Known for Acting
Born
August 9, 1935
Died
September 2, 2025 (age 90)
Birthplace
Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Filmography
140 films, 32 shows


Kaneko Fumiko
2026 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
The 1923 Kanto earthquake sparks fears of a Korean uprising in Japan. Many anti-colonial and leftist activists are arrested, including Fumiko and her partner Yeol. Accused of a plot to assassinate the Crown Prince, they are sentenced to death, later reduced to life in prison.


Diamonds in the Sand
2025 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
Divorced salaryman Yoji has just buried his mother in Tokyo. With few meaningful relationships left, he comes to grips with the realization that he has nothing to live for. A chance encounter with Minerva, a Filipina migrant worker who appears to sense his sadness, urges him to see his situation in a new way. A former nightclub entertainer, Minerva now works as a caregiver to provide for her only child in the Philippines. When Yoji discovers the decomposing corpse of his neighbor, an old man whose name he does not know, the death is ruled a kodokushi, or the lonely death. Unwilling to meet the same fate, Yoji throws caution to the wind to follow Minerva to Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.


Brighter Days
2025 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Saho Takahashi, capable but a disillusioned nurse, has lost all motivation for her job working at Sumidaku Sakuraoka General Hospital. She seeks solace in the company of her bed-ridden patient, former Honorary Head Nurse, Sae Yukino. As she opens up about her despair, a sudden earthquake sends Saho into the depths of a strange, unfamiliar jungle.


Yudo
2023 · 2h 7m
country: Japan
Two estranged brothers inherit Marukin Hot Springs, a small-town bathhouse. One sees it as an homage to their late father; the other—a struggling architect—as lucrative real estate for condos. Their eclectic collection of townsfolk customers show them the value of the bath goes way beyond a scrub and soak.


A World Without Cherry Blossoms
2022 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Saki, a high school girl who always skips classes, works part-time as a life adviser.


Somebody's Flowers
2021 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
A neighbor dies when potted flowers fall from a balcony of an apartment complex. A man whose father suffers from dementia begins to question if it really was an accident.


Cinematic Liars of Asahi-za
2021 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
Movie theater Asahiza has existed for almost a 100 years in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. Unlike other theaters, Asahiza plays old films and doesn't get a lot of customers. The manger of Asahiza, Yasuzo Morita, finally decides to close down the theater. When he is about to burn the old 35 mm films, a young woman named Rika Motegi suddenly appears and tries to stop him. Rika Motegi came to Minamisoma from Tokyo to save Asahiza.


Photograph of Memories
2021 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
A frustrated young woman returns from Tokyo to her hometown in Toyama where she meets an old woman who lives alone. There she slowly finds purpose in life by taking "photographs" that spin memories instead of ghosts.


あとかたの街〜12歳の少女が見た戦争〜
2020
country: Japan
Yuki Ozawa is approaching her 50's and she has now began working on her first serialized manga. The theme of her manga will be based on her mother's personal war experience, who was only a 12 year old girl at that time. Yuki wants to create a piece that will pass down the memories of war to the future generations. With her editor, Sato, she goes to Nagoya to visit her mother, Ai (Ozawaai) to learn more about her mother's experience. At first, her mother reacts negatively to Yuki's request but soon she begins recalling her memories of love, life and the lives that were lost because of the air raids over Nagoya.


The Last Three Times We'll Meet
2020 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
A love story woven by a loveless mistrust girl, Kaede Tamaki who works for a small video production company, and a mysterious young man Seishiro who is attracted by her . Satomi Oshima and Kentaro Hagiwara, who also teamed up for the currently released movie "30 Minutes to Sayonara", were responsible for the script and directing, respectively.


Sunday Horror Series Best Selection
2019 · 2h 19m
country: Japan
Japanese horror anthology of 3 terrifying tales.


The Landlady
2019 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
Looks back 20 years into the past of an elderly woman who died of heatstroke and paints a picture of a solitary woman's genuine despair.


