Known for Camera
Born
January 1, 1976 (age 50)
Birthplace
Aichi, Japan
Filmography
43 films, 2 shows


Sheep in the Box
2026 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
In the near future, architect Otone Komoto is married to Kensuke, who runs a construction company. The married couple decide to welcome a humanoid robot into their home as their son.


Monster
2023 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.


A Man
2022 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Akira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.


The Center Lane
2021 · 11m
country: Japan
Diagnosed with leukemia in February 2019, Japanese competitive swimmer Rikako Ikee returns to her destiny: the center lane, in Hirokazu Kore-eda's short film for skincare brand SK-II.


The Master Plan
2021 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Kida and Makoto grew up together because they have it in common that they don't have parents. And a transfer student, Yotchi, also gets along with them because she has a similar background, which is that they come from not such a good home environment. They spent their school life supporting each other. But, at the age of 20, Yotchi disappeared. Then Lisa, the daughter of a politician and a top model, appears in front of the two men. Makoto takes an unusual romantic interest in Lisa, who lives in a different world from them, and asked her out to dinner, but she does not take him up on it at all. Kida warns Makoto to give up on her because they live in different worlds, but Makoto quits his job and vanishes without a trace.


Ora, Ora Be Goin' Alone
2020 · 2h 18m
country: Japan
In 1964, Momoko came by herself to Tokyo from her hometown. She met Shūzō and married him. They raised two children together, but Shūzō suddenly passes away. Momoko is dumbfounded by being alone again. She begins to go to the library and borrows books. This changes her life.


No Longer Human
2019 · 2h
country: Japan
The story of Osamu Dazai, one of Japan's most celebrated novelists, absorbed in alcohol and love; married and in a relationship with two other lovers.


Hanalei Bay
2018 · 1h 37m
country: Japan
A single mother receives a phone call saying her son had died from a shark attack in Hanalei Bay, Hawaii, where she now visits annually on her son’s death anniversary. One day, she meets two young Japanese surfers who tell her about a young Japanese surfer with one leg.


Shoplifters
2018 · 2h
country: Japan
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.


A Beautiful Star
2017 · 2h 7m
country: Japan
A family believes they are aliens from other planets and tries to save Earth from impending calamity.


White Lily
2016 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Two women, Tokiko, a ceramic artist, and her apprentice, Haruka, are in a relationship. The couple is not an intrinsic lesbian, but they fell for each other by chance.


Over the Fence
2016 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
A recently divorced and traumatized man moves to Hakodate, Hokkaido and attends a vocational college to learn carpentry along with several other students who are in the same boat as he. When a couple of the guys go to a hostess club the man meets an unconventional girl who likes him and a relationship is born.


The Sun
2016 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
The story is set in the early 21st century with the population decimated by bio terror. Two kinds of humans now exist. One is the Nokusu who were infected with a virus but survived and consequently they carry an antibody. Most are young, healthy and have high intelligence, but they have a high sensitivity to ultraviolet rays and are active mostly during the night. The other group are the Kyurio. They survived by never having the virus. The Nokusu discriminates against the Kyurio. Tetsuhiko Okudera is a Kyurio. He was born in a poor village. He isn't happy with being a Kyurio and wishes he could be a Nokusu. Yui Ikuta is Tetsuhiko’s childhood friend. She tries to revive the poor village.


Somewhere in Kamakura
2016 · 27m
country: Japan
Nakata Hideo enlists Kagawa Kyoko, who immortalizes the youngest sister Kyoko in Ozu’s "Tokyo Story", to play an 80-year-old who suddenly receives a letter from her first love.


Strayer's Chronicle
2015 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
In the early 1990s, experiments were carried out secretly in Japan. Two different methods were used in the experiments. One method involved forcing stress upon expecting parents and when the baby was born, provoke the baby into mutations and develop their special abilities. The other method involved birth to babies having abilities of animals and insects. The special abilities were derived from gene manipulation. Subaru, Saya and others were born from those experiments.


The Vancouver Asahi
2014 · 2h 12m
country: Canada
In pre-WWII Vancouver, second-generation Japanese immigrants had it tough. Daily, they faced discrimination, hatred and injustice at the hands of their Caucasian counterparts. But one thing made their lives worth living: baseball. They may be the underdogs, but the Vancouver Asahi baseball team have a sense of fair play and smart tactics that set them apart from the brute force of their opponents. Under the guidance of new team captain Reggie Kasahara, can they be able to rise above all the negativity to win the tournament? This film is based on the true story of Vancouver Asahi, the Japanese-Canadian baseball team that was inducted into The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.


My Man
2014 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
As a young child, Hana loses her family to a devastating tsunami that wipes out her town. At a shelter, distant relative Jungo sees her wandering and adopts her as his daughter.


Ondine's Curse
2014 · 30m
country: Unknown
Seizo, a doctor, and his beautiful younger wife, Reiko. At first glance, they appear to be a respectable and amicable couple, but Seizo suspects that Reiko has a young lover. One day, the couple goes to see a new Noh play, "The Curse of Ondine," organized by a medical association. At the venue, Reiko catches the attention of a man, and even the young man at the reception desk gives her a heated look. "Reiko says, "Noh is boring," but Seizo warns her not to fall asleep, since the audience is all related. However, when the Noh play begins and Reiko looks at Seizo, she finds that he is asleep. From this point on, the world of death in the Noh play and the world of life in which the two people exist become parallel. Reality and unreality intersect as if the two are acting out a Noh play, and the secrets hidden in their daily lives begin to seep out.


The Light Shines Only There
2014 · 2h
country: Japan
A man has thrown away love and a woman has given up on love. The two souls meet in a brief summer in the northern city of Hakodate.


Mourning Recipe
2013 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
A widower and his daughter deal with the death of the man's wife.


The End of Summer
2013 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
The story, set in the heady post-war 50s into the early 60s , revolves around a love triangle between Tomoko, long playing the mistress to married older writer Shitto and the new stud who comes into her life, Ryota Kinoshita. Tomoko is sick and tired of her relationship with writer Shingo, who is married and has children. Shingo is a talented writer, but has yet to be recognized by the public. Tomoko then enters into a sexual relationship with younger man Ryota Kinoshita, but Tomoko is not satisfied.


A Story of Yonosuke
2013 · 2h 40m
country: Japan
The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.


Blazing Famiglia
2012 · 2h 7m
country: Japan
"Blazing Famiglia" centers around a family of former teenage gangsters. Tetsu Hino (Yoshimi Tokui) was once the leader of the most feared motorcycle gang in the Kanto area. Now, Tetsu Hino is middle-aged man who is looked down upon by his rebellious son Shuhei (Kento Hayashi). One day, Tetsu and his old biker gang gather together again after the daughter of a member is assaulted. Tetsu, worried about his day to day life, nevertheless regains the passion from his biker days. Tetsu then finds out that Ken Igarashi (Jun Murakami) is the man behind the attack. Ken Igarashi has had a grudge against Tetsu for a long time.


The Kirishima Thing
2012 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
A story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
Tokyo Drifter
Tokyo Drifter
2011 · 1h 12m
country: Japan
Tokyo Drifter acts as an ode to Tokyo, with a very simple premise: a musician (Kenta Maeno) wanders around various darkened areas of the city on a rainy night in May with his guitar, singing songs about life, love, and Tokyo itself. Matsue and Maeno together take the city in all its gritty glory and attempt to shine a light on the darkness.


Scabbard Samurai
2011 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Kanjuro Nomi is an aging samurai who only has a scabbard. Deserting his lord to wander the land with his daughter Tae, Kanjuro is captured and sentenced to an unusual punishment: he has 30 days to bring a smile to the sad prince who has lost his mother — or else he must die.


My Back Page
2011 · 2h 21m
country: Japan
In 1969, Sawada is filled with idealism that permeated that era and starts working as a gonzo journalist for a weekly magazine. Two years later, Sawada interviews activist Umeyama with senior reporter Nakahira. Umeyama boasts that his group will steal arms and take action in April. Sawada doubts Umeyama's claims but is attracted to his personality. An incident occurs... Sawada hears news that a man was killed at a army post...


Sketches of Kaitan City
2010 · 2h 32m
country: Japan
The bittersweet events in the lives of people in Hakodate, a regional city connected by a streetcar network. A laid-off man and his younger sister go up a mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. Meanwhile, Haruo has inherited his family's gas business, but things aren't going well in his new endeavor and he becomes increasingly frustrated.


