Eri Ishida
One day, Hiroko accidentally starts a small fire while she is cooking. Although it does not lead to a serious incident, it does result in her going to stay with her eldest daughter, Yuko, for whom Hiroko has never been the mother she wanted.
Searching for escape in Tokyo's back alleys, a haunted English teacher explores love and lust with a dashing Yakuza, as their tumultuous affair takes her on a journey through the city's dive bars and three-hour love hotels.
A 21-year-old university student lost her boyfriend in a sudden accident and she can't get over him, but she begins to change thanks to her family and her friend Takumi, who shares a very similar past with her.
Wish freedom and feel responsibility. 3days road movie of prince and a girl. It's a romantic story between prince and Levelle Kingdom on an escape journey and a girl living freely in Japanese city, with a stylish Asian taste of colorful and vivid images. The story is set in a city of beautiful mother nature, fashion, artistic architectures, and history
In pre-WWII Vancouver, second-generation Japanese immigrants had it tough. Daily, they faced discrimination, hatred and injustice at the hands of their Caucasian counterparts. But one thing made their lives worth living: baseball. They may be the underdogs, but the Vancouver Asahi baseball team have a sense of fair play and smart tactics that set them apart from the brute force of their opponents. Under the guidance of new team captain Reggie Kasahara, can they be able to rise above all the negativity to win the tournament? This film is based on the true story of Vancouver Asahi, the Japanese-Canadian baseball team that was inducted into The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
In this unauthorized adaptation of the novel "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler set in Tokyo during the 1950s, Tamotsu is suspected of murdering his actress wife Shizuka Harada. He flees to Taiwan and commits suicide. Tamotsu's friend Banji Masuzawa, a private detective, has doubts about Tamotsu's death, but the case is covered up by powerful media mogul Heizo Harada. Banji is then involved in another case involving the neighbors of the Harada family. He encounters drunk novelist Joji Kamiido, a publishing house editor and a beautiful woman Aiko who holds the key to case. As it looks like Banji has solved the case, something unexpected occurs...
Suzumoto and Sumi creatively master their independent lives while living in a park in Nagoya. In contrast, a middle-class family is caught up in pressure and routine. The two threads of the story gradually intertwine, until a tragic escalation occurs. Shot with a black-and-white documentary feel, yet highly stylized, the film analyzes the contradictions and pathologies of modern society.
Go Ayano plays Kazunari Mizusawa, a young photographer gathering pictures of girls in Shibuya for a documentary. Suddenly the constant noise of the bustling crowd is drowned out by a high school girl (Aimi Satsukawa) shrieking in anger. Mizusawa is startled, but also confused by the fact that nobody in the area but him seemed to care or even notice. His fascination with figuring out exactly what makes young girls want to come to Shibuya in the first place makes him determined to find out more about her.
A humorous wedding story fueled by a rather no-good father and son, disguised as the old and new “good guys.” The father Nobuo, and his son Tamio, are unable to mature, unable to break the parent-child roles, have no sense of responsibility, and keep holding on to the past. The pair is overwhelmed by all the colorful characters around them telling them what to do. They go to strenuous and humorous efforts to make Tamio’s wedding an event to remember.
The lead, Dr. Sadami Shiratori worked in the operating room at a famous Tokyo hospital was around death on a daily basis. His own father, Teizo Shiratori is also a doctor, called Grandfather as he raised the estranged children of his wayward son, he practiced medicine in a small town on Hokkaido, Japan’s most northern island. His practice was limited only to terminal patients…in their own homes. He cared for them and helped both them and their families prepare for the ‘final journey’.
Kenji, abandoned by his mother, scrapes out a meager existence doing odd jobs including driving bar hostesses and their customers home. Besides this he takes care of the sister of an old friend in jail and a young illegal immigrant. But his life reaches a turning point when he happens to meet Chiyoko, his long lost mother. She is now married to Mamiya, the owner of an express package delivery service. They also have a teenage son, Yusuke. Subdued feelings of alarm, discomfort and resentment between Chiyoko, Kenji, and his half brother Yusuke hide underneath and are seemingly caused by the inseparable blood ties that seem to wield control over everyone's destiny. Is blood that powerful? What exactly defines a mother or a father? While Kenji struggles with these questions and attempts to escape his fate, Chiyoko seems content to let these issues unfold and find a solution. Where will it ultimately lead them?
A story about samurai from a clan in the Tohoku Region in the Edo Period. Matazaemon was born as a second son to humble parents and rises to a head retainer of the clan. At the age of 53, he suddenly feels the sign of aging and starts to consider his retirement. He looks back on his life in which he lost his four friends, including one who was killed by Matazaemon. Despite his success, he feels that his fame is vanity and finally finds the importance of human trust.
The film is based on a true story about an Okinawan sansen (3 stringed guitar) player named Ryo and his experiences growing up in Okinawa in 1968. Ryo meets an American military solider named George, and they discover that they have more similarities than differences. The atmosphere of the film is heavily charged with discrimination and prejudice- Okinawans and Japanese (yes there is a difference-big difference in fact), US military and Japanese/Okinawans, officers and enlisted soldiers- and takes place with echoes of the civil rights movement lingering in the backdrop.
Two kids, fourteen-year-old Eriko and her thirteen-year-old brother Daigo, suddenly find themselves trapped in a parallel universe. Most things are the same as in their own world, but their parents are missing from home and are only contactable when using one particular phonecard. Based on a novel by the Akutagawa Prize-winning Fujino Chiya, and directed by the writer of Nakata Hideo's Dark Water.
