Hirofumi Arai
Ittetsu and Maitsuko are married, but they are not just any normal couple. They robbed a bank and took a cool million or two from the capitalists. Then they duly vanished. Years have passed and their children have congregated to divide their parents' money, but first there is the matter of arrangements and a funeral.
Hard-working Yuria runs a small printing company. Despite her best efforts, she can’t seem to attract the attention of Kazunari, a polite yet aloof client who is more interested in flirting with Mako, Yuria’s ditzy younger sister and employee. Meanwhile, Kazunari has his hands full with Takuji, his rough-hewn brother who was recently released from prison and is crashing at his apartment.
Itsuki Shinonome is sent to the internet media department from a major newspaper. Chief Editor Kanji Usami assigns her a story involving green caterpillars being found in instant food. A man who posted about the caterpillars in his instant food on social media appears in front of her. A fight between companies eventually draws in Itsuki Shinonome.
Shoji Segawa was a quiet and inconspicuous boy, but, for the first time, he is recognized by people after winning the National Middle School Shogi Tournament. At the age of 26, his dream of becoming a professional shogi player collapses due to an age restriction. After he quits playing shogi, he becomes desperate. With the support of his peers, including Yuya Suzuki, and his love of shogi, Shoji Segawa begins to play shogi again. A miracle happens to him.
Sasaki Shinichi looks at his childhood friend Tanaka Yukino in court. Yukino is sentenced to death. She went to her ex-boyfriend’s apartment and caused his wife and child to burn to death. Shinichi knows his childhood friend and perceives that she is innocent. He wants to save Yukino and meets people who knew her including her sister and former classmates. ~~Based on the novel "Innocent Days" by Kazumasa Hayami.
During the Edo period, a gifted swordsman was exiled from his clan when he questioned the misconduct of his leader. Years after, his dying wife wish was for him to go back to his clan.
Yosuke is a middle aged businessman who has a wife and two kids; wife is a teacher, his son a job-hunting student, and his daughter has a good job. His family is looking forward to buying a new house as Yosuke is about to be promoted soon. But one day, he is forced to leave the company because of a gossip con set up by his colleague! He loses his job but he cannot tell that to his family. At the same time his wife and daughter are also facing problems at their work, both thinking to quit because dad’s job is secured. When they find out dad left the company, can they support him or...?
To the average person, psychic abilities might seem a blessing; for Kusuo Saiki, however, this couldn't be further from the truth. Gifted with a wide assortment of supernatural abilities ranging from telepathy to x-ray vision, he finds this so-called blessing to be nothing but a curse. As all the inconveniences his powers cause constantly pile up, all Kusuo aims for is an ordinary, hassle-free life—a life where ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately, the life of a psychic is far from quiet. Though Kusuo tries to stay out of the spotlight by keeping his powers a secret from his classmates, he ends up inadvertently attracting the attention of many odd characters, such as the empty-headed Riki Nendou and the delusional Shun Kaidou. Forced to deal with the craziness of the people around him, Kusuo comes to learn that the ordinary life he has been striving for is a lot more difficult to achieve than expected.
A monster was created from an incident that took place 100 years ago. He possesses super physical ability and can live forever. He yearns for humans and listens to the radio. He picks up things thrown away by other people. The monster dreams of living as a human. One day, he meets a young woman Tsugaru. He falls in love with her.
Koroki is a 35-year old man who admires Japanese singer-songwriter Tamio Okuda and aspires to live like him. He works as an editor at the lifestyle magazine "Mare," where he meets Akari Amami, a mischievous fashion press writer, and falls in love with her at first sight.
Six directors picked a favorite song by Japanese punk rock band "The Blue Hearts" and made a short film inspired by the song.
When Kanta Yamashita loses his job, he decides to open a bed–and–breakfast rather than tell his wife the truth. Challenges abound in their new work.
Up-and-coming manzai stand-up comedy duo Emi-Abi has lost consummate funny man Unno (a surprisingly touching Tomoya Maeno) to an accident, leaving conceited straight man Jitsudo (Ryu Morioka) to contend with his diminished career prospects as a bland, pretty face entertainer. Guided by his manager Natsumi (Haru Kuroki), who demonstrates stronger comedy chops than her own star, Jitsudo comes to learn the circumstances of his friend's passing, as well as the life-and-death stakes of a career in comedy. Demonstrating a careful balance of tone across tragedy and deadpan and gross-out humor, writer/director Kensaku Watanabe expands "Emi-Abi"'s hilarious premise into a strikingly assured meditation on artistic rivalry and self-actualization.
Takuji Kameoka is a 37-year-old bachelor whose occupation is a “miscellaneous actor”. His only interest is drinking. One day he falls in love and his boring life begins to change. The film is based on the book “Actor, Takuji Kameoka” by Akito Inui, a five-time nominee for Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize. Satoko Yokohama, a much-admired up-and-coming newcomer, directs the film and we can immediately tell that she is a special talent, with a unique understanding that flows through to her actors and crew.
One day, Yamashita Kanta is laid off by his employer, a game company. His wife Saori, who works for the Labour Standards Supervision Office, gets scary when angry, so he keeps quiet and starts a B&B business which is the trend now. At first, the B&B is faced with successive problems. Then the fact that Kanta was laid off is discovered at the worst possible timing and he has to deal with the possibility of divorce. Will the business perform well?
Atsuto was abandoned by his mother when he was young. He now works in the lost and found department at the Hoshigaoka Station. He spends his days imagining about the owner of the lost item, how the item became lost and found. One day, Atsuto learns that his mother committed suicide. His life begins to move ...
News about the disappearance of panties is still being covered every day. Kyosuke (Ryohei Suzuki) still wears Aiko Completo's (Fumika Shimizu) panties to battle evil. Meanwhile, Aiko has mixed emotions and decides to get her panties back. Kyosuke suffers from the loss of Aiko's panties and disappears, but his biggest enemy yet is about to materialise...
The Katsuragi Household that runs a small store may appear serene. But as the younger son Minoru commits a murder on the street, the family is exposed to the public. Is there anybody that is behind this murder case?
Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple...
Ieji Hisashi, a salaryman who works for a securities company, has a fuzzy memory of the recent five years because of an accident at his job posting. His wife of five years, Megumi and their 4-year-old son seem to wear masks. He can neither tell their facial expressions nor their emotions. He also struggles about his love for them. On the other hand, Ieji feels an attachment to his ex-wife, whom he divorced five years ago, and their daughter. What sort of days did he have in those five years which are a blank to him? Ieji sets out on a journey to find his past self with a mysterious bunch of 10 keys that he has. He becomes aware that he was a cold, career-minded man before the accident, and the persona that is gradually revealed is beyond the imagination of his present kindhearted self.
Alien pods come to Earth and, naturally, start taking over Human Hosts. One such pod only manages to take over one human's, Shin Izumi, right arm. Together they grow and co-exist, all the while the other aliens are making meals of other humans; Shin feels he must put a stop to it all, but his alien, Migi, doesn't see why.
Tsukuda Kohei was once a researcher with the Aerospace and Science Exploration Agency and now runs Tsukuda Industries, a small factory which was left by his father. Although his relationship with his teenage daughter Rina is somewhat strained, business at Tsukuda Industries has gradually started to improve. But Tsukuda puts too much effort into his dream of developing a rocket engine and business declines little by little. One day, a major client suddenly declares that it is dropping Tsukuda Industries. Then, Tsukuda Industries gets sued by a big rival company, Nakashima Industries, for patent infringement. Tsukuda Industries’ reputation is hurt and financing from banks is also in a desperate situation. In the midst of this, Teikoku Heavy Industries, one of Japan’s leading corporations, offers to buy a patent which Tsukuda Industries possesses for 2 billion yen
Moritaka Mashiro (Takeru Satoh) doesn't want to follow in the path of his uncle who worked as a manga artist, but ultimately died because of exhaustion. Moritaka Mashiro figures he will graduate from school and work at an office. Things change though when falls in love with a girl at school. The girl, who hopes to become a voice actress, tells Moritaka they can marry, but only after they both achieve their dreams. Moritaka then teams up with fellow classmate Akito Takagi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) to publish their first manga.
Naoki works as a not so popular host at the host club Akegarasu in Shinagawa, Tokyo. His repayment day is coming soon and he has prepared 10 million yen to pay off his debt. Naoki has a party with his co-workers to celebrate this event, but, when he wakes up the next night, he finds that his money is all gone. Naoki asks his co-workers at the club about his money, but all of them say they didn't see it. Did Naoki dream he had 10 million yen? If He doesn't get the money soon, he will be thrown into the bottom of Tokyo Bay. Naoki can't trust anyone.
Prosecutor Kohei Kuryu (Takuya Kimura) takes charge of a case with a foreign embassy possessing the key to solve the case. Due to the extraterritoriality involving the case, the investigation has not gone anywhere. A crisis then ensues. Kohei Kuryu and his office attempt to extract the truth behind the wall of the embassy.
