Many American fans of Toho movies may not be aware of it, but much of what kept the studio afloat during the 1950s and '60s (and even later, although the appeal fizzled out towards the 1970s) consisted of light comedy films about office workers. Perhaps the most significant series during that time was the President [Shachō] series, starring Hisaya Morishige as Okanda, an irreverent company president, Keiju Kobayashi as Suyama, his practical-minded secretary, and a semi-regular cast of tertiary characters including Frankie Sakai, Daisuke Katō, Asami Kuji, Norihei Miki, Yoko Tsukasa, Ichirō Arashima, and more. The series ran for 33 films between 1956 and 1970, with an additional six films that are considered adjacent to the series itself. The majority of entries were directed by the same two people: Shue Matsubayashi and Toshio Sugie. Nobuo Aoyagi, Yasuki Chiba and Kunio Watanabe helmed early entries, but after Salaryman Chushingura, directorial duties were traded off between Sugie and Matsubayashi for the rest of the series' run. There's never really been a huge push to export this kind of film outside of Japan, as far as I know.
The President series was not, of course, the only set of salaryman films Toho produced. The much shorter Diary of a Successful Salaryman [Sarariiman shusse taikoki] series - which we'll look at in a bit - starred Keiju Kobayashi in the president role. Kobayashi also appeared with Morishige in the Third-Class Executive [Santōjūyaku] trilogy early in the 1950s. Honestly, if you want a list of salaryman comedies, just look at Kobayashi's filmography - these types of role were his bread and butter.
The scope of our current examination of these works is necessarily going to be quite narrow (as in, we're only going to be covering the ones that Akihiko Hirata was in, which should be obvious considering that this is, in fact, an Akihiko Hirata fansite), but it's worth bringing in some other titles to provide context. Now that we have that out of the way, though, we're going to look at everything in Hirata's filmography that could merit being called a "salaryman comedy". All English titles used in this article are unofficial, and are sourced from Galbraith’s Toho Studios Story.
I am limiting this list to salaryman comedies, specifically - we'd be here all day if I just went through all the films Hirata had a role in that took place partially or mostly in an office (Young Challengers, one or two Crazy Cats movies, The Luckiest Day, Structure of Hate, et cetera).
Company President in High Spirits [Harikiri shachō], 1956, dir. Kunio Watanabe
I covered this one a while ago. It is the third entry in the series and the only one to be directed by Watanabe, and also marks the introduction of Asami Kuji as a regular cast member, playing Okanda's wife. Until early 2021 it was not available on home media.
Very loosely, the film is about Okanda coming up with various schemes to improve sales for his bicycle company. Okanda's personality gets in the way of socializing with potential benefactors, and he ends up holding a "Miss Cycle" contest to promote his company, which lands him in trouble with his new wife. Suyama, simultaneously, has some light relationship troubles. Hirata's appearance in the film consists entirely of one scene (unless you count a photo of him that is seen earlier) and he is quite literally only there to look pretty. He's brought in as a potential romantic rival standing in the way of Suyama and the girl he's trying to court.
Employee With the Secret Savings and the Autocrat President - Employee With the Secret Savings Fights Bravely [Hesokuri shain to wanman shachō - Hesokuri shain kantosu], 1956, dir. Motoyoshi Oda
These two have some tokusatsu appeal - Motoyoshi Oda made Godzilla Raids Again! This film stars Norihei Miki, Kingoro Yanagiya, Yasuko Nakata, Gen Funahashi and Hiroshi Koizumi, and the plot seems to revolve around "a drug that makes you hate alcohol". This one and its sequel were adapted from a book by Ichiro Kitamachi, who was a prolific and multi-award-winning novelist during the 1940s and '50s.
Hesokuri shachō was the name of the first film in the President series, released in early 1956, and Kitamachi released Hesokuri shain in 1957, but the two have nothing to do with each other. This film was part of a duology, the second of which we'll cover next, and ran for only 53 minutes - but the second was even shorter, clocking in at just 46 minutes. We have just exactly one still from the film courtesy of Laputa Asagaya, who screened it at some point in 2007, and it's grainy and small, but it's the kind of picture we want.
There must have been other screenings or broadcasts since then, as the film's only review on Filmarks is from 2024; although I suppose it is plausible that somebody who saw it in 2007 decided "hey, let me review that salaryman comedy I saw seventeen years ago". You can find another short review from someone who watched it at Laputa here.
Employee With the Secret Savings and the Autocrat Company President - The Autocrat President's Pure Heart [Hesokuri shain to wanman shachō - Wanman shachō junjo su], 1956, dir. Motoyoshi Oda
The second part in the duology, released a week after the first, features all the same actors. Hirata seems to have had somewhat of a more important role in this second film, and we can get an idea of what his character was like: spoiled and not very nice, apparently; a torrid relationship wherein Hirata's character Oda continues to make unwanted advances towards Yasuko Nakata's character Masako takes up a large part of the plot. Koizumi and Hirata's characters get into a physical fight at one point, and ultimately Nakata ends up with Funahashi's character, who is named Onoda, so, really, she went from one Onoda to the next.
One reviewer suggests that Yanagiya not fitting the image of a company president was the reason why the series ended after two films, but I'm not sure if that implies that this was an attempt by Toho to get a series off the ground or if it's just speculation (these films lack a Wikipedia page). For this one we have a Toho News pamphlet, a poster, and a press photo, but none of them feature Hirata's character, despite him playing what essentially sounds like the main antagonist role, if a salaryman comedy can be said to have antagonists. Read a review here; I can't determine what screening this reviewer saw.
