Akira Kubo

Japan, 1954. A legend emerges from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by atomic bombs in 1945. The creature's name is Godzilla. The film that tells its story is the first of kaiju eiga, the giant monster movies.

An all-star reboot of the lost classic 1934 film, The Giant Buddha Statue's Travel Through The Country, made with the cooperation of director Yoshiro Edamasa's grandson. From Japan, a modern kaiju story based on what may be the first kaiju film.

An independent crowd-funded documentary that celebrates the sixty-year legacy of the world's greatest monster, Godzilla. Filmed on location in Tokyo to document kaiju-related events, locations and to interview cast, crew and fans of the Godzilla series about their passion and experiences with the King of the Monsters.

For 60 years, the group of detectives known as "Detective Office 5" has raised the bar for detective work. The agents of Detective Office 5 are a group of stellar detectives lead by the genius code breaker Detective 507. When an unknown client enlists 507 to crack his most difficult programming code yet, the detective embarks for Shanghai where he crosses paths with a sniper, an informant, the head of the Blue-Dragon Mafia, and beautiful singer on the run, Meilan. As 507 stumbles deeper into a twisted quagmire of intrigue he discovers the sad truth behind the mystery.

When a gal named Kasumi decides to become a traditional Japanese 'Rakugo' storyteller due to her uncle's invalidity, she is soon on her way to a career with college-level and amateur success. She becomes a student to one of the master's of the genre and is even asked to perform by a TV producer. The only snag is, the particular story has a curse dripping from its words.

To encourage a positive attitude, hearing-impaired mother Asako joins a theatrical troupe with her daughter Ai. Problems arise during rehearsals between the deaf and the hearing but they learn to work together by overcoming. On the public performance day, two deaf lovers are objected by their parents, which leads to Ai knowing Asako losing hearing when giving birth to Ai, As the curtain rises, Ai is found missing from the back stage…

Tatsuo was leading a peaceful suburban life with his wife and daughter. But an ex-girlfriend attends his bridge club. Then Haruo, an old friend, appears. He is being chased by loan sharks and needs shelter. Haruo overstays his welcome and family relations become strained.

A ship runs aground on a mysterious atoll leading to an investigation by insurance representative Kusanagi, who discovers an ancient bead that he gives to his daughter Asagi. Meanwhile, ornithologist Nagamine investigates reports of a new species of large bird named Gyaos. As the Gyaos begin to attack, an ancient guardian with a bond to Asagi emerges.

While pursuing his dream of having car sex, a goofy middle-aged man makes all the wrong moves and ends up enrolling in a number of crazy escapades.

Kon Ichikawa's retelling of the classic true story of Samurai honor. When a young clan lord is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), his loyal followers (now Ronin, masterless Samurai) dedicate their lives to avenging his death.

Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting, Hideyoshi becomes Japan’s most powerful warlord, unifying the country.

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.

Magistrate Toyama no Kin-san is ordered to catch the phantom thief Nezumi Kozo, who is robbing daimyo and wealthy townspeople. Under the name of Nezumi Kozo, there is a small wholesaler Jiro. And once Toyama and Jiro, when they were young, were comrades who spent all their time gambling and having fun with women in the Yushima Tenjin area...

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

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.

Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.

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?

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.

At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.

Yuzo Kayama is captain of the Fencing team and visits Brazil to work in the shipyards with his professor. There he meets his beautiful daughter (Mie Nakao) and a tour guide (Yuriko Hoshi), but his work and his band, The Ranchers, keep him busy.

A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.

Reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.

Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.

The fourth "Tenamonya" feature. Adapted from the popular television comedy, Fujita stars in this film based on historical events.

Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As Glenn investigates, he develops a romance with Miss Namikawa and uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.

Iwao, , Kumagai, and Konishi broke into the safe containing the wages of the employees of Ato Industries and obtained a fortune large enough to live a life of leisure. They celebrated with Iwao’s woman, Rumiko. However, it was too early to celebrate. They decided not to use the money for six months to avoid suspicion and stored it in a safe. But one day, Konishi asked for his share of the money in advance, even if it meant receiving a smaller portion, igniting the dark flame of desire among Iwao and the others.

Near the end of the war, a number of young Japanese join an army band hoping to avoid the front lines, but instead are sent to the Chinese Front.

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.

A love story about a former noblewoman who greedily enjoys love after breaking up with her unhappy marriage after the war, in pursuit of a wild and pure Japanese man. Three gorgeous 39-year-old single women who are in the same situation get excited about each other’s love affairs. Adapted from Yukio Mishima's novel.

