Sachio Sakai

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.

Theatrical version of episode 17 of Ultra Q TV series.

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

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.

TV film about the "Nishiyama Incident", a scandal surrounding the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan. Produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of TV Asahi in 1978 and released theatrically by Office Henmi in 1988.

A young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of attempted rape. He soon meets several individuals claiming to be ministers of their own micronation…

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.

A re-edited Italian-language dubbed version of the original Godzilla, using as a basis the U.S. version, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" (1956), plus WWII newsreel footage and clips from other science fiction films. The re-edited film was then colorized via a process called "Spectrorama 70" consisting of applying various colored gels to the black and white footage. The film's opening and ending also features new music composed by musicians Fabio Frizzi, Franco Bixio, and Vince Tempera (under the pseudonym Magnetic System).

Hiroshi Kakurai is an assassin who was thinking of retiring. He travels to an island in the Seto Inland Sea and begins to live peacefully with Shinobu, a woman he has fallen in love with, but the intensity of his love for her begins to drive him towards destruction...

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.

During the military phase of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Sentaro joins a local militia loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to fight Imperial troops. But Sentaro's friendship with a pickpocket, who switches sides whenever it suits his needs, leads to complications that could cost Sentaro his life as they infiltrate enemy lines.

The Maccherone organization is out to get a priceless national treasure. But when they see third-generation cat-burglar Lupin as an obstacle, countless assassins are sent to kill him on sight and kidnap his girl Fujiko! Can Lupin get the loot before the Maccherone gang, rescue Fujiko, and stay alive at the same time?

Ex-conman Junpei plots revenge on a corrupt corporation by leading a team of swindlers posing as politicians. A slick crime comedy of cons and payback.

Three friends leave Tokyo and take on a massive criminal organization in Hakata.

The last (10th) Toho "Crazy film" in the Nippon Ichi series.

The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.

The second film in Toho's series on the military history of the Showa era, Hiromichi Horikawa's war drama offers a look at the career of controversial politician Hideki Tojo and the strained relationships between Japan's government, military, and the media.

When a space probe crash-lands on a far-flung Pacific atoll, the craft's alien stowaways decide to take over their new world one creature at a time. Soon, the parasitic life forms latch onto three indigenous critters -- a squid, a crab and a snapping turtle -- and transform them into colossal mutant monsters.

A young man goes missing after visiting his girlfriend's isolated country home. His sister and her boyfriend trace him to a creepy mansion, but their search becomes perilous when they uncover a gruesome family history.

The 14th and final "Crazy" feature. The Crazy Cats reunited (minus Ishibashi, who had by then retired from the team) for one last feature, Jun Ichikawa's odd Memories of You (Kaisha mono-gatari, 1988) released by Shochiku. Most of the cast of Crazy lrresponsibles at Shimizu Harbor (1966) return in this sequel.

Ichiro Miki is a child living in the industrial district of Kawasaki, where his parents' constant struggle to make ends meet often leaves the schoolboy alone. Constantly teased by a bully nicknamed Gabara, his only friends are toy consultant Shinpei and fellow classmate Sachiko. Ichiro turns to escapist dreams of Monster Island where he befriends the equally bullied Minilla.

Japan, February 1868. As the Tokugawa shogunate declines and the power of Emperor Meiji grows, Gonzo, a soldier of the Restoration Army, returns to Sawando, his hometown, to announce the end of tyranny.

A Toho film featuring the comedy duo Konto 55, (コント55号), comprised of comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jiro Sakagami.

A Toho film featuring the comedy duo Konto 55, (コント55号), comprised of comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jiro Sakagami.

Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?

Adapted from the Seicho Matsumoto story "Tazutazushi". Ryohei Suzuki, a manager at a travel company, is married to his superior's daughter, but tires of their authority over his life. A chance encounter with Yukiko Hirai one rainy night brings a new romance into Ryohei's life, and he and Yukiko fall deeply in love. Yukiko, however, reveals that she has a violent husband in prison - with only a week left until his release. Ryohei, desperate to maintain his social standing, brings Yukiko to the mountains in Nagano and sets in motion an unthinkable, tragic chain of events.

A romantic triangle comprised of two brothers in love with the same woman.

As Japan joins in a political pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet. With Japan headed inexorably toward war, Yamamoto, despite his misgivings, believes the only possible victory lies in destroying the American fleet by surprise at Pearl Harbor. The attack succeeds, but fails to sink the American carrier fleet. Thus Yamamoto must lead the Japanese navy into war with ever-diminishing likelihood of success.

A killer-for-hire gets mixed up with a cast of wacky characters involved in a gold smuggling route from Beirut to Tokyo.

An aging company president pushes a youth-focused corporate fitness campaign but struggles to keep up himself.

"Shacho" comedy about the president of a salt manufacturing company.

Comedy starring the manzai team of Chick and Tack, and set in the world of salarymen.

A dramatisation of the 24-hour period in which the Japanese government was deadlocked over the decision to accept or reject the Allies' demand for an unconditional surrender following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

An adaptation of the Rankin/Bass cartoon, "The King Kong Show". King Kong is brought in by the evil Dr. Who to dig for Element X in a mine when the robot Mechani-Kong is unable to do the task. This leads to the machine and the real Kong engaging in a tremendous battle atop Tokyo Tower.

1967 Japanese movie

Sequel to "何処へ" (1966). A coming-of-age drama adapted from the novel by Yojiro Ishizaka.

1967 Japanese movie

In Hong Kong an International Secret Police (ISP) Agent is murdered while investigating ZZZ, a group bent on assassinating the Prime Minister of Buddhabal. ISP Agents Carter and Kitami are assigned to the case. When the Prime Minister arrives in Tokyo for a friendship visit, Carter and Kitami are on hand to protect him. On hand, too, are assorted ZZZ blackguards. Several attempts on the Prime Minister's life fail, until finally the ZZZ introduces a new device designed to eliminate not only the Prime Minister but the ISP Agents as well: THE KILLING BOTTLE, then, is a pocket-sized container filled with a substance that can expand to thousands of times its size and throttle its victim, then disappear leaving only the corpse.

In comic Woody Allen's film debut, he took the Japanese action film "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" and re-dubbed it, changing the plot to make it revolve around a secret egg salad recipe.

Captain Murakami takes over as skipper of the Azuma Maru, replacing the well-liked former captain. Murakami forces the crew to work harder than they ever have, creating enmity and exhaustion. Just when the ship has taken a huge catch of tuna in its nets, Murakami learns that his ship is the only one in position to rescue the crew of another ship, sinking in a storm. He must choose between saving the catch or saving lives. Either choice may mean his ruin.

Osami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.

Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved, he attempts to recruit him to fight in a conflict between Asakura and another clan. Goemon refuses, and Lord Asakura sets out to destroy him.

A silly yet skilled Interpol agent flies to Tokyo and gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.

Intelligence director Suritai asks agent Kitami to steal money from anti-government guerrillas.

In 1943, the Aleutian island of Kiska was fortified by a small contingent of Japanese soldiers. When word arrived of an impending attack by an overwhelming force of Americans, the Japanese Navy attempted one of the most daring and unlikely evacuations in military history. This is that story.

The 22nd film in the Shacho comedy series.

An omnibus comedy set in a newly built housing complex, the film follows seven interconnected stories about the everyday vices simmering behind thin apartment walls. The film observes the lives of ambitious young couples, suspicious spouses, self-styled rationalists, overworked husbands, and gossiping neighbors navigating the promises of modern apartment living.

1964 Japanese movie

The sixth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Takashi Tsuboshima

A 1964 war film directed by Kengo Furusawa

Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son.

Film number six in the Desperado Outpost serie directed by Jun Fukuda

Fourth entry in Toho's Wakadaishō series directed by Jun Fukuda and released on a simultaneous screening with Matango. Filmed on location in Hawaii.

