Kaho Minami

CHAI Ya-hui returned to Taiwan after getting married in Japan. Since her husband committed suicide, she lived alone with her daughter Xiao-xiao. They were chased by gangsters. One day, Xiao-xiao and her classmate Ya-hoo were kidnapped, Ya-hui asked the police for help but was troubled, so she decided to save her daughter herself. The kidnappers use high-tech methods to torture her and Xiao-xiao, and unravel mysteries related to past dismemberments, organ trafficking, and historical trauma. As clues are intertwined, Ya-hui discovers the key to solving the case, and finally reveals the truth behind the obsession and trauma, and brings an unexpected ending.

It is a bilingual love comedy about a Japanese divorcee who has to take in an American male roommate to make ends meet. Mikuko Abe is stuck, both in life and in love. When her daughter sends her Vincent, an American visitor, the last thing she wants is to let him live with her. What she doesn't know is that opening up her door to this stranger will soon open up her world.

Nagasaki, 1945. Three nursing students, Tanaka Sumi, Ohno Atsuko, and Iwanaga Misao, return home when school is closed due to air raids, and spend some peaceful time with family and friends. However, at 11:02 AM on August 9th, the atomic bomb is dropped, and their daily lives are instantly shattered. The city is reduced to ruins, and despite their inexperience, the nursing students rush to provide medical care to the injured. Faced with the cruel reality that more lives must be buried than can be saved, the women continue to question the value and meaning of life.

In the Ariake Sea of Saga, Kyushu, a man who has spent his life as a nori (seaweed) fisherman is deeply moved one day upon hearing Franz Liszt's masterpiece, La Campanella. Determined to play the piece himself, he defies the objections of those around him and throws himself into intense practice. At 52 years old, he begins a serious challenge to master one of the most notoriously difficult compositions—even professional pianists hesitate to take it on.

The story of a young composer who lost his lover and encounters grief care, which casually provides support to people in a state of

Ichijo Zentaro, an inspector who is a trend junkie and loves to use out-of-fashion vocabulary used by high school girls, works together with Yuki Maria, a sharp-tongued inspector who has built up a stellar career at the MPD's first division, to solve a serial murder case.

Nao Tsuyama, a disabled athlete, refuses to let his articifical leg hinder his dream to become a professional boxer. His remarkable journey takes him from Japan to the Philippines, and specifically the celebrated ‘Gensan’ quarter which has spawned worldwide stars such as the legendary Manny Pacquiao.

Akiko quit being a piano teacher and has been spending her days aimlessly without setting any goals for herself. One night on New Year’s Eve, she and her younger reclusive brother Yukio are summoned by their older sister Haruko to an urgent meeting because their father is dying. Haruko proposes that they join hands and fight against his mistress Midori in order to protect his assets from her. Despite Akiko’s reluctance, she gets dragged into it by Haruko and has to scurry about. However, she gradually comes to know a different side to her two siblings that she had never realised. They eventually end up sneaking into the family home in the middle of the night to steal the safe.

Osomatsu ends up meeting the CEO of a multi-trillion yen company, who wants to adopt Osomatsu as his own. The other brothers find out and they can't let that slide without a fight.

Ines, who wants to change who she is and become someone else in order to cover up her insecurities. When she accompanies her boyfriend Lucas on a business trip to Norway, Ines meets a half-Japanese tourist, Maria, who instantly fascinates her. Suddenly Maria disappears, and Ines seizes the opportunity to replace her – she declares herself dead and travels to Japan in order to take over Maria's identity. There, she will get a job at Miss Osaka, the same nightclub where Maria used to work. A game of broken boundaries, lost identities and the dangerous balance between reality and the past has begun, and Ines must abide by the new rules by avoiding the more obscure paths.

In consequence of his professional mistakes and declining career, Shuji and his family, the Sasaya’s, are forced to leave the wealthy suburb of Tokyo. The move is slow, long and heartbreaking, and the two Sasaya children, an old teenager and a young adult, unwittingly turn the grieving process into an exuberant and unpredictable farewell party!

Despite losing her parents at age three in a car accident, Toko experiences an idyllic childhood thanks to her uncle, who raises her. She dreams of being an actress and, having had some local notoriety in her town, she is ready to take a leap of faith and travel to Tokyo to audition. But, as fate would have it, her hopes are dashed as her world and her country are turned upside down when Japan is struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. This motivates Toko to assist with aid efforts in Kesennuma where she meets volunteer organizer Kiyotaka. While she initially senses something about Kiyotaka is amiss in the midst of their devastated surroundings, feelings of hope grow as do their feelings for one another.

