Known for Directing
Masato Harada is a Japanese film director, film critic, and sometimes an actor; he is best known to foreign audiences as Omura in The Last Samurai and as Mr Mita in Fearless.
Born
July 3, 1949
Died
December 8, 2025 (age 76)
Birthplace
Numazu, Prefettura di Shizuoka, Giappone
Filmography
73 films
Bad Lands
2023 · 2h 23m
country: Japan
A grifter and her loose-cannon brother get their hands on a massive amount of money, but their ill-gotten gains puts a huge target on their back.
Hell Dogs
2022 · 2h 17m
country: Japan
Bent on revenge, a traumatized ex-police officer must infiltrate a yakuza organization by befriending one of the group's most unhinged members.
Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai
2021 · 2h 28m
country: Japan
Set in the 19th century, "Moeyo Ken" follows the life of Toshizo Hijikata. He was the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi and fought against the Meiji Restoration.
Killing for the Prosecution
2018 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
Young public prosecutor Keiichiro Okino is assigned to the department of the Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office that deals with violent cases, where he will work with Takeshi Mogami, whom he admires. When a money lender is killed and it is suspected that someone from Mogami’s past is the perpetrator, the team prepares to do his best in order to prove the alleged criminal’s guilt.
Sekigahara
2017 · 2h 30m
country: Japan
The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of the various retainers, family members, and samurai.
The Emperor in August
2015 · 2h 16m
country: Japan
In July 1945, during the end of World War II, Japan is forced to accept the Potsdam Declaration. A cabinet meeting has continued through days and nights, but a decision cannot be made. The U.S. drops atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. General Korechika Anami is torn over making the proper decision and the Emperor of Japan worries about his people. Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki leads the cabinet meeting, while Chief Secretary Hisatsune Sakomizu can't do anything, but watch the meeting. At this time, Major Kenji Hatanaka and other young commissioned officers, who are against Japan surrendering, move to occupy the palace and a radio broadcasting station. The radio station is set to broadcast Emperor Hirohito reading out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.
Kakekomi
2015 · 2h 26m
country: Japan
Kakekomi tells the stories of Edo women in the 1800s that escape abusive husbands and lovers by taking refuge in Tokeiji, a monastery in Kamakura.
Chronicle of My Mother
2012 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds.
Early Autumn
2011 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
As summer gives way to autumn, Matsubara Tatsuhira (played by Yakusho Koji), who runs a wine specialty store in Nagano, feels a mix of emotions as he sends his daughter off to her wedding. Since his wife passed away 20 years ago, Matsubara has dedicated himself to raising his daughter, even sacrificing another chance at love. However, his daughter's marriage seems to have left this strong man feeling a sense of emotional loss and loneliness. Afterward, he temporarily sets aside his work and travels to Kyoto to visit his old friend, the writer Shigeo Shuzuki (played by Iwasaki Ryō), and also reunites with his high school friend Yamabe Kōsuke (played by Ten Ten). At Yamabe's request, Matsubara went to a nightclub to investigate the other man's daughter—who was also Matsubara's daughter's friend—Reiko (played by Nakagawa Noriko). Reiko had secretly loved Matsubara since childhood, and the hidden emotions in this middle-aged man seemed to be awakening once again...
Climber's High
2008 · 2h 25m
country: Japan
On August 12, 1985, a jumbo jet crashes, causing 520 fatalities, making the accident the biggest single-plane accident in the world. The local press reporters are tossed about by the waves of facts and rumors. While overwhelmed by the magnitude of the accident, Yuuki, in charge of this crash report at a local newspaper, faces a string of decision-making moments. What are news and a reporter? How should a man do his work and survive in a corporate hierarchy? What do family and friends mean to him? An intriguing story, which keeps the audience on the edge of tension and reality.
The Shadow Spirit
2007 · 2h 13m
country: Japan
A series of murders of beautiful girls occur in Tokyo not long after the end of the war. Also the daughter of a retired actress, Yuzuki Yoko, has gone missing. In the meantime, a religious cult that claims to shut away misfortunes in a box has been gaining popularity, displaying an eerie aspect. Yoko's daughter is alleged to have been run over by a train, and taken into a research institute situated in a gigantic box-shaped building. A private detective Enokizu (Abe Hiroshi), a writer Sekiguchi (Shiina Kippei), a journalist Atsuko and a police detective Kiba each pursues their own case, and Chuzenji (Tsutsumi Shinichi), an owner of a secondhand bookshop, "Kyogoku Do" suspects that all cases are linked to the box-shaped research institute.
The Suicide Song
2007 · 2h 8m
country: Japan
Original story by Yasushi AKIMOTO, writer of the mega hit movie One Missed Call (Chakushin Ari) series. As the project was in development with an idea of an "infectious song (Densen-Uta)", one of the staff called out..."There was a real Densen-Uta!" He discovers on the internet of a song back in 1933, Hungary, which caused mysterious deaths of many people. In "Densen-Uta", high school girls get mixed up in the Japanese version of this infectious song, and with the help of third rate gossip magazine reporter, tries to solve the mystery and horror behind the song. They come to know just how real, an urban legend can become.
Bluestockings
2005 · 1h 57m
country: Japan
Set during Japan's Taisho Era (1912-1926), "Bluestockings" tells the tale story of a love triangle between wealthy businessman Yuichiro (Etsushi Toyokawa), his wife Akiko (Kyoko Hasegawa), and Kiyoko (Yoshino Kimura).
The Choice of Hercules
2002 · 2h 10m
country: Japan
When radicals from Japan's Red Army took a woman hostage in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano in 1972, Officer Atsuyuki Sassa was put in charge of diffusing the situation. But the task had its challenges. Upon arriving in mountainous Nagano, Sassa had to compete with freezing winter temperatures, conflicting opinions between the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the Nagano Prefectural Police, as well as public opinion to gain entrance to the lodge that held the single woman captive.
