Misako Watanabe

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Youjin is a quirky young man living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Yojin has a difficult time sitting still and can't focus on extended conversations. His life revolves around farming his grandmother's vegetable garden. Yojin experiences a new kind of feeling when he meets a pretty young lady named Machiko. The feelings are strong enough that he feels the need to be with her and gain her affection.

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.

Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.

Knowing that he has only a month to live, a pianist goes back to his beloved ocean. He meets a girl with a broken leg. She is the daughter of his dearest woman who died many years ago. The relationship between them becomes closer. They rescue a man who tries to commit suicide. When the pianist is nearing his end, that man finds love in the girl's heart...

A sharpshooter kills two prisoners in a police van at night. The guard on the van is suspended for six months; he's Tamon, an upright, modest man. He begins his own investigation into the murders. Who were the victims, who are their relatives and girlfriends, who else was on the van that night? As he doggedly investigates, others die, coincidences occur, and several leads take him to the Hamaju Agency, which may be supplying call girls. Its owner is in jail, his daughter, the enigmatic Yuko, keeps turning up where Tamon goes. Tamon believes he can awaken good in people, but has he met his match? Will he solve the murders or be the next victim? And who is Akiba?

Awkward and withdrawn, Masako kills her sister in an explosion of pent-up humiliation and rage that sends her tumbling into fugitive life.

Kôsuke Kindaichi, a somewhat peculiar private detective, visits a remote town. He meets a police detective and they start to investigate an old unsolved murder. Then some murders happen. Kindaichi must find out about the past in order to reveal who the murderer is.

Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, The Great Passage. In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems.

The days leading up to a toddler's second birthday are seen alternately from the child's point of view as well as that of his parents.

An ardent culture-vulture youth, previously charged for the murder of a woman when he was young, plans to hold hostage a local bank.

When the man who seduced the famous painter Otoko as a teenager--and then wrote a bestselling novel about it--reappears in her life, her pupil--and lesbian lover--hatches a plot to destroy the man and his family.

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

Set in post-war Japan, a group of five, four men and one woman, gathers in the basement of a butcher shop to dig up a cache of morphine buried during the war. A grimly humorous tale of twisted relationships as one by one each of the group is eliminated.

Tsugumi, who lives in a small seaside town, has been in delicate health from birth. Her parents spoiled her and she is rough and selfish. However, a few people are attracted by her beauty and unique character.

Rennyo was the key figure responsible for the restoration of Shin Buddhism in Japan, in particular the Honganji lineage that had a slump in its fortunes during the Middle Ages. According to the legend, his motivation was a pivotal childhood incident at the age of six when his mother summoned him and told him about his destiny to revive the fortunes of the Honganji school to which he was the next in line. She then mysteriously disappeared from the temple. Taking her words to heart, from a background of great poverty and hardship, at the age of 16 he set out to spread the word across the land.

On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown to his family and colleagues. A bevy of lawyers and associates scheme to procure the money for themselves, enlisting the aid of impostors and blackmail.

Minami Yasuo, a college student, lives with Yuriko who has become the mistress of a foreigner named Wilson. Whenever Wilson comes, Yasuo spends his time in the tea-shop "La Gana." Yasuo is asked by his brother Shigeru to teach French to Akiko, a young girl who is studying French songs. Yasuo then learns that he is the winner of an essay contest and will be offered a scholarship to study in France. Akiko, is now pregnant and Yasuo promises to break with Yuriko.

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.

It's a story of the life of a man who advocated the necessity of sex education to children, which was unusual at the time, solely opposed to the amendment of the Peace Preservation Law, and was assassinated by a rightist prior to his opposition speech.

Japanese drama film.

The monologue and mysterious death of a man who survived and returned from Iwo Jima. A newspaper reporter writes an article about "The Man from Iwo Jima" asking the people who were close to him about his character and the painful memories off all those involved.

Fictionalized account of 20-year-old Noriko Tsuji, a real-life victim of a severe birth defect which afflicted 8,000 Japanese, children whose mothers took the sedative thalidomide during pregnancy. Tsuji has stunted flipper-like arms amputated at the behest of a father who deserted her soon after her birth. Nonetheless, the resourceful Noriko uses her feet to accomplish most of the tasks others would do with their hands.

