Hisashi Igawa

The story centers on an elderly hibakusha, whose husband was one of 80,000 human beings killed in the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, caring for her...

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner,...

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...

The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death.

Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself....

This film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their...

After his girlfriend commits suicide, a man becomes embroiled in gang warfare attempting to obtain a gun in hopes to kill himself.

After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former...

Based on the life of Hyakken Uchida, a Japanese author and academic. The film opens with Uchida resigning his job as a German professor at the onset...

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...

1962 Japanese movie

Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and...

A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora!...

A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of...

Zatoichi's trek through 88 temples to atone for his violent past is interrupted as he stumbles into a village terrorized by a violent yakuza boss.

Junko Mizuta, who is returning from juvenile training school, is a former motorcycle gang. Even though he now works, he still goes to his father...

A delicate study of the relationship between two disillusioned young people, shot in atmospheric monochrome among Tokyo's decaying lumberyards and...

The reincarnation of a 10th century Japanese general haunts 1920's Tokyo.

Before leaving prison, Oida uncomfortably enters into an agreement with his cell mate: in exchange for a half-share of 30,000,000 yen, he is to...

When a broadcasting company takes away its financial support from a symphony orchestra, some of the members refuse to admit defeat. The first...

Miyo Hanayama works as a home care nurse, supporting the home care of patients who are close to death. Shigeaki Noguchi complains that his wife has...

Husband and wife Michiko and Takao move from their urban existence in Tokyo to the isolated, rural farming village where Takao grew up.

"Young People" is a story about the lives of four brothers and a sister, Sato. After the death of his parents, the older brother, Taro, who works in...

Coming of age story about a boy and his mother.

In 1907, a group of men climb an unconquered peak in the last unmapped region of Japan.

A retired samurai must redeem himself for a crime that he committed earlier in his life.

The indolent son of an oil vendor becomes a regular customer of a prostitute, racks up a mountain of debt, and is disowned by his parents.

On a beautiful island in Seto Inner Sea, Seichi and Minko make their living by transporting rocks to construction sites by boat. They cherish the...

A headmaster and a novelist, looking for inspiration, regard a strange natural phenomenon before sharing stories of their own.

Takeshi Yasui, a junior high school student is found dead in a river. The police investigate it as a murder related to bullying. The dead boy turns...

Based on a true story set in Matsumoto city, Nagano, during 1960s. A stray dog wanders into a high school's grounds. The dog, named Kuro, stays at...

This time, the investigation division is investigating the case of a man who confessed to killing a woman in a labyrinth 2 years ago, adhering to the...

Akira leaves for the Mt. Gassan foothills before winter's onset, visiting the local temple and interacting with the residents all while falling for...

Second part of an epic drama of war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family from 1935 through Japan's invasion of...

The story is set in 1970 during the time of the first EXPO in Japan. The film’s main figure is a miner who suddenly becomes unemployed because...

A noir drama depicting the downfall of a veteran detective who hates evil and falls into its depths. Ace detective Sugai (Oki Minoru) pursues Chiyo...

This film tells about the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Aikawa, the head of the Bureau of Military Affairs, about the beginning of the incident 2.26...

A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst...

Asian Blue focuses on Koreans brought to Japan to work in forced-labor brigades during World War II

The actor Koheiji is terribly in love with the wife of his best friend, the playwright Takuro; to get her, he would even kill Takuro.

This is the DVD version of the TV show, which consists of a single video that plays the first and last episodes of the tv show bridged by an edit...

Toru grew up in alpine countryside around Mount Tate. As a child, he resented the yearly trek up the mountain with his father to prepare their...

Half a Confession introduces itself as a thriller and abruptly changes gears, transforming into a tale of morality with deeper insights into its...

Satoshi Nomura, a top-level bureaucrat of a prefecture government, has passion for his career. One day, he is hired by the fixed-term personnel...

Suicide has long been used as a form of social protest in Japan. In this film, set in 1703, samurai culture is being transformed by the emergence of...

Furuta Oribe is ordered to become tea master under Toyotomi Hideyoshi after his teacher Sen no Rikyū, the former tea master, was ordered to commit...

An early Okamoto yakuza film, though it's not in the Underworld series (along with The Last Gunfight and The Big Boss) despite being alternatively...

During the Sengoku period, an army relentlessly lays siege to a castle, but they will need the head of the opposing lord to declare victory.

An auto repairman's daughter questions him about what happened to her aunt during the war, but the father remains reticent. Finally the man opens up,...

Japanese film icon Ken Takakura, who has starred in over 100 films, stars in this elegiac look at war and remembrance. Hideji Yamaoka (Takakura) was...

With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic...