Inugami
2001 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Akira, a teacher from Tokyo, has just arrived in a small rural town to begin his new job. Soon after arriving, he meets, and begins to fall for, Miki, a papermaker and part of a large and unusual family. When he learns of an ancient legend that the family carries the curse of the Inugami, or Dog God, he brushes it off as silly superstition. After a series of mysterious deaths, however, the townspeople begin to grow restless, and Akira must confront the truth about Miki and her family.
Jubaku: Spellbound
1999 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
When a major bank is caught paying off a corporate extortionist, the media and prosecutors begin to dig, breaking open a money-and-favours scandal that threatens to rock the entire structure of business and government to its core. While the bank's top executives continue to vacillate, a quartet of middle-management reformers, led by straight-arrow Kitano (Koji Yakusho), decide to stage a boardroom coup and install a new, clean management team. With the aid of a hotshot news anchor (Mayumi Wakamura) and a hard-nosed prosecutor (Kenichi Endo), heads begin to roll.
Bounce Ko Gals
1997 · 1h 50m
country: Japan
Jonko runs a group of high school girls involved in paid dating. Raku is a street dancer. Togo was brought up in the US, and after being back in Japan for one year, wants to escape to New York. Their contact with the world of talent scouts and yakuza places them in danger over the span of one day and night in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.
Rowing Through
1996 · 1h 55m
country: Canada
Based on the real-life story of American rower Tiff Wood (Colin Ferguson), an athlete determined to realize his goal of winning gold at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Wood's dream is shattered when the U.S. boycotts the games, and he must refocus his life towards making the team four years later, with the odds against him.
Trouble-Shooters
1995 · 1h 41m
country: Japan
A man (Koji Matoba) working for a group that solves others' problems searches for the men that raped two young women.
Kamikaze Taxi
1995 · 2h 49m
country: Japan
A young foot soldier in the yakuza seeks revenge when his prostitute girlfriend dies after a session with a high-ranking Japanese politician with a taste for torture. He sets out on a 'kamikaze' mission to kill his bosses and the politician; along the way, he acquires the aid of a taxi driver who has recently returned to Japan after living in South America for several decades and is struggling to cope with poverty and the prejudices of native-born Japanese.
Painted Desert - TUFF Theatrical Edition
1994 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
In the middle of the desert, a solipsistic Japanese-American woman, along with her elderly and paralysed friend Barbara, runs the Desert Rose Cafe. Things liven up with the arrival of a mafia henchman (whose boss is hiding out at a nearby ranch), a battered Japanse man (who turns out to be a terrific chef, but who also triggers Barbara's memories of internment during WWII), and an attack on the mob boss' camp.
Tuff Part V - Killing Anthology
1992 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
Downtown Los Angeles. It is a shadowy town filled with drug addicts, homeless people, and others who have lost their homes. Jiro, tired of his killing spree, is also addicted to drugs and drifts through his days like a corpse. Jiro's foggy mind begins to flash with blood-soaked reminiscences...
Tuff Part IV - Harvest of Blood
1991 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
Jiro's only target is a mysterious assassin. Faced with an enemy whose true identity is unknown, Yuki decides to become a decoy herself. The assassin relentlessly pursues Yuki, and Jiro also pursues the assassin. Killing after killing, they end up at the destination, where an unexpected person is waiting for them.
Tuff Part III - Business Killing
1991 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
Jiro has avenged the murder of his mentor and stands alone as an assassin. He finds a new agent and makes a contract with him. However, the ghost of someone whom he once killed, appears...
Tuff Part I - Origin
1990 · 1h 24m
country: Japan
Jiro, a freelancer working at a delivery pizza shop, witnesses the brilliant killing techniques of professional assassin Nejime at a gangster's office where he makes deliveries. Jiro rescues the wounded Nejime and volunteers to become his apprentice. From that day on, Jiro learns the art of killing in a dog eats dog world.
Gunhed
1989 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
High-concept Sci-Fi adventure about an island that actually is a computer called Kyron 5, itself created to design and manufacture super-advanced robots to be used as slaves for the rest of the world. One day Kyron decides that human beings are unnecessary, so it declares war on the world. But Kyron cannot be tamed, and after many lives are lost in the attempt, mankind decides to leave Kyron to its own devices.
The Heartbreak Yakuza
1987 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
A hardened gangster encounters by chance a woman he hasn't seen since childhood. They are both engulfed in the underground world of intergang warfare.
Onyanko the Movie - One Shot Crisis!
1986 · 1h 18m
country: Japan
The story revolves around a hardcore Onyanko Club fanatic who decides he wants to kill the girls to prevent the young, cute idols from getting old and married - in a sense, to preserve their youth for eternity.
Paris/Dakar 1500
1986 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
Plot missing
Out of Focus
1985 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
A magazine publisher called Out Of Focus hires a new female camerawoman. This company is located in Tokyo. The new photographer moves from outside the city to Tokyo and upon arrival and on her first day is tasked with immediately snapping pictures. Her boss sends her on a mission with a senior colleague. The senior cameraman uses rogue ways surprising his new colleague. A new assignment related to a former Japanese Prime Minister falls on her lap. The court does not look fondly at photography of this kind.
Windy Story
1984 · 1h 45m
country: Germany
The film depicts a man who becomes a motorcycle grand prix champion in his teens, but suffers an accident, and then tries to make a comeback as a privateer a few years later.
Goodbye, Flickmania
1979 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Set at the height of the Japanese student rebellion in 1968, the film tells the story of the friendship between two very different men—a fortyish film maniac who spends nearly all his time at the movies and a 19-year-old going through the final rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood.