[1] Born in Porto Alegre, at the age of 2, Tizuka moved back with her Japanese immigrants parents to the city of Atibaia, in the state of São Paulo.

[3] Her film style focuses on historical subjects and she uses the genre of melodrama to reconstruct Brazilian politics, history and culture.

Her films discussed sexuality and traditional gender roles more openly within Brazilian cultural identity.

[5] During her career, especially during the final years of the dictatorship, Yamasaki has suffered censorship and funding issues with her films.

[7] She has, however, been criticized for directing overly commercial movies with the children TV show hostess Xuxa.