Ayuko Tsukahara

Ayuko Tsukahara (Japanese: 塚原 あゆ子, Hepburn: Tsukahara Ayuko) is a director from Saitama Prefecture, Japan.^[1] She belongs to TBS Sparkle and has directed many television series for TBS Television and films. Her notable works include the television series Unnatural, La Grande Maison Tokyo, and MIU404. She made her film directorial debut in 2018 with Cafe Funiculi Funicula.

Ayuko Tsukahara
塚原 あゆ子
Born	Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Alma mater	Chiba University
Occupations	Television series director, Film director TBS Sparkle
Years active	1997-
Notable work	Unnatural, La Grande Maison Tokyo, and MIU404
Awards	Hochi Film Awards for Last Mile (2024)
Website	TBS Sparkle

History

Tsukahara was born and raised in Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture. She was influenced by her mother, who taught the drama club at junior high school, she later worked for a media production company that produced television series.^[2] Tsukahara joined Kinoshita Productions (currently TBS Sparkle) in 1997 after graduating from Chiba University with a Bachelor of Arts.^[3] When she was a college student, she was just an ordinary college student who liked movies and theater. When she was looking for a job, she saw on a website that they were looking for a screenwriter, and thinking, "I am a major in literature, so I could probably do some writing work," she applied to her current company.^[4] After joining the company, she worked as an assistant director for a television series. Her main duties were to find locations and to create the character setting for the television series and to support the director and do other chores. After 10 years of working as an assistant director, she decided that she wanted to work primarily as a director, not as an assistant director.^[4] She directed her first television series in 2005 with Yume de Aimashou, followed by the popular Unnatural, La Grande Maison Tokyo, and MIU404. She won the Galaxy Award for Excellence in Television for Unnatural and other awards.^[1] She received Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Award in 2021 for her production of MIU404.^[3][5] She made her film directorial debut in 2018 with Cafe Funiculi Funicula, followed by As Long As We Both Shall Live (My Happy Marriage) in 2023, Last mile and La Grande Maison Paris in 2024, etc. She is actively working not only as a television series director but also as a film director.^[6]

Awards

Years	Awards	Department	Work	Ref.
2014	83rd The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Takeyoshi Yamamoto and Akihiro Anami)	Testimony of N	[7]
2015	The 1st Katsumi Oyama Award			[8]
2018	96th The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Kentaro Takemura and Yoshiaki Murao)	Unnatural	[9]
	Tokyo Drama Award 2018	Best Direction	Unnatural	[10]
2020	103rd The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Daisuke Yamamuro and Takahiro Aoyama)	La Grande Maison Tokyo	[11]
	Tokyo Drama Awards 2020	Best Director	La Grande Maison Tokyo	[12]
2021	Art Encouragement Prize, New Face Award, Broadcasting Category		MIU404	[5]
	110th The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Takeyoshi Yamamoto and Yoshiaki Murao)	Dearest	[13]
2022	Tokyo Drama Award 2022	Best Director	Dearest	[14]
	113th The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto)	Ishiko and Haneo: You're Suing Me?	[15]
2023	118th The Television Drama Academy Award	Best Director (with Daisuke Yamamuro, Daiki Hamano and Takayoshi Tanazawa)	Worst to First: A Teen Baseball Miracle	[16]
2024	The 49th Hochi Film Awards	Best Director	Last Mile	[17]

Filmography

Television Series (selected)

Unless otherwise mentioned, this is a TBS Television series

• Last Money: Ai no Nedan (NHK, 2011, Director/Producer)^[18]
• The Night Ferris Wheel (2013, Director)^[19]
• Saburo Sugimura Series (2013, Director)
• Limit (TV Tokyo, 2013, Director/Producer)
• Tonight, Hold My Heart Alone (NHK BS Premium, 2014, Director)
• Alice's Thorn (April 11 - June 13, 2014, Director)^[19]
• Testimony of N (October 17 - December 9, 2014, Director)^[19]
• Second Love (TV Asahi, February 6 - March 20, 2015, Director)
• The Mother Class - The Class of Women (April 14 - June 16, 2015, Director)
• 100 days -Love, Marriage, Sickness and Mom- (October 13 - December 15, 2015, Director)
• It's not that I can't marry. I don't marry. (April 15 - June 17, 2016, Director)
• Tower of Sand (October 14–16, 2016, Director)^[20]
• Reverse (April 14 - June 16, 2017, Director)^[19]
• Unnatural (January 12 - March 16, 2018, Director)^[21]
• TV Tokyo 55th anniversary special drama special “A Not You” (2018, TV Tokyo, Director)^[22]}
• The Good Wife (January 13 - March 17, 2019, Director)
• La Grande Maison Tokyo (October 20 - December 29, 2019, Director)
  • La Grande Maison Tokyo Special (December 29, 2024, Director)^[23]
• MIU404 (June 26 - September 4, 2020, Director) ^[24]}
• Captivated, by You (January 7 - February 5, 2021, MBS TV, Director)^[25]
• Why I Dress Up for Love (April 20 - June 22, 2021, Director)^[26]
• Dearest (October 15, 2021 - December 17, 2021, Director)^[27]
• Ishiko and Haneo: You're Suing Me? - (July 15, 2022 - September 16, 2022, Director)
• Worst to First: A Teen Baseball Miracle (October 15, 2023 - December 17, 2023, Director)^[28]
• The Sleeping Diamond on the sea (October 20, 2024 - December 22, 2024, Director)

Films

• Cafe Funiculi Funicula (2018, Director)
• As Long As We Both Shall Live (2023, Director) ^[29]
• Last Mile (2024, Director)^[30]
• La Grande Maison Paris (2024, Director) ^[31][32]
• First Kiss (scheduled 2025, Director) ^[33]