Kimiko Yo
Jun Wataguchi lives a lazy, half-hearted life, not going to school, hanging out with half-witted delinquents, and begging money from his friends. His parents, who run a shipping business transporting earth and sand for reclamation by boat, manage to get by, despite the dwindling number of jobs and lack of successors over time. Jun showed no interest in his parents' business, and the father and son hardly ever spoke to each other. One day, one of Jun's friends is attacked by someone and an unexpected person emerges as the culprit.
A man is caught on live national TV naked and drunk in the middle of the sacred Namahage festival, where men dressed in ogre-like costumes visit homes to scare kids into behaving during the next year. Tasuku, a young father, is ostracized for shaming the village and its tradition and flees to Tokyo alone. Two years later, he returns to his hometown to make it up to his ex-wife and their little daughter, only to find himself faced with a very difficult situation.
Toko Suguri is married and they have a lovely daughter. She doesn't have any major problems in her life. One day, Toko Suguri meets her former lover, Akihiko Kurata, at a friend's wedding. They haven't seen each other in ten years. Toko Suguri indulges in a sexual relationship with Akihiko Kurata.
Set at the Hotel Royal, situated in the marshland of Hokkaido, Japan, and follows the guests, the family that runs the hotel, and the hotel's staff. Masayo Tanaka is the only child of the family that runs Hotel Royal. She failed to enter an arts school and she now works at the hotel. She does not show her emotions to anyone.
Single father Kenichi has raised his daughter Miki alone for the past ten years, from when she attended nursery school until her graduation from elementary school. Kenichi is currently 30 years old. His wife Tomoko died at a young age and he has raised Miki alone since that time. While raising his daughter alone, he has encountered various problems.
Fuyuki is an established artist who runs several bars in Yokohama. One day, injured Shinji runs into his bar. He always idolizes Fuyuki as his elder brother. Shinji is a member of the charity group which looks after troubled young girls in Yokohama. Fuyuki decides to help Shinji who is in a trouble with Yakuza for helping an underage girl out of their prostitution business. In the midst of getting involved in this conflict, Fuyuki learns that his dearest love, Kyoko has a very short time to live, and he feels a strong desire to express his love for Kyoko in a painting...
Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit. "Half, Blue" is NHK's 98th asadora.
March 1952, the only doctor in the village Shiba had found a dead body of Sanako. The cause of death is overdose of sleeping pills. Sanako had been suspected for killing her own husband so Dr. Shiba’s sister Kana is guessing that she has committed suicide due to being tormented by killing her husband. Everyone who was in Mr. Kuroido’s house is the suspect, including all the members of Kuroido family, butler, secretary, maids, etc. The Detective Suguro (Hercule Poirot) will investigate the case. Dr. Shiba will be assisting him. As things are searched by them, a shocking fact has been brought to light…
Enokida Trading Post is a second-hand shop run by Yojiro Enokida , whose personal mantra is, "Anything but garbage. We take it all." The shop serves as a gathering place for employees and regular customers, who come with troubles in hand. One summer day, part of the shop's sign falls down. Yojiro thinks this is a sign that something spectacular is about to happen, and indeed their problems take on lives of their own from that day onward.
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.
10 men and women are called to Natural Island Hotel on the isolated island Heitaijima off Yachijojima by the owner Nanao Shin. They take the dinner that has been prepared while filled with a mix of expectation and anxiety about what is going to happen and why they have been invited to this island. Then they suddenly start to hear a mysterious voice reveal their past crimes. As the 10 of them go through past incidents in their mind, one of the invited guests is murdered before their eyes. That seems to be the catalyst for the murder of another guest and then yet another. Several days after the invited guests came to Heitaijima, police head over to the island following the report of murders. They discover 10 murdered bodies on this big “locked room”. Who is the murderer and why did these 10 people have to be gathered and killed? ~ Based on the novel "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, published in 1943.
Sato Tomoko leads an ordinary life with her husband and young child. One day, she defies the rules at the company where she works part-time to supplement the household income, and is fired. Tomoko is in her 40s, a high school dropout and has no qualifications. How is she to get a job? She happens to find out about the huge pay and high winning rate of members of the city, townand village councils through a TV programme. Equating huge pay with family happiness, the foolhardy Tomoko quickly decides to run for the city council. Her rival in the election race is Todo Makoto, who comes from a long line of politicians. Hirata Kazumi, a former star political journalist at a newspaper and a friend whose child attends the same nursery school, is inspired by Tomoko’s energy and ability to unify people, and becomes her supporter.
