木下惠介
Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, Yamada attended Waseda University before entering the Shōchiku film studios, where he trained as an assistant director under Keisuke Kinoshita. He left the company at age 30 to focus on writing scripts for television dramas, penning such successful series as "Kishibe no arubamu" and "Fuzoroi no ringotachi". He has also written scripts for film and the stage.