Yousuke Sakakibara

"Man, it's hot in India!"

- Yousuke Sakakibara complains to his son about the weather in India.

Yousuke Sakakibara (榊原 洋介, Sakakibara Yousuke) is Kouichi's widowed father. He is a college professor, and is away in India for the year for work. In the anime, his face is never revealed.

Appearance
In the manga, he has black hair, as well as black eyes. He never directly appears in the anime or live-action film; he is heard on the phone in the former, and mentioned indirectly in the latter.

Personality
He seems to be a cheerful father, but also serious. He's also quite funny, even though Kouichi feels as though he is not a very ideal father.

Plot
Yousuke is only ever heard over the phone, as he's away in India for work, which is what prompts Kouichi being sent to Yomiyama in the first place. Though he's often cheerful and flippant with his son, on some level Kouichi despises him, complaining to his aunt (and later Mei) about his lackluster parenting, which among other things, has led to Kouichi becoming a proficient chef. Reiko doesn't seem to like him very much, immediately assuming he wouldn't support Kouichi's plans to attend an art college after high school. Kouichi's grandmother later told him Reiko had offered to take him in if Yousuke didn't shape up as a father.

Yousuke, being in mainland Asia, isn't as strongly affected by the curse as those still in Japan, as he occasionally slips up and remembers Kouichi having been to Yomiyama before.

Trivia

 * His first name, Yousuke, means "daytime mediate".
 * His last name, Sakakibara, can be translated as the truth of the sacred Shinto tree field.
 * In the anime, he stated that, like his son, he also suffered pneumothorax when he was Kouichi's age. It stopped the second time his lung collapsed.