Akiko Yano
Su-chan, Mai-chan, Sawako-san follows the lives of three women who are former co-workers. 34-year-old Su-chan works at a coffee shop and has feelings for the manager there. 34-year-old Mai-chan works at an OA machine maker. She is in a relationship with a married man. 39-year-old Sawako works as a web designer and also takes care of her grandmother. -san and her mother take care of her grandmother.
In 1997, Hirano Katsuyuki, a married, middle-aged AV director, and his 26-year-old actress and lover, Hayashi Yumika, set out to cycle from Tokyo to Hokkaido. Two video versions of their trip already exist, the intimate documentary Yumika and its gonzo porno alter ego 41-Day Adultery Bicycle Tour. Hirano’s Kantoku Shikkaku reframes this ambiguous relationship in light of Yumika’s death in 2005.
The son of a sailor, 5-year old Sosuke lives a quiet life on an oceanside cliff with his mother Lisa. One fateful day, he finds a beautiful goldfish trapped in a bottle on the beach and upon rescuing her, names her Ponyo. But she is no ordinary goldfish. The daughter of a masterful wizard and a sea goddess, Ponyo uses her father's magic to transform herself into a young girl and quickly falls in love with Sosuke, but the use of such powerful sorcery causes a dangerous imbalance in the world. As the moon steadily draws nearer to the earth and Ponyo's father sends the ocean's mighty waves to find his daughter, the two children embark on an adventure of a lifetime to save the world and fulfill Ponyo's dreams of becoming human.
A girl goes exploring to find a new house. Along the way, she encounters many of Japan's guardian spirits.
The short film's main character is a diving bell spider who seems to have fallen in love with a water strider. Although she is scared of him at first, the water strider soon gets used to the presence of the spider.
Portrait of the Wind centers on Tamio Murase (Tadanobu Asano), a world-traveling photographer who came home to take over the family business after his father’s fatal heart attack. One day at the family photo studio, he finds a kindred spirit in Ayako (Erika) and the requisite sparks fly between them. The initial portions of the film deal with their budding romance, and it isn’t long before the two become a serious couple, and Ayako is pregnant with Tamio’s child.
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humourous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems and joys in their own way.
A documentary capturing the recording process of singer Yano Akiko's 1992 cover album, Super Folk Song.
Documentary about the eclectic Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto during the recording sessions for his 1984 album "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia".
Two curious toys, Peepers and Zoom, wonder about how they become toys. Aided by Robin, their equally curious owner, Zoom and Peepers visit a toy museum - "Home for Old Toys" to discover their existence.
