---
name: "Masato Harada"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/masato-harada"
fi1m_id: "masato-harada"
imdb_id: "nm0361735"
tmdb_id: 52909
wikidata_id: "Q11330"
roles: []
born: "3 July 1949"
died: "8 December 2025"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-05T02:54:22.178517+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Masato Harada

## Identity

Masato Harada

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/masato-harada
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** masato-harada
- **IMDb ID:** nm0361735
- **TMDB ID:** 52909
- **Wikidata ID:** Q11330
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masato_Harada, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11330, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0361735/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52909

Director. Born 3 July 1949 in Numazu, Prefettura di Shizuoka, Giappone. Died 8 December 2025.

## Details

- **Born:** 3 July 1949, Numazu, Prefettura di Shizuoka, Giappone
- **Died:** 8 December 2025
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masato_Harada, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11330, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0361735/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52909

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Last Samurai*](https://film.one/film/the-last-samurai.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Masato Harada (1949–2025) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, critic and occasional actor. He made his directorial debut in 1979 and later studied at Tokyo Visual Arts College and Pepperdine University after spending time in London and Los Angeles, where he worked as a film critic.

Harada directed films including *Bounce Ko Gals* (1997), *Climber's High* (2008), *Sekigahara* (2017) and *Hell Dogs* (2022). He was also known internationally for acting roles as Omura in *The Last Samurai* (2003) and Mr Mita in *Fearless* (2006). He received multiple Japan Academy Film Prize nominations for Best Director.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Last Samurai* (2003), Fi1m 72, as Omura — [page](https://film.one/film/the-last-samurai.md)

## Complete filmography (41)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Bad Lands* (2023), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Hell Dogs* (2022), Director, Screenplay
- *Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai* (2021), Director, Screenplay
- *Killing for the Prosecution* (2018), Director, Screenplay
- *Sekigahara* (2017), Director, Screenplay
- *The Emperor in August* (2015), Director, Screenplay
- *Kakekomi* (2015), Director, Screenplay
- *Chronicle of My Mother* (2012), Director, Screenplay
- *Early Autumn* (2011), Director, Writer
- *Climber's High* (2008), Director, Screenplay
- *The Shadow Spirit* (2007), Director, Writer
- *The Suicide Song* (2007), Director, Writer
- *Fearless* (2006), as Mita
- *Beat Kids* (2005), Writer
- *Bluestockings* (2005), Director, Writer
- *The Last Samurai* (2003), as Omura — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-last-samurai.md)
- *The Choice of Hercules* (2002), Director, Screenplay
- *Inugami* (2001), Director, Writer, Screenplay
- *Jubaku: Spellbound* (1999), Director
- *Ring 2* (1999), Producer
- *The Spiral* (1998), Producer
- *Bounce Ko Gals* (1997), Director, Writer
- *The President's Christmas Tree* (1996), Adaptation
- *Rowing Through* (1996), Director
- *Trouble-Shooters* (1995), Director, Writer
- *Kamikaze Taxi* (1995), Director, Writer
- *Painted Desert - TUFF Theatrical Edition* (1994), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Tuff Part V - Killing Anthology* (1992), Director, Screenplay
- *Tuff Part IV - Harvest of Blood* (1991), Director, Screenplay
- *Tuff Part III - Business Killing* (1991), Director, Screenplay
- *Tuff Part II - Revenge* (1991), Screenplay
- *Monster Heaven: Ghost Hero* (1990), Writer
- *Tuff Part I - Origin* (1990), Director, Screenplay
- *Gunhed* (1989), Director, Screenplay
- *The Heartbreak Yakuza* (1987), Director, Screenplay
- *Onyanko the Movie - One Shot Crisis!* (1986), Screenplay, Director
- *Paris/Dakar 1500* (1986), Director, Writer
- *Terra Warrior Ψ BOY* (1985), Writer
- *Out of Focus* (1985), Director
- *Windy Story* (1984), Director, Writer
- *Goodbye, Flickmania* (1979), Director, Screenplay

## Gallery

- ![Masato Harada](https://film.one/media/person/5605461/gallery-bbd4b29be48a.jpg) Masato Harada — Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Harada_Masato_%22The_World_of_Harada_Masato%22_at_Opening_Ceremony_of_the_28th_Tokyo_International_Film_Festival_%2822241828180%29.jpg/1280px-Harada_Masato_%22The_World_of_Harada_Masato%22_at_Opening_Ceremony_of_the_28th_Tokyo_International_Film_Festival_%2822241828180%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Masato Harada](https://film.one/media/person/5605461/gallery-74c25b0aee84.jpg) Masato Harada — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 3 won

- Mainichi Film Award for Best Screenplay 2016: Mainichi Film Award for Best Screenplay (won), for *Kakekomi*
- Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director 2015: Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director (won)
- Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Director 1998: Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Director (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/masato-harada