The world's first human-android acting duo, called Android Theater Project, is the collaborative brainchild of noted Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata and the leading robotics scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro. "Sayonara" is a remakable android play and has been adapted to feature film by the acclaimed filmmaker Koji Fukada (Hospitalité, Au revoir l’été). In this film project the setting of the story is largely expanded, depicting time and space in a way which can only be achieved in film, examining life and death though the communication between dying human and immortal android.
A smart high school student falls in love with her English teacher after she receives one-on-one tutoring from him.
Set within the fictional city of Mahoro, Keisuke Tada runs a "benriya" - a general problem solver for hire. His assistant is his former high school classmate Haruhiko Gyoten. A big crisis then occurs for them.
In a fancy split-level condo in Tokyo's Roppongi nightlife district, four women and four men gather from midnight to 5 am. They've all paid to be there (men more than women), and they have only one thing in common--they seek anonymous sex. Using no names, they're known only by their types: freeter (temp or part-time worker), mild-mannered salaryman, duplicitous OL (office lady), self-conscious working class factory worker, perfectionist teacher, veteran pervert, shy NEET ("not in education, employment or training") and bashful college student. Together, they unravel their identities in a night of increasing debauchery. Daisuke Miura's adaptation of his critically acclaimed 2005 play of the same name explores Japan's fuzoku (sex industry) with depth, humor and freewheeling indecency. This surprising, erotic and disturbing film features breakout performances by Sosuke Ikematsu and Mugi Kadowaki, who are tempted to mix love with sex.
Alien pods come to Earth and, naturally, start taking over Human Hosts. One such pod only manages to take over one human's, Shin Izumi, right arm. Together they grow and co-exist, all the while the other aliens are making meals of other humans; Shin feels he must put a stop to it all, but his alien, Migi, doesn't see why.
A young girl named Kiki (Fuka Koshiba) must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.
Slacker Ichiko gets into a fight with her younger sister and begins to live on her own, working the late shift at a 100 yen shop. On her way home, she passes a gym and meets middle-aged boxer Kano who trains there in silence...
Toru grew up in the Tateyama mountain ranges: alpine country. As a child, he resented the yearly trek up the mountain with his father to prepare their mountain hut for the summer season of climbers. When Toru grows up he leaves his hometown, entering the working world as a stock trader and becoming another office worker. But when Toru receives word that his father has passed away, he returns to Tateyama once again and becomes conscious of a new calling. But does Toru have what it takes to follow in his father footsteps?
A major advertising festival is held each year to determine the best television commercial in the world. A rookie ad man at a big advertising company named Otan is selected as a judge on the festival jury. Meanwhile, a coworker also named Ota (although the Japanese characters are slightly different) poses as his wife so that he can attend an open party which is held nightly. Knowing that he’ll get fired if his company doesn’t win the Grand Prix, he’s forced to resort to a variety of desperate tactics.
High school teacher Hara Takako is 32 and has no boyfriend. She is desperate and insecure. One day, a new teacher Ozu Kota, seven years Takako’s junior is assigned to her school. Takako takes a romantic interest in Kota and the two of them grow attracted to each other. But in truth, Kota has a fiancee. Seeing the disconsolate Takako, reignites the love of Kurosawa Akio, a senior teacher whom she once had an affair with. ~~ Based on manga series "Hakuba no Oujisama" by Yukizou Saku.
A young man Kentaro Saeki (Haruma Miura) keeps failing his bar test and does not know what to do any more. His older sister Keiko is a freelance writer. Kentaro and Keiko begin to search for information on their grandfather Kyuzo Miyabe (Junichi Okada) who dead in the special forces during World War II. Their grandfather Kyuzo Miyabe was terrified of death and obsessed with life. Why did he join the special forces? According to his fellow navy soldiers, Kyuzo Miyabe was a genius and also a coward. Kentaro and Keiko then discovers the shocking truth which has been sealed for 60 years.
In a valley, with a dense growth of trees, a baby is killed. The baby's mother Satomi is arrested as the prime suspect. The police also learn that Satomi is involved in a romantic relationship with her next door neighbor Ozaki. The information was provided by the neighbor's lover Kanako. Meanwhile, magazine reporter Watanabe, who is covering the story, discovers the shocking fact that Ozaki was involved in a rape case 15 years ago. Even more shocking, the victim in the rape case is Kanako.