Speaking of screenings, I have confirmed that this movie was actually re-screened at the now-closed Yurakuza theater two years after its release as part of a Tanabata festival in the town of Musashi-Kosugi. The H-Man was part of that lineup as well. I have read that there's a picture inside this book of the Fuse Line Theater (the Lion-za at the time) displaying a marquee for this film, but I haven't seen it.
Props to Motoyoshi Oda, it's a bold move to direct a movie in which the most unlikeable character shares your surname.
Diary of a Successful Salaryman - Conclusion - Bridegroom Manager No. 1 [Sarariiman shusse taikoki - kanketsuhen - Hanamuko-bucho No. 1], 1960, dir. Masanori Kakei
The fifth and final film in the Successful Salaryman series is also the only one that Hirata appeared in. Other stars include Keiju Kobayashi, Reiko Dan, Ikio Sawamura, Daisuke Katō, Ichirō Arashima, Arihiro Fujimura and Mickey Curtis. We have one poster, featuring some guys in brownface (the film involves the sale of a new car model to Iraq) and our man, who looks vaguely like Tatsuya Nakadai here for some reason. I believe this film was shown alongside Daughters, Wives and a Mother, which does actually have Tatsuya Nakadai in it. We can watch a very cringey two and a half minute clip of the film here, but honestly I wouldn't recommend it. If nothing else it at least proves that this movie has been digitized at some point.
By far the most interesting thing about this movie is that the grandchild of Linda Beech, the white woman pictured on the poster above, posted on Reddit thirteen years ago hoping to connect with someone who could help them find more information about her. I'm unsure if this person's search was successful, but since Beech doesn't have a Wikipedia page, it's nice to hear a little more about her.
Executive Candidate No. 1 [Jūyaku koho-sei NO. 1], 1962, dir. Kengo Furusawa
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| That headshot of Hirata is actually not from the film and is one of his "official" Toho portraits. |
According to Wikipedia, this is a Momotaro adaptation centered around salary workers. Wikipedia also notes that because the film was released immediately before Furusawa's far more famous work Irresponsible Age of Japan, its theater run lasted only one week, and it fell into obscurity. Stars include Tadao Takashima, Mie Hama, Hiroshi Sugi, Ureo Egawa (Dr. Ichinotani from Ultra Q), Yumi Shirakawa and Akira Oizumi. I can't say much about this one but we do at least have some nice posters. I suppose Hirata must have had a decent role considering he is on both of them.
Money is Most Important [Banji okane], 1964, dir. Shue Matsubayashi
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| This is the hand gesture for "money". |
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| I stole this from somebody's blog so I have no idea who the person highlighted in yellow is, but you can see Hirata (in hat, to the left of Kyu Sakamoto) in the front row. |
The film was adapted from a novel by Keita Genji by the prolific screenwriter Toshiro Ide and headlined by popular singer Kyu Sakamoto of "Sukiyaki" fame. Watch two minutes of retro Japan B-roll from the film here. Reviews indicate that this was a very fun and light-hearted movie but, surprisingly, Sakamoto doesn't sing at any point, and plays a comedy-relief-type character. It doesn't seem like this one is too obscure, but still, it doesn't have any home media release.
Hirata plays Sakamoto's rival, a manipulative billionaire "in his forties" who tries to use his money to win over the woman Sakamoto loves. Other stars include Yuriko Hoshi, Ichirō Arashima, Mie Hama, Junzaburo Ban, Chieko Naniwa and Ikio Sawamura. You know, I'm realizing that a lot of Hirata's roles in these films fit into a character archetype that can broadly be defined as "Mr. Steal Your Girl".
Anyway, Money is Most Important is the sole film on our list that got a U.S. release with subtitles, which was almost certainly thanks to Kyu Sakamoto's worldwide popularity. It first played during late April 1965 for what I think was a fairly short run at the Mamo theater in Hilo, Hawaii, and was hyped as "a gay comedy with a cast of popular funsters". In a surprise turn, this was not the last time the film was seen stateside in the '60s: the next year, in March of 1966, it played on a double-bill at the Pioneer Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is, therefore, probably the closest connection we will ever be able to establish between Akihiko Hirata and Mormonism.
Greenhorn Salaryman: Youth Belongs to Us! [Botchan shain - seishun wa ore no monoda!], 1967, dir. Takeshi Matsumori
Thanks to a Noriko Takahashi fansite, we have some pictures from this otherwise fairly obscure film, and the knowledge that a print has been digitized. As far as I understand it, the word "Botchan" entered common parlance after its use as the title of a novel by Natsume Sōseki, and came to refer to a young boy innocent of the ways of the world - so, "greenhorn", basically. Other stars of this film include Tadao Takashima, Yosuke Natsuki, Mie Hama, Yoshiko Toyoura, Yu Fujiki, Jun Tazaki, Ichirō Arashima and Ikio Sawamura. Hirata plays Iwaki, a secretary.
Takashima had previously starred in a series of "Botchan" films for Shintoho, and his appearance as a friend of Natsuki's character in this film led a lot of people to believe that it was a revival of that series. This was also a duology, but we're only looking at the first film here; from what I've heard, the second was mostly a rehash of the first. This particular film was adapted from the novel Botchan shain, also by Keita Genji.
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