Masato Hagiwara
Serial killer vs newspaper reporter. A shocking mystery depicting an unprecedented theatrical crime! Can the reporter played by Hiroshi Tamaki stop the assault of serial killers with "words"???
A school psycho suspense that depicts classmates, students, and their families being involved in a whirlpool of suspicion and confusion when a mysterious and beautiful high school girl, Kiritani Sara, suddenly transfers to another school.
In 1996, after the collapse of Japan's asset price bubble, Shibasaki Akira works in the loan department for the Yotsubashi branch office of Aoba Bank. One day, he is sent to work at a government-run company, which is a housing financial bond management organization. The company was formed to collect non-performing loans from bankrupt housing loan companies. Workers from different banks, including Akira and ex-employees from housing loan companies, gather at the government-run company. They stand up against vicious debtors and struggle to protect the taxpayers' money.
A young bioarchaeologist Yukisuke is attracted to a girl Koyomi, who runs a small stand of taiyaki pastry that he often buys. Koyomi is hospitalized, however, by a car accident on a rainy day after they go out together, and wakes up with short term memory loss, where she cannot remember anything beyond the present day. Yukisuke tries to live close to her as before but the lack of collective memory starts to stagger him.
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake an tsunami in 2011.
Toko Ikuta (Kasumi Arimura) lost her parents in a car accident at the age of 3. Afterwards, her uncle, who ran a barbershop in Morioka, raised her and she had a happy childhood. Toko Ikuta was active as a local idol and she dreamed of becoming an actress. At the age of 19, she is set to take an audition in Tokyo. The day before her audition, on March 11, 2011, the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hits Japan. In the autumn of 2011, Toko Ikuta works at a cafe. She goes with her Korean co-worker Han Yoo-Ri (Kang Ji-Young) to do volunteer work in Kesennuma as the area recovers from the devastating tsunami. There, Toko Ikuta meets Kiyotaka Shimizu (Kentaro Sakaguchi) who is a university student from Tokyo and a member of a student volunteer group. While spending time together in Kesennuma, Toko Ikuta and Kiyotaka Shimizu develop feelings for each other.
Ozawa Hiromi, a second-year high school student, lives with her strict grandmother Takako who deprives her of all freedoms. One day, Hiromi faints and wakens to a new personality named Yumi who is the opposite of Hiromi in all ways. Can Hiromi stop Yumi?
Yuri Hirai, a female college student, used to photograph everyday scenes with her childhood friend Masato with her hobby camera. One day, information about a party whose sender is unknown arrives at Yuri's home. Although the invitation was a bit dubious, the same thing arrived at Masato, so they decided to join the party with a light feeling. Arriving at the meeting place marked on the guide, there were five men and women of the same generation and one middle-aged man. From there, the eight drive to the party campsite by wagon, where they will be forced to join a party that can never be turned back.
A young couple is devastated when their son is killed by a falling tree during a windstorm. As the distraught father begins to look for answers into his son’s death, what appears to be a tragic accident turns out to have been the result of multiple blunders by multiple people.
Soichi Kurei is a magazine editor. He is currently working on popular manga series Million Joe. The writer of the manga series is Tsuneo Magata, but he suddenly dies. Soichi Kurei is devastated because he feels Million Joe should be finished. Soichi Kurei then makes a suggestion to Tsuneo Magata's chief assistant Ryota Terashi. The suggestion is to hide the death of Tsuneo Magata and for Ryota Terashi to finish the manga series using Tsuneo Magata's notes.
‘My dad saw a monster here. When he was a kid.’ · ‘A monster?’ · ‘Yeah, a monster. It moves between this world and the next.’ Ao lives with his mother and little sister Kii on Sado Island in Japan. He misses his father, who recently disappeared without a trace – although not much is spoken about it. While their mother tries to deal with the loss in her own way, Ao and Kii run across the island and scream at the ocean. In the mysterious Sayoko, who inconspicuously swipes books from the school library, Ao finds a confidant. Few words are needed between the two reticent, dreamy children: together, they at once feel less alone. Against the striking backdrop of an industrialised coastal town, Tetsuya Tomina's poetic film tells a tale of dreams, loss and monsters.
Hisashi Tanaka (Haruma Miura) is a medical student in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. He does volunteer work and gets to know Yasuaki Kano (Yo Oizumi) at the hospital. Yasuaki Kano has suffered from muscular dystrophy since he was 12-years-old. Yasuaki Kano has his eccentric ways like running out of the hospital and saying that he wants to eat a banana late at night. Hisashi Tanaka thinks Yasuaki Kano is a lovely person. Yasuaki Kano develops a crush on rookie volunteer Misaki Ando (Mitsuki Takahata). He asks Hisashi Tanaka to write a love letter for him, but Misaki Ando is Hisashi Tanaka’s girlfriend. --asianwiki
The triangular relationship between three 21-year-olds - the unnamed narrator, his male roommate Shizuo, and a woman named Sachiko who works at the same bookstore as the narrator.
In 2012, Atsuya (Ryosuke Yamada) and his 2 childhood friends do something bad and run into an old general store. They decide to stay there until the morning. Late into the night, Atsuya sees a letter in the mailbox. The letter is addressed to the Namiya General Store and the letter was written by someone to consult about worries. Incredibly, the letter was written 32 years ago. The mailbox is somehow connected to the year 1980. Atsuya and his friends decide to write a reply and place their letter in the mailbox.
Leon, who has succeeded the name of Golden Knight "GARO," devotes himself to train a young Makai Knight for the next generation, together with Prince Alfonso of the Valiante Kingdom. Then, they receive an order to exterminate the most beautiful Horror in the world which resides in a neighboring country "Vazelia." At the same time, a young Makai Knight for the next generation is kidnapped by an unknown person. Leon desperately follows them, only to find that he is surrounded by his enemies at a dead end. Then, a Makai Knight Dario who was supposed to be missing for some time suddenly appears and rescues him. Under his guidance, Leon is led to the town where he meets up a totally unexpected person.
Shinichi Tominaga is a prosecutor, newly appointed to the special investigation division for the Tokyo district prosecutors' office. He is currently busy with a case involving suspicious donations to powerful politician Yohei Tachibana. Shinichi then receives a mysterious message from his friend Samon Kondo. His friend is in charge of space development at The The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The message talks about a scandal related to space development. Samon soon goes missing after sending the message. Shinichi begins to see a connection between the two cases.
Shiratori Sakuto is 28, but has the intelligence of a 6-year-old boy. He works for Dream Flower Service, a flower distribution centre which provides employment for problem youth. One day, he and a colleague, Yanagawa Ryuichi, delivers a rose bouquet to the apartment building where Mochizuki Haruka lives. Because Haruka does not know that the deliveryman is mentally challenged, she is shocked by his response and tries to call the police. Haruka works for a brain physiology research centre where Professor Hachisuka Daigo has been studying the improvement of mental performance. He has succeeded in lab experiments on a white mouse called Algernon. Sakuto is transformed into a genius through surgery. But Algernon's new intelligence begins to fade, and he dies. Sakuto realises that his genius, too, is destined to leave him.
Koichiro Shimada is sent to a research facility in Kenya, Africa by a teaching hospital in Japan. He encounters a desperate situation and decides to work there as a doctor, treating patients hurt in battles. He struggles with nurses and colleagues at the hospital. Koichiro Shimada then encounters a boy soldier severely wounded mentally. This changes Koichiro Shimada’s fate.
A 3-part series of biographical dramas to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the establishment of NHK.
Set in the near future of Japan with the educational system nearing collapse. To rehabilitate the lawlessness at public schools and its troubled students, the government sends Kamen Teacher to designated schools.
Bartender Junpei Hamamoto witnesses a hit-and-run incident, and knows the person arrested for that incident is not the person he saw driving. He believes the person responsible is world famous cellist Keiji Minato and his older brother has taken the rap for him. Junpei and his friend Tomoki decide to blackmail Keiji, but they are blocked by his manager Yuko.
28-year-old Tsugumi brings about misfortune to those around her. Because of this, she is known as the "Woman of Unhappiness" and people are afraid of her. Her younger sister Sakiko is about to marry. Tsugumi doesn't want to bring misfortune to her family, so she decides to go to Tokyo. In Tokyo, Tsugumi begins to work at “Anu” which is collaborative work place for young businesspeople or freelancers. Working with all of these positive people who pursue their dreams, Tsugumi begins to try to be happy.
Set in the year 2017, the Japanese government attempts to secretly control the DNA of its people. Ryuhei Kagura (Kazunari Ninomiya) is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered, Ryuhei Kagura's own DNA is found at the murder scene. Ryuhei Kagura becomes the prime suspect and then he becomes a fugitive. Veteran detective Reiji Asama (Etsushi Toyokawa) goes in pursuit.