Trapped in her anemic career and love relationship, a 30-year-old TV commercial director returns to her countryside home in the company of a free-spirited friend. In a bittersweet reunion with an alienated family, her childhood memories of freedom and yearnings creep in the dreamlike blue hour, transcending into a lyricism of self-realization – at once whimsical, agonizing and yet hopeful.

21st Century Girl is an omnibus feature that is of the girls, by the girls and for the girls. The work of 15 women directors under the age of 30, each of whom contributed an 8-minute film, the package highlights a range of genres, visions and thematic concerns.

A lonely, chain-smoking office lady in Tokyo falls for her teacher when she decides to take English lessons. When her teacher disappears, she sets out on a journey to find him.

On Mihama, one of Tokyo's outlying islands, Shinji witnesses the rape of his girlfriend and middle-school classmate, Haruka, then commits an irreversible crime. But the following day, the island is besieged by a tidal wave which wipes out everything. Twenty-five years later, Shinji has a wife and daughter. A childhood friend, Tasuku, presents himself to Shinji and discloses the real truth of his hidden past. Shinji will have to try and protect Haruka again.

The Katsuragi Household that runs a small store may appear serene. But as the younger son Minoru commits a murder on the street, the family is exposed to the public. Is there anybody that is behind this murder case?

Yoshito (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) becomes famous in Kyoto because of his ability to solve cases. The special investigation unit receives a request to investigate a case revolving around the kidnapping of a costumed performer. He plays a non-official character of the Arashiyama area, located on the western outskirts of Kyoto. Nobody takes the kidnapping case seriously, but Yoshito says the case could be real and it might be related to a crowdfunding site.

Kane Madison is an architect working in Los Angeles while his doppelganger-like spirit, an eighteenth century Ronin, wanders a parallel netherworld of masked demons and Japanese swordsmen. When tragedy strikes, Kane embarks on a journey of faith which prompts the Ronin to seek out his true master in the spirit world... both will face many battles along their interweaving roads to peace.

Kenta Kurata (Masaki Aiba) lives with his father, Taichi (Akira Terao), his mother, Keiko (Kaho Minami), and his younger sister, Nana (Kasumi Arimura) in an isolated home in the suburbs. He works as an unpopular commercial designer. Kenta Kurata possesses a timid personality, which he picked up from his father. Kenta doesn't like his father. One day, while waiting for the train, Kenta warns a man who pushed a woman and cut in line. Kenta is surprised that he spoke out with his normally timid personality. After that incident, Kenta's family home is targeted by an unknown person with flowers from their garden being pulled out and the seat of a bicycle being torn. Also, Kenta's younger sister Nana is stalked by her ex-boyfriend. Kenta and his family try to find out who is responsible.

Shu Kubota is killed by someone with a baseball bat. A metal bat and an old toy are found at the crime scene. Detective Yoshito (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) with the special investigation unit goes to the crime scene to investigate. There, Detective Yoshito realizes that he made the old toy about 10 years ago when he worked at the public relations divsion of the Kyoto Prefectural Police Department. Detective Yoshito decides to solve the case by himself and without the help of his partner Detective Chinami (Kaho Minami). --asianwiki

This erotically charged drama traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a notorious "love hotel" in Tokyo's red-light district.

Work life for Shunsuke Osaki has been success after success, but at some point his family began to slip by the wayside. As his elderly father begins to show signs of dementia, Shunsuke takes the family on a trip in a desperate attempt to pull them together before it is too late. Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Masashi Sada's short story of the same name received the awards for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Music at the 1st Asia International Film Festival in Taipei.

A mysterious code written with letters and numbers is found on a street in Kyoto. Yoshito Takuma (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and Chinami Anekoji (Kaho Minami) begin to investigate. They discover that something happened at the place where the code was found on stickers and they also discover a dead body. A man known as "Writer" is suspected of being the culprit. To find the man known as "Writer," Yoshito Takuma infiltrates into Shiga central prison. --asianwiki

Kusanagi plays a police detective who gets framed for a crime he didn't commit and had to spend the last 10 years in prison. However, he regains his job as a police officer and makes use of his specialized knowledge on criminal psychology to solve difficult cases.

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.

"Hankyu Densha" follows the lives of various people who commute on Hankyu Railway's Imazu Line - connecting the cities of Nishinomiya and Takarazuka in Hyogo prefecture. One of the commuters is Shoko (Miki Nakatani), an office worker in her 30s who lost her boyfriend to a younger colleague. There's also a college student (Erika Toda) who is so easily persuaded by her no good boyfriend. Other commuters include a grandmother & granddaughter, a house wife, a female high school student, and a female otaku college student. Although the train ride takes only 15 minutes between two stations, the lives of these commuters are changed as they interact with each other...

