Film on 13 million copy hit opens Tokyo festival

Takahisa Zeze’s film Sukiyaki opens the 2026 Tokyo International Film Festival. The drama details the history of a 1961 song that became a global phenomenon. It sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. The movie charts the story of the musicians who created the track. It also examines how the song became a symbol of Japan’s postwar recovery.

The story begins in 1959 when composer Hachidai Nakamura was struggling with debt. Rockabilly music was replacing jazz in popularity. Nakamura formed a partnership with lyricist Rokusuke Ei. Ei was a radio writer who had never written song lyrics before. They collaborated to write a rockabilly score for a Toho movie.

In 1961, Nakamura and Ei created the track Ue o Muite Aruko. The title translates to I look upwards as I walk. Nakamura blended traditional Japanese scales with jazz chords and American pop influences. Ei wrote melancholic lyrics inspired by the failure of the Anpo protests. The protests sought to stop a security treaty that kept American troops in Japan. The upward gaze in the song was meant to hold back tears.

Singer Kyu Sakamoto was hired on short notice for the premiere at Tokyo’s Sankei Hall on July 21, 1961. He received the sheet music only two hours before the performance. Without rehearsal, he changed the key and rhythm. He sang the four-beat song in eight beats and came in a beat late. These improvisations gave the song its distinctive sound.

The single became the best domestic song from November 1961 to January 1962. It sold 300,000 copies in Japan. In 1962, Louis Benjamin from British label Pye Records discovered the melody while in Tokyo. He gave it to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. They recorded an instrumental version titled Sukiyaki. That version reached the British top ten in February 1963.

Capitol Records in the United States later released the original Japanese version under the title Sukiyaki. It entered record stores on May 3, 1963. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June. It stayed at the top for three weeks. This made Sakamoto the first Asian artist to achieve that milestone. It took until 2020 for BTS to repeat the feat with Dynamite.

The song topped charts from Australia to Norway. Japan’s economy was growing rapidly at the time. Companies like Sony and Toyota were becoming global brands. The hit added to national pride after wartime defeat. A reissue in 1963 featured the title in katakana and the phrase global hit on the packaging.

The film releases in Japan on Christmas Day. It brings the trio back together on screen. Sakamoto had wanted to reunite them just days before his death. He died in a plane crash in 1985. The song remains part of the annual memorial service for the disaster.