Known for Lighting
Born
January 18, 1954 (age 72)
Birthplace
Kumamoto, Japan
Filmography
28 films


Godzilla Minus Zero
2026 · 2h 15m · JP
War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim its daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here.


Família
2023 · 2h 1m · JP
One day a young Brazilian man living in Japan crashes his car into the side of the house of a happy family. They take him in after realizing he had been beaten. As they get to know each other they find the bonds of family transcend blood and lineage.


Family of Strangers
2019 · 1h 57m · JP
Three patients of different backgrounds, illnesses and stages are being treated at a psychiatric clinic in Nagano Prefecture. Their cases range from the criminal to merely asocial. That should be that, but soon matters take a darker turn when a corpse turns up and a murder has occurred. The culprit fingered is one of the patients.


The Great War of Archimedes
2019 · 2h 10m · JP
It is the early 1930s and the command of the Japanese Imperial Navy determines to construct the world's biggest and most formidable battleship, Yamato. One of the admirals, Yamamoto Isoroku, disagrees. He recruits the upstart and mathematics' expert Tadashi Kai who discovers there are discrepancies between the official cost estimates and the actual figures. They soon find out that they have stumbled upon a conspiracy.


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.


Fueled: The Man They Called "Pirate"
2016 · 2h 25m · JP
In a time when the main source of energy was still coal, there was a man who saw the future in oil. Young Tetsuzo Kunioka who hails from Moji, Kitakyushu, rides out into the oil business, but is faced with numerous challenges and competitors who stand in his way, including domestic suppliers and major western oil companies, or the "oil majors". But Tetsuzo never gave up, however despairing the situation was. He always found a way and paved a new road with his unconventional ideas, eccentric actions, and most of all, his caring heart toward his own men. That style of Tetsuzo's was not something that would ever change, even when the tides were against him in a war-lost Japan.


The Eternal Zero
2013 · 2h 24m · JP
A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.


Oba: The Last Samurai
2011 · 2h 8m · JP
In 1944, the American military lands on the shores of Saipan. Refusing to commit suicide with his superiors or be forced into camps for prisoners of war, Captain Oba Sakae leads a group of his men and other similarly minded local residents into the mountains. Even after hearing reports of the Japanese military's surrender, Oba dismisses the reports as propaganda and continues to launch guerilla attacks against the American soldiers, earning him the nickname "The Fox". Soon, even the American commander who's charged with the task of capturing Oba comes to admire his persistent enemy.


A Lone Scalpel
2010 · 2h 6m · JP
Dr Toma, a skilled surgeon, starts work at a regional hospital in Japan. After performing an operation to remove a patient’s liver cancer, something that normally would not be done at this hospital, he quickly gains a very good reputation amongst the town’s people. Some of his colleagues become so jealous they are resentful and waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to crucify him. Soon they get their chance as Dr Toma considers performing a controversial operation…


Talk, Talk, Talk
2007 · 1h 49m · JP
The movie revolves around Mitsuba, who studies traditional art of rakugo. Rakugo is a form of comical story telling, sometimes referred to as sit-down comedy. Even though Mitsuba is mediocre at best, he ends up teaching three students.


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.


69
2004 · 1h 54m · JP
Hoping to catch a girl's attention, high school students Ken and Adama cook up an ambitious plan. They plan a festival that combines film, theater, and rock music, and develop their project into a school road block. This plan however catches the attention of television stations and newspapers, and soon even the cops became involved in this teenage adventure.


Loved Gun
2004 · 1h 51m · JP
A story about a hitman named Hayamada who carries a distinctive red gun. As the film progresses we discover the reason for his work, and how he came to be alone. His aim right now is to reach a desitination, but he's late.


Returner
2002 · 1h 56m · JP
A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.


The Laughing Frog
2002 · 1h 36m · JP
A woman has a fine life with rewarding work, a nice house, and a serious boyfriend in the lowlands of Japan. In walks her long lost husband who years ago disappeared and abandoned her. The wife allows her lost husband to secretly live in her house. More specifically, he lives in the wife's closet. The closet has a peep hole, so he does nothing day and night but watch his wife live her life.


Turn
2001 · 1h 52m · JP
Maki is a talented copper plate artist, however, just before her first gallery show, she gets struck by a truck. When she comes to she is at home. When she ventures outside, the city is deserted and she knows something is deeply wrong. Each day repeats; she wakes up at 2:15 in the afternoon. Gradually things start change, the phone rings, and she finds that she is not alone...


Juvenile
2000 · 1h 37m · JP
11-year-old Yusuke and his classmates camp in the woods and see a strange light. They discover a small metallic object like a robot which talks, calls himself Tetra and knows Yusuke's name. Tetra can create wonderful gadgets but actually has to save the world with Yusuke's help from extraterrestrials with bad intentions.


Begging for Love
1998 · 2h 15m · JP
During a quest to find a Taiwanese father's grave, disturbing memories of child abuse are aroused.


Tokyo Skin
1996 · 1h 32m · JP
Amidst the swirl of Tokyo's seamy nightlife of designer drugs, casual sex, and American slang, Zhou turns 30. It's a spiritual crisis for this Chinese immigrant who quotes Confucius, this Lothario and con artist who fences stolen goods. He falls for Kyōko, a seemingly shy provincial woman looking for the man who jilted her sister.


The Friends
1994 · 1h 53m · JP
A delightful and moving coming-of-age story. One summer, three young boys take an increasing interest in an eccentric old man who lives alone in a house surrounded by an overgrown garden. The boys form a bond with the recluse and set about weeding and replanting the garden.


Love Hotel
1985 · 1h 28m · JP
A call-girl named Yumi and Tetsuro, a married man with a debt to the yakuza, have a violent rendezvous in a cheap love hotel. Years later, haunted by the memory of that night, they reconnect and begin a strange love affair. Determined to finish what they started, they return to the scene of their first macabre passion.