Klima, Deputy Minister of Industry of the Republic of Alabanda, has come to Japan to purchase materials for the water dam construction. Kitami, who called himself a salesman and met with Klima, acts as his bodyguard. However, Kitami learns that a large number of industrial cylinders unrelated to dam construction have been purchased, and Klima secretly confined her secretary, a former army colonel, and threatened to produce poisonous gas. Klima packed the gas in a cylinder and sent it to Alabanda in an attempt to cause a civil war between the government and the tribes. Around that time, Klima secretly investigated Kitami's identity and learned that he was a secret agent.

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

Five vacationers and two crewmen become stranded on a tropical island near the equator. The island has little edible food for them to use as they try to live in a fungus covered hulk while repairing Kessei's yacht. Eventually they struggle over the food rations which were left behind by the former crew. Soon they discover something unfriendly there...

Drama about a young woman, abused as a child, who carries on sexual relations with four men, but is unable to get close to any of them.

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

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.

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.

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.

The life of a toilet-seller during the Japanese Economic Miracle.

An employee at an oil cartel (Mihashi) is haunted by an act years before when he euthanized a fellow soldier when the two were adrift at sea during the Pacific War. Matters are complicated further when he falls in love with the soldier's younger sister (Tsukasa).

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.

Amid management shakeups and arranged marriage plans at Sekai Electric, an executive couple tries to support a young woman’s relationship with an academic over a business heir.

Three young employees navigate love, ambition, and meddling bosses as workplace crushes evolve into defiant relationships that challenge social expectations.

The 3rd film in the Three Dolls series

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived. But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.

An Ishiro Honda film.

In World War II, the commanding officer of a sub, against his will takes on board two Western diplomats, to take them to the Canaries and arrange an armistice. When they get there, peace has been declared, but the sub's crew don't know as their radio has failed. They send their passengers ashore and go out to face a final battle...

Story of love, friendship, and college sports.

The story is about the social problems faced by Japan's indigenous Ainu, mostly centered on the reactions of the characters to their oppressed state.

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.

After returning from the war, a man falls in love at first sight with the beautiful young woman who welcomes him home only to discover she is Isako, his father’s new wife and therefore his stepmother.

Sixth entry in the Company President Series.

Romantic melodrama about the loves and adventures of Kageyama (Takarada) and his fellow oarsmen at Meikyo University.

Story of a textile designer-turned featherweight boxer (Kubo) who, a la Champion ( 1949), loses everything as he battles his way to the top.

May Kawaguchi is a famous Japanese fashion designer. Returning to Tokyo from her home in New York, she travels incognito with a tour group, in hopes of having a quiet vacation without being noticed. But she is spotted and the press has a field-day with the returning celebrity. Her hopes of rest shattered, she agrees to put on a large-scale fashion show.

At Kaikō Girls’ School, a fake love letter sparks a heated PTA debate. Teacher Shimazaki wins the vote, while students and staff navigate misunderstandings and mischief. Amid the chaos, romance blooms: Numata proposes to Yukiko, and Rokunosuke declares his love to Shinko, ending with a joyful countryside outing.

About schoolgirls in a rural town, and a love letter which has the entire community in an uproar.

Three college friends support swimmer Okubo through family and financial troubles. Junko, a woman he helped, develops feelings for him, while a former classmate reappears. With his friends’ quiet help, Okubo regains focus and wins a major student swimming competition.

This movie depicts poor yet kind and modest people, focusing on sibling love.

1957 Japanese movie.

It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?

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.

Backstage friendships and rivalries flare as dancers Akiko and Haruko compete for roles, clash with disapproving parents, and juggle new romances. A failed scheme to push Haruko out forces truths into the open, bringing the troupe back together as they head toward their next show.

A widowed high-school teacher tries to raise his four children alone.

Two youths – the serious son of a Buddhist abbot and his rakish pal – quarrel over a restaurant keeper's daughter. When one of the youths dies, the other boy and the girl find they cannot forget him.

Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue's affections, Yasuo.

A squadron of Japanese fighter pilots realise that they are never going to win the war when they understand that Japanese military tactics have little regard for life. Seeking the companionship of any woman who will have them, they spend their days indulging in every fantasy in order to escape the overwhelming fear of death looming just over the horizon.

A story of unhappy youths and the perils of lack of sex education.

Sanpei, an innocent sailor with incredible strength, arrives in the big city teeming with social ills carrying a mysterious bag.

After graduating from a high school in the Seto Inland Sea, Koji, a childhood friend of Yaeko, went to Tokyo to enter university wearing a heartfelt sweater.

Parent apathy to sexual education leads to various troubles for the young cast.