Naoko Ôtani
The body of Shinsuke Maeda, a wealthy older man, is discovered in his garden. While at first glance it appears that he missed his step while exiting into the garden and hit his forehead on a flowerbed rock, it is established that a safe installed in the living room has been emptied. It seems that, the night before, Maeda left the hospital he was staying at of his own will and came home, and was robbed immediately after returning. His daughter Yumie Nagano insists that Chikako Inui, a woman her father had been seeing, must be the perpetrator. She says that Maeda was thinking of getting married to Chikako soon. However, Chikako finds Yumie and her husband suspicious. Troubled by debts incurred by opening their ramen store, they pestered Maeda and he pushed them away. She calmly points out that Maeda gave her a will in which he left all of the 50 million plus yen hidden in the safe to her, so she had no reason to steal from him.
Follows the story of love, friendship and growth of six young men and women who move from countryside to the big city of Tokyo, each with their own dreams and aspirations. Among them is Sugihara Oto and Soda Ren. After her mother died, Oto was raised by adoptive parents in Hokkaido. Although she has given up on having any high hopes or big dreams for her future, she still remains positive and faces life with optimistic attitude. One day, she finds out the fact that her adoptive parents are planning to marry her to the wealthy man in town in order to solve their financial debt. Soda Ren was raised by his grandfather in Fukushima. Ren works hard on one job after another in order to earn the money to buy back his grandfather's land so that they can start farming again. By chance, Oto and Ren meet in Hokkaido and they decide to move to Tokyo to find new life to change their fate and future. However, as soon as they arrive Tokyo, they get separated in the crowds...
Yasutake Shingo works as a newspaper reporter but his life is stiffled and lifeless. That changes one day when he meets the irrepressible Matsunaga Chie by accident. Just as their relationship is blossoming however, Chie tells Shingo that she has breast cancer. Shingo determines to marry Chie right away, but she'll have to go through surgery and cancer treatments firs...
An old couple, their only son, the son's wife, a young man and his lover live peacefully in a village. Then, a terrifying earthquake strikes that causes a nearby nuclear station to explode. The residents must evacuate, but the family lives on a farm, with only half of the area designated as an evacuation area...
Shuichi Furukawa receives a phone call from his mother. She reminds him that they are moving the next day. The following day, Shuichi takes a train ride back to his hometown. He arrives at his parents home, but nobody is home. He looks for the house key under a potted plant but can't find the key. He starts to thinks back to his childhood days in his parents home. Shuichi grew up with his younger brother, older sister, father who ran a shoe making business out of their garage and mother. Shuichi grew up with a crush on an older woman who lived next door and he loved to make piggy banks out of empty whiskey bottles. One day on a school picnic, Shuichi's classmates grabbed a lunchbox from a fellow student and eventually gave the lunch box to Shuichi. All the other students chanted "throw it away," while Shuichi's former friend looked on in despair.
While celebrating with her friends in her new cheaply rented apartment (with balcony and view of the sea) on the thirteenth floor of a building, the young Sayaka unexpectedly jumps off the balcony committing suicide. Her mother goes insane and her older sister, Mariko, decides to investigate the mysterious death of her sister. She finds that there have been many suicides of young women living in apartment 1303. She finds a book telling the tragic story of the Yukiyo and her mother, the first tenants of the apartment and uncovers the truth behind the suicides.
A portrait of an ordinary family that turns unstable when their frivolous son Shuji returns home after a long absence.
A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. In the midst of the 1918 Great Rice Riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets with Asako, the daughter of a rice shop owner, and falls in love with her. She too is of Buraku descent. At the same period, Hideaki, an old friend of the brothers returns to Komori, and he along with Koji and the townspeople create "Zenkoku Suiheisha", the National Levelers Association, an organization pledged to build a bridge over the river of discrimination, making all people equal in every way.
This is a sad and beautiful story about a father who is a popular comedian and a son who suffered by an incurable disease.
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima told in four parts. The first three parts relate events in three of his novels: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses. The last part depicts the events of 25th November 1970.
After a passenger ship sinks in 1954, Go Akutsu devises a life-saving project in the form of a tunnel under the Tsugaru Strait. While working on this project Akutsu becomes involved with Tae Makimura leading to his estrangement from his wife.
A surreal period film following an university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.
The three-film saga comes to a conclusion as three leaders of the underworld battle it out to determine who will become Don of Japan.
A bad cop is engaged in a violent chase to catch a yakuza boss. In his absence his wife runs away with another man, who turns out to be the very same man that her husband is hunting. Once he discovers this, he loses his nerve and turns in his badge. But the chase turns into a personal vendetta where the ex-cop plans to wipe out the entire gang.
Convicted of murder, Masayuki Ueda is sent to Hiroshima Prison along with his accomplice. But for a man like him, breaking out of prison is easy.
Katsu Kaishū deals with end of the Edo period. Based on Kan Shimozawa's novels "Katsu Kaishū "
Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about to be forced into prostitution for want of a payment the dead mother was bringing. Zatoichi determines to save the woman from her cruel fate.
Tatematsu Minoru, a yakuza belonging to the Ishikawa group that runs the Shinjuku area, has a beautiful sister named Akane. He dreams of sending her to college and turning her into a perfect young lady. He's extremely fond of Akane. His fondness for her goes beyond how he feels about his mistress, Kanae. And yet, Akane feels alone. Now, a new tutor comes into her life that seems to have taken a liking to her...
The 9th NHK Asadora. Starring Naoko Otani as a young woman living with her grandmother.
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.
