Truck Yaro Turns 50: Bunta Sugawara’s Untold Story of Forming the Iconic Duo with Kin’ya Aikawa

The lingering sense of hunger ingrained during the postwar chaos

Bunta Sugawara, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 81, is best known for the early ’70s Battles Without Honor and Humanity series and the mid-to-late ’70s Truck Yaro series. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Truck Yaro series, five of the ten films will be screened from July 5 to 11 at Shin-Bungeiza Theater in Toshima, Tokyo. The screenings are expected to attract many longtime fans of Sugawara.

The five films being shown are: Truck Yaro: Goiken Muyo (1975, the first film), Truck Yaro: Bakusou Ichibanboshi (1975, the second film), Truck Yaro: Boukyou Ichibanboshi (1976, the third film), Truck Yaro: Dokyou Ichibanboshi (1977, the fifth film), and Truck Yaro: Otoko Ippiki Momojirou (1977, the sixth film).

Directed by Noribumi Suzuki (who passed away in 2014 at age 80), the series features Sugawara passionately playing Momojirou Hoshi, also known as “Ichibanboshi” (First Star), a righteous, compassionate, and amorous driver steering a brightly decorated long-distance truck (“Dekotora”). Kin’ya Aikawa (who died in 2015 at age 80) played Kanzo Matsushita, nicknamed “Jonathan the Widower.”

The author once interviewed Sugawara in July 1975 on the set of the first film, Truck Yaro: Goiken Muyo, at the Toei Tokyo Studio in Nerima, Tokyo.

Regarding how he came to partner with Aikawa, Sugawara revealed the following story:

“More than four years ago, when I was in Hitokiri Yota, I appeared on Live Young! (a Fuji TV show) hosted by Kinkin (Aikawa’s nickname). During a break in filming, he came up to me and said, ‘If there’s a chance, let’s do a movie together.’”

They hit it off discussing films. Later, Sugawara tried several times to get Aikawa into his own starring films but had no luck.

“When the Truck Yaro project came up, things finally moved smoothly, and after four years, we were able to co-star.”

At the time, Sugawara was nearly 42 and Aikawa 41, both from the same generation. Sugawara spoke about what they had in common, which was memorable:

“We both seem to want to do everything. He’s active in TV and radio but also jumped into films, and I, at my age, even tried appearing in concerts with the Downtown Boogie Woogie Band. I don’t really understand it myself, but maybe it’s the lingering hunger ingrained in us from the chaotic postwar period that drives us.”

Kin’ya Aikawa was very particular about comedy

The theme song of the film, Ichibanboshi Blues, sung by Sugawara and Aikawa, was written by Yoko Aki, with music composed by Ryuudo Uzaki of the Downtown Boogie Woogie Band. The insert song, Truck Driving Boogie, was also performed by the same band.

Regarding their roles in the movie, Sugawara explained:

“Kinkin (Aikawa) plays a former police officer and father of eight who’s a truck driver with a somewhat dark side. I play a simple guy who just drives his truck recklessly, so our characters are completely opposite.”

He then revealed an interesting secret:

“He (Aikawa) is very particular about the gags. He has a few writers who come up with jokes, and they brainstorm all kinds of ideas, throwing them out one after another. I take all the good ones I can get.”

Sugawara also expressed his strong enthusiasm:

“I want to make something that will make people say that even Toei films have changed.”

The wild and unpredictable drama played out by the Sugawara-Aikawa duo, along with the comic interactions between the truck drivers and popular leading ladies such as Yutaka Nakajima and Shizue Abe, made the Truck Yaro series popular. During the same period as Shochiku’s Otoko wa Tsurai yo series, two films were released each year around New Year and Obon, sparking what was called the “Tora-Tora showdown” (a rivalry between Truck Yaro and the Tora-san series).

Sugawara expanded his acting range by shifting from the serious role of Shozo Hirano, an executive of the Yamamori gang in Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, to the comedic truck driver under director Noribumi Suzuki’s Truck Yaro series.

He went on to appear in numerous other works such as Dynamite Don Don (1978), The Boss’s Head (1979), Youth’s Gate (1981), and My Grandpa (2003), leaving a significant legacy as one of Japan’s leading actors.

Sugawara’s major contribution—proposing the comedic Truck Yaro series as a counterpoint to his serious real-life yakuza boom sparked by Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and nurturing it into a major box office hit—is a legacy that will never fade.