僕が笑うと
2019
country: Japan


The Forest of Wool and Steel
2018 · 2h 14m
country: Japan
High school student Naoki Tomura grew up in a remote area in Hokkaido. He meets piano tuner Soichiro Itadori in school and eventually decides to work at Itadori’s musical instrument store. Tomura gradually grows as a piano tuner through his interactions with the other tuners and musician clients


What a Wonderful Family! 3
2018 · 2h 3m
country: Japan
At the Hirata home, three generations of their family live together. A crisis ensues when one afternoon, housewife Fumie falls asleep and wakes up to find a thief has stolen her secret money she kept hidden in the refrigerator.


Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura
2017 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
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.


The Miracles of the Namiya General Store
2017 · 2h 9m
country: Japan
In 2012, Atsuya and his 2 childhood friends do something bad and run into an old general store. They decide to stay there until the morning. Late into the night, Atsuya sees a letter in the mailbox. The letter is addressed to the Namiya General Store and the letter was written by someone to consult about worries. Incredibly, the letter was written 32 years ago. The mailbox is somehow connected to the year 1980. Atsuya and his friends decide to write a reply and place their letter in the mailbox.


What a Wonderful Family! 2
2017 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
Several years after Shuzo settled his wife’s birthday-surprise divorce proposal (What a Wonderful Family, 40th), the Hirata family faces new problems. Ignoring his family’s worry that he is too old to drive, Shuzo takes his old schoolmate for a spin after carousing. Soon, a new disturbance arises for the Hirata family. Veteran director Yamada Yoji continues his comedy about the “perfect“ Japanese family turned upside down in chaos, laughters and understanding. This time, with an additional taste of death.


The Book Peddler
2016 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
Suzume Akamatsu works at a library in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture. She delivers books by riding a bicycle. Through her work, Suzume grows as a person.


Gold Woman
2016
country: Japan
A female career banker shatters the glass ceiling of a mega bank by disclosing its shady business to light. Tamaki, the Gold Woman, has worked her way up to be appointed General Manager of the office regarded as the General Staff Headquar- ters of the Bank with an assignment to liquidate its subsidiary by laying off 200 employees in total. Such mentally challenging appointment was made via recommendation by her senior colleague Mai, a smart and foxy woman running ahead of Tamaki in her career. With the help of her male colleague, Tamaki, a lone female wolf dares to challenge the all-male executives to prove what a true business person is all about.


The Rite of Loss
2016
country: Japan


What a Wonderful Family!
2016 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
A husband and wife have been married for 50 years. For her birthday, the husband asks the wife what she wants for her birthday present. She replies that she wants a divorce. The wife's divorce announcement sends the entire family into chaos.


When Marnie Was There
2014 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.


Time Never Stops
2014 · 1h 50m
country: Japan
A family that was severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck in March 2011, and a family that escaped the disaster. The film depicts the collapse and rebirth of two families whose children were supposed to marry each other. A moving drama written by Yamada Taichi and starring Nakai Kiichi, Kuroki Meisa and Kamiki Ryunosuke.


The Little House
2014 · 2h 16m
country: Japan
Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.


A Sparkle of Life
2013 · 1h 21m
country: Japan
Lonely after the death of her husband, whom she nursed for years, Tae decides to find a new life partner. Her family and friends try to dissuade her.


Tokyo Family
2013 · 2h 26m
country: Japan
An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them preoccupied and self-involved.


It's a Beautiful Life - Irodori
2012 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
A group of elderly women come together to sell vegetable leaves.


The Love and Death of Kaoru Mitarai
2012 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
After she drives drunk and hits an old woman, a famous novelist is threatened with a law suit by the woman's son... unless she lets him publish his manuscript under his name.


Crossroads
2011 · 2h 3m
country: Japan
Domestic drama focusing on a soon to be retired train driver and his wife.