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
"Blazing Famiglia" centers around a family of former teenage gangsters. Tetsu Hino (Yoshimi Tokui) was once the leader of the most feared motorcycle gang in the Kanto area. Now, Tetsu Hino is middle-aged man who is looked down upon by his rebellious son Shuhei (Kento Hayashi). One day, Tetsu and his old biker gang gather together again after the daughter of a member is assaulted. Tetsu, worried about his day to day life, nevertheless regains the passion from his biker days. Tetsu then finds out that Ken Igarashi (Jun Murakami) is the man behind the attack. Ken Igarashi has had a grudge against Tetsu for a long time.
Through round after round of extensive plastic surgery and vigorous maintenance, Ririko has become the absolute manifestation of beauty, and becomes a wildly successful model, actress, and singer. However, soon, her body, unable to withstand the burdens of surgery, begins to crumble, and along with it so does her mind, as she plummets towards a frightening and inevitable end.
Mirai Suzuki (Yuko Oshima) becomes responsible for her mother's debt which is owed to loan shark Kaoru Ushijima (Takayuki Yamada). To begin paying off her mother's debt, Mirai begins working at a dating cafe. Meanwhile, Jun (Kento Hayashi) is the ambitious and greedy company president for an event group. To borrow money, Jun visits Kaukau Finance owned by Kaoru Ushijima.
Five years after a hit-and-run accident kills his wife, a distraught metalworker comes face to face with the man behind the steering wheel.
Professional killer Ken (Hirofumi Arai) is trying to break away from the yakuza. Taking up work at a local motorcycle shop, he forges a new life under the motherly eye of Yoko (Jun Fubuki), an older woman who owns the shop. However, Ken's dark past isn't letting him go that easily. Akira (Jun Murakami), Ken's ruthless mentor and himself an assassin, has been coming around and pressuring Ken to return to the family. Together with orphaned teenager Tsuyoshi (Niinobu Ryomei), Ken decides to take to the road and settle matters in the only way he knows - by the trigger of his gun. Featuring music by Snake on the Beach, a solo project of legendary singer and guitarist Yusuke Chiba, A Road Stained Crimson takes viewers down the high-octane expressway of bikes, guns and rock 'n' roll.
To exact revenge, the Liar Game office is revived. The target is only one person - Shinichi Akiyama (Shota Matsuda). Because of new heroine Shinomiya (Mikako Tabe), Shinichi, who kept refusing to take part in the game, finds himself in the game. Along with Akiyama, there's 19 other players competing for the prize of 2 billion yen. Omega (Makiko Esumi), who revived the game, plays the game at the Liar Game office with Alice (Mana Ashida). Alice sets up the game, chooses the players and sets the traps.
A college senior (Mirai Moriyama) takes a bicycle trip for his last summer vacation. On his trip he comes across drive-in "HOUSE475" and its manager Seii (Hidetoshi Nishijima). The college senior then helps out at the store and becomes influenced by his experience at "HOUSE475".
Ryota, a timid salaryman who has difficulties fitting in at home and work has his average life changed after his estranged father falls ill. Along with his wife Sae and their only child Moe, he travels to his father's country town, where he begins to uncover his father's mysterious past spent searching for a mythical creature.
When Mutta was 12-years-old and Hibito was 9-years-old the two brothers saw what they thought was an UFO flying towards the moon. They made a pact then to become astronauts and one day fly into space together. Fast forward to the year 2025. Older brother Mutta (Shun Oguri) works as for an automotive company and his younger brother Hibito works as an astronaut. Although Mutta failed to follow through on his childhood promise, after losing his job, he receives a phone call from Hibito which reignites his childhood dream of flying into outer space ...
A rookie editor Hatsumi Takeda becomes an editor of Fujio Akatsuka who is known as the king of gag manga. Hanging out with her, Akatsuka sees through Hatsumi's talent to be crazy, and they gradually become great partners...
Tobio Kurosawa (Ryuta Sato), who has been part of a manzai (stand up comedy) duo for ten years, finds himself in trouble after his partner Tamotsu Ishii (Yuji Ayabe) quits due to their declining popularity and mounting debts. Tobio then attempts to drink his problems away, but the next morning finds himself locked up in a detention center. At the detention center Tobio meets tough dreadlocked Ryuhei Onizuka (Yusuke Kamiji) who has an uncanny knack for comedy. Tobio attempts to recruit Ryuhei to become a partner in a new comedy duo. Once on the outside, they start practicing ...
