Known for Acting
Mikako Ichikawa, a celebrated Japanese actress and model, hails from Tokyo, Japan. Her career began as an exclusive model for "Olive," a Japanese fashion magazine, in 1994. She held this role until 1998, and subsequently graced the pages of several other magazines including "CUTiE," "Zipper," "Spoon," "Soen," and "GINZA." In addition to her modeling career, Ichikawa made her acting debut in the short film "How to Jujitsu." Ichikawa's acting prowess has earned her numerous accolades, including the Best Actress Award at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival in 2003 for her performance in "Blue." More recently, in 2016, she received the Mainichi Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 40th Japan Academy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role in "Shin Godzilla."
Born
June 13, 1978 (age 48)
Birthplace
Tokyo, Japan
Filmography
54 films, 37 shows


A Journey of Craft: Spinning into the Future with Mikako Ichikawa in Morioka
2025 · 47m
A very niche documentary, or a specific travelogue in Morioka, Iwate prefecture, Japan. With a famous Japanese actress Mikako Ichikawa, they explore traditional crafts in Morioka, focusing on the future of these arts.


Route29
2024 · 2h · JP
Adapted from a book of poems by poet Taichi Nakao, the film is a road story set in beautiful nature and tranquil landscapes about a lonely janitor who doesn't communicate well and Haru, a teenage girl who is different, who travels on Route 29, which connects Hyogo-Himeji City to Tottori City, and through their encounters with marvelous people, they gain a richness of feelings, strengthen their bonds, and become fulfilled in their hearts.


Last Mile
2024 · 2h 8m · JP
On the night before ‘Black Friday,’ which is the one of the busiest commerce days, a cardboard box, that is delivered from the world's largest shopping site, explodes. Soon after, a series of mysterious explosion cases occurs. The entire nation becomes terrorized by the shocking events. Funado Erena has just began to work as the center director for a large distribution warehouse that covers three-quarters of the Kanto area. Erena must gain control over this unprecedented situation with team manager Nashimoto Ko.


Side By Side
2023 · 2h 10m · JP
Mysterious young man Miyama has the ability to sense the thoughts of other people. The secrets of his background linger emerge when he confronts the thoughts of Kusaka, his junior in high school, and the past that he ran away from.


Documentary "Shin Kamen Rider" ~Behind the Scenes of the Hero Action Challenge~
2023 · 1h 18m · JP
"Shin Kamen Rider" is the first live-action film directed by Hideaki Anno since "Shin Godzilla" seven years ago. In the 52-year history of the "Masked Rider" series, this is the first time that cameras have been on the production site for an extended period of time. Please take a look at the two years of the creators taking on the challenge of creating an unprecedented heroic action film.


Shin Kamen Rider
2023 · 2h 1m · JP
A man forced to bear power and stripped of humanity. A woman skeptical of happiness. Takeshi Hongo, an Augmentation made by SHOCKER, and Ruriko Midorikawa, a rebel of the organization, escape while fighting off assassins. What’s justice? What’s evil? Will this violence end? Despite his power, Hongo tries to remain human. Along with freedom, Ruriko has regained a heart. What paths will they choose?


Tang
2022 · 1h 55m · JP
Ken Kasugai has been deserted by his wife, because he was absorbed in a game. One day, missing child robot Tang appears in front of him.


The Voice of Sin
2020 · 2h 22m · JP
Eiji Akutsu is a newspaper reporter. He is working on unsolved case that took place 30 years ago. The case involved a group of people extorting several companies for money. The group sent cassette tapes to the companies. Eiji Akutsu comes across a mysterious cassette tape. Meanwhile, Toshiya Sone lives in Kyoto and runs a tailor shop. He discovers a cassette tape among his late father's possessions. He plays the cassette tape and hears his voice from his childhood days.


A Girl Missing
2019 · 1h 51m · JP
Ichiko works as a private nurse for a family she almost became a part of. While Ichiko cares for the grandmother, she is also a confidant to Motoko, the eldest sister. But one day, Motoko’s younger sister disappears. And the media soon reveal the kidnapper to be Ichiko’s own nephew.