Share house
2011 · 1h 44m
country: Japan


Valley of Dreams
2011 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
A laid-off designer returns to her home town after five years away.


Yoshiko & Yuriko
2011 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. Both have left huge marks on Japanese literary history. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she's an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married (not altogether happily) to a well-known scholar - a situation she can't walk away from with ease.


Leonie
2010 · 2h 12m
country: Australia
The true life story of Leonie Gilmour, whose life crossed continents, wars and cultures, embodied with courage and passion in search of art and freedom. A tender and inspiring story of a remarkable woman who nurtures the amazing artistic talent of her son who has only one way to succeed and one person to guide him, as he grows into the world renown artist, Isamu Noguchi.


Making of "Departures"
2009 · 32m
country: Unknown
A documentary about the making and shooting of Yojiro Takita’s ‘Departures’ (2008)


Looking for Anne
2009 · 1h 45m
country: Canada
A Japanese teenager embarks on a quest to find the Canadian lover of her grandmother.


Baby, Baby, Baby!
2009 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
30 year old Yoko Sasaki (Arisa Mizuki) works diligently at a publishing company. She then receives the unexpected news that she is pregnant. Having now to chose between having a baby and or her career.
Empire of Passion: Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji
Empire of Passion: Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji
2009 · 17m
country: United States
Actors Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji discuss the making of the 1978 film "Empire of Passion."


Tales of the Bizarre: 2008 Fall Special
2008 · 1h 52m
country: Japan


Departures
2008 · 2h 10m
country: Japan
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.


Ponyo
2008 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.


Cyborg She
2008 · 2h
country: Japan
A lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.


Long Wedding Road! Tokyo vs. Osaka Wakeari Kon Monogatari
2007 · 1h 36m
country: Japan


Maiko Haaaan!!!
2007 · 2h
country: Japan
Kimihiko Onizuka is a salaryman infatuated with maiko (apprentice geisha) and whose greatest goal in life is to play a party game called "yakyuken" with one.


Glory to the Filmmaker!
2007 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project.


Wool 100%
2006 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
A drama of two aging women who live a solitary life collecting discarded items from a nearby town. One day they return home to find a young girl knitting a red sweater in their house. Each time the girl finishes her dress, she promptly unravels it and the mystery unfolds.


Riding the Metro
2006 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Shinji (Shinichi Tsutsumi) steps out of a train station to find himself transported back to 1964.


The Cricket Girl
2006 · 1h 35m
country: Japan


Granny Gabai
2006 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
Gabai Granny is based on the bestseller Saga No Gabai Baachan (Gabai Granny from Saga), which is penned by comedian Shimada Yoshichi as he recounts his childhood memories of growing up under the care of his grandmother.


A Heartful of Love
2005 · 2h 12m
country: Japan
Hiroshi, a 30 year-old businessman, has traveled back in time 20 years. He encounters Kazumi, a young woman who was gravely ill. Hiroshi regarded this as an opportunity to help the young woman from his past, the memory of whom he had always cherished.


Kamataki
2005 · 1h 50m
country: Japan
Twenty-three-year-old Ken has difficulty coping with the death of his father. His mother send him to his uncle Takuma in Japan.


Bewitched in Tokyo SP
2004 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
Christmas Special following the series.


Going Home
2004 · 1h 23m
country: Japan
Haruo returns to his hometown for his mother’s second marriage, where he happens to meet his first love Miyuki for the first time in eight years. Miyuki is back in town with her daughter Chiharu, after leaving a failed marriage.


Translucent Tree
2004 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Translucent Tree is centered around divorced Chigiri, a suburban middle-aged mother taking care of her teenage daughter, Mayu, and her ailing father Kaho. Her life is mundane and rather hopeless until Go, a TV producer from Tokyo, pays a visit to her town and the tree they shared time under some twenty years back after a TV commercial shoot. His remembrances of her, the tree, and the long unrequited love stir both of their hearts to fumbling action as they re-discover the love between them.