Shuji is a young teacher whose confidence and honesty has made him popular with the students. He is engaged to Natsumi, also a teacher at the same high school. At the morning of the new semester, Shuji wakes up with a hangover and no memory of the night before, and a strange young woman in his bed. He feels terrible about possibility of having cheated on his fiancée, but when it turns out the girl is a student in his class Shuji is wrecked with guilt. Things go from bad to worse when the girl, Hikari, makes it clear that she's in love with him and wants to break him and Natsumi apart. Shuji's honest nature makes him want to come clean to everyone about what has happened, but before he has the chance, the secret is out. As his life starts crumbling around him, Shuji still decides to try and save Hikari from herself.
A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Set one year after the drama series "Moteki." 31-year-old Yukiyo Fujimoto (Mirai Moriyama) doesn't have money, dreams or a girlfriend. He has left his job at a staffing firm and is attempting to start a new life by working as a writer for a news site. Suddenly, Yukiyo experiences "moteki" - a period when a man becomes suddenly popular with woman. Cute magazine editor Miyuki (Masami Nagasawa), pure and naive office worker Rumiko (Kumiko Aso), beautiful shop assistant Ai (Riisa Naka) and beautiful, but tough co-worker named Motoko (Yoko Maki) all become interested in Yukiyo. He tries to calm down, but is shaken by the interests of these women.
A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
Based on the true story of former professional boxer Iwao Hakamada who has spent over 40 years incarcerated on death row. Iwao Hakamada was arrested for the June 10, 1966 murder of a family in Shizuoka . Iwao Hakamada has always insisted on his innocence and many others also believe Iwao Hakamada has been falsely accused ...
A timid young woman who lives with her domineering mother accepts an Adult Video scout's offer to "become somebody else" by performing in porn videos. As she rises in popularity, the boundaries between her two lives begin to disintegrate.
Based on the Japanese legend of 15th century adventurer, Oguri Hangan Daisukeshige, Toyoda places us in a surreal world of tattooed Japanese slave workers whose real life roles serve more as symbols than actual characters. After being hired by a local despot, Daizen, to massage away a nasty venereal disease, Oguri is viley betrayed after refusing to stay longer.
On board at the boat Kanikosen, where fish and crabs preserves, forced workers to work under miserable conditions, with minimum wages. Some can not cope with conditions and even death from malnutrition, and is also the supervisor of the more vicious variety. Shinjo, one of the employees, trying to convince the others that they will get good luck and fortune in his next life, and persuades them because they commit suicide to get there faster. It ends, however, in a single major failure. Rather than flee Shinjo being picked up by a Russian ship. Once there, he is overwhelmed by the social conditions that are completely different from those he has just left and decided therefore to return to Kanikosen to save their employees.
In 1907, a group of men climb an unconquered peak in the last unmapped region of Japan.
Set in the early 1990's, after The Persian Gulf War began, a 30 year old man passes himself off as Captain Kuhio a pilot for an American Special Unit. He also boasts that he is the offspring of Kamehameha I (the first King of Hawaii) and a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth of England. In actuality, the man is a marriage swindler looking for his next big score.
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
The series consists of four 3-episode chapters, each handled by a different director. The directors were given freedom in their stories, but they all share a common theme: lies. --Tokyograph
The anthology film R246 Story centers around the major Japanese highway Route 246. Originating in Chiyoda Ward's Miyakezaka district, the 122.7 kilometers long Route 246 passes through Japanese trendsetting areas such as Aoyama, Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya, on its way to Numazu City in Shizuoka Prefecture.
In the mountain hot springs of Izu, Japan, a love triangle is waiting to happen. It is the late 1930s when the paths of a stunning woman fleeing Tokyo, a handsome bachelor and a blind masseur cross.
The suicide of a female teacher 15 years ago was actually a murder. A new investigation team, spearheaded by Mizorogi, is formed based on new information turned in to the police. Obsessed about cracking cases right up till the statute of limitation, Mizoguchi has a bitter thought about a 300 million yen case that has reached the statute of limitation... When he goes to investigate the male high school student(s) whom the woman had taught and other persons related to the deceased, he sees an unexpected connection with another case...
Kanao, a courtroom portrait artist, observes crimes, scandals and the decline of Japanese values without passing judgement. As he and his wife endure the tragedy of their first child’s death, hope slowly unfolds and their love story flickers to life once again.
When a gold ingot and a severed human head are discovered in a small provincial town, the rush to solve the curious case wavers between tragic and darkly humorous in this defiantly original film from Linda Linda Linda director Nobuhiro Yamashita.