Hokusai's genius was supported by his daughter, O-Ei. The two are believed to have worked on Hokusai's pictures from his middle-age. Female artists were rare in 19th century Japan, but O-Ei continued to produce art in her own right, despite financial and romantic problems. The first historical drama on NHK WORLD TV will be depicting the story of this remarkable woman, who shared Hokusai's life.
Six directors picked a favorite song by Japanese punk rock band "The Blue Hearts" and made a short film inspired by the song.
Eiichi Nishio (Kento Nagayama) is a young actor. He is not very popular and only receives offers to play dead bodies. One day, he wanders around Nakameguro, Tokyo and recognizes the restaurant/bar Izakaya Fuji. He saw pictures of Izakaya Fuji on a woman's Instagram account and decides to go in.
Kuma is an author, a sex obsessive and a wheelchair user. Beautiful and volatile Ryoko is unlike anybody he’s ever met before. She barrages into one of his lectures, demanding to know why he only talks of sex, not love, before declaring her own affection. It’s the first of many inappropriate acts by Ryoko and the start of a relationship that is by turns sweet, strange and toxic. Ryoko hopes that she and Kuma’s love can change the world. What she fails to realise is that sometimes it’s the small gestures, not the grand ones, that feel most revolutionary.
The story of Henri Mitowa, a 93-year old Japanese monk, who wants to make a movie based on his own life.
When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.
Mayu Daimon is a woman who does not remember her mother's face, and her father is the only person she has blood relationship in this world, but he is going to die soon. Mayu has just started a new life as a detective at the Criminal Investigation Division which deals mainly with murder cases soon, and has to handle with two corpses of old men continuously. One corpse found frozen buried in the snow and the freezing sea. Soon with a detailed investigation she finds out a connection between the two cases which seemed to be completely different at first glance. It was just the breach to open a history of an incident which had origin back to the 1960s in Aomori Prefecture. Growing more and more as a detective, Mayu has to unravel the mystery of a case which goes beyond time and space and which ends in Hokkaido with a result that no one expected.
Kozo Nakase attends meetings for single widowers looking to remarry. He meets Sayoko Takeuchi and eventually marries her. Not longer after their marriage, Kozo Nakase suddenly collapses and dies. Kozo Nakase leaves everything to Sayako. The rest of his family are left out of his will including his daughter Tomomi. Tomomi hires a private investigator, Honda, to find out more about Sayoko.
When people finish their day and hurry home, his day starts. His diner is open from midnight to seven in the morning. Pork, miso soup combo, beer, sake and shochu is all that he has on his menu. Nevertheless, he makes whatever his customers request as long as he has the ingredients for it.
Umeda Mina is a pianist whose father is a famous conductor. She has set her sights on winning an international piano competition. However, she has faced countless setbacks and this is her last chance at the age of 35. Mina has been married to her husband Shinji for 10 years, but they do not have children for some reason. One day, a filthy boy with an impassive face breaks into their garden. It turns out that he has been abused and he is put in a home. But several days later, he appears in their garden again. Believing that it is fate that brought him to their house twice, Shinji secretly starts to look up on child adoption … …
Tenei village is located in Fukushima prefecture's beautiful surrounds. It is 70 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. When the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant failed in March 2011, radioactive particles fell and contaminated the rice fields. But the farmers couldn't just abandon their land as they live on the land and wanted to protect it for future generations. The farmers decided to pursue scientific methods to secure food safety. They were on their own without Government assistance. This film documents their determination and efforts in overcoming an environmental crisis that had never been experienced before.
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.
Funny stories about freeter Kaname Yokoyama, who dreams of becoming a movie director, and his housemates.
