Shigeru Muroi
Seiji Kamiya, a pottery craftsman who lives alone in a mountain village, temporarily returns to Japan with his fiancée, Nadia, who has been assigned to work in Algeria. Seiji opposes Satoru, who declares that Seiji should quit the company after marrying and Satoru should take over the pottery business. On the other hand, Marcos, a young Brazilian resident in Japan who lives in an apartment complex in the neighboring town to where Seiji lives, sees Seiji, who helped him when he was being chased and in whom Marcos sees the image of his late father, and he becomes interested in pottery work. Meanwhile, a tragedy strikes Satoru and Nadia, who has returned to Algeria.
The story features two people who experience their first love late in life. Maruya Kosuke is a 29-year-old employee in the sales department of his family's brewery. Thanks to his good looks he was always popular, receiving many love confessions from women since his youth. However, he experiences a rude awakening the moment he realizes his cuteness has an expiry date. Sanada Izumi is a researcher at the brewery. Past experiences have led her to believe she is inferior to others.
Hikari Kojima is selected to be a photographer for a gravure magazine. On the morning of the day of the competition, the rain aggravates her PMS symptoms and her body does not listen to her at all! Similarly, Aoi Serizawa, who was supposed to show off her first swimsuit photo at the beginning of the magazine as a step towards her dream of becoming an actress, suddenly gets her period and panics.
In August, 1918, Ito (Mao Inoue) lives in a coastal village of Toyama with her husband and 3 children. During the summer, there wasn't much fish to catch, so her husband has been far away from home to catch fish. To support herself and her children, Ito carries goods from ships like the other women in the village. Meanwhile, the residents encounter rising prices for rice. The women are unable to feed their family due to the high prices of rice. The women ask a nearby rice store to sell rice at lower prices, but it fails. The price of rice continues to rise daily. Due to an incident, Ito and the other village women step up to the plate.
Kage no Gundan (Shadow's Legion) is a group of nameless secretaries working in various industries. These secretaries work for top officials while at the same time, plan things secretly to change the unreasonable society that the police and law tend to ignore.
Journalist Maebata Shigeko, young Tsukada Shinichi and elderly Arima Yoshio all suffer from and become involved in a serial kidnap and murder case. Shinichi first discovers a cut arm and handbag from the murder case. Elderly Yoshio's granddaughter is a murder victim. Based on the novel "Mohouhan" by Miyuki Miyabe.
Yuma Nakahara (Yutaka Takenouchi) is the CEO of an IT company and he is a workaholic. He is focused only on expanding his company. He receives a phone call from his former co-worker and friend Kouhei, but Kouhei doesn't say anything. Yuma gets the sense that something is wrong and heads to Kouhei's hometown of Shinminato, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. In Shinminato, Yuma meets other people and becomes involved in the Shinminato Hikiyama Festival. His outlook on life begins to change.
Sachiko lost her parents at an early age and lived together with her only sister Nobuko who worked for a newspaper. Out of the blue, she is told that Nobuko is killed in an accident, but she simply cannot believe it because her sister had told her she was going to an entirely different place. She begins her investigations on her sister’s mysterious death with the help of Nobuko’s colleague and journalist Ryoichi. And when another colleague, Tomoe commits suicide, Sachiko has a gut feeling that a well-known figure is involved in the death of her sister...
Nobuko Sawaguchi is a surly, unattractive housekeeper in her mid-thirties. However, in actuality, she is a beautiful woman, but she hides this fact using her makeup because of a traumatic past experience. One day Nobuko is sent to housekeep for the Uehara family, known for its tremendous wealth. In the Uehara family, there is a massive quarrel over each member’s future succession and inheritance. In the middle of this hectic situation, Nobuko is asked by the daughter called Akemi to protect her.
Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.
Saburo Sugimura works for the PR department of a company which his father-in-law Yoshichika Imada runs. One day, Yoshichika Imada tasks Saburo Sugimura with work regarding a man named Nobuo Kajita. A complicated story unfolds from the request.
Twenty-year-old Kaori, an aspiring accessory designer, spends her days troubled by her mother's violence and excessive meddling. Meanwhile, forty-year-old secretary Kaori, whose daughter is a shut-in, can't stop shoplifting and having casual sex.
Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation which is planned to be done by the head of a hospital who hasn’t performed an operation for a very long time. This causes Michiko to incur odium at the hospital, however, everyone becomes frozen when Michiko points out the outdated skills of the director. She also holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. Tanaka plays a rookie surgeon, Uchida an anesthetist, Kishibe the head of the placement service, and Ito the head of the surgical department of this institution.
Four young people have been arrested for crimes they did not commit. When one of them learns that his daughter is in a critical condition because of an incurable heart ailment, he decides to break out of the jail. He is joined by three other prisoners who also decide to break out of jail. Although their motives and backgrounds are different, all of them are innocent and there are reasons why they cannot wait till their release. They have to get out of jail as soon as they can. So they band together and begin to plan their escape in order to accomplish their goals. Bound for Tokyo, they have to overcome frequent challenges for the sake of their families and loved ones.
"Genji Monogatari" focuses on the love and hate relationships surrounding Genji Hakaru. Lady Fujitsubo is Genji's first love. Ryokuzono Miyasutokoro is obsessed with Genji and eventually becomes a spirit. Yu Kao, who is from the lower class, give comfort to Genji's emotional wounds. Writer Murasaki Shikibu is jealous of Genji and is eventually ordered by Seime Abe to write a work ...
"No Longer Human" tells the story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, & suicide ...
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
Young women disappear one after another in drizzling rain. They all hear the “cursed song” of the Cage Song before they vanish into thin air. Kitaro and his friends investigate these mysterious cases when they meet Kaede Hiramoto, a high school girl who finds herself involved in this mystery. With the help from the librarian of Yokai Library, they find out that the curse was caused by an evil Yokai that was released from 1,000 years of sealing. To save Kaede, they are to gather the 5 ancient musical instruments and perform the ritual to seal the evil Yokai again, which has to be done within 48 hours!
The 74th NHK Asadora Drama is Junjo Kirari, which means something along the lines of "pure-hearted Kirari." The story is set in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture in the era around the Second World War. When the story opens in 1928, the heroine, Sakurako, is a very active seven-year-old girl. Indeed, even in the first episode she exhibits her confidence and enthusiasm. But above all else, Sakurako is interested in becoming a jazz pianist, and music features extensively in the plot.
Miki Ichinose is a 14-year-old schoolgirl who is very outgoing and cheerful. She lives with her parents and younger brother. She is in a romantic relationship with Satoshi Kirino who is 15-years-old. They keep their relationship a secret from their parents because Miki is young and Satoshi is expected to excel in school and get into a university so he can take over the family business by his overbearing mother. One night, after a date, they sneak into a treehouse and consummate their relationship. Soon after, Miki suspects that she is pregnant and steals a pregnancy test, which her mother later finds. She is taken to a doctor who confirms her pregnancy. Initially upset, Miki's parents promise they will support her. Miki tells Satoshi of the pregnancy and he takes the news well. However, his mother is furious when she learns of it and forbids the two from seeing each other.
Welcome aboard the fantasy train in the stars! "Fantasy Railroad in the Stars" is a fantastic journey of a boy, Giovanni, in a dreamscape created into a colourful full-dome CG animation picture with inspiring background music. Based on the famous Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru story written by Kenji Miyazawa in the early 20th century, Kagaya, a digital fine artist, has breathed new life into the unique imaginary world using creativity and precise astronomical knowledge. The starry sky is depicted as the Celestial Field made up of a river, a field of silver grasses, flowers, birds, survey towers, railway signals and more. Across this amazing beautiful scenery, the Celestial Railroad runs along the Milky Way. It is a fantasy world in full colour, but designed with scientific accuracy.
This new version of Nagasaki's Yami utsu shinzô (1982) is neither a remake nor a sequel. It is both those things, and at the same time it is also a documentary, a portrait of the consequences of passing time, and an occasionally very funny reflection on what the hell the point is of all this filmmaking business anyway. Shigeru Muroi and Takashi Naito, back then young hopefuls willing to take chances, now among the most established and recognisable actors in Japan, return to play the roles they assumed in the 1982 film, each of their characters having gone their own way. Alongside, another young couple (Honda and the ever-brilliant Eguchi) find themselves in the exact same situation as their older counterparts 25 years earlier. Their paths cross, an opportunity arises: for the elder two to redeem part of their own lives, for the younger couple to find a helping hand in their darkest hour.
Ginza is a night town filled with ambition and burning desire… How does a plain bank clerk embezzle an enormous amount of money and jump into the underground world? What is her ultimate goal? Her greatest weapon is a black leather-bound notebook.
The Great Horror Family is a 2004 Japanese horror comedy television series directed by Kenji Murakami, Takashi Shimizu, Keisuke Toyoshima and Yūdai Yamaguchi, which aired on TV Tokyo affiliated stations.
When pregnant lunchbox factory worker Yayoi has finally taken all the abuse she can handle, she strangles her brutish husband and disposes of the body parts, piece by piece. She's soon joined by three down on their luck housewives who murder their own husbands and find various ways to hide the evidence.
Shangri-La (Kin’yu hametsu Nippon: Togenkyo no hito-bito) follows the lives of a group of homeless people in Japan who run into a man who nearly commits suicide and decide to help him out of his financial troubles. Using their various ingenious resources they embark on a complex scheme to blackmail a crooked businessman, whose bankruptcy claim has put people out of work. It’s a fun romp as these seemingly homeless people manage to outsmart the very people who cast them from society.
The protagonist is a woman (Hiroko Yakushimaru) who is a sales manager at the Japanese branch of a famous French shoe brand. The protagonist is obsessed with a Hong Kong singer called Eakin Cheng and frequently goes to Hong Kong. However, she herself has an ambition to change the company's marketing policy (and if she can't change it, she will launch a new brand herself), so she goes to Hong Kong to plan this and that. However, this comes to light, and as it goes against the wishes of the head office, a feud is brewing between the two.
A story of young women living in the same local community. Yaeko (Suzuki Kyoka) moves to a condo named "Mezon Africa," and notices her neighbors are all a bit strange. Matsuyuki Yasuko acts selfish neighbor girl Yuka, and Tomosaka Rie acts anarchist college-student Midori. Meanwhile, Yaeko knows her neighbor Mizuho (Muroi Shigeru) killed her husband 14 years ago.
Traditional Japanese pop singer Reiko (Muroi) decides to enter a well-known TV program for amateur singers along with a confused teenager (Ôtomo) and a 40-year-old father of four (Bito).
The Oikawa children are still coming to terms with the death of their mother and the addition of a stepmother. The head of the family takes out his frustration on the children, inflicting mental and physical wounds, while the children’s lives outside the home reflect their abuse as they get into everything from street violence to teenage companion services. A sharp lawyer and new stepmother to the children attempts to forge a stable family, but as she does so the mystery behind her predecessor’s death slowly becomes chillingly clear to her.
When Su-san invites his late friend's daughter to come along on a fishing trip, she falls in love with Hama-chan's fishing protégé.
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'. Curious as to who he is, Shizuku meets a boy her age whom she finds infuriating, but discovers to her shock that he is her 'Prince of Books'. As she grows closer to him, she realises that he merely read all those books to bring himself closer to her. The boy Seiji aspires to be a violin maker in Italy, and it is his dreams that make Shizuku realise that she has no clear path for her life. Knowing that her strength lies in writing, she tests her talents by writing a story about Baron, a cat statuette belonging to Seiji's grandfather
One night, as pub owner Sotaro is caring for his sick wife, Shizuko, she asks him to promise that if she dies, he will never remarry. Thinking she is just being dramatic, he promises and tells her to go to sleep. When he wakes the next morning, however, Shizuko is dead. Sotaro keeps his promise, until one day he meets Satoko. The two quickly fall in love, and agree to get married. Their first night together, however, is interrupted by Shizuko, who is angry over her husband's broken promise. Sotaro and Satoko must find some way of appeasing the spirit before she drives them from their home.
Kono Takeshi has given up work as an electrician to run a gift-shop business with his partner/mistress Rieko, who's a couple of years older than him. When the company faces bankruptcy Kono wants to quit, but Rieko strings him along with the promise of a large cash investment, the proceeds of a real-estate deal. Her actual plan to raise the money is to kidnap a young woman and demand a ransom for her release. The trouble is, it never occurs to her to keep the victim alive before trying to extort the cash. And when things start to go wrong, Rieko responds by murdering another girl and attempting another ransom scam..
A successful office lady, who has made herself sexually available to a doctor, has her routine disrupted when her former boyfriend's son appears in her life. She is not connected to the boy, but his father has been in an accident.
Furuchi and Hama are two unsuccessful repair agents and electronic engineers. One day Furichi finds a so-called Kotatsu heater. Soon after this Furichi dies in a traffic accident. But with the help of a stun gun succeed Hama Furichi bring back to life, but also Kotatsu heater comes alive then.
Mugiko, an 18-year-old attempts to escape her unhappiness with village life by going to Tokyo to live and work in the geisha house run by her aunt. The daughter of a once great geisha, Mugiko is entitled by blood to train in the geishas ancient art of classical Japanese song and dance.
When 22-year-old Ikuko gets fired from her editing internship right before her college graduation instead of getting hired, she turns to her schoolteacher father for advice. Instead, he tells her, "I've decided to become a singer! Sort your own life out!" Confused, Ikuko gets on a boat to the town of Takarazuka, home of the musical industry, to see her classmate Mari. Mari introduces her to an accountant named Yoshie, and together the three of them move into a house they call "The Women's House: Die Fraulein".
He didn’t even like children, yet without warning, the handsome, single newscaster finds himself playing the role of father to three impertinent daughters. His entire image of the roles of the sexes gets turned upside down as he makes the transition from a swinger into a caring parent.
All the protagonists move about in a Tokyo Bar that has an entire wall taken up with a black-and-white reproduction of a photo of Monument Valley. The action starts as Billy the Kid, in full living color, walks out of the photo and gets a job as a waiter. Along with him on the working staff are a samurai straight out of the history books, a G.I. from World War II, and several other anachronistic characters. The plot (as such) revolves around keeping away the brutal mobsters and thugs who dominate the city streets outside of the bar, making the tavern safe for its easily recognized facsimiles of well-known characters.
When a research crew in deep space discovers the desolate ship "Green Planet" that warps into their area, they encounter Buzz, the commander and sole surivor of the ship. Being too incapacitated to make them aware of the situation of his ship, the research team will soon discover that they have found something far, far worse...
Four female flight attendants embark on some salacious misadventures: A few go to a company singles party to cavort with some pilots, while the lovely Misako embarks on an adventure all her own after meeting a street fortune teller...
A man ran into a woman on a street. She was not attractive, but was a perfect girl for him. After missing the chance to talk to her, he contemplates on how he should have approached her. Based on Haruki Murakami’s short story “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”.
A young woman who escaped from prison is eventually captured and brought back. The evil warden decides to make her a pet project and tries to break her down with torture, gang rape and by turning her friends against her.
Set in a barren, futuristic Tokyo of highways and wastelands, a rowdy group of punk bands and their fans gather to protest slow, boring, Japanese living.
A boy and girl struggle to understand their place in 1980s Japan, retiring to copulate and probe each other for answers.
Two young men are hungry, so they decide to rob a bakery. Adaptation of a short story by Haruki Murakami.
Film director Shunichi Nagasaki reflects on a near-fatal motorcycle accident that occurred while shooting his commercial feature debut The Lonely Hearts Club Band in September.
A student travels back to Kobe for the summer. Once there, he meets his friend Rat, hangs on the usual place, listening to the Beach Boys and meets a mysterious twin girl.
The newly divorsed singer Kumi is not too enthusiastic about life as a single mother. She drops her son to her ex-husband, leaving her band and embarks on a crazy tour of Tokyo's shadowy side.
Kazuo Kudo returns to his hometown of Hakodate with his wife because of his autonomic ataxia. Kazuo, who is not able to work and has to attend the psychiatry regularly, continues to run in the city of Hakodate for mental treatment on sunny days and rainy days. When Kazuo comes to communicate with the young people he meets on the street, something begins to change...
