memorials and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony.

The new film is scheduled to open in Japanese theaters on Christmas Day. It reimagines the trio of Nakamura, Ei, and Sakamoto, whom the singer had expressed a desire to reunite just days before his death in 1985.