The fifth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Senkichi Taniguchi

During World War II, Japan sends gold to the Phillipines. After the war, the gold is lost in the bay of Manille. Former soldier Takeichi Matsuo is now working as a business executive. He meets Mintsura Gunji, the boss of a large company, who offers him to go to the Philippines and bring back the gold.

A "hustler's hustler" (Takarada), works his way up the corporate ladder at a camera company. His biggest scheme involves winning the business of a foreign visitor by setting him up with a beautiful "model" (Tsukasa), actually a bar hostess, but the plan backfires when the would-be executive falls for the woman himself.

Toho-produced crime drama involving the drug trade.

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Soldiers on the front lines in China during World War II are besieged by guerrilla attacks and attempt to destroy an enemy fort.

Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures.

The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.

Yuuichi Tanuma, our young hero, is a senior at Kyonan University and captain of the marathon team. His parents run a sukiyaki restaurant back in his hometown. When his allowance stops coming in, Yuuichi moves back in with his folks to work part-time. He has his eyes set on nationals in the fall, until one day he runs into a young woman who's fallen into trouble with the Lightning Gang...

1962 Japanese movie

In 1976, a drifting star named Gorath is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Although it is smaller than Earth, its enormous mass is enough to destroy the planet totally. A mission sent to observe Gorath is destroyed after the ship is drawn into the star, with a later mission barely escaping the same fate. However, Astronaut Tatsuma Kanai is left in a catatonic state due to his near death experience. Unable to destroy the invading star, Earth's scientists undertake a desperate plan to build giant rockets at the South Pole to move the planet out of Gorath's path before it is too late.

Young Yuichi (Kayama) romances Sumiko (Hoshi) while helping out at his family's restaurant, singing in a band, and preparing for an important boxing tournament.

In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Japanese neo-noir crime drama movie directed by Jun Fukuda

In the middle of the period of high economic growth in Japan, a family is thrown into disarray over work, money, and romance. Their father's sudden unemployment later in life causes friction among the siblings of the Akagi family. Kensuke, a salaryman at a top company, refuses to support his parents while his brother, Shoji, determines to care for them despite only working as a taxi driver. The concern over money affects Noriko's own love life as she courts a wealthy salaryman to the chagrin of her mechanic boyfriend.

Takashi, who took the blame when his father shot a gangster, returns home after serving a four-year sentence, only to find it infested with yakuza running a dope ring. Battling gangsters all the way, Takashi searches for his former girlfriend, now a drug addict.

When noble wanderer Moritaro saves a disowned merchant’s son from gangsters, he becomes entangled in a town’s struggle against corruption. Teaming up with a rogue monk, bold tea-picking girls, and even a reformed thug, he battles a violent crime boss exploiting local families. Amid betrayals and brawls, justice and solidarity triumph.

1961 Japanese movie

The first instalment in Toho's popular Wakadaishō (Young Guy) series.

A wandering swordsman helps a doll maker and his fiancée fight against a ruthless gang in a small town. As tensions escalate, epic duels and betrayals lead to a final showdown that shifts the balance of power. The swordsman departs, leaving a lasting impact on those he helped.

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Grown up son arrives home to learn his father, the newly elected mayor, has been assassinated. So he journeys down a path to find the assassin and gets involved with two opposing yakuza gangs.

Comedy of manners set on the "Kodama" train between Tokyo and Osaka, before the opening of the Shinkansen. In the leading role, Frankie Sakai plays a straightforward but indecisive hero. The passengers also include the bubbly Dan Reiko, and Ozawa Eitaro as a dour company president. Based on the novel "Seven and a half hours", by Shishi Bunroku.

1961 Japanese movie

Keisuke Morita, a man with dark glasses standing on the Shibaura pier, a descendant of an illegitimate descendant left behind in Osaka and a brother of the Otorigumi, returned from South America for the first time in 15 years. When he stepped on the soil of his native land, his first thought was to visit Otanuki Fudo, the guardian deity of the Otorigumi, but the Otorigumi had fallen and Otanuki Fudo was on the verge of eviction for the construction of an expressway. Keisuke and Joji put on the striped suits left to them by their late boss, and set out to rebuild the clan...

Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.

During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests.

In this patriotic WW II drama, the Japanese army demonstrates its courage and willingness to do anything to win as they endeavor to sneak into Communist China to bring back the flag of a defeated enemy regiment.

A youth drama set in the Japanese alps. Two robbers, chased by the police, escape from the youths of a university mountain club who are trapped in a lodge during a blizzard. This ski action romp has the tempo of a musical, and Okamoto Kihachi's style is on full display. Tsuruta Koji makes a special appearance as a senior member of the mountain club.

Starring Akira Takarada as a lightweight boxing champion.

Men are being murdered by a killer who uses a matter-transmitting device to locate his victims.

Chuji Kunisada returns to his home village to find that Jubei Matsui, the corrupt magistrate, has been responsible for virtually destroying Kunisada's family. A final tragedy leads Kunisada to join with a band of rogues living in the forest in robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, always with an eye toward avenging himself on Magistrate Matsui.

A university graduate determined to become a fishmonger defies his mother's wishes, tangles with bar hostesses and a beer company heiress, and—after misunderstandings, brawls, and a second chance—discovers that maybe the salaryman life isn’t so bad after all.

Punch, Pinch, and Sench become involved in a murder mystery centering on a Chinese billionaire (Mihashi), actually a Japanese yakuza, who claims to be developing a tourist's paradise on the island of Oshima.

Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.

When Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer.

Engineer Shuichi defies his wealthy family to live with bar hostess Kazuyo, whose loyalty to her struggling family complicates their love. As class, pride, and temptation test them, true affection proves stronger than circumstance.

Lord Taro must deliver a money chest but is robbed by brigands led by Jibu. One of Jibu's men, Rokuro, steals the money from Jibu, but after meeting and befriending Taro, Rokuro decides to return the money to Taro. But Taro's unscrupulous brother Jiro falsely accuse Taro of the theft, and Taro reactively joins the outlaw band and encourages them to steal from the nobles and give to the poor.

In this sequel to Three Dolls in College, the three friends continue their adventures and get into a rockabilly club in Ginza.

Period comedy with fantasy elements.

A group of hustling peddlers swindle rural towns with fake goods, facing betrayals, close calls, and constant setbacks as they chase survival and dream of a better future.

Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as a friend, so he helps another man to woo her by giving him the poetry of his own heart.

On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.

An Ishiro Honda film.

The first of eight "Three Dolls" features. In this entry the girls, students at Nichinan University, balance studying for the final exams while falling for the new French professor.

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents problems for the gang, and Ryuta realizes he must kill his brother if he wants to survive.

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

A carefree student from a traditional sake shop family balances love, rebellion, and a bike race while clashing with gangsters and his old-fashioned grandfather.

A film about the life of Kiyoshi Yamashita, a Japanese painter with disabilities.

A private detective and a colleague investigate a man for a wealthy young lady.

Thriller about a narcotics investigator uncovering a dope ring.

Based on the novel "Ekimae Ryokan" by Masuji Ibuse, a longtime hotel employee struggles to bring his old-fashioned ryokan in line with postwar Japanese business practices.

Matsuki, a former war photojournalist, returns home and starts a modest life with his wife, Komiko. Driven by his passion for capturing the truth, he takes on daring assignments that impress many, though his risky work worries his wife. Through his lens, he experiences deeply moving moments that give him a new perspective on the meaning of his profession. As he struggles to balance his career and family life, new challenges force him to reconsider his priorities.

Ultra-perky model likes single freedom but feels ryosai kenbo ("good wife, wise mother") pressure, exemplified by her bored-to-tears sister.