A murder investigation reveals a deep-rooted sibling rivalry in director Miwa Nishikawa's brooding family drama. On the one-year anniversary of his mother's death, Tokyo art and fashion photographer Takeru (Joe Odagiri) returns to his small hometown in order to pay his respects. But all is not well back home, and when Takeru's authoritative father questions his sincerity, the frustrated son strikes back with accusations of violent conduct. Though the situation is initially diffused by Takeru's older brother Moniru (Teruyuki Kagawa), who stayed behind to run the family business, tensions once again start to run high when Tekeru, Moniru, and pretty childhood friend Cheiko (Yoko Maki) decide to celebrate their reunion by taking a hike in the wilderness.
Rou returns to the rural monestry where he studied as a boy and was molested by priests. Rou has recently had a history of violence, and he brings this anger to the seminary, triggering a series of atrocities within the seemingly peaceful retreat. As he listens to the whispering of the Gods through his germanium radio, Rou defies God in every which way and puts religion to the test. Much of Whispering consists of sequences of sexual perversion that allow mori to comment on the cycle of abuse and how the distortion of sexuality and spirituality can create hell on earth
Jûzô Murasaki is a boy miscast in his classroom, being frequently abused, tortured, beaten and humiliated by the bully Tôru Akai and his gang of juvenile punks. After years of repression, rejection and fear without facing Akai, he develops a psychopathic dual personality with a violent alter-ego. While living in the apartment 13 of a tenement building, he becomes unable to control his violent dark personality, who plots an evil revenge against his upper floor neighbor Akai and his family.
Hoping to catch a girl's attention, high school students Ken (Tsumabuki Satoshi) and Adama (Ando Masanobu) cook up an ambitious plan. They plan a festival that combines film, theater, and rock music, and develop their project into a school road block. This plan however catches the attention of television stations and newspapers, and soon even the cops became involved in this teenage adventure.
Loved Gun is a story about a hitman named Hayamada (Masatoshi Nagase) who carries a distinctive red gun. As the film progresses we discover the reason for his work, and how he came to be alone. His aim right now is to reach a desitination, but he’s late. Along the way, having injured himself in a vehicular accident, he runs into Miyuki (Aoi Miyazaki), who as also become alone due to tragic events within her family. As Hamayada collapses from his injuries Miyuki takes him to a hospital.
Heaven's Bookstore is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Tetsuo Shinohara about a struggling classical pianist who is sent to heaven to work in a bookstore. It is based on two novels, written by Atsushi Matsuhisa and Wataru Tanaka.
In 1923, the young Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island (South Korea), to Osaka (Japan). Through the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko (processed seafood products) in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes a fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, has many mistresses and children and shows no respect to anyone. Later he closes the factory, lending out the money with high interest and becomes a loan shark. His hateful behavior remains unchanged to his last breath, alone in North Korea. The film is told from the perspective of Masao, his legitimate son by his abused and degraded wife, who knows nothing about his father other than to fear him.
A man is trying to flee from his past, and he ends up in an underworld filled with strange characters. He finds a job skewering meat in a dirty old room in a shabby old house filled with prostitutes, gangsters and a weird old tattoo master. He clearly doesn't fit in to this new world, and the inhabitants of it immediately despise him.
Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage... Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.
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.
Taiyo no Kisetsu is a Japanese drama TV miniseries which first aired on July 7, 2002. It starred Hideaki Takizawa and was directed by Nobuhiro Doi. The program was a remake of an earlier film of the same name, released in 1956.
Isao Yukisada spins this gritty coming-of-age tale about Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean who struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him. The film begins with Sugihara studying at a Korean junior high school that is dedicated to memory of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His father is a grizzled ex-boxer who recently changed his citizenship from North to South Korea so he and his wife – Sugihara's mom – could visit Hawaii. Though his father regularly gets drunk and thrashes him, he also taught Sugihara the finer point of the sweet science. At one point in the film, Sugihara takes out an entire basketball team that was bent on taking him out. Upon graduation, Sugihara enters a normal Japanese high school where he meets and soon falls for Sakurai – a loose-sock copper-haired damsel who is attracted to Sugihara's restless spirit. As the film progresses, Sugihara struggles to throw off the stigma of his ethnicity and live a quiet, successful life.
Soon after being named the new leader of his high school's gang system, Kujo grows bored with the violence and hatred that surround him. He wants desperately to abandon his post… but his once-enviable position of power has a strange way of making him feel powerless.