Premonition
2004 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
While stopped at a roadside phone booth for transmitting his work through the Internet to the university, Professor Hideki Satomi finds a scrap of newspaper with the picture of his five-year-old daughter Nana in the obituary section.


Free and Easy 15
2004 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Hama-chan takes a vacation to go fishing in Akita despite warnings from Su-san as his company faces a restructuring process.
Oriume
Oriume
2002 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
About a family shouldering an unexpected responsibility when Alzheimer's disease strikes their grandmother. The superb cast portrays this serious and realistic situation with heart-warming compassion, stressing the importance of empathizing with the victims of this difficult disease.


Snowland Revisited
2002 · 1h 49m
country: Japan
Kunio Shibano was bankrupted. He visits a snowland spa area to commit suicide. But he meets Geisha Moeko, and she gives him power to face life one more time...


Lily Festival
2001 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Sachi Hamano's Yurisai (Lily Festival) is about a man (Mickey Curtis) in his seventies who comes to live in an apartment building that also houses seven elderly women. The film examines the ladies' sexual desires as the man proceeds to woo each of them. Kazuko Yoshiyuki portrays one of the female residents. The film was adapted from a novel by Houko Momotani and was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival.


Codename: Tomoko
2000 · 1h 38m
country: Japan
An action in which a former CIA female operative captures a revenge drama that unfolds against a huge secret organization.


Taboo
1999 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.


Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi - Special 1
1999 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
The first special of the Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi drama series.


In Search of a Lost Writer: Wandering in the World of the Seventh Sense
1999 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
A drama depicting the world of the female writer Midori Osaki in three parts: the dramatic creation of her masterpiece, "Wanderings in the Realm of the Seventh Sense," her unknown years spent in poor health and poverty, and the present-day world from which we see her work.


Kikujiro
1999 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.


Immoral Affairs
1997 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Immoral Affairs (Fukigen na kajitsu) is a Japanese film made in 1997 and directed by Katsuo Naruse.It centers on two characters: Mayako, played by Kaho Minami, a young women who is not content with her husband and begins to have many affairs with other men, and Kiriko Okabe, played by Isako Washio, a woman whom she befriends. Mayako's husband is played by Jinpachi Nezu.


The Seven Chefs
1997 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
Traveling chef Ryuji is called back to Tokyo to help save his late teacher’s restaurant. With the help of his close friend Kinu, Ryuji must complete the training of Wataru — the apprentice chosen by his late teacher to become the next master chef — in the art of culinary excellence and running a successful business.


O-higara mo yoku, go-shusho sama
1996 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
While Kazuo Tanaka eagerly practices his greetings for the big wedding the next day, his first as a matchmaker, his second daughter Hitomi prepares for her travels with her secret lover. The eldest daughter Reiko, nine months pregnant, has left her cheating husband to enter a frenzied Tanaka household. On the wedding day, Kazuo learns his father has passed away. Afraid of ruining the wedding, he asks Reiko and Hitomi to deal with the crisis. Rushing home after the ceremony, Kazuo and Kanako are faced with various problems.


House of Sleeping Beauties
1995 · 1h 50m
country: Japan
About an establishment where old men pay to sleep besides young girls that had been narcotized and happen to be naked, the sleeping beauties. The old men are expected to take sleeping pills and share the bed for a whole night with a girl without attempting anything of bad taste like putting a finger inside their mouths.


Himeyuri no To
1995 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
The Girls' Division of Okinawa Normal School and the First Okinawa Prefectural High School for Girls were also known as "Himeyuri no Gakuen". In July 1944, the students, who were supposed to spend their summer vacations at home, were called back to school to prepare for the coming war and to fulfill their duties as subjects of the Imperial State. The fate of the girls and teachers awaited them as the American army attacked.