The Master’s late-night diner welcomes a woman troubled by funeral fans, an elderly scam victim, and a noodle delivery man struggling with love.

Three Iga ninja are on a hunt for Chidoken, a Takeda ninja sent out to assasinate Lord Nobunaga.

The young Takako Kuramoto has come to Tokyo to study and starts working for the rich Tashiro family as tutor of the daughter, Kumiko, while she receives attention from her two older brothers, Yukichi and Shinji. Meanwhile, the exact parentage of Shinji comes to light.

A delinquent young man (Kobayashi Akira) from a wealthy family decides to get in on a blackmailing scheme targeting his young stepmother (Watanabe Misako). However, he doesn't realize that his fellow blackmailers have their eyes on his girlfriend next.

Osaka in the early 1600s, aftermath of the historical Battle of Sekigahara; a group of orphan children are wandering through the battlefield scavenging for armour when they encounter a young boy named Sasuke with magical powers he says came from a meteor that crashed onto the Earth…

After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history which saw generations of his ancestors suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their cruel lords.

Sawaki is released from prison after serving eight years for murdering a rival gang leader in order to obtain the land rights to a landfill for the Kotaki clan and he discovers that the world has changed significantly in that time. The police have forced the disbanding of all yakuza groups in and around Tokyo and most of the former yakuza have moved on to legitimate jobs. Sawaki is disgusted that his yakuza brothers have abandoned their codes of honor and are abusing their newfound power in the legitimate business world to exploit the poor. Sawaki feels partly responsible for making them so powerful and enabling their corruption, so he decides to follow his traditional code of honor to save the residents of a small town where his former lover lives.

Arriving in the town of Hakodate, a wandering musician, Shinji Taki, is soon recruited by the local gang as a hired hand. However, with the arrival of a sinister gunman, Taki's mysterious past catches up with him.

A boxing melodrama. Two friends become boxers and begin training for the championship. These two boys eventually face each other in the ring.

Based on the Seichō Matsumoto's story The Woman Who Took the Local Paper.

Ayane is the daughter of a karaage (fried food) store owner, but she never liked karaage. Eventually, she left home, only to return 5 years later. Her family lives in the city of Usa in Oita Prefecture, Japan. She brings with her a young girl named Shirley, who is her step-daughter from her ex-husband.

A family is slowly falling apart: the father is absent from the start, the mother a kept woman thanks to her children, the son is being cheated on by his wife, one daughter is forced to marry an older man against her will, while the other has retreated into smug moral superiority.

Yoshikawa and Kaji are alumni - Yoshikawa leads a life loyal to his company Toho Corporation, whilst Kaji works in the underground world for Aoyama, a fixer trying to buy Toho out. One day, Yoshikawa is ordered to take a look into the information leakage which had resulted in a serious fall of the company stock price. Following his order, Yoshikawa reunites with Kaji but their relationship gets complicated through the presence of Akiko, the daughter of Kubo, chairman of Toho Corporation. There is an obvious financial conspiracy and several men are killed - Who is the true mastermind behind all the plots?

A beautifully told story of a woman hardened by marriage to a man she doesn't love, after giving herself to another. She dedicates herself to her work, designing and creating plaited cords for kimono.

The supply of sea bream to the fish market has decreased, and the price has increased to a whopping 1 ryo, and unable to face his customers openly anymore, Tasuke closes the shop and goes on a trip to celebrate the first wedding anniversary with his wife Onaka. Staying at the inn, Tasuke sees that dishes from magnificent sea bream are served here, which is very cheap. Tasuke goes to a fishing village and finds out here that a rich merchant is stopping the shipment of fish...

