In the Tracks of Shizjun - Wakako Sakai and the Dawn of Youth Cinema (1960-1970s)

In the Tracks of Shizjun - Wakako Sakai and the Dawn of Youth Cinema (1960-1970s)

Wakako Sakai (born April 15, 1949, Tokyo) made her debut in 1964 with the Toho film "Today, Too, We Are in the Sky," and since then has been in the limelight as a representative of the "Seijunha" (pure and pure) generation for her roles in youth dramas and romantic films. During Japan's period of rapid economic growth, the image of women in film and television was changing along with the expansion of youth culture. Against the backdrop of this era, Sakai's portrayal of a woman with a sense of self while maintaining a foundation of "purity" struck a chord with many young people.

One of her best-known films, 1968's "Meguriai" (Toho), depicts the pure love between a working woman and a man in a factory town, in which Sakai plays a female factory clerk, and is regarded by some as the new pinnacle of adolescent cinema. Through this film, she portrayed "young people living in an industrialized and urbanized society," and symbolized the change from the traditional image of "a woman who protects her home" to "a woman who goes out into society. She symbolized the change from the traditional "image of a woman who keeps house" to "the image of a woman who goes out into the world. She also appeared in TV dramas and films such as "The Great Family" (1974), showing the range of her acting as she moved toward maturity.

Compared to other actresses of the same generation, for example, while Sayuri Yoshinaga symbolized purity and pure-heartedness, and Chieko Matsubara had the strength of the lightness of youth, Wakako Sakai established her position as "a woman who is pure but aspires to independence," and in the transitional period of the times, embodied "the image of a woman who quietly accepts change She embodied "the image of a woman who quietly embraces change. The women she portrayed became the epitome of young people reexamining themselves in the midst of the affluence and confusion that greeted postwar Japan.

Wakako Sakai's appearance was a symbol of the calm and certain expectations of that era, when young people gathered at movie theaters were hopeful for the future.