In post-war Japan, The Second Drawer follows Funada, a devoted company man whose planned family trip is disrupted by the sudden death of his boss. Thrust into a delicate business negotiation and a chance encounter with a mysterious woman, he becomes entangled in a quiet storm of corporate intrigue, personal sacrifice, and emotional complexity. As relationships shift and secrets surface, Funada must navigate the fine line between duty and desire in a world where ambition and morality rarely

An Ishiro Honda film.

Comedy about a car salesman delivering a late model station wagon from Tokyo to Izumo to a representative of the Japanese Diet, who plans to use the car in a bribe.

In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.

After the heartbreak of losing a close colleague, a television star vanishes, presumed to have drowned in Lake Izu. A mysterious empty boat, a forged suicide note, and sleeping pills spark suspicion. As her family—an estranged husband, a troubled son, and a secretive ex—grapple with grief and confusion, layers of hidden pain and deception begin to unravel. What seems like a tragic suicide slowly turns into a web of lies, guilt, and emotional collapse… until the final, devastating truth surfaces

Tragi-comedy about the inhabitants of a remote, mountain-locked village where only the first-born sons are allowed to marry and have children.

A group of Japanese nursing students and their instructor is serving at an army camp in China. When Japan loses the war the group sets out to depart China, but on the way back to Japan is captured by the Chinese and coerced to instead treat the Chinese army at a clinic. Caught with the group is also a Japanese doctor. When the Chinese army faction itself loses in battle the Japanese plan their escape.

Fusako, a girl raised in a geisha house, tries to escape her dark past and faces repeated heartbreaks. After an unexpected pregnancy, she has an abortion and decides to start a new life away from the geisha world.

An American scientist tells two colleagues about the finding of an abominable snowman living in the Japanese alps, where it is worshipped by a remote tribe as a god, and how it was discovered by modern man after it raided a skiers shelter following an avalanche, killing all inside. This is an adaptation of the Japanese film "Jūjin Yuki Otoko" (1955) with added American-made footage, narration, and music.

The fifth film in the Toho Diamond series, following "The Hateful Thing." Based on the true story of "Zoo Story" by author Fukuda Saburo. During the Tokyo air raids of World War II, Zen-san, an elephant keeper at Ueno Zoo, is faced with the heartbreaking task of euthanizing Tonki, a beloved elephant, due to food shortages and wartime pressures. Unable to carry out the order, Zen-san secretly feeds Tonki, but the elephant is ultimately shot by the military police. The film poignantly captures Zen-san’s despair and the devastation of war, as he reflects on his powerlessness amid the chaos.

An adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip.

Obscure French version of the original Godzilla. The film combines elements of the original Toho version and the American King of the Monsters! in a unique assemblage exclusive to the Francophone market. Released by Les Films du Verseau.

A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.

Musical-comedy about nine soldiers deserted on an island in South Pacific.

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Koji Tsuruta plays dual roles: Kyotaro, the young master of a pharmaceutical wholesaler in Osaka, and Ken, a street thug in Tokyo.

During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.

Living in a house that has lost its man to the war a year earlier are the widow and her child. Four of the dead man's friends gather to have an anniversary wake. Some time following the ceremony one of the attendees marries the widow. Soon another friend of the deceased and his family also make the house their home when they move to town. Everyone's life is changed quite a bit. When the newer husband sustains an injury to his leg and loses his job it leads to the wife having to work. By the time the fifth anniversary of the friend's death occurs and another reunion is held another friend is in love with the former widow.

Yakuza boss Furuya leans more and more on his protege Takao Shoji, though Shoji has become romantically involved with Furuya's mistress, Natsue. Furuya himself has fallen in love, with a nurse after his recent hospital stay. As the gang grows more jealous of the favoritism Furuya shows Shoji, they decide to reveal Shoji's relationship with Natsue. But Furuya's affection for Shoji cannot be easily destroyed, even in the gang war that erupts.

A man running a small radio repair shop becomes a key witness in a murder case.

Period romantic drama.

Fumiko and Ryōtarō Namiki's marriage has gone stale, with both constantly arguing over what to do on a day off, or about her cutting out recipes from the newspaper before he finishes reading it. Their animosities are witnessed by Fumiko's niece Ayako, who visits to complain about her own husband's inattentiveness, and their new neighbours, the Imasatos.

