34th Japan Academy Prize winners announced!

The winners of the 34th Japan Academy Prize were announced last month. Sang-il Lee's "Akunin" received the most awards, with a total of 15 awards in 13 categories. One of the most notable winners is 6-year-old actress Mana Ashida, the youngest ever to win one of the newcomer awards.



Gossip: Akunin (悪人) is an upcoming Japanese movie directed by Sang-il Lee and based on a serialized crime story by Shuichi Yoshida which was later published as a novel. It will be released by Toho in September 2010.

Most of the categories have five "Excellent" recipients, and one in each category will be chosen for the "Best" awards, to be revealed at the presentation ceremony on February 18.

Picture of the Year:

• Akunin
• Otouto
• Kokuhaku
• Kokou no Mesu
• 13 Assassins

Animation of the Year:

• Colorful
• Karigurashi no Arrietty
• Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Ningyo Daikaisen
• Meitantei Conan: Tenkuu no Lost Ship
• One Piece Film: Strong World

Director of the Year:

• Tetsuya Nakashima (Kokuhaku)
• Izuru Narushima (Kokou no Mesu)
• Takashi Miike (13 Assassins)
• Yoji Yamada (Otouto)
• Sang-il Lee (Akunin)

Screenplay of the Year:

• Masato Kato (Kokou no Mesu)
• Daisuke Tengan (13 Assassins)
• Tetsuya Nakashima (Kokuhaku)
• Yoji Yamada / Emiko Hiramatsu (Otouto)
• Shuichi Yoshida / Sang-il Lee (Akunin)

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:

• Tsurube Shofukutei (Otouto)
• Shinichi Tsutsumi (Kokou no Mesu)
• Satoshi Tsumabuki (Akunin)
• Etsushi Toyokawa (Hisshiken Torisashi)
• Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins)

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

• Shinobu Terajima (Caterpillar)
• Eri Fukatsu (Akunin)
• Takako Matsu (Kokuhaku)
• Hiroko Yakushimaru (Kondo wa Aisaika)
• Sayuri Yoshinaga (Otouto)

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

• Renji Ishibashi (Kondo wa Aisaika)
• Akira Emoto (Akunin)
• Masaki Okada (Akunin)
• Masaki Okada (Kokuhaku)
• Koji Kikkawa (Hisshiken Torisashi)

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

• Yu Aoi (Otouto)
• Kirin Kiki (Akunin)
• Yoshino Kimura (Kokuhaku)
• Yui Natsukawa (Kokou no Mesu)
• Hikari Mitsushima (Akunin)

Outstanding Achievement in Music:

• Koji Endo (13 Assassins)
• Grand Funk (BECK)
• Isao Tomita (Otouto)
• Joe Hisaishi (Akunin)
• Meina Co. (Kondo wa Aisaika)

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography:

• Shoichi Ato / Atsushi Ozawa (Kokuhaku)
• Koichi Ishii (Hisshiken Torisashi)
• Norimichi Kasamatsu (Akunin)
• Nobuyasu Kita (13 Assassins)
• Shinji Chikamori (Otouto)

Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction:

• Susumu Takakura (Kokuhaku)
• Noritaka Chihara (Hisshiken Torisashi)
• Kazuhiro Iwashita (Akunin)
• Yoshiya Watanabe (13 Assassins)
• Koichi Watanabe (Otouto)

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction:

• Towako Kuwashima (Kokuhaku)
• Yohei Taneda / Ryo Sugimoto (Akunin)
• Hidefumi Hanatani (Ooku)
• Yuji Hayashida (13 Assassins)
• Toshiyuki Matsumiya (Sakuradamongai no Hen)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording:

• Kazumi Kishida (Otouto)
• Mitsugu Shiratori (Akunin)
• Yasushi Tanaka (Hisshiken Torisashi)
• Jun Nakamura (13 Assassins)
• Masato Yano (Kokuhaku)

Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing:

• Iwao Ishii (Otouto)
• Tsuyoshi Imai (Akunin)
• Yoshiyuki Koike (Kokuhaku)
• Chieko Suzaki (Hisshiken Torisashi)
• Kenji Yamashita (13 Assassins)

Outstanding Foreign Language Film:

• Avatar (20th Century Fox)
• Inception (Warner Bros.)
• Invictus (Warner Bros.)
• Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney)
• The Hurt Locker (Broadmedia Corporation)

Rookie of the Year:

• Mana Ashida (Ghost: Mou Ichido Dakishimetai)
• Momoka Ono (Kinako: Minarai Keisatsuken no Monogatari)
• Riisa Naka (Zebraman: Zebra City no Gyakushu, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo)
• Kento Nagayama (Soft Boy)
• Shohei Miura (THE LAST MESSAGE: Umizaru)
• Takahiro Miura (RAILWAYS)

Special Award from the Chairman:

• Umetsugu Inoue (director, died February 11 at the age of 86)
• Tanie Kitabayashi (actress, died April 27 at the age of 98)
• Takeo Kimura (art director, died March 21 at the age of 91)
• Keiju Kobayashi (actor, died September 16 at the age of 86)
• Katsumi Nishikawa (director, died April 6 at the age of 91)

Special Award from the Association:

• Ryuzo Ueno (sword fights)
• Hiroshi Kuze (sword fights)
• Ryoji Matsumoto (decoration)
• Nobuo Yajima (special effects)
• Teruyo Nogami (Kurosawa-gumi production manager)

Source: Tokyograph