Hold Me and Kiss Me
1992 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Keiko’s life is turned upside down when she discovers that she has been infected with HIV. As she struggles to cope with the situation and resist the infection, she finds new friendship and companionship with a journalist named Miyuki and a man named Akira.


Sosuke Loses His Lover
1992 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Koji Wakamatsu adapted Kouhei Tsuka's play of the same name into a human comedy about the members of a traveling acting troupe.
Emergency Special! I saw a Paranormal Phenomenon!!
Emergency Special! I saw a Paranormal Phenomenon!!
1991
country: Japan
Horror TV-Special broadcast at the 27th September, 1991.


Chizuko's Younger Sister
1991 · 2h 30m
country: Japan
The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister, Mika begins spending time with Chizuko again.


Oración
1988 · 2h 8m
country: Japan
Set on a quiet ranch in Hokkaido. One day, a colt is born from a legendary bloodline. It is given the name Oracion or "prayer". When Oracion is grown, a factory owner buys the horse. Will he be the key to solving the man's problems? Based on the novel by Teru Miyamoto.


Secret Agreement: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secret Leak Incident
1988 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
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.


Remembrance
1988 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
The Yamaoki family moved from Kyoto to Tosa around the turn of the '50s; local school teacher Hirao becomes involved with Yasuko, sister to Sumio.


Eien no 1/2
1987 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
An unemployed young man who has just broken up with his girlfriend meets a woman at a bicycle race. They start dating but then strange things then begin to happen to him, including a beating from the local yakuza. - Wikipedia


Makeup
1987 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
1987film


MacArthur's Children—Part II
1987 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
A continuation of the story of the postwar years in the Japanese Inland Sea. Now a decade has passed. Two friends meet and decide to look for the beautiful girl with whom they went to school as children.


The Beauty in the Black Mask
1987 · 1h 31m
country: Japan
Kogoro Akechi solves the mystery of the invisible culprit and the invisible weapon.


Love Story
1986 · 1h 37m
country: Unknown
TBS Wednesday Drama Special about a young assistant in love with an older man who works as a photographer.


One Who Died in Vain
1986 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
After returning from the Burmese front in WWII, a man finds trouble brewing back home.


Kids
1985 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
In the basement of a pornographic shop in the port town, there was a secret handgun manufacturing factory. Three guns were stolen from there. His younger brother Tomo (Tsunoda) and Saki (Hayami), who lives together, dream of working at a jazz club and singing at this restaurant one day like his mother, who passed away. In her house, Tomo's friend Ryuichi (Sato) was in and out. Ryuichi takes on the task of finding three guns from a man in the world behind the scenes.


Detective Kyosuke Kozu's Murder Reasoning 3
1985 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
The third work of the popular series depicting the famous detective Kyosuke Kozu. Blind musician Ryoichi Kashiwagi died of a heart attack. His father, Shigeyuki , is already bedridden and has billions of Japanese yen in assets. Ryoichi's wife Yukiyo and Ryoichi's younger sister Tsuruko have a dispute over these assets. Newspaper reporter Matsushita, who met Ryoichi just before his death, was interviewed, and was told that there was something unnatural about Ryoichi's cause of death. Soon, Tsuruko died mysteriously. Matsushita decides to have Kyosuke Kozu, a university professor and a famous detective, solve the case.


CF Guretai
1985 · 1h 30m
country: Unknown
Soutaro Nagare is an assistant at a commercial film production company. However, one day at the studio, he punches a cameraman and gets fired. Taking this as an opportunity, Soutaro decided to become a director, and with a book about commercial films he had produced during his university days in hand, he began visiting various companies.


The Street of Desire
1984 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
A valet at a fancy nightclub hatches a plot to punish those responsible for his father's death.