In 1895 (Meiji 28), Nonaka Chiyoko prays for the safety of her husband Itaru who is attempting to climb Mt Fuji in midwinter. If he accomplishes what no one has done before, he would finally build an observatory on the mountain’s summit with the intention of staying there alone in the winter. He will be able to observe the weather in order to advance meteorological studies even though it may be at the cost of his own life. Burning with a conviction that the country cannot be changed if no commoner demonstrates it first, Itaru has the support of his parents and younger brother but Chiyoko is absolutely anxious. She is convinced that her husband will certainly die of such recklessness if she lets him go alone, and decides to climb Mt Fuji together with him. However, this is vehemently opposed by her mother-in-law Tomiko who berates her that her place is at home, and Chiyoko apparently reconsiders. In order to join Itaru, she hides this plan from the people around her, deceives Tomiko and does everything possible to finally carry it out. On the summit of Mt Fuji in midwinter – a feat no one has yet achieved, husband and wife battle the cold and altitude sickness as they begin their observations
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 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and daughters.
Every night, Master (Kaoru Kobayashi) is busy with customers at the restaurant he runs. He has a worried face, looking at the funerary urn which someone left at his restaurant. His customers also talk about the funerary urn.
Set within the Kaga Domain in the Edo Period. Oharu is an excellent cook and recognized for her skills. Due to her cooking talents, she marries Yasunobu, who is an heir in the Funaki family. The Funaki family serves as the cook for the Kaga Domain. Nevertheless, Yasunobu himself is a terrible cook. With the help of Oharu's mother-in-law Mitsuru, she begins to teach Yasunobu how to cook.
"Daijobu 3 Kumi" depicts the interactions between new teacher Shinnosuke Akao, who was born without arms and legs, and the 28 students in his 5th grade class, told from the vantage point of school board member Yusaku Shiraishi
It isn't easy to find a dream to chase when you're young, but Mugiko (Maki Horikita) has one: she can't wait to become an anime voice actress. Saving up for classes while she works part time in a manga store, she lives with her older, gambler brother (Ryuhei Matsuda) after her father's death. When the mother (Kimiko Yo) she never knew turns up out of nowhere and moves in, it only causes irritation for the aspiring otaku. But when her mother just as quickly disappears, it leaves Mugiko (or "Sweet Pea") searching for answers, bringing her back to her mother's hometown to discover what happened to her mother's own dream.
Ninagawa is a powerful man in Japanese politics and with top economic connections.His granddaughter is then murdered. The suspect is Kunihide Kiyomaru (Tatsuya Fujiwara). Kunihide Kiyomaru has a prior conviction for assaulting and killing a girl 8 years ago. The police could never apprehend the suspect in the prior killing.
The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.
Erika Sawajiri plays Kimiko, the main character of the story who has died. Although the title implies that it is a story of a “wicked woman,” the original novel was divided into 27 chapters, one for each “testimony” by someone who knew Kimiko at some point in her life, providing a range of perspectives on what kind of person Kimiko was. ~~ Adapted from 1978 novel series "Akujou ni Tsuite" by Ariyoshi Sawako.
A prison officer hands in his resignation after his wife's death, to drive to the port where she wants her ashes scattered at sea. Eiji (Ken Takakura) works as a prison officer in Hokuriku. At the age of 53 Eiji loses his wife who he loved the most. Eiji then receives a letter from his dead wife which requests that her ashes be spread by in the sea next to her hometown. Her wife never mentioned such a thing while she was alive. In order to find out her real intentions, Eiji heads to his wife's hometown of Nagasaki with his homemade camper van.
Troubled high school student Makoto arrives in Tokyo to exact revenge from a past incident. He then falls in love at first sight with Ai (Emi Takei), a daughter raised in a wholesome family. Around Makoto and Ai are Iwashimizu (Takumi Saito), who has feelings for Ai and Gamuko (Sakura Ando), a gang member who eyes Makoto.
Young married couple Rie (Tomoyo Harada) and Sang (Yo Oizumi) move from Tokyo to Lake Toya in Hokkaido Prefecture to start a bakery restaurant named Mani. Sang bakes bread and his wife Rie makes food that complements the bread. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, the customers leave in a happy state.
Nobuko is a plain, unattractive woman with disheveled hair, and is hired as a housekeeper in the Inamura residence in Tokyo. The Inamuras are a family of six. The father, Tatsuya, is the head of a university hospital's department of internal medicine. He lives with his wife Haruko, their three sons, and Tatsuya's mother, Shigeko. Although the Inamuras appear to be a happy family, Nobuko soon uncovers the truth.
In 2011, top-secret data on nuclear power is stolen from a university facility. At the same time, leaked information comes in about enriched uranium from the Korean peninsula. Sumimoto of the external affairs fourth division suspects that a conspiracy has been hatched to rock Japan-Korean relations.
In 1945, Japan surrendered to the United States and the Second World War was over. Right? Wrong. For eighty percent of the Japanese community in Brazil, Japan had won the war and defeat was nothing more than American propaganda. The few immigrants that accepted the truth were persecuted. Some were hunted down and assassinated - by their own countrymen - causing the start of a new, private war. Dirty Hearts is a thriller and love story told by the wife of one of the fanatics dedicated to preach Japanese victory. Little by little, she watches her husband, a hard-working immigrant, become an assassin and their love story fade away.
Mikio (Masato Sakai) is a married man and works hard for the company where he is employed. Then one day Mikio is diagnosed with depression. Mikio's wife is Haruko (Aoi Miyazaki). They have been married for 5 years. Haruko draws comics for work, but they do not sell well. She mainly relied on Mikio for support. Meanwhile, Haruko did not notice any changes in her husband. She begins to blame herself for not noticing any signs. Mikio's depression derived from his work. His company has been pressing him to quit the company. After Mikio quits his job his condition improves, but the dynamics of their relationship changes.
An abandoned car is discovered near a camping ground and inside it is the body of an identified middle-aged man and a dog who seems to have died months later. This is the story of the life of the loving and faithful dog and his owner told from the dog's point of view. City hall employee Kyousuke Okutsu is assigned to uncover the man's identity for a proper funeral. As he investigates the situation, he remembers his late family and his own dog's unfailing loyalty.
After a bad breakup, a young woman returns to her hometown and opens a menuless restaurant. A young woman (Kou Shibasaki) in her mid 20's becomes so heart broken she loses her voice. To recover, the woman decides to go back to her hometown and stay with her free-spirited mother whom she has not been very close to in the past. The young woman then decides to open a restaurant which accepts only one customer a day, allowing for thoughtful preparation for that customer.
Dr Toma, a skilled surgeon, starts work at a regional hospital in Japan. After performing an operation to remove a patient’s liver cancer, something that normally would not be done at this hospital, he quickly gains a very good reputation amongst the town’s people. Some of his colleagues become so jealous they are resentful and waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to crucify him. Soon they get their chance as Dr Toma considers performing a controversial operation…
Shimizu Yuichi (Tsumabuki Satoshi) is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino (Mitsushima Hikari) who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo (Okada Masaki), berates and mocks the troubled loner.
Charming little story about a local town's doctor - but he is hiding a secret. He will have to come face to face with this truth, despite being great at his job... he will be forced to explain his actions and take responsibility.
An "air doll" suddenly come to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfect for her until something unexpected happens.
Kohei Miyazaki (Naoto Takenaka), a former railroad worker, has become obsessed with discovering the ancient country of Yamataikoku. His obsession sprouted from a day when he discovered ancient ceramics while repairing railroad tracks. Now completely blind, Kohei relies on his wife (Sayuri Yoshinaga) to guide him through the country and read the maps in their pursuit of Yamataikoku.
The 47th NHK Taiga Drama is a life story of Princess Atsu, who was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, then called Satsuma, and became the wife of Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. She accedes to the highest rank in Ooku, the inner palace of the Edo castle where women related to the reigning shogun resided. Iesada dies soon after their marriage and Atsuhime assumes the name Tenshoin at the age of 23. She exerts herself for the Tokugawa clan and for the nation during the upheaval in the Meiji Restoration, headed by those from Satsuma.
Based on the manga "Daisuki!! Yuzu no Kosodate Nikki (I Love You! Yuzu's Parenting Diary)" by Mizuho Aimoto, this Japanese TV drama focuses on a woman named Yuzu Fukuhara, who, despite her adult age, has a condition that affects her mental age. After her boyfriend dies saving a child from being hit by a vehicle, Yuzu finds out that she is pregnant with his child. Despite her condition, she shows determination to be a mother and eventually has a daughter named Himawari. The show focuses on Yuzu and her family as Yuzu goes against the odds regarding her mental condition so she can be a good mother to Himawari.
An American woman is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend. Searching for direction in life, she trains to be a râmen chef under a tyrannical Japanese master.
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Toyomi Terajima (Ryoko Yonekura) chose to become a nurse because she had no interest in marriage and wanted an occupation she could do for the rest of her life. Although she doesn't have a lot of aspirations, she does have a vague idea of wanting to work as a nurse overseas, and so she studies English. Outside of that, her life is less than ordinary and she carries out her job as a nurse without any indifference. That is, until one fateful night when she calls on Dr. Toya Shinichi (Takaya Kamikawa), director of the hospital, for help with a patient suffering from a heart attack. It is this chance encounter that brings the two together and sets the wheels in motion.
"Tokyo Rhapsody" consists of 11 short films all centered around the music genre known as "Kayokyoku". Kayokyoku is a catch-all term to describe the music that defined two generations of post-war Japan. Although the term survives, it has a strong connotation with a simpler, pre-"Economic Bubble" era when Japanese people shared a common identity in the reconstruction of their nation.
Born into a wealthy family, 17-year-old Masato (Emoto Tasuku) has never been deprived of material comforts, but his distant relationship with his parents leaves him empty and rebellious. Telling himself that his real mother is actually a woman who kidnapped him as an infant, Masato takes off to Okinawa to find her. Curious to learn more about her (Matsuyuki Yasuko), he ends up staying to work at her restaurant. As the two grow closer over time, an ambiguous relationship develops, not quite mother and son, not quite lovers.
Min is a Korean boy moves to Japan with his father who is a potter. One day at a local shrine, he meets Nanae, a beautiful Japanese girl with stunning eyes who is aspiring to be a painter. Min falls in love at first sight and finds out that Nanae attends the school to which he has just transferred. Their friendship develops fast despite their cultural and language difference. When Min's grandmother falls ill, Min returns to Korea and Nanae is nowhere to be found. Had his true feelings for Nanae not been apparent to her? Why has Nanae disappeared without a word?
A yakuza must take care of some children from a nursery
A story of pure love between the son of a man who runs a ship repair factory beset with financial troubles and the well-bred daughter of a national jewelry chain store owner.
What happens with two children commit two different muders in order to protect each other? Does salvation exist for them? In order to walk beneath the sun once more, Ryouji and Yukiho find themselves in a twisted web from which neither can escape without abandoning the other. Having no one but each other, this drama follows the events the follow that fateful day… 14 years ago.
Toshiyuki Nishida plays the role of Don Kameda, A.K.A “Don-Game”. Don-Game is a cafe owner who loves jazz and long epic songs. But that’s actually him in disguise. He’s in fact the chief of a secret organization called The Tokyo Police Confidential Investigation Division and works directly under the Tokyo Police Commissioner. With their unique members and exceptional teamwork, TPCID solves mysteries that the police can’t even untangle
This is the story about one small coffee shop located in the northern island of Hokkaido. Yukichi Wakui used to work as a successful businessman at a prestigious trading firm. He worked for several years in New York as well as other cities around the world. When his wife Megumi died at the age of 47 in a car accident three years ago, he decided to leave the company. He was only 57. When Megumi died in the accident, her 18-year-old son Takuro was at the wheel. Yukichi declined an offer to switch to an affiliate company after his retirement, and moved to Megumi's hometown Furano, Hokkaido instead. There he started a small coffee shop named "The Forest Clock."
Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady.
After finally passing his teacher's exam, Miwa (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) devoted himself to teaching in a rustic primary school. He struggles to get through to his students, until he creates a class project to raise fireflies to fly over it once again. All students, even the reserved girl Hikari (Risako Sugaya), become passionately involved in the project. However, it brings them into conflict with parents and the school, one problem after another stands in his way.
Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father and stepmother or Hajime, the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her.
Higuchi Ichiyo is the first female professional novelist in Japanese literature. This tanpatsu drama is a biography of her personal life.
He can't control himself inside of him. Hidenori, a Japanese-Korean, hasn't seen his family in a few years. He doesn't want to go to school but just wander the streets. He always grins at a trifle. When he is caught stealing and he feels pain as his finger is cut off, he just smiles. He murmurs "Should I commit suicide?" in front of his dead sister. Yumi, an obsessive-compulsive girl, has a sticky finger. A boy who wanders the Sybuya. They join Hidenori's reckless plan by chance. They plan to stow away in order to show Korea to his sister, who has never seen the motherland. Three people who are out of this world and the dead go toward Hakata.
Hotel Hibiscus is the story of one very young energetic girl named Mieko and her internatioanl family who live in Okinawa. They live in a run down old hotel called Hotel Hibiscus with only one room for rent.
A seeing-eye dog (Shiro) is granted one wish by his former owner. He chooses to become a human for a short time so he can find the girl who trained him as a puppy. While attempting to get to know her (as he runs along behind her and sniffs for her around town) he eventually falls in love with her.
Hana is a nineteen-year old expectant mother. She travels with her grandmother's ashes to her grandmother's house. Hana's mother, who gave birth to Hana when she herself was a teenager, now resides in the home. They are on the outs with each other, but are forced to stay with each other when Hana's boyfriend fails to show.
When a promising young boxer is crippled in a car accident, he falls into a life of dissipation and depression. No boxing ring or martial arts club will take him on -- that is, until an aiki jujitsu master helps the young man develop techniques uniquely tailored to a wheelchair. What starts off as a sad film revs up into an exciting and fun series of epiphanies in which the young man realizes his situation isn't as hopeless as it seems.
A boy who suffers from impaired hearing and a young girl pianist try to solve the mysterious connection between a series of murders and the boy's entangled memories.
The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, from Tokyo come to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly. However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko and her sons came to Okinawa to spend his last moment together in beautiful nature. Fumiya, Kazuya’s younger brother, and Eri promise to marry each other someday. However after Kazuya’s death, Fumiya and his mother leave the island to go back to Tokyo. Years later, they are reunited, Eri as a nurse and Fumiya, a doctor, working at the same hospital in Tokyo.
Between Japan and Korea, Tokyo and Seoul, two people are living parallel lives: U-In is a civil servant who works in the City Hall recycling and rubbish collection department. Recycling is for life, as is his job. Aya is a student struggling to come to terms with adulthood while studying for her college entrance exams. Having recently lost her grandmother and admiring her grandfather's suicide by holding his breath, she begins to fantasize about taking her own life. For this she needs money. U-In is a loner, with a palpable indifference to his job and his life in general. He turns to the internet for companionship. Aya too turns to the internet, by posting herself on a personals site and changing her name to Asako. Somehow they meet both on and offline.
Hama-chan accompanies Su-san on a business trip to Okinawa in the middle of the recession, but Su-san remains in low spirits over business matters.
Kawamoto works and lives in a dilapidated pool hall which also serves as a rehearsal space for him and his friend Chikako. They seem contented to while away their hours doing nothing much at all. Meanwhile, an old pool shark meets some people from his past that he is none too happy to see again. How will this affect their private haven?
In this startling psychological thriller from Japan, Mami (Hijiri Kojima) is a teacher who meets Tomo (Koji Chihara), a psychotic criminal with a short temper and no visible means of support. Amour fou blooms between them, and a year later they're living together, with Mami taking part as Tomo abducts, tortures, and kills one of their neighbors. Eventually the cycle of crime goes too far for Mami and she leaves Tomo, but several years later, he arrives at her home to disrupt her life with her new husband. Hysteric was directed by Takahisa Zeze, who previously received critical acclaim for the film Kokkuri. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Misaki decides to join the Brass Band Club having heard of its prestigious past from her father, a former member. However, Misaki finds that much has changed and the club is now full of dull and inactive students. Misaki determines to do her best to return the club to its glory days, but she must help many of the students overcome their personal problems.
Togashi, an enthusiastic marathon runner and his wife are occupied with their daughter Mayumi's grade school entrance examinations, but he becomes jobless when his company folds. To regain his confidence Togashi decides to join the marathon that is taking place on the very day of his daughter's examination and the all important interview.
A fifteen year old boy travels through the Amagi Pass, he encounters some strange people, one of them is the geisha Ozuka Hana. After a murder takes place, the police searchs for the culprit.
Following on the heels of "Stalker," this title continues the same theme, focusing on a young woman, Suzu, infatuated with her older sister's husband, Takeshi. As a neuro-psychiatrist, Takeshi has the expertise to diagnose her mental instability, but trying to care for her may only draw him further into her clutches. Looking into the mysteries of her childhood may be his only hope of curing her obsessive behavior before Suzu's violent tendencies threaten those around her.
After having aborted her lover’s baby, thirty-four year-old Fuyuko undergoes an emergency hysterectomy and feels a loss of womanhood as she gives up her dreams of marriage and children. Kishi is caught between his enduring love for Fuyuko and his wife’s desire to keep their family together.
A salaryman faces a major life change as his firm undergoes financial difficulties. To add to his troubles, a man claiming to be his long-estranged father shows up at his house requesting shelter. One of the best of Somai's seriocomic studies of the messiness of family life.
After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, a writer remembers travelling with his family to bury his brother after World War II.
A young student believes that the spirit of an alien from another planet has gone back in time and taken over his body to infiltrate and study humanity, to find the reasons why our civilization is doomed to future destruction. He replicates the spirit of another alien in a girl that he meets, and together they use their video cameras to document modern urban Japanese society.
To pursue her dreams, Sakurai Kazumi (Wakui Emi) quits her job and goes to New York to study jewelry design, against the objections of her naggy and stubborn but well-meaning father (Takeda Tetsuya). As part of remaking herself, she changes from spectacles to contact lenses, even though she has problems adapting to them. When she accidentally drops her contact lenses, a mysterious man helps prevent them from being stepped on, but he walks away before she can talk to him. Some years pass, and Kazumi is on a plane home after receiving a letter from her brother Taku saying their father is critically ill. She has morning sickness and has some run-ins on the plane with a sloppily-dressed man, and it is only when she drops her contacts and the man helps her in a similar way that she recognises him (Sorimachi Takashi). She chases after him and asks, "would you like to do some work (arubaito)?" It turns out that Kazumi in her last letter from New York had written that she was in a relationship with someone and that they might soon marry, but since then she has broken up with him, and she didn't want to make her father upset by coming home alone. The man, a freelance journalist named Yoshimi Kaoru, agrees to pretend to be her fiancé.
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.
Immoral Affairs (Fukigen na kajitsu) is a Japanese film made in 1997 and directed by Katsuo Naruse.It centers on two characters: Mayako, played by Kaho Minami, a young women who is not content with her husband and begins to have many affairs with other men, and Kiriko Okabe, played by Isako Washio, a woman whom she befriends. Mayako's husband is played by Jinpachi Nezu.
An odd journey starts as Mitsuru, a private detective, and a boy, whom a dying mobster entrusts to him, decide to go to northern Japan in search of the boy’s mother, and the detective’s buddy Hisashi joins them later.
Three close friends realize, at the age of 40, that maybe it's time to think seriously about getting married. Employed by an advertising agency, each struggles with his own weakness-one consistently strikes out with women, while the second can't seem to break his attachments to his mother, and the third is an unabashed playboy. This adult comedy exposes the humorous views and sobering misconceptions of marriage by single men today.
Masamichi Toyama is a loyal husband with a bad gambling debt. Mobsters out for the money track him down, beating him and raping his wife. Desperate for revenge, he makes himself a sword and sets out to wreak havoc. When he meets the Gonin, a group of five female thieves, his luck only gets worse. Run, Sayuri, Shiho, Saki and Chihiro are fast-shooting, strong-arm women. Not only that, but they're more than prepared to take on an army of gangsters. Unfortunately for them, they stole the ring Masamichi wanted for his wife, and now he's more likely to hunt them than join their cause.
A young girl wanders into a wing of her elementary school that has been abandoned for years and is rumored to be haunted. When she doesn't come back, a group of her classmates go looking for her, only to find that they, too, are trapped inside. They must somehow find their way to safety, and quickly, because the rumors of ghosts are turning out to be true...
This delicate love story transcends the spoken word as it depicts the lives of an aspiring young actress and a painter who lost his sense of hearing during childhood. As their relationship develops, the audience learns the true power of sign language and experiences the couple’s growth first-hand through the progression of their visual communication.
A V-Cinema effort from the mid-90s starring Show Aikawa and Misa Aika. Misa Aika plays Miyuki, a high school girl who is a computer nerd. She is contacted by someone on the net who calls themselves an "angel". Meanwhile, an AV cameraman, Yoichi, has fallen in love with Miyuki at first sight, and devoted himself to filming her secretly. However, as he films her, Yoichi begins to notice other strangers who have an interest in Miyuki.
A youth romance that fantastically depicts the unstable emotions of high school girls who refuse to transform into adults
Jiro becomes a happy instructor but a shocking suspicion was raised by Owada who took the place of his parents.
Detective Suwon was involved on the war on drugs in Yokohama because of his mischief.
An undercover narcotics officer is killed, and after his funeral some yakuza break into his apartment and rape his wife, Nami, while looking for the drugs they claim he stole from them. Afterwards Nami attempts to commit suicide, but after being rescued by a mysterious yakuza she decides to infiltrate the gang and get revenge.
The third entry in the unrelated series which began with Shiryo No Wana (1988), Toshiharu Ikeda's bloody horror film deals with a policewoman (Megumi Yokoyama) investigating the apparent suicide of a college coed. The prime suspects include the girl's professor, who may have been having an affair with her, and the professor's wife, who frequents lesbian bars. Gruesome axe murders and mutilations ensue, leading Yokoyama to a shocking discovery. Less grisly than its predecessors, this installment is perhaps the best-scripted of the three (all were written by Takashi Ishii), but all are arguably among the best Japanese horror films of the decade. Ishii is best known for the stylish Tenshi No Harawata series which began in 1978, one of which was also directed by Ikeda.
Adaptation of the Arimasa Ohsawa novel Shinjuku Shark.
Jiro is a Tokyo man who offers a stand-in service where he'll do "anything". A woman claiming to be from Fukuoka wants to be shown around Tokyo and see the sights. What Jiro doesn't know is that this woman isn't who she says she is. She's on the run from her Yakuza boyfriend, and Jiro is going to be unwittingly entwined in the situation.
Jinpachi Nezu who lost both his wife and daughter during a feud against the yakuza 10 years ago while he was an accountant for their organization. One day he comes across a young idol and rescues her from being kidnapped by the yakuza.
A mother and her daughter move from the urban sprawl of Tokyo to the remote island of Ishigaki in the Ryukyu archipelago, and try to adapt to life there.
A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons' spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths and eventually battle Hiruko
Artist Yumeji has gained fame and recognition for his skills at painting as well as notoriety for his untamed lifestyle. Despite his betrothal to a beautiful and timid young woman of high birth, his libido turns to his many female models. Despite this freedom from constraint, his lust and artistic sentiment cause him nothing but an increasing awareness of the elusive embodiment of true Beauty. While traveling he encounters a mesmerizing widow who relentlessly searches for her husband's body in the nearby lake, believing him killed at the hands of a ferocious roaming bandit. Infatuated with her beauty, he feigns to help her look for the corpse, only to unlock the mystery himself thereby sending him to further depths of debauchery and despair. This is the third and final film in director Suzuki Seijun's critically acclaimed Taisho Trilogy.
Junko Mihara is full of mysterious charm and is involved in ambitious work.
A carnivorous monster lives on the island of Sipang. A group of office ladies band together to fight it.
During the Vietnam War era, the influx of American soldiers to Okinawa boosted the local economy and introduced many bars and nightclubs. With exhausting displays of energy, Sai presents a whirlwind romance between a local rocker and the daughter of a mixed American-Okinawan marriage.
Yuichi Koga is an upper-class business executive, running his own adult video company, and living a successful life with his wife and daughter. Outwardly, his family seems really happy, but in reality Yuichi enjoys sex with everyone but his wife Chikako. One day, he gets a phone call from a woman named Sanae, an old elementary school classmate of his.
A hard-working section chief, fast approaching retirement and beset by stress from all directions, joins a jazz band and reignites his youthful passion for the music, giving him a chance to set things right in his life.
A hardened gangster encounters by chance a woman he hasn't seen since childhood. They are both engulfed in the underground world of intergang warfare.