Doctor Rie (Miho Kanno) is know as the Joan of Ark of Obstetrics & Gynecology. She works in a challenging environment with clinics shutting down due to lack of doctors and the system itself breaking down. Dr. Rie then helps an infertile woman conceive with a surrogate mother which is prohibited in Japan...

The bittersweet events in the lives of people in Hakodate, a regional city connected by a streetcar network. A laid-off man and his younger sister go up a mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. Meanwhile, Haruo has inherited his family's gas business, but things aren't going well in his new endeavor and he becomes increasingly frustrated.

A woman from rural Japan marries a struggling cartoonist in Tokyo. Their life is difficult before he finds success, but at least they're together.

Osaka Love & Soul (TV film) Drama 2010, 75 min

Crew and actors prepare for Mamoru Oshii's stage version of Tetsujin 28.

The story takes place in a new residential area in the outskirts of Tokyo. A family photograph adorns the living room of the Hashimoto family. It is a heartwarming shot of the three family members from when they first moved here, finally having bought their own home that they had wanted for so long. Wife Michiko hangs the laundry everyday. Husband Ken-ichi leaves for work without a word. Son Hiroaki has a part-time job, returns home early and disappears into his room. The Hashimoto Family no longer eats meal together at the dining table or spends time together in the living room. Michiko yearns for a different relationship with her family and is gradually overcome by loneliness. While feeling pressured from the trifling matters that occur within the residential community, Michiko tries to fill the emptiness that she hides in her heart.

The life of Go master Wu Qingyuan from his meteoric rise as a child prodigy to fame and fortune as a revolutionary strategic thinker, as well as the tumultuous conflicts between his homeland of China and his adopted nation of Japan.

The story is a variation on the Tom Hanks classic "Big," but instead of a boy finding himself in a man's body, a sick girl falls asleep one day and does not wake up again for 11 years. In the meantime, her baby sister, Natsumi (Rio Kanno), grows up to become a very studious and serious 12-year-old, studying hard at her summer juku (cram school). When her aunt, a free-spirited photographer (Karie Kahimi), goes missing in South America, her mildly scatter-brained mother (Kaho Minami) and father (Tetsuji Tanaka) go looking for her, leaving the girl, Natsumi, to look after her sleeping sibling, Ai (Rosa Kato). Yes, this is a clear case of child neglect, but Natsumi is such a no-nonsense, responsible type that it seems almost understandable. Soon after Mom and Dad leave, she notices that Ai, incredibly, is up and about, with the body of a woman, but the mind of an 8-year-old.

Takako's high school has a unique tradition. Every year, the school's 1000 students walk 80 kilometers in 24 hours. As this is her final year of high school, Takako decides to work up the courage to talk to classmate You, whom she has never spoken to before. Classmates who are unaware of their relationship read something more into their awkward overtures.

A young boy with a troubled home life becomes "chosen," and he stumbles into the middle of a great war of yōkai (a class of mythological creatures), where he meets a group of friendly yōkai who become his companions through his journey. Now he must fight to protect his friends and free the world of the yōkai from oppression.

Fuki who lives with her grandfather Shoei in Taketomi Island, Okinawa, dreams of becoming a photographer. In her childhood, her mother Masami left Fuki to live in Tokyo. Although Masami has not come back, Fuki receives birthday cards from Masami every year on her birthday. On Fuki's fourteenth birthday, Masami promises to confess everything when Fuki becomes 20 years old. After her graduation from high school, Fuki moves to Tokyo to work as a camera assistant. Fuki starts off her hectic life in Tokyo, and soon, her nineteenth birthday comes. As usual, she receives a birthday card from Masami. A year later...

Middle-aged pro wrestler Ushinosuke's wife passes away, and he and his son, Kazuo, move in with his father. His fellow wrestlers help them shift house and celebrate their new home, but in the midst of their revelry sits Kazuo with a pained look on his face. He hates pro wrestling with a passion and is embarrassed by his father who has made a heel turn in order to save the ailing wrestling organization he belongs to. He even keeps his dad's profession a secret from his new classmates. When Ushinosuke finds out how his son feels, he sets up an unusual death match with a karate champion in a bid for acceptance. He is knocked down several times, but each time manages to rise to his feet and inch towards the championship. Finally he manages to unleash his finishing move, a devastating backdrop, and achieves a miraculous upset victory with Kazuo watching on proudly.

Infection takes place in a dark, isolated hospital, where one doctors mistake has led to dire consequences for a patient. In a hospital death is just a breath away.

Eiko Akimori is a 23-year-old woman who lives alone in an apartment. One day, Eiko is made to buy a big stone ring that brings happiness from a catch sales on the way home from work.