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman.

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

During a winter visit to her grandfather’s mountain home, a young saleswoman becomes entangled in love and jealousy among visiting skiers. After heartbreak and tragedy in the snow, she departs renewed, ready to begin again.

Gangsters Ken and Maki are rivals in the ticket-scalping game. They make an uneasy truce, but Ken wrecks the truce by agreeing to fix a boxing match in which Maki has an interest in one of the fighters. After a terrible brawl, the two gangsters discover that they have both been played for suckers by their bosses. They join forces to turn the tables on the bosses.

Urban love comedy in which Koji Tsuruta, who works for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Parks and Greenery Department, plays love shepherd to a number of women, including his true love, Inako Arima.

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

A legendary gangster raises himself out of a small town and gathers followers on his rise to power.

Set during Japan's Bakumatsu period, the film follows Fukuzawa Yukichi, a poor samurai's son who defies societal norms to study Dutch and English. Despite facing opposition from his family and nationalist factions, he founds Keio University, becoming a key figure in Japan's modernization amid political turmoil.

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

The story of the hardships facing women working as maids and waitresses at a resort hotel restaurant.

Chōsokabe Kyutaro, notorious as a master swindler, abandons Tokyo and flees to Watakano Island near the Shima Peninsula. Upon hearing that the Tawarado family, the island’s wealthiest clan, was desperately searching for their missing heir, Kyutaro, he immediately disguises himself as Kyutaro and makes his way there.

After Ryusaku Nishikawa and his girlfriend Katsuko are attacked by a gang, he trains in karate to seek revenge. Years later, Ryusaku is a skilled martial artist preparing for an inter-school match, but his past resurfaces when Katsuko, now involved with the gang, brings tragedy. In a final confrontation, Ryusaku faces the gang and finds redemption through his karate, with the support of his friends.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.

Girls in the Orchard (1953) is about tension between the life of a family in a rural area with all the traditions (continuing family business, taking care of the land)-- and the modernity and lure of a life in the city.

A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl.

Yukiko Nogami is rescued during a mountain blizzard by handsome forester Shinkichi, and the two subsequently fall in love. But when Shinkichi dies in an avalanche, Yukiko leaves the mountains in despair and takes a job in a bar where she becomes deeply involved in the personal lives of several of the patrons. One day she thinks she sees Shinkichi alive, but it turns out to be a gangster named Hayakawa, a man on the run who bears an astonishing resemblance to Yukiko's lost love. Against her better judgment, she is drawn to help Hayakawa, though clearly danger follows him.

Jirocho the gambler hits the road.

An Ishiro Honda film.

A screwball tale of a suspected “lady thief” and the detective who is on her trail, following her from Osaka to her home village, where she is going to hold a memorial service for her father. Of course, the detective falls in love with his prey.

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find happiness in difficult surroundings.

Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki

When a group of young geologists declares a mountainside marked for residential development unstable, they are met with scorn on two fronts. On one end, they must contend with the local villagers who balk at the prospect of relocation; on the other, they face the ambitions of the headstrong lumber baron, whose actions will only further destabilize the land. Their pleas for reason ignored, the scientists can do little but observe as nature runs its inevitable course.

Mataemon Araki, a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance.

The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally “women of the sea”) in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same tradition-bound crucible, the two women – Noe and Riu – are portrayed as diametric opposites; the former meek but affectionate, the latter strong-willed but jaded by a tryst with metropolitan life.

Wataru Naohiko who has the prosecutor general as his father became a young composer and its symphony "saint" invoked the world echoed. But his disciple Uchiyama and his best friend prosecutor Daisuke Toki accused his music as a sesame of pause-only technique, not a truly heart-hungry art.

Teacher Yukiko finds herself in opposition to conservative faculty and villagers after defending a student for being in a relationship with a young man from Tokyo.

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.

Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.