The unassuming SABURO AIKAWA is somewhat of a rising star in the small, remote island he calls home. Dr. Muraki, head of the island's only clinic, recognizes Saburo's dexterous fingers and takes him under his wing. Saburo proves to be a talented surgeon and quickly wins the favor of the island's ageing residents. Saburo, however, does not have a license to practice. As guilt and responsibilities bear down on his shoulders, Saburo finds solace in a simple nurse named Akiko, a colleague who is a native of the rustic island. But just as their love begins to blossom, a young tourist also named Akiko arrives and turns the couple's world upside down. While visiting, the younger Akiko suffers a life-threatening emergency and puts Saburo through his most difficult surgery thus far. Akiko recovers miraculously and falls in love with her savior. She sets out to marry Saburo and gets her father, a powerful doctor who owns a large hospital in Tokyo, to offer him a lucrative job as a surgeon. Yet with the dark secret of being unlicensed, Saburo finds himself torn between two women who share the same name but live starkly contrasting lives. Saburo can stay in the small island and live quietly with the Akiko who protects his secret and provides him solace. Or he can marry the wealthy Akiko and rise to heights he never imagined, but with the constant fear of being found out. Saburo's choice of woman will determine his walk of life. What kind of man will he make of himself? Based on the 1982 best-seller by the master of romance novels, Junichi Watanabe, Forbidden Practices weaves together the raw themes that consume any person's life-- love, success, duty-- and puts them through moral challenges. How far should one go to achieve these?
From the 2011 drama, Utsukushi Rinjin, Nakama Yukie reprises the character Saki. This time round, as Saki Amihama, she will be targeting men. With the facade of an angel, she draws men to her, only to lead them to a destructive end. Like a moth to the flame... but where is the line drawn between the saint and the devil?
Shima (Mirei Kiritani) is a second year high school student. She has already become the youngest ever winner of a "new writer award" for poetry. Yet, she keeps it a secret that she is a writer at school. Shima has developed feelings for fellow second year high school student Kento (Takahiro Miura). One day, Kento confesses his feelings for her and they begin to have a relationship. Shima has difficulties understanding other's emotions and can't understand Kento's feelings. Soon afterwards, Kento decides to break up with Shim...
The story begins with the disappearance of a school bus and four high school girls. Still unsolved three years later, the case gets revived when one of the girls reappears. Odagiri plays a sharp national investigator searching for the truth behind the incident, which leads back to a seemingly peaceful town.
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 radio DJ, Mao starts a new program called, "Love Letters from the Drawer" to assist people who need an extra push to send out their simple yet very important message for their loved ones. The show was inspired by her own experience after reading a letter from her father after he died. Through her radio show, various characters come to light as everyone awaits for a miracle to happen. A miracle which can occur only by them expressing their true feelings... The movie is full of emotions and music plays an important part of it. It has a great cast that represent the many faces of love. Parents, sons, lovers, and friends. The movie takes you to several locations within Japan, you can get a look at the beautiful coast and shrine, as well as the city sights
A tire comes off a moving truck and becomes a deadly weapon, hitting a mother and child. The problem was caused by the vehicle manufacturer's failure to recall the vehicle, but the blame falls on the head of the delivery company who, despairing, searches for evidence that the recall was suppressed. Crossing paths with banks, police, weekly magazine writers, the victim's family, and various others, he eventually gets to the truth of the matter.
Based on Saibara Rieko's manga, Ike-chan to Boku (a.k.a. Good Bye My Secret Friend) tells the heartfelt story of a young boy named Toshio and his imaginary friend Ike-chan. Toshio's floating blob of a friend has two big eyes and a mouth, and changes colors and sizes depending on the mood. When Toshio is sad, she turns small. When Toshio makes friend with a girl, she turns bright red from anger. Ike-chan stays by Toshio's side as he grows older, but the day he finds his first love, Ike-chan disappears from his life. Child actor Fukasawa Arashi (Helen the Baby Fox) takes the leading role in this affecting fable about childhood, friendship, and growing up from director Ohoka Toshihiko. Popular actress Aoi Yu voices Ike-chan.
A film spin-off of the popular TV drama 'AIBOU,' starring forensics expert Yonezawa Mamoru as the hero, the popular character from the original series. The film follows Yonezawa's thrilling efforts to uncover the truth back behind the case drawn out in AIBOU: The Movie. Investigator Yonezawa (Rokkaku Seiji) is searching images from the Tokyo Big City Marathon, targeted for a terrorist bomb attack. Within the images he sees his former wife Kazuko (Konno Mahiru), and the following day he learns that dead body that looks like her has been discovered.
Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the Lycaons, heads to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to train and find a new pitcher for the team. There, he meets Toa Tokuchi, a 134-kmph pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Outs". At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons under an unusual contract: he gets 5,000,000 yen for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen for every point he gives up. A high-level psychological game of baseball, gambling and logic is about to begin..
