Aki Isoyama, the producer of Japanese titles Extremely Inappropriate! and Ikebukuro West Gate Park, has secured an exclusive five-year deal with Netflix.
Isoyama, who made her debut as a producer with Campus Note in 1996, is known for a string of hit series written by screenwriter Kankuro Kudo including Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Kisarazu Cat’s Eye, Let’s Get Divorced and most recently time-travelling comedy Extremely Inappropriate!, which led Netflix’s most-watched list in Japan for three weeks.
Features she has produced include 2010’s The Lady Shogun And Her Men and 2012’s The Castle Of Crossed Destinies.
Isoyama won Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for her 2021 series Story of My Family!!!, which was also written by Kudo.
Kudo will write the first title produced under Isoyama’s Netflix deal, which includes series and features.
“I want to share a different side of modern Japan beyond period dramas and traditional imagery often seen in foreign films,” said Isoyama. “With streaming amplifying our stories to global audiences, cultural barriers are breaking down, diversity and freedom in storytelling are increasing, and even Japan’s traditional business practices are evolving,” said in a statement.
Netflix’s 2024 slate includes several films and series from Japan, including City Hunter, Drawing Closer, House Of Ninjas and Tokyo Swindlers. In 2023, Japanese-language content was the third most-viewed non-English content on the streaming platform, behind Korean and Spanish.
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