Nagaharu Yodogawa

was a Japanese film critic, historian, and television personality. Members of both the Japanese and foreign press have referred to him as the "giant of film critiques", a "cultural institution", as well as "Japan's most famous movie critic".

Early life Yodogawa was born in Kobe and grew up in his father's geisha agency in the Shinkaichi entertainment district, along with his brother and two sisters. His family were regular movie-goers, visiting the cinema several times a week. Yodogawa began accompanying his family at age four. By the age of seven he proved himself to be a budding cinemaphile; he would often go to the movies on his own, seeing as many as ten films in one week. During his three decades as the show's host, he interviewed film stars "ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Steven Seagal".

In 1991, the Yodogawa Nagaharu Award, sponsored by Road Show Magazine (Japan), was created to commemorate the film critic. The award is presented to a person or group who contributed greatly to the Japanese film industry in the preceding year. In 2005, Jackie Chan became the first non-Japanese recipient of the award.

Final years Yodogawa lived the last years of his life in the Zen Nikku Hotel in Tokyo (now ANA InterContinental Tokyo), where he paid for his room in cash every ten days. He continued working as the host of Sunday Western Movie Theatre until just weeks before his death.

Partial bibliography Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1987). Eiga no michi, Jinsei no michi. 350 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1987). Rekishi wa eiga de tsukurareru. 334 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1987). Watakushi no eiga no jikan: Tabi to zatsugaku. 318 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1988). Eiga sen'ya ichiya. 796 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1990). Shine kurabu jidai: Atene furanse bunka sentā tōku sesshon = L'Age du cine-club. 348 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1991). Eiga. 261 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1993). Waga eiga jinsei ni kui nashi. 170 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1999). Saigo no sayonara sayonara sayonara. 334 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1999). Kurosawa Akira o kataru = Yodogawa Nagaharu talks about Kurosawa Akira. 253 pages. . Yodogawa, Nagaharu (1999). Eiga wa kataru. 509 pages. .