Only the Cat Knows
2019 · 1h 44m · JP
Masaru and Yukiko have been married 44 years. They have three children who live independently from them. Masaru and Yukiko enjoy their peaceful days, but, one day, Yukiko tells her daughter Naoko that she wants to divorce Masaru.


The Mother Returns? AI's Will
2019 · JP
Naoto wants to end his relationship with his stepfather Seiji legally. With this purpose in mind, he visits Seiji’s home for the first time in a long while. He hasn’t been there since his mother Yuri passed away. At his stepfather’s home, Seiji hands Naoto a cellphone. Suddenly, Naoto hears his mom’s voice on the cellphone.


As a Father of Murderer Son
2018 · 2h 18m · JP
Keiichi Yoshinaga, who works for a major construction company receives a sudden phone call from his ex-wife, Junko Aoba. She tells Keiichi that their second son, Tsubasa, who lives apart, has been arrested for murdering his classmate. Keiichi immediately meets Tsubasa, but for some reason he keeps silence. Since Tsubasa shows no signs of reflecting upon his conduct, he is possibly going to an open trial. To overcome this situation, Keiichi consults a lawyer Kyoko Kanzaki who has a child of the same age.


The Scythian Lamb
2018 · 2h 6m · JP
Six unknown people move to the declining seaport city of Uobuka. Unremarkable city official, Tsukisue, is appointed to welcome them, but finds out the shocking truth that all of them are former murder suspects. Before long, an uneasiness begins to creep over the quiet city.


Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura
2017 · 2h 9m · JP
Set in an alternate universe, the ancient capital of Kamakura is a vibrant town where fantastical creatures live alongside humans. Akiko is a cheerful publishing assistant who moves into town after marrying Masakazu, a popular mystery writer. Akiko is surprised by the unusual town but enjoys the new curiosities surrounding her. However, just as she was beginning to settle in, a trifling incident sweeps her spirit to the underworld too soon. Convinced that destiny has something else in store for his wife, Masakazu journeys into the underworld to bring back Akiko’s spirit.


Narratage
2017 · 2h 20m · JP
Izumi is a sophomore university student when she hears from her former high school teacher and mentor Takashi. They were both involved in the school drama club. She liked him. He liked her. Takashi asks Izumi to return to the school and assist with a performance. Will the feelings be rekindled?


The Third Murder
2017 · 2h 5m · JP
A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.


ReLIFE
2017 · 2h · JP
Arata Kaizaki, a jobless adult, undergoes an experiment that makes him 10 years younger. He goes back to high school and falls in love with Chizuru Hishiro, who is more than she seems.


The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue
2017 · 1h 48m · JP
Mika works as a nurse by day; by night she entertains covetous men at a girls' bar. Shinji is blind in one eye and ekes out a living as a construction worker. Young and grown-up at the same time, they both lead a lonely existence, but somehow their paths keep miraculously crossing under the Tokyo sky.


Museum
2016 · 2h 12m · JP
In Tokyo, Japan, several grotesque murders take place on rainy days. Detective Sawamura, who is in charge of the case, soon discovers that his own family is connected to the crimes.


Shin Godzilla
2016 · 2h · JP
When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.


A Living Promise
2016 · 2h · JP
Yuma Nakahara 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.


Mountain Days with Tom
2015 · 1h 57m · JP
Hana, Toki and Toki’s daughter Toshi begin to live in the countryside. Hana’s nephew Akira, who just graduated from middle school, also lives with them. Doing farm work everyday, Hana and Toki get used to life in the countryside with help from couple Gen and Shiori. One day, Toshi and Akira decide to raise a cat to catch rats. A cat named Tom then begins to live with them.


Our Family
2014 · 1h 57m · JP
The emotional journey of a four-member family that fails to recognize that it is rapidly growing apart until the mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer.


The Extreme Sukiyaki
2013 · 1h 51m · JP
Former college buddies Horaguchi and Okawa suddenly reunite on a whim after 15 years apart and try to resume their friendship by planning a trip together. Meanwhile, Okawa’s live-in girlfriend Kaede and the pair's old friend Kyoko get roped into joining them. Soon, the four head off on a trip together with the goal of sharing sukiyaki by the sea.


Rent-a-Cat
2012 · 1h 50m · JP
A young woman who rents out cats to lonely old folks finds her life turned upside down when a young man from her past shows back up in her life.


Tokyo Oasis
2011 · 1h 23m · JP
In Tokyo, actress Touko leaves the filming set of her latest project and comes across three people by random chance: she gives a ride to a man named Nagano, whom she has never met before; at a small theater, runs into Kikuchi, a former screenwriter; lastly, meets Yasuko at the zoo.


Wandering Home
2010 · 1h 58m · JP
War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.


Mother Water
2010 · 1h 44m · JP
Set with three central figures, "Mother Water" describes the daily lives of people near the Kamo River in Kyoto, Japan.


Romantic Prelude
2009 · 1h 59m · JP
An aspiring floral designer and the photographer next door become drawn to each other through the everyday sounds they hear through their shared walls.


Okaimono
2009 · 1h 13m · JP
In a quiet farming village in northeastern Japan, there lives an elderly couple. One day, a notice arrives in the mail about an antique camera sale in Tokyo. This triggers the old man's memory of the time when he used to love cameras and he decides he wants to go to Tokyo. Going on this shopping trip is like embarking on an adventure for them and is is full of surprises and unexpected happenings, but through this adventure, the old couple's lives slowly get revealed. Before heading home, the couple stops by Tokyo Station, a place that holds fond memories for them. They take a photo together with the old man's camera and quietly reflect back on the long life that they spent together.


Glasses
2007 · 1h 46m · JP
An overworked career woman leaves her life in the city for an island vacation only to encounter eccentric local inhabitants.


Life Can Be So Wonderful
2007 · 1h 10m · JP
Five short stories of life's joys and sorrows are brought together in this omnibus drama from Japan.


Kissho Tennyo
2007 · 1h 56m · JP
A story about Sayoko Kano, a junior high school student, who is believed to be a descendent of an Indian goddess. Sayoko is a kind of femme fatale, who uses her supernatural power to control people, especially men.


Ten Nights of Dreams
2007 · 1h 51m · JP
Based on renowned Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's same-titled short story collection, Ten Nights of Dreams brings ten fantastical dream sequences to film with great visual and psychological panache. Representing the combined efforts of eleven directors, this outstanding anthology delves into the surreal subconscious with ten madly imaginative, reality-subverting visions that range from wonderfully wacky to nightmarishly unsettling.


Damejin
2006 · 1h 38m · JP
An off-beat comedy about 3 'damejin' (useless persons), who don't work and spend their lives doing nothing. They actually don't want to work. When they hear 'in India one can live without working' they take it seriously. They begin to raise the money to go to India by doing anything but working, such as ripping off stamps from others' letters to sell, robbery at the bank which itself went bankrupt, etc.


Memories of Matsuko
2006 · 2h 10m · JP
While combing through the belongings of his recently deceased aunt, Matsuko, nephew Sho pieces together the crucial events that sank Matsuko's life into a despairing tragedy.


Rampo Noir
2005 · 2h 14m · JP
An anthology film consisting of four segments based on literary works by Edogawa Ranpo.


Animus Anima
2005 · 1h 37m · JP
Tokio (Shugo Oshinari) and his sister Sui (Shiina Eihi) fall in love.


Jam Films 2
2004 · 1h 55m · JP
Jam Films 2 features 4 short films by different Japanese directors.


Be with You
2004 · 1h 59m · JP
Takumi and his six-year-old son, Yuji, haven't come to terms with their wife and mother's death. One day, they meet a woman with an uncanny resemblance to her sheltering from the rain near their home.


Cutie Honey
2004 · 1h 33m · JP
When Honey's uncle gets kidnapped by the evil criminal gang known as "Panther Claw," she must use her magical powers of transformation to save him. Meanwhile the same crime group has been responsible for a number of other crime sprees across Tokyo. In the process, Honey teams up with the seemingly cold police woman Natsuko Aki and hot shot journalist Seiji Hayami as well as battle the four "claws" of the Panther Claw gang to save her uncle and the rest of the city.


Making of Cutie Honey
2004 · 1h 11m · JP
Behind the scenes of the 2004 film "Cutie Honey". Extra on Blu-ray Box.


Tracing Jake
2004 · 1h 17m · JP
Inuyama is intrigued by the existence of "Jake," a mysterious crocodile that has been sighted in many countries around the world. He continues to travel around the world, listening to the testimonies of various people of different ages, nationalities, and sighting situations who have seen "Jake".


Dead End Run
2003 · 1h · JP
A collection of three short films by Japanese visual genius Sogo Ishii. Each short focuses on the protagonists running away from a threat.


Life Is Journey
2003 · 51m · JP
LIFE IS JOURNEY is an anthology of four stories about people who live in solitude, but who yearn for togetherness. Each day brings chance meetings and reluctant partings, joy and pain. The first vignette, "Life", portrays half of a woman's life in one-scene, one-cut, nine-minute sequence. "N" is a comical take on a man abandoned by his lover. "Ya" explores the bond of female friendship as one woman consoles a brokenhearted girlfriend. In "Nowhere", a man and a woman roam the streets of a foreign land in search of lost time.


Basic Tsukamoto
2003 · 53m · JP
Interview with world renown cult director Shinya Tsukamoto. This interview will tell you how and when he started creating his own world of cinema exactly the way he thought it should look. Also he is an accomplished actor appearing in many films directed by other directors like Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer). The interview includes very rare footage of never released films like "10000 Channels" his TV commercials and rare footage of live shows at the Kaijyu Theater in Tokyo System.


Pretty Woman
2003 · 1h 51m · JP
Elderly ladies rise to the challenge of staging a play and struggle to launch a theater company. Based on the actual amateur theater company "Theatrical Company Hono" in Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the presiding officers and performers are composed of elderly women. They have been performing stage plays about issues related to the elderly for a long time.


Blue
2003 · 1h 56m · JP
An introverted schoolgirl falls in love and starts a relationship with one of her classmates. Set in a small seaside town in Japan.


Lovers' Kiss
2003 · 1h 54m · JP
In Kamakura, 12th grade Rikako falls in love with Tomoaki Fujii, rumoured to be the school Don Juan and having impregnated a girl. This doesn't bother Rikako one bit, as she too sleeps around.


Travail
2002 · 1h 58m · JP
Asami and Rina are two sisters who are both professional shogi players in the same B League. Both are also unsatisfied with their partners — Asami is in a slump and is danger of slipping into the C League and she blames her husband Kazuya, and Rina is tired of her boyfriend Hiroki, an unsuccessful musician.


Legendary Crocodile, Jake and His Fellows
2001 · 1h 19m
Legendary Crocodile, Jake and His Fellows (伝説のワニ ジェイク) is a Japanese surreal fantasy media project. Originally a 2001 TV series and an illustrated book, it was adapted into a feature film in 2001 for DVD and again in 2004 for theaters. It blends live-action interviews with unique short animations. The people who have witnessed Jake come from completely different backgrounds, countries, ages, and circumstances. A young American woman spotted Jake in the opening of a waterway. An elderly Japanese man, confined to his sickbed, saw Jake on his ceiling. A Singaporean woman saw Jake sitting on a swing in a park while waiting to meet her lover... Jake suddenly appears in the midst of their ordinary lives, and each time he takes on a different form and appears in a different place. Yet only certain chosen people are able to see him.


Smap Short Films
2001 · 44m · JP
Short films by top CM directors and CG creators: MUSIC POWER GO! GO! ダモン君の巻; BUS PANIC!!!; GAME SHINGO; 治療; Good-bye, cruel world; ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL; 菅原さん ・コンセント ・トイレ ・のれない ・脱出不可能. Produced for and aired together as TV special of SMAPxSMAP


Timeless Melody
2000 · 1h 35m · JP
Kawamoto works and lives in a dilapidated pool hall which also serves as a rehearsal space for him and his friend Chikako. They seem contented to while away their hours doing nothing much at all. Meanwhile, an old pool shark meets some people from his past that he is none too happy to see again. How will this affect their private haven?
How to Jiujitsu
How to Jiujitsu
1998 · 10m · JP