Double Bed
1983 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
Kato is a small time TV producer. He has a wife Masako, and a young son Taro. Kato also has a friend Yamazaki who he knew since college. Yamazaki has a girl friend Riko who lives with her younger sister Yuko who's an actress. Yamazaki is a lyric writer/womanizer and he starts to have an affair with Masako, but he's still going out with Riko.


The Mosquito on the Tenth Floor
1983 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
A lower-middle-class policeman lives decadently, chasing cheap beer and girls at the same time he's running from loan sharks and his personal expectations.


Amagi Pass
1983 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.


Kidnapping Blues
1982 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
A man and a little girl meet in a bicycle parking in Tokyo. The little girl says she wants to watch the sea, and their travel begins. The man does not intend to be a kidnapper – he asks the girl to phone her mother and tell her she's with him. During their trip they meet various people, but they always must continue on, lest the man be arrested.


Lady on 6th Street: Taste of Honey
1982 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
The night in Ginza was shimmering with neon lights. A grand celebration was being held for the seventh anniversary of the club "Ayako." Among the celebrities gathered for the beautiful Madame Ayako were Ayako's patron, businessman Hisamatsu Kozo; Madame Kahoru of "Black Pearl"; Madame Reiko of "La Bonne"; and the drunken, disheveled Fukiko, the owner of "Pahiyon," who relentlessly insulted Ayako. The next day, Fukiko jumped from the roof of a building. Her suicide, the result of her failure to attract customers, seemed to symbolize the harshness of Ginza beneath its glamor.


In the Cellar
1981 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
The mysterious relationship between a breast-sick sister who lives in a warehouse and the younger brother who longs for her.


The Hidden Trail of the Beasts
1981 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
A star tennis player takes revenge on the blackmailers out to ruin his athletic career.


Juvenile Wife
1980 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
A newlywed wife suffers the consequences for her husband’s actions when he cheats a customer at his credit company out of a large sum of money.


Heaven Sent
1979 · 1h 31m
country: Japan
Sayoko is desperate to bear a child of her own, but her live-in boyfriend Shinsaku strenuously objects to the idea. One day, someone leaves behind a six-year-old child at their door, claiming that Shinsaku—or four other men—is the child's father! Sayoko and Shinsaku set out on a journey to find the real father.


Golden Partners
1979 · 1h 38m
country: Japan
A motorcycle cop and a freelance photographer, having learned the location of 1 billion yen's worth of the Imperial Navy's gold, team up to salvage it.


Empire of Passion
1978 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.


Sea of Wonders
1978 · 46m
country: Japan
A photographer is lost in a storm and washes up on an isolated island, where he meets a vampire woman and falls in love with her.


The Days of No Return
1978 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
The story of a high school boy (Toshiyuki Nagashima) in Tokyo returning to his home town of Nagano upon the death of his father.


Nemuremitsu
1976 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
Omnibus about three actresses from different generations


遺書 白い少女
1976
country: Unknown


Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance
1974 · 1h 29m
country: Japan
Lady Snowblood is caught by the police and sentenced to death for her crimes. As she is sent to the gallows she is rescued by the secret police who offer her a deal to assassinate some revolutionaries.


A Japanese Demon
1973 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
A psychotherapist suffers from the onslaughts of Satori, the demon whose name is paradoxically homonymic to the word used for enlightenment experiences in the Zen tradition. Many people mistakenly believe that such a state is the goal of Zen practice; however, the demon strikes at people who are in a state devoid of thought or feeling. Satori's influence spreads from the psychotherapist to a couple who grow increasingly uninhibited.


Chase That Man
1972 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
The story of the desperate struggle between the police and a large crime syndicate.


The Armed Organization
1971 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
Violent Gang Re-Arms is a rousing tale of friction in yakuza and labor interactions with Koji Tsuruta as a yakuza supervising a dockworker's union. He finds himself between a rock and a hard place, at odds with both the dockworkers' leader (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and sadistic, unprincipled bosses (Fumio Watanabe and Tetsuro Tamba).