Biopic of ceramic artist Hazan Itaya (1872-1963).

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.

Godzilla has become a distant memory for Japan when the destruction of a US submarine raises alarms for Admiral Tachibana. His estranged daughter Yuri investigates the legend of the guardian monsters, who must rise to protect Japan against the vengeful spirits within Godzilla that seek to destroy both the nation and its people for the suffering they inflicted in the Pacific conflict.

2001 Japanese movie

Anpanman and the mermaid princess. Princess Sunny accidentally awakes the stone monster Gorongora. Can Anpanman save her underwater world?

Set in a Kyoto geisha house during the post-WWII era, the young Omocha begins her rigorous apprenticeship within the traditional community of geiko and maiko. She must navigate complex internal rivalries and a strict social hierarchy while the house struggles to maintain its customs. As modern society shifts around them, the residents face the increasing pressure of Japan's changing cultural identity.

A struggling model and a troubled divorcee face loneliness and desperation in Tokyo.

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.

A strange duo, Minko and Hiroto, who believe themselves to be angels, throw out fashion massage leaflets called “Angel Dispatch” from the roof of a building on Christmas Day in order to save unfortunate people. The flyers were blown by the wind and fell into the city.

Maiko is a recently widowed young woman travelling to Bali to distract herself from the loss of her husband, Esau. At the airport she meets Kioko, who gives her a dagger and a photo of a woman. She tells Maiko she must find the woman, Shireni, in Bali and convince her to return to Japan, or she must use the dagger to kill her. Soon after her arrival in Bali she meets Shireni and is invited to stay with her. Quickly Maiko finds herself trapped on Shirini's island paradise, by her own confusion and her developing love for Shireni. She discovers Shireni to be immortal, a former spirit medium whose only goal is to find pleasure, body and soul.

Every Monday, a young woman is murdered in the subway, leading psychiatrist Setsuko Suma to investigate Dr. Rei Aku's deprogramming of former sect members.

Maiku Hama is a private detective working in Yokohama. Hama comes to the aid of a Taiwanese waiter named Yang and agrees to track down his missing brother. Through a series of double-crosses Hama gets embroiled in a gang war and a revenge plot between the two brothers

Based on the story of the same name by Shizuka Ijûin. Ran as a double feature with Chibusa (1993).

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.

A motocross rider avenges his father's death

The year is 1945. After the horrific fire-bombings of the Pacific War levels Japan to the ground, the government decides to consult spiritual psychics to aid them in winning the war. Unfortunately, the resentment and agony of the souls of the fire-bombing victims culminate together to revive the evil Onmyoji, Yasunori Kato. Only a young, psychically imbued apprentice of the priests will dare fight against the evil magic user. However, can this lone man possibly contend with Kato's overwhelming power?

A comedy about the lives of people living in the shopping district of Osaka.

Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.

In one of the districts of Tokyo, an old school is planned to be torn down after the summer holidays. The only person who is seriously worried about this is the Japanese language teacher Nakajima. He decides to hold special additional classes for the lagging students during the summer holidays, which they will keep as a memento of the old school.

A biographical dramatization about the production of the original Ultraman, the beloved classic special effects fantasy series from Eiji Tsuburaya.

A young outlaw racing through the streets of Yokohama. Will the love that slipped through his fingers like sand come back to him once again?

The lives of a young yakuza and his girlfriend.

On August 9, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This film, based on a story by Mitsukaru Inoue, describes the daily life of people in Nagasaki the day before that fateful event. It presents the human drama of people's lives, and their feelings of joy and sadness. These include a newlywed couple, an expectant mother, and lovers who must say farewell because the boy is called to serve in the army. Each of these people, like others in the city, hoped to live with their dreams for ‘tomorrow’. But tomorrow never comes for them, as their lives are brought to an abrupt and unexpected end. Knowing how the story ends, in this case, doesn't detract from it at all; rather, it enhances the emotional impact, which is further heightened by the poignant musical score from Teizo Matsumura. 'Ashita' is the first film in Kazuo Kuroki's 'War Requiem Trilogy,' which also includes 'Utsukushii Natsu Kirishima' (2002) and 'Chichi to Kuraseba' (2004).

An unreliable narrator recounts the love story of a loan shark, his wife, and their recently released from jail childhood friend.

An entire Japanese international grade school—and all within—are mysteriously transported to a foreboding desert wasteland. As the story unfolds, the diminishing student body weathers this apocalyptic crisis while searching for clues about their surroundings, and dealing with psychological breakdown and dangerous exterior forces.

A film about the substantial population of Koreans living in Japan, and the love affair between Kayako, a Japanese girl, and Sanjun, a Korean.