James Miki was a Japanese screenwriter, writer, director, and former singer from Mukden City, Fengtien Province, Manchuria, from where he moved to Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture when he was in elementary school.

In the second year of junior high school, his father died suddenly of heart disease. After his father's death, he was planning to take an entrance examination for medical school at the recommendation of his uncle, a doctor, but after entering Osaka Prefectural Ichioka High School, he was enthusiastic about theater. When he was in his second year of high school, his play, which he starred in and directed in his drama club, won the first prize in the Osaka Prefectural High School Drama Contest. During this period, he became an aspiring actor, and when he took the entrance examination for the Haiyuza Theater Company, he passed the competition rate 12 times. In 1953, he dropped out of high school in his third year and moved to Tokyo, where he entered the Haiyuza Theater Company as a fifth-year student.

James married Yamashita Noriko on March 1, 1960. His eldest son is the actor Yamashita Kisuke.

When he was over thirty and his popularity began to decline, he saw a newspaper ad and published his novel, "Soshoku Onpu", in a literary doujinshi. Taking this opportunity, he turned to literary arts and entered the Scenario Research Institute sponsored by the Scenario Writers Association as a research student. Six months later, in 1968, he won the second prize in the 18th Rookie Movie Scenario Contest for his work "Adam no Hoshi". This work caught the eye of film director Nomura Yoshitaro. In 1969, when he was 34, he made his debut as a screenwriter in the movie "Yuzuki".

In 1983, he was hospitalized for a brain tumor, but survived and returned to work.

In 1987, he made a big hit in the taiga drama "Dokuganryu Masamune" and won the highest audience rating in the history of the taiga.

In 1997, he won the Broadcast Culture Fund Award for Screenplay for "Sonzai no Fukaki Nemuri" and "Kenpo Hamada ka".

In 1999, he won the 50th NHK Broadcast Culture Award.

He also works on stage production, novels, and essays. He frequently gives lectures on his experiences with brain tumor at the Constitution of Japan.

On June 14, 2025, he died at the age of 91 due to pneumonia.

(Source: Wikipedia; edited by MyDramaList) Edit Biography