In a four-decade career, Haruhiko Arai has become an acclaimed scriptwriter with credits that include "Vibrator" (2003), "It's Only Talk" (2005) and "Kabukicho Love Hotel" (2014), three of the best films by his frequent collaborator, the director Ryuichi Hiroki.
Arai also edits and publishes "Eiga Geijutsu," a film magazine notorious for its annual "Best Ten" and "Worst Ten" polls, with the latter attracting more attention for its contrarian picks, including films by Naomi Kawase, Hirokazu Kore-eda and other internationally noted Japanese auteurs.
Last year Arai was played by Kisetsu Fujiwara in "Dare to Stop Us," Kazuya Shiraishi's 2018 drama about renegade director Koji Wakamatsu and his circle in the late 1960s and early '70s.