Koki Mitani goes into creative overdrive to celebrate his 50th birthday

by Chris MaGee

It was only the other night that my girlfriend and I were in mood for a good laugh, so what better thing to do that pop in the DVD of Koki Mitani's screwball comedy "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald"? This was my, like so many other people I know, first exposure to the work of the wildly popular writer and stage and screen director. Since seeing "Mr. McDonald" I've seen and enjoyed Mitani's other films like "The Wow-Choten Hotel", and "The Magic Hour" as well as the Mitani scripted/ Mamoru Hoshi directed "The University of Laughs".

Mitani is obviously a prolific artist, but according to Tokyograph Mitani will be all the more prolific in 2011. Next year Mitani will be celebrating his 50th birthday and instead of waiting for his friends to throw him a big bash Mitani is taking matters into his own hands. To celebrate his 50th year Mitani is planning to release a total of seven new works. These will include four stage plays, a TV series and Mitani's very first novel, plus the supernatural courtroom comedy ""Suteki na Kanashibari" starring Eri Fukatsu (read our original report here).

AndI thought us guys at the Pow-Wow worked hard! Just redaing this news makes me tired... Thanks to Samkei Sports for the above photo of the very busy Koki Mitani.