Hibi tells about mother who does pottery and lives rather simple life, growing her children up. She does remarkable job in pottery, finding a new way to make natural pottery in her own tunnel kiln. Then, her son gets leukemia. And entire family has to fight hard to find a donor who has matching bone marrow.
Commencing well-respected Nippon director Kazuo Kuroki's sixth decade behind the camera, "A Boy's Summer in 1945" (literally "A Beautiful Summer in Kirishima") is a lyric, novelistic drama set in the countryside in the last days before Japan's surrender ending WWII. Striking a welcome retro note in its languid pacing and delicate handling of seriocomic ensemble threads, handsome production is a natural for fests. It might also prove a cornerstone for retrospectives or ancillary releases of works by a helmer ("Preparation of the Festival," "Ronin-gai") who's long been appreciated at home but has won just limited attention abroad.
Takashi and four of his classmates, fourth-grade students, cannot succeed in doing a back pullover around a horizontal bar. Their gym teacher warns them: they have one week to succeed; if they resign now, then, tomorrow, facing life difficulties, they will always run away and become bums. Furthermore, all five must succeed, if one of them cannot do it, then all of them fail. Takashi is really worried and wonders if he won’t be always the loser who couldn’t succeed in the back pullover bar exercise.
Momotaro carries this sword into battle against injustice in shogunate Japan. Aided by ninja he must now wage a furious battle against the terrible “Ran” clan, villains in league with Ohara Ukon, a bitter samurai nursing a grudge against the shogunate. Together the ruthless conspirators will threaten the foundations of shogunate rule over Japan. Only the relentless slashing sword of Momotaro may save the nation from the Ran clan's army of killers.
Hama-chan and Su-san go fishing during a business trip, but Hama-chan has to give a lecture on Su-san's behalf in a case of mistaken identity.
Hama-chan shows up to work with his son on his back when his wife goes to her class reunion and his mother throws her back out.
Hama-chan and his wife are ecstatic about their long-awaited pregnancy. Meanwhile, Su-san's nephew joins Hama-chan's department at the company.
Aya, a young Japanese war bride, arrives in a small Australian town during the 1950s. She and her husband, Frank, are very much in love. Yet somehow Aya still feels more comfortable with the Japanese-speaking Mac, a close friend of Frank's, whose wartime experiences left him with a deep regard for Japanese culture. But Frank wants Aya to forget her Japanese past. Aya finds work in a Japanese restaurant and has a short affair with an Australian-Japanese businessman. With her marriage falling apart, Aya leaves Frank.
Su-San invites Hama-chan to go fishing at a place close to his heart after learning about Hama-chan and his wife's fertility problems.
A man in hospital has a weird and sexy conversation with a woman in the next bed, whom he cannot see. He later discovers she is in her sixties. They meet several more times and, each time, she is younger.
Hama-chan gets Su-san hooked on fishing, but Su-san has some problems to deal with; a beautiful woman saves Su-san when he collapses while fishing.
Beautiful young Kinu Yamabe is drawn to low-born Onimaru, who's vital and charismatic, but viewed by his father as a demon, and by most of the remaining family as a stain to the family name. But after her first period, Kinu suffers the fate of any women born near the Sacred Mountain: she must leave the Mountain and serve as priestess But she has a plan to stay near her old home - which involves marrying into a rival branch of her family.
Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.
The adventures and tribulations of a group of students during the years following the II World War.
Densuke Hamazaki is an office worker at Suzuki Construction and gets transferred to the main Tokyo office. After settling in to his surrounding along with his wife Eri, Densuke befriends an elderly man named Ichinosuke Suzuki. Ichinosuke is a lonely and old man who learns to enjoy life again through his friendship with Densuke. Meanwhile, Densuke is completely unaware that Ichinosuke is the boss of his construction company. The two men become friends through their shared passion for fishing.
Tadateru Matsudaira, the sixth son of Ieyasu Tokugawa, was exiled for not taking part in the attack on Osaka Castle. 10 years before his exile expired, he was attacked in a clandestine Yagyu operation believed to have been ordered by his older brother Hidetada. In order to correct his brother's true intentions, Tadateru broke the law and went all the way from Hida Province, where he was exiled, to Edo Castle. However, the Yagyu do not stop trying to kill Tadateru...
Four high school girls from troubled homes are living in a high school dormitory, and decide to go on a summer vacation trip, with some of their teachers. In part, the girls want to meet boys, and possibly to have their first "personal experience" .
Shibuya, Tokyo. Yoichi and Michio are a pair of hoodlums who make their living as bookies at horse races. One day, Yoichi's companion commits a crime, which leads him to become a real yakuza. In this way Yoichi wishes to put an end to his hoodlum days, but on the other hand he has to leave his brother Michio behind...
The story of a Japanese man who as a 16-year-old went to Maui to work in the sugar cane fields in order to support his family back in Japan. Now 89 and still living in Hawaii he is visited by his granddaughter who brings him a letter from his disinherited and recently dead son. This brings back memories of his life with his wife and family following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in particular of his son who had gone off to join the war for the Americans.
A college student has an affair with a married, middle-aged teacher.
A young man living on growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in a residential area. Tomato cultivation is as doomed as his personal life where he tries to keep alive his romance with the eccentric Kaede and parents selected fiancee Ayako.
Ultraman 80 comes to Earth as one of the newest members of the Ultra Space Garrison (it is revealed in Ultraman Mebius that he is the ninth Ultra Brother), in the form of science teacher Takeshi Yamato. After a five-year hiatus since the departure of Ultraman Leo, monsters started reappearing again.