I Hear the Whistle
1971 · 1h 28m
country: Japan
Tells of the feelings and sufferings of a young girl with an incurable paralytic disease.


Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival
1970 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
The blind masseuse is targeted by the leader of a powerful yakuza group while also fending off a jealous husband bent on revenge. Zatoichi tours Edo's underground via a rousing onsen fight scene, gambling houses and the gender-bending character of Umeji, before a final, flame-filled conflagration.


Abare chōhan
1970 · 1h 28m
country: Japan


Modern Chivarly: Sworn Brothers
1970 · 1h 29m
country: Japan
After the enactment of the Anti-Prostitution Law, the red-light district in Shinjuku lost its allure. Even the gambling den of the Ryūzaki family was always deserted. Ryūzaki, the boss, declared his retirement in response to the changing times. It was thought that Igarashi, who valued righteousness and principles and had the respect of others, would become the second-in-command. However, he was an annoying presence to Ryūzaki...


The Great Japanese Pick-Pocket Club
1969 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
A crime story (with strong elements of comedy) that pits a determined detective against a gang of pickpockets in Osaka. The detective (played by Keiju Kobayashi) and the leader of the gang (played by Norihei Miki) have an interesting wartime backstory together that fuels much of the story.


The Journey
1967 · 1h 47m
country: Japan
After the death of his parents, railway worker Yuichiro Murofushi returns to his hometown and agrees to an arranged marriage at the insistence of his uncle and aunt. However, the arrangement soon falls through due to various circumstances.


Kokoro no sanmyaku
1966 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
A film dealing with the trials and tribulations of a primary school before and after the Pacific War, set in Fukashima Prefecture.


The Song of Love
1965 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
Heartwarming story of an ambitious girl who becomes a concert pianist with the help of her musician father.


The Witness' Chair
1965 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Murder case and trial.


Black Strait
1964 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Newly out of prison after killing his boss' rival, Akio Maki is eager to move on and start a new life with the boss' daughter. However, the chains of the past are not so easily broken and Maki is soon ordered to kill again.


Shutsugeki
1964 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
An original warrior directed by Toshio Takagi, directed by Eisuke Takizawa of “Kiriko's Tango” by Toshio Yasumi, a comedy, cheerful widow. The photo was taken by Minoru Yokoyama from “Asakusa no Toko Odoriko Monogatari”


The Bride is Fifteen
1964 · 1h 19m
country: Japan
Hanayome wa Jūgo-sai, directed by Mio Ezaki and distributed by Nikkatsu, stars Masako Izumi and Ken Yamauchi. The high-key pink background and casual photographic portrait embody Nikkatsu’s 1960s youth-film aesthetic. Clean, hopeful, and pop-oriented. The large white title, handwritten for a softer impression, injects playful energy that contrasts with the strict vertical text blocks. As Japan’s youth culture blossomed after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, posters like this captured the spirit of romance and rebellion marketed to teenage audiences. The vivid color palette and carefree composition signal a stylistic shift from postwar black-and-white melodrama to the vibrant optimism of modern Technicolor cinema.


Gun Demon Without Form
1964 · 1h 24m
country: Japan
A detective drama that realistically shows the work of an experienced detective who, under cover, pursues the organizer of the arms trade route from Kobe.


Tale on Tokai Chivalry
1964 · 1h 25m
country: Japan
The film is set in Fukagawa in the early Showa period and depicts a fateful confrontation between two men who rise and fall in a black stream, trying to live a real human life, violating the cruel laws of the passing generation.


Kiri ni Kieta Hito
1963 · 1h 18m
country: Japan
The movie depicts the complicated romantic feelings of a woman who is attracted to a man other than her fiancé.


