Yukiko Takayama

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Yukiko Takayama (April 4, 1940 – June 2, 2023) was a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Born in Tokyo, she was the daughter of Nihonga painter Tatsuo Takayama. After graduating from Keio University, she studied screenwriting at the Scenario Center while working as a housewife. She wrote for the 1974 anime Hoshi no Ko Chobin and made her screenwriting debut with Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), the fifteenth Godzilla film, becoming the franchise’s first female main staff member. She later wrote Monarch: The Big Bear of Tallac (1977) and worked on the Hissatsu TV series, including three episodes for Hissatsu Shigotonin (1981–1982) and Hissatsu Shigotonin Gekitotsu (1991–1992). Takayama also directed films, starting with Kaze no Katami (1996) and Musume Dojoji: Jaen no Koi. In 2011 she published the novel Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo, which was later adapted into a film with her as a screenwriter. She taught at the Scenario Center as a lecturer. She died at home in Setagaya, Tokyo, on June 2, 2023, at age 78. Her funeral took place on June 12 at Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin.