Departures of note

Izuru Narushima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter born in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He began making films in a university film circle and entered the Pia Film Festival in 1986 with his short Midori Onna. He studied under directors such as Morishige and Hasegawa and worked as an assistant director on films by Sōmai and others before debuting as a screenwriter in 1994 with Osaka Gokudō Sensō Shinoidare.

He made his directorial debut in 2003 with Yudan Taiteki and went on to direct numerous notable films, including Fly, Daddy, Fly, Midnight Eagle, The Lone Scalpel, and Solomon's Perjury. His 2011 film Rebirth, an adaptation of a novel by Mitsuyo Kakuta, won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Art Encouragement Prize.

His 2014 film Cape Nostalgia, starring Sayuri Yoshinaga, won the Grand Prix of the Ecumenical Jury and the Special Grand Prix of the Jury at the Montreal World Film Festival. He also directed Father of the Galactic Railroad and 52-Hertz Whales. Narushima died of lung cancer in August 2026 at the age of 65.