A Choice between Loyalty or Duty of the Samurai! Can the heartlessness of society crush the honor of an individual? In the spring of the 18th year of Kanei, Hosokawa Tadatoshi, feudal lord of the Higo area, died. Although Tadatoshi forbade his vassals to follow him in death before he died, they still committed seppuku one after the other. The new feudal lord, Mitsunao, Tadatoshi's son, also gave the order forbidding seppuku. Abe Yaichiemon obeyed his former lord's last wish but is now being called a coward by his comrades and finally decided to follow Tadatoshi in death in order to save his family's honor. Mitsunao, upset by Yaichiemon actions, punished the Abe family unfairly. Objected to this, the Abe family shut themselves up in their manor as the lords troops moved in. This is the true story of what happened within the Hosokawa clan in early Edo era.

A woman who grew up in a prestigious household, begins to have an affair outside the marriage.

Three tales of women that resided in the Shogun's harem (o-oku) during the Edo period.

Two men perform a robbery on an airplane before parachuting to safety, and a newspaper reporter attempts to solve the crime.

The disturbing story of a physician who conducted the first operation with general anaesthetic, and the women in his life who are both so determined to win his love that they volunteer as subjects for his experiments

Forever, My Love

Kohei Misugi works in a vegetable market, but his ambition is to be a photographer. He is given his first opportunity to demonstrate his talent by the Sakura Film Company which offers him an assignment to "Cover Tokyo" with a camera. But he is disillusioned when he is told he must work together with Miharu, a good looking girl in the film company's publicity department. Then the fun begins.

Child Bride

Job-hunting Daisuke heads to the Antiquarian Bookshop Biblia in Kita-Kamakura with a book signed by Natsume Soseki that his deceased grandmother left behind. He asks the beautiful shop owner Shioriko to authenticate the book. However, the book in question hides an unexpected secret from his grandmother.

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.

A detective sets out on a manhunt to catch a murderer before the crime's statue of limitations runs out.

The first postwar war movie depicting the tragedy of a special force that shook the world at the end of the Pacific War, with thrill and speed

In this exciting sequel to the popular samurai-ninja movie Ukyunosuke On Patrol, his mission to avenge his father's death continues. His discovery of a mysterious note written by his father, Inspector Sena, held a clue to the inspector's murder 18 years ago. As Ukyunosuke continues further with his investigation into the conspiracy to uncover the truth behind his father's death, he must confront those eager to take his life. The great Okawa Hashizo shines in one of his signature roles bringing the ultimate conclusion of this epic tale of murder and revenge!

A group of Okinawan high school girls are drafted as nurses during the American invasion of the island. As the enemy army advances further, the situation for the girls becomes increasingly desperate as food and shelter run out and the number of injured climbs, leading to the film's tragic finale.

A continuation of Hungry Soul, from the same year. Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.

One summer day, the chief monk of the Hojuin Temple dies. Harumichi rushes back to town hearing about his brother's death and requests for a grand funeral. He had been unwilling to take over the family business and had chosen a life as a middle school teacher far away from home, but considering the circumstances, he changes his mind. As the new chief of Hojuin, Harumichi scrambles around day after day for donations. He has kept strictly to the straight and narrow, until he passes a bicycle race track where the sounds of cheering fans induce him into a new way of life...

Shun is a young man, who sells his paintings on a city corner. Kasumi is a children's story writer, living alone in a mountain in Shinsyuu. One day, they happen to meet each other in the city crowd, and they immediately connect. However, they must first deal with Shun's childhood abuse which has left him unstable.

Children of Izu

An illustration of the tragic lives of geishas at a popular geisha house, Shinonomero. Shortly after being sold to a geisha house at age 5, Shizu is befriended by a fellow older geisha, Tsuru. After years of living and working together, Tsuru and Shizu manage to run the operations of Shinonomero as the proprietress and assistant. Despite vows to never to let their lovers come between them or Shinonomero, moments of weakness leave Tsuru and Shizu caught up in a web of betrayal and plunged into debt. With the guilt of losing Shinonomero to Udo, a yakuza who loaned them money, it is now up to young Shizu to redeem Tsuru’s honor and restore Shinonomero as their own.

Asada Keiko and Kurokawa Saburo are two young college students. When Keiko visits Saburo's house, she meets his father Kokichi and his mother Motoko. Motoko is a famous hair dresser, who openly flaunts her lover. When Kokichi and Motoko fight, which they do a lot, he routinely threatens to leave but never quite does. A relationship develops between Saburo and Keiko, but Saburo is shaken when his mother tells Keiko the truth about Saburo's past and the secret of his birth.

A survivor of the tragic mass suicides on Tokashiki Island in 1945 falls in love with a near-mute motorcycle engineer.

Joshiryōsai

Gyakukōsen

Harsh film about a car dealer who gets into financial trouble.

Shokichi, the owner of the clothing store, lives with his daughter Hideko and plans to open an art gallery. One day, Hideko led a handsome art student, Shohei and a poor painter, Sohei. Sohei’s painting was praised by a great printer at the completion ceremony of the art gallery. Since he became successful as a painter, but he looked quite indifferent. Around the same time, Shohei’s sister brought Sohei’s pictures to the gallery and Shokichi noticed that she was a daughter of his first love.

Rambler Shinji arrives in town armed with nothing but a guitar. With assistance from an old gun-for-hire friend, he sets about to stop the mob from turning an honest ranch into a gambling resort.

Ningen ni kakeruna

Ryota Tanaka, a young man who was struggling to become a manga artist in Tokyo, came back to his hometown in Fukuoka, feeling the limits of his dream. It was a part-time job at the local life extension zoo that introduced Ryota, who was in the old friend's room, without relying on his parents' home. While working with the director Noda and veterinarian Aya Ishii, Ryota knew that this is a rare zoo in the world that puts emphasis on “animal welfare” that puts animal health and happiness first. However, the management of the garden is in a critical situation due to the budget reduction, and Ryota decides to draw a comic again to convey this effort with her own picture...

A suspense drama based on Osamu Takahashi's original work starring Shinobu Otake. The shooting location of Gunkanjima is a famous tourist attraction. When Mansako returns to her husband's parents' house, she noticed a young man named Shinji playing drums at a village festival. Shinji who felt her gaze also looked back at Mansako. Masako invites Shinji to her house to welcome her husband together, and is witnessed by a housewife who came to inform her husband of the accidental death while helping him change clothes. She is stigmatized for infidelity. They are separated, but they vow to meet again 12 years later.

A youth lyrical painting depicting a sensitive young man with rich poetic feelings focused on the concerns and aspirations of a high school student.

A true semi-documentary drama depicting a record of a sheriff's challenge to the vivid evil of a sailor who embarked on a single underworld to uncover the crime of an inhumane international prostitution organization called "Japanese women's smuggling."

Fierce struggle between brothers and sisters in a lawless land where violence is the norm.

A "Goze" is a blind entertainer who travels to various places singing stories while playing the shamisen (Japanese three-stringed lute). Becoming a goze due to her blindness at seven-years-old, Haru was strictly trained with a parent's affection by her once kind mother, Tome.

Based on a true story set in Matsumoto city, Nagano, during 1960s. A stray dog wanders into a high school's grounds. The dog, named Kuro, stays at the school and becomes a special friend to everyone.

A youth drama directed by Kiyoshi Horiike, who was adapted from "Young Tokyo no Yane" by Akira Saiga from "Oka wa Hanazakari" based on Yojiro Ishizaka. Miwako Kazuki left the English literature department and joined Toyo Critics. She was attracted by Noro, the editor-in-chief, whose wife died a few years ago and was now living with her two orphans and her old mother....

Moriya Tomoko, a young girl working for a publishing company, is told by a woman art dealer that her real father did not die, as everyone believes, during the revolution in Cuba, but is now living in Japan. Tomoko's mother has remarried a strict, narrow-minded university professor, whose only worry is protecting his family name from the slightest blemish.

Tokyo Untouchable

A man is wrongfully accused of murder.

A sophisticated comedy about love games between men and women that arise from an intentionally dropped train ticket.

Two soon-to-be kamikaze pilots stop by a local school near their base to play the piano one last time, leaving a deep impression on a teacher. Years later, she seeks out the relatives of the pilots when the piano is old and about to be discarded.

In a quiet farming village in northeastern Japan, there lives an elderly couple. One day, a notice arrives in the mail about an antique camera sale in Tokyo. This triggers the old man's memory of the time when he used to love cameras and he decides he wants to go to Tokyo. Going on this shopping trip is like embarking on an adventure for them and is is full of surprises and unexpected happenings, but through this adventure, the old couple's lives slowly get revealed. Before heading home, the couple stops by Tokyo Station, a place that holds fond memories for them. They take a photo together with the old man's camera and quietly reflect back on the long life that they spent together.

In post-war Japan, a publisher goes to visit her former teacher for help on a modern translation of a legend about a mummified Buddhist monk who was revived and who, centuries later, turned into a sex demon who terrorized a village in pre-modern Japan.

A couple decide to relocate from Tokyo to the northern island of Hokkaido where they settle and establish a bakery and café called Mani. One cooks. The other bakes. Everyone walks out happy.

1962 Japanese movie

1962 Japanese movie

Senko Tamagawa is a third-year junior high school student, and she is the captain of the badminton club. Her father, Kinzo, remodeled her barn and lent it to her only Mikayo. Senko was somehow envious of her flashy life... In a tragedy with a girl living in the base as the main character, Katsumi Miki of "Life like a weed" adapted the original story of Muraji Uchiki and directed by Eisuke Takizawa of "Ajisai no Uta".

1962 Japanese movie

The ship Kaijin Maru is left adrift after losing all means of navigation in a storm. The four people on the ship are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water run out.

零戦黒雲一家

1962 Japanese movie

1962 Japanese movie

1962 Japanese movie

1962 Japanese movie

This Day's Life

A blockbuster youth action film that explodes with the charm of Maiko Guy and Akira, based on the serialized novel in Nikkan Sports by Yoshirō Akinaga, now adapted for the screen. Due to the passage of time since the film's release, some scenes may be marred by visual and audio distortions. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

1961 Japanese movie

As Haru emigrates from Japan with her family to the coffee plantations in Brazil, Natsu is left behind in the care of spiteful relatives. Losing all contact, each must make her own way in an unforgiving world. Hardships abound in the struggle to survive in war-torn Japan and in the face of anti-Japanese sentiment in Brazil, financial ruin, familial pressure, abandonment and lost love. However they also experience the precious joy of survival and success. Now, after 70 years, Haru comes back to Japan to find her estranged sister.

Water Boys 2005 Natsu is a two-part Japanese drama series that aired in Japan on Fuji Television on August 19 and 20 2005. This is the third and final season of the series Water Boys, as its alternate title suggests, Water Boys Finale.

Sachiko is the 17-year old daughter of radiotherapist Professor Oshima. After exposure to radiation in the hospital, she develops leukemia. As if that was not enough trouble for one lifetime, discovers that Oshima is not her real father, and that her boyfriend is really her half brother.

Ohisama is a Japanese television drama that aired on NHK in 2011 in the Asadora time slot. Set in Nagano prefecture, "Ohisama" covers the life of Yoko Sudo (Mao Inoue) through World War II. Yoko Sudo with her smile is able to bring brightness to those around her & she follows her mother's motif to laugh through the hard times. During the onset of WW II, Yoko is a high school student and "Ohisama" follows her as she eventually becomes a teacher and then gets married and has a child. Yoko then opens a soba restaurant with her student. --asianwiki

A story revolves around a 26-year-old single woman Sachi who lives in Tokyo working for a pub. She frequents a show house alone as she plans to buy a home of her own. She looks around the room seriously and asks incisive questions to the attendants. Through her house hunt, we can catch a glimpse of what the modern Japanese women truly want.

Rinko and Aya, employed in the Philippines in 1944, escape one of the most gruesome battles of the Pacific War. Based on the accounts of actual women survivors, this special depicts the friendship - the joy and sadness - shared by these two women, whose lives remain intertwined in wartime and long beyond.

23 animated shorts based on Nekojiru, aired as part of "Bokusho Mondai Boss Chara Ou"

A successful screenwriter looks back on her life when she learns her husband has cancer. A year-long series, starring Narumi Yasuda.

The 35th NHK Asadora about a man who enters the world of popular theater.

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