Abraxas
2010 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
Former punk rocker Jonen, now a Buddhist priest, seems to have lost the meaning of his life. His manic depression handicaps him further. Music seems to be the only solution for him to exorcise his demons, against all obstacles and sound volume controllers.


Permanent Nobara
2010 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Naoko returns home with her young daughter, where her mother Masako runs the only beauty parlor in town. The local women go there to pass the time lamenting their bad luck with men and laughing over dirty jokes. Unbeknownst to them, Naoko has been secretly seeing her former teacher, Kashima.


Solanin
2010 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
Meiko and Taneda are a couple graduated from university two years ago. Unhappy with their lives, Meiko quits her job and encourages Taneda to have his band become professional.


Non-ko
2008 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
Nobuko tried to be successful as an actress in Tokyo (stage name ‘Nonko’), but wasn’t popular. She married her manager and soon divorced. Now a once-divorced woman in her mid-30s, she returns home to the Shinto shrine that her family runs, to help out with domestic chores. Her father is always in a stubborn rage, her mother is always trying to calm things down. However, Nonko’s married sister, who already has a daughter, scathingly says of Nonko, “It’s all over for her.”


Nekonade
2008 · 1h 25m
country: Japan
The highly disciplined human resources manager Taro Onizuka starts to heal and change as he raises the kitten he found in a park.


A Gentle Breeze in the Village
2007 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Soyo, a student in a school with only six students, develops feelings for the new student, Hiromi, who has moved from Tokyo.


Family Secrets
2006 · 1h 22m
country: Japan
Kenji Shimamura has trouble being intimate with his girlfriend Noriko after a lifetime of watching his parents bicker over his father’s infidelity. After he spurns her advances, causing her to storm off in an offended rage, he decides it’s time to seek psychological help. Unfortunately that costs money and the best way to earn some quick cash in his family is to spy on his dad for his mother. He quickly discovers his dad has a young girlfriend named Yukari. Figuring the best way to deal with this gracefully is to come clean with Yukari he tells her all about their family and the real estate business his parents run together. Unfortunately, however, his plan backfires. Instead of being scared off Yukari applies for a job at the family business and befriends Kenji’s mother, setting up a chain of events that makes things awkward for everyone involved.


The Unknown Person
2006 · 1h 4m
country: Japan
Low-budget corporate PR videos and a small company that only produces local commercials. A video production company receives a request to create a promotional video for an acting school called "Tetsuo Juku." The director immediately begins filming, but hears some unsavoury rumours about the school's headmaster, Funaki Tetsuo, from one of the students. Suspicious, the director begins interviewing other students about the rumours, and criminal facts such as harassment and exorbitant tuition fees are revealed one after another. 'The Road' was produced alongside 'The Unknown Man' and were both released together on the same DVD.


Cream Lemon
2004 · 1h 15m
country: Japan
Based on the cult adult anime OVA of the same title, this film depicts the passionate love between a stepbrother and sister, discovered one weekend when their parents go away. Their relationship soon must come to an end, but not before it changes their lives forever.


Ramblers
2003 · 1h 23m
country: Japan
Two young men arrive at a deserted countryside train station. They are Tsuboi and Kinoshita, amateur filmmakers on their way to a meeting with a genuine film star who might be interested in appearing in their next production.


No One's Ark
2003 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Daisuke and his girlfriend have failed at selling a smelly health drink named Akajiru in Tokyo, amassing five million yen in debts. In order to recover financially, they retreat to Daisuke's island hometown.


Ryuko, in the Unfaithful Evening
2001 · 1h 3m
country: Japan
Autumn, 1997. Ryuko, her brother Syuwa and their father Matsuo live in a small apartment. Matsuo loses his job after a quarrel and the Kato family's livelihood depends on young Ryuko, who secretly poses nude for various pornographic magazines. Matsuo ends up discovering his daughter's secret activity and throws her out of the house. Despite this, Ryuko continues working in the world of pornography and supporting her little brother and father.


Hazy Life
1999 · 1h 24m
country: Japan
Tsutomu meets Kee outside a Pachinko hall. The two strike up an unlikely friendship.


The Rotting Woman
1997 · 10m
country: Japan
After she was attacked by zombies, a woman escapes and shuts herself up in a bathroom.