Erika Okuda

Kanjaki, a middle-aged man, goes to a quiet countryside village. He puts his helmet on a shrunken old woman whom he meets by chance in a shop. As soon as he presses the buttons on the helmet one by one, she suddenly remembers forgotten happy moments and is rejuvenated. This is just the beginning. Kanjaki goes on to make the village people recall their happy pasts, but his face is lined with worry and a sadness that deepens. What is the secret of this helmet? And what is he trying to do with it? Director Sabu’s Happiness suggests happiness and suffering are intertwined through the unusual scenario of a helmet reminding people of the happiest moments of their lives. Sabu convincingly portrays the notion that memory is the source of both happiness and suffering, and how memory affects our lives.

7.7/10

Thirty-year-old, unemployed Kenji (Kaku Tomohiro) spends his days listlessly at his parent's home, which is set to be torn down any day now. He relives his childhood when a third grader out for summer vacation nails Kenji with a water balloon, and Kenji fights back.

1.2/10

This 4 part 15 minute drama is a spin-off of Fukada Kyoko's 2012 FujiTV autumn drama "TOKYO Airport ~ Tokyo Kuukou Kansei Hoanbu" and is a stark contrast from the setting in the latter where there are 500 flights per day at Haneda Airport. In this spin-off drama, Koike Eiko plays an air traffic controller at a small airport in Tokunoshima, an island near Kagoshima Prefecture where there are only 4 flights per day. As such, the drama focuses on how the air traffic controllers there battle with boredom rather than the busy lives led by their Tokyo counterparts.

Yuri, Moeko, and Ai are best friends from high school. Though their twenties were about to end, they believed their eternal world would remain forever. In spite of their will, some misfortunate events such as love, betrayal, memory, regret, and one book with its secret exam their friendship. Those girls get lost in the unveiled story, which is filled with meeting and parting. Scattered life = scattered story will move on any further? A little journey begins now.

Directed and written by Mamoru Oshii

This enticing period melodrama depicts a long-suffering woman's relationship with her brilliant but self-destructive writer husband in postwar Tokyo. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1947 novel by Osamu Dazai, the story centers less on the womanizing, heavy-drinking, suicidal hero than on the wife who loves him. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival

7.1/10

Chiba appears seven days before a person dies an unexpected death. His job is to observe the person for seven days then decide either to ‘execute’ or ‘pass over’. Today, again, in the rain, he waits. His subject, her death due in seven days, is Kazue Fujiki. She works for a manufacturing company in the complaints department. Exhausted after her day, she emerges from her office. It’s time for the Reaper to go to work.

7/10

The ever-lively and upbeat Natsuko tries to mend a broken heart by carrying on with a string of short-lived affairs after her break-up with Tomomi. But when Tomomi announces her plans to marry - a man - Natsuko becomes inconsolable. While all this is taking place, Natsuko's straight male roommate is grappling with his own feelings for her, and a young high school girl comes to Tokyo searching for the mother that long ago left her for a female lover. Each character - queer, straight, male, female, young, old, and in-between - struggles to make peace with him/herself as all their lives overlap. This story captures the power of young love, and the web of the city.

6.2/10

Mixed up by desire, love and hatred, a disturbed young man begins tailing and eventually tries to save his neighbor, a housewife who has turned to prostitution despite her comfortable lifestyle.

6.1/10

Amy and Sonny are two girls with contrasting personalities. Their "secret hideout" is an antique shop. One day, Amy falls in love at first sight with an older man named 'J'

6.3/10

Two Japanese friends accidentally kill their boss and dump his remains in Black Fuji, a mountain/landfill hybrid. This leads to poor results when the chemicals of the landfill mix with the corpse (and many other corpses) to give rise to a zombie infestation in Tokyo.

6/10

Naoto, the son of a wealthy family, suffers from Werner syndrome, a premature aging condition; Dai is an overweight child troubled by his penniless father's drunken violence; Jun, a gifted student, is the foursome's natural leader; and Tetsuro is average...

8.6/10

Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.

7.2/10