Wakai senpū
1962 · 1h 12m
country: Japan
1962 Japanese movie


The Man With Starry Eyes
1962 · 1h 28m
country: Japan
1962 Japanese movie


Eigo ni yowai otoko azuma wa azuma, nishi wa nishi
1962 · 1h 14m
country: Japan
1962 Japanese movie


何もかも狂ってやがる
1962 · 1h 16m
country: Japan
1962 Japanese movie


Foundry Town
1962 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education.


That Guy and I
1961 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
Asada Keiko and Kurokawa Saburo are two young college students. When Keiko visits Saburo's house, she meets his father Kokichi and his mother Motoko. Motoko is a famous hair dresser, who openly flaunts her lover. When Kokichi and Motoko fight, which they do a lot, he routinely threatens to leave but never quite does. A relationship develops between Saburo and Keiko, but Saburo is shaken when his mother tells Keiko the truth about Saburo's past and the secret of his birth.


Maiko's Visit to Tokyo
1961 · 1h 2m
country: Japan
A youth drama about a sincere and pretty young maiko who comes to Tokyo for the first time in her life and fills her little heart with the joys and sorrows she experiences there.


That Young May Be Eternal
1961
country: Japan
A forbidden love between a young teacher and her student. As a fragile boy’s heart and body are swept into a storm of passion, the film captures the joys and anguished longings of youth.


機動捜査班
1961
country: Japan


A Killer Without a Grave
1961 · 1h 27m
country: Japan
Nakata (Keiichiro Akagi) is a nihilistic young buck who is willing to do anything to get money in his pockets. As he knocks back a couple drinks that he knows he won't be able to afford, a former marksman-turned-bad, Ishioka approaches him. Ishioka is looking for an unaffiliated hit-man who is willing to handle some business. Nakata is just the right man for the job.


Jungle Block
1960 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
A young doctor falls into a despair of developments. He plans to revenge the disgrace inflicted upon his sister, whose engagement was broken as a result.


The Sleeping Beast Within
1960 · 1h 26m
country: Japan
A newspaper reporter's search for his girlfriend's missing father lead him into heart of the criminal underworld of Yokohama's Chinatown.


Teenage Wolf
1960 · 54m
country: Japan
In the bustle of the city, on the corners of neon streets, the eyes of a wild beast are fixed on a young girl! A gloomy portrait of youth, in which distorted energy explodes! A unique social drama that acutely depicts the psychological conflict bubbling in the chest of detectives who are chasing a gang of scoundrels who prey on innocent girls. Adapted from the novel "Kegareta Hankachi".


The Age of Our Own
1959 · 1h 38m
country: Japan
Minami Yasuo, a college student, lives with Yuriko who has become the mistress of a foreigner named Wilson. Whenever Wilson comes, Yasuo spends his time in the tea-shop "La Gana." Yasuo is asked by his brother Shigeru to teach French to Akiko, a young girl who is studying French songs. Yasuo then learns that he is the winner of an essay contest and will be offered a scholarship to study in France. Akiko, is now pregnant and Yasuo promises to break with Yuriko.


My Second Brother
1959 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town. An adaptation of a best-selling book based on the diary of a ten-year-old zainichi (ethnic Korean Japanese) girl, it was one of the first films to deal with the subject of zainichi identity and struggles in Japan.


Season of Affairs
1959 · 1h 25m
country: Japan
Shozo, a personnel manager nearing retirement, had three daughters around their age. The eldest daughter, Naoko, is the brilliant type, the second daughter, Maki, is the manly type, and the third daughter, Momoko, is the tomboyish type.


Talented Woman
1959 · 1h 27m
country: Japan
Set in an old merchant house in Kyoto, the film traces the passing of an era through the story of a parent and child.


Go and Get It
1958 · 1h 39m
country: Japan
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.
How Sorrowful
How Sorrowful
1956 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
The story of a novelist whose wife is confined in a mental hospital. His love for her drives him to write about her, though he runs into trouble when her parents accuse him of cashing in on her misfortune.


Yukiko
1955 · 1h 45m
country: Japan