A collection of magical tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.

When a team of detectives lose the trail of a murderer, they decide to keep an eye on the suspect’s ex-lover, who is trapped in an abusive...

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a...

A very beautiful Japanese woman is in love with Persian carpets. She is being chased by lecherous Saburi Shin and a handsome young photographer....

Bakyo is a talented but unsuccessful rakugo artist. The very successful Rokyu wants to take Bakyo under his wings, but Bakyo refuses, claiming that...

The life and travels of adventurer Naomi Uemura, who disappeared in Alaska in 1984. A member of the first Japanese expedition to reach the summit of...

A biopic of seminal 20th century artist Leonard Foujita, a contemporary of Picasso and Modigliani, who was famous for mixing up European and Japanese...

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts...

Set in the time of steam locomotives and covering a period of almost 30 years, this sensitive film tells the story of the wife of a railroad worker...

The struggle of a young man and boys who try to create the environment where they can speak their minds freely.

Fourteen-year old student Ayumi has leukemia and starts losing hair. She becomes depressed but receives overwhelming support from her classmates when...

The Master’s late-night diner welcomes a woman troubled by funeral fans, an elderly scam victim, and a noodle delivery man struggling with love.

A story of friendship between two women, Yae and Kiyoko. Their friendship is tested when artist Yae, who suffers from fatal illness, develops special...

Ryuji Oshima, a gambler, kills Saiga in self-defense, and considering himself unfit to lead men, secludes himself in a temple to atone for his...

This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and,...

Directed by Junya Sato and based on a book by Jun Henmi, "Yamato" has a framing story set in the present day and uses flashbacks to tell the story of...

A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.

A Japanese remake of the South Korean film of the same name.

Akiyama is an intern, disgusted with the noise pollution caused by the bullet trains and the heart attacks that noise has been causing in older...

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from...

When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a...

In the 50s, the complicated life of a popular writer who must share his life with his family, his numerous mistresses and his work

The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. Adaptation of...

Suspense film based on Ryuji Hori's non-fiction book about the kidnapping and murder of 4-year-old Yoshinobu Murakoshi in 1963.

Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Dodes'ka-den" (1970).

When her only relative, her elder brother is accused of robbing and murdering an old woman loan-shark, pretty, young Kiriko travels from her home in...

"Do Not Fall" - Set during Japan's Meiji period, three sisters are abused and exploited by their harsh father, including a daughter who plays the...

Adaptation of novel.

A war breaks out on the streets between rivaling Yakuza clans.

A documentary about the eponymous Puerto Rican boxer

An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is on a trip to Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes...

The plight of U.S. Army deserters from Vietnam on the run in Japan, centering on the culture clash between the troubled Americans and the Japanese...

Yuri Kashiwaga was once known as a genius pianist. One day, she returns to her hometown in Goto Islands from Tokyo. There, she begins to work as a...

A remake of the 1953 film of the same name.

Period piece about a samurai who marries a mysterious beautiful young woman who claims to have lost her memory.

A boy transfers into a new high school in the big city. He gets bullied, but meets a pretty girl. He tries to win her heart, but rivals abound. Debut...

A detective film by Nobuhiko Ōbayashi. Made for TV.

Set in Japan's Tenpyou era (729-749 CE), four young monks are sent to China to study Buddhism and bring a high priest back to Japan with them. The...

Junai Monogatari AKA Story of Pure Love is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately...

A Japanese boy in love with a girl of Korean origin must battle the prejudices of those around him in order to sustain the relationship.

The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and...

The film follows the life of Sada Abe, who became a celebrity in 1936 after strangling her lover and slicing off his penis.

Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly...

Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai's heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her...

Following the lives of three college rugby players drafted to serve in the military during WWII. Though they believe their service will help to...

After an encounter with a dying yakuza's son and at his sister Sakura's urging, Torajiro attempts to change his vagrant lifestyle and become an...

Story of famed Japanese actress Kinuyo Tanaka, with an emphasis on her working relationship with director Kenji Mizoguchi.

A film adaptation of the second play from "The Man Who Turned Into A Stick" by Kōbō Abe himself.

This is the story between single mother housekeeper and mathematics professor,who has a brain damage.

Kaori, a professional thirty-something caught between her passion for an older married man and the indulgence of an energetic, but less-fulfilling,...

A group of Japanese tourists try to forget their pasts and find themselves in India.

Adaptation of the classic masterpiece about the relationship between parents and their children.

People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to...

A female college student who aims to become a pianist meets a boy who raises a guide dog.

Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the...

Rai pedals his bike and trailer about town, collecting old iron and sowing flower seeds. Because his face never seems to show emotion, everybody...