Erika Ichinose, a clinical psychologist, is recruited by the National Police Agency in an attempt to stay one step ahead of a bomb terrorist.
The Japanese anime television series Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor is based on the first part, Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji, of the manga series Kaiji, written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. The series was broadcast on Nippon TV from October 3, 2007, to April 2, 2008.
Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps—that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell—thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit.
Near the slopes of Mount Fuji, there is a so called suicide forest, an infamous place where people who are tires of living have their last breath of air. The four different stories of this film all revolve around this place.
The modern-day story of a man searching for a friend who has mysteriously disappeared, with a magical tale involving strange creatures, a heartbroken princess, and a pact that can't be broken. Conflicts between faith and skepticism, and between social obligation and personal desire drive the narrative toward a dramatic conclusion where the worlds of the real and the surreal inevitabl
Akagi is a mahjong centric Japanese manga, written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto and first published in 1992. It is featured in the weekly magazine Modern Mahjong, and is a prequel to the author's previous work Ten, in which Akagi's titular character also appears. Due to its popularity, the manga has been adopted into two live action movies, and a 26 episode anime series which aired in Japan in the fall of 2005.
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.
Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited "Danny Boy" during a birthday bash for a sergeant whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past they'd rather forget.
Story of Rikidozan, a sumo wrestler who can only achieve limited success in Japan because he's half Korean. But when Rikidozan goes to the United States and discovers professional wrestling, he becomes a hero back home.
In a post-war alternative timeline, Japan is divided into the North, controlled by the Union, and the South, controlled by the United States. A mysterious high tower rises within the borders of the Union. Three high school students promise to cross the border with a self-built airplane and unravel the secret of the tower.
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.
One morning Hikaru Hino, a high school student living in Hakodate, wakes up to find she has grown a tail. She quickly cancels her first date with classmate Hayato, complicating their relationship. Hikaru's sister makes a fake tail to cheer her up and takes her out around town together, but a reporter captures their photo which leads to a huge commotion in Hakodate. As the tale commotion reaches a fever pitch, another person with a tail, Mr. Yoshida, shows up. As a result, the commotion grows into a full-blown incident that involves the whole of Hakodate.
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.
A man gets involved in a kidnapping scheme with the wife of a wealthy businessman. She lets herself be tied up and confined in his house while he sends the ransom demand. When he returns home that night, however, he finds her laying dead on the floor. In a panic he buries her body deep in the woods and tries to return to his ordinary life. One day, he thinks he spots her walking down the street. Is his mind playing tricks on him, or has she somehow returned from the grave?
A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody X carved into the neck of each of the victims. In each case, the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing of the crime. Detective Takabe and psychologist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection, but their investigation goes nowhere...
Hinata Mochizuki (Arisa Mizuki) is a superstar in the pop music scene, and Kenta Yamabe (Masato Hagiwara) is a very ordinary office worker. One day, the two meet, and then fell in love. However, due to the influence of various external factors, the relationship between the two does not go smoothly.
Kasumi Sawaki (Honami Suzuki) works for a top-ranked newspaper publishing company as a capable economic reporter. Speaking six languages fluently, she vigorously performs research and interviews. Her fiance, Ishii (Shingo Tsurumi) is an elite in the same company. Although her work and love seem to go very well, she is suddenly relegated to the minor Sports Department which is full of strange colleagues.
Kazuo encounters a religious group travelling around Japan performing "miracles". He discovers they are fakes, but is intrigued by the showmanship of the group, and becomes involved with them. The group is split into two, some members concentrating on spiritual teachings, and the others using the facade of religion to make money. The business faction dismiss the old spiritual master and choose Kazuo to lead their group.
A Korean taxi-driver interacts both humorously and tragically with his customers and employers in '90s Tokyo.
A cantankerous but loveable high school teacher teaches a night school in a poor neighborhood for adult students on the fringes of Japanese society.
As the monk Ryuun, whose past and origin make him prone to internal and external fits, leaves the temple towards Tokyo, he gets to catch a glimpse of enlightenment resonating with the blind Kanoko.
This story follows the journey of an ill-fated young man whose ambition is to be a professional antiques dealer. A hard-up young man, who makes his living by selling old items in flea markets, meets a nurse and he falls in love with her. He decides to become a successful antique dealer. So he participates in a huge auction in the mountains but he makes a fool of himself. At the same time he ends up being in the netherworld, and hovers between life and death.
