Aiko Mimasu

Follows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

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A blind little girl searches for her mother.

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A child who was taken in and raised by a woman from a once-impoverished traveling theater troupe grows up to be a beautiful young woman and performs in a dance recital. Her biological mother, who suddenly appears, is the wife of a wealthy man.

A romantic story about a young medical student and a Japanese dancer who meet while watching a university ice hockey league game, and how they overcome various difficulties to be together.

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Kamezo, a manzai comedian, had been taking a break from performing while his partner Tsuruko was giving birth, but Tsuruko announced that she was retiring from the stage. That child was, in fact, the son of Takashi Yashiro, a politician with a promising future. Believing that a relationship between a politician and a female manzai comedian would bring unhappiness to Yashiro and his wife, Tsuruko changed her address and was even preparing to leave the stage. Tsuruko’s alcoholic father, having caught wind of this, snatched the child, Yoko, and squandered the small sum of money he had received from Yashiro on drinking.

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Lt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed with pride in his hometown on his return. As Japan racks up victory after victory in the Pacific War, Kitami is caught up in the emotion of the time and fights courageously for the standard of Japanese honor. But his assuredness of his government's righteousness is shaken after the Japanese navy is defeated in the debacle of Midway.

Ryu, a low life thug, along with his mother, steals a shipment of drugs. Now with his machine gun and a gang of hoodlums, he must face the yakuza and the mafia.

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War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

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Due to obligation, they parted ways, but mother and child meet again in front of the father's grave.

This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.

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Taki dedicated her life to her daughter Miyoko, but they were separated by Taki's parents-in-law. Many years later, they reunite in a party, but Taki falls gravely ill with a long disease. During those years, Miyoki studies Medicine and will be finally able to help her mother.

Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the target of a merciless revenge.

A kind of modern dress "Donzoko" "The Lower Depths", about slum life in Osaka, where a greedy widow (Mimasu) takes advantage of her poor roomers, including her own son, who makes a meagre living stripping taxicabs.

A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo.

With World War II is coming to its end and Japan nearing defeat, Japanese military leaders step up suicide attacks on Allied ships. Toei legend Koji Tsuruta stars as a Kamikaze squad leader who has second thoughts about suicide runs. He becomes torn between his own morality and his duty to his country when he must deal with a pilot under his command who refuses to complete his mission.

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Movie about biological mothers, foster mothers, and stepmothers.

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The sincere, selfless love of a foolish mother for her daughter set against the backdrop of the circus.

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Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family.

Set in the pleasure district of Kyoto, Tamiko (Yoshiko Mita, in her first lead role) is a young girl attending high school by day and training as a geisha at night She sees her future as an entertainer, not a prostitute, & she expects a happy marriage with a medical student, Yasuke (Katsuo Nakamura), a sweet fellow she deeply loves. but things started to getting worse for Tamiko and she's forced to become the mistress of the disgusting Tsukada (Seiji Miyaguchi).

1962 Japanese movie

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An adaptation of the popular Sazae-san comic.

Walking home late one night, a down-on-his-luck sewage worker runs into a drunk businessman with a briefcase full of cash. His impulsive decision will lead to a long, dark night of the soul, while his lady love, a bar hostess, tries to cope with her sudden change of fortune.

A film about the life of Kiyoshi Yamashita, a Japanese painter with disabilities.

Soemon, the master of Gidayū-style madcap performances, has gathered the entire tenement block again tonight and is tormenting everyone with his terrible Gidayū singing.

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An adaptation of the popular Sazae-san comic strip

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Love-hate drama of three beautiful sisters in Ooku in Edo Castle.

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A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself 'already dead'.

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The story of three sportsman brothers living in the Ginza. One day, the three meet a raving beauty on separate occasions and are unaware they have met the same girl.

A story of young students trained to become Kamikaze pilots in World War II.

Teacher Miyako Hanai, disillusioned by her sisters’ unhappy marriages, rejects love until family conflicts and her mother’s unexpected remarriage lead her to rethink happiness and relationships.

Chōsokabe Kyutaro, notorious as a master swindler, abandons Tokyo and flees to Watakano Island near the Shima Peninsula. Upon hearing that the Tawarado family, the island’s wealthiest clan, was desperately searching for their missing heir, Kyutaro, he immediately disguises himself as Kyutaro and makes his way there.

Yakuza Kojima appeared in Yokkaichi in search of her mother who died when she was young. There he met Torajiro, a master of kendo, who had just left prison after slashing his adoptive father who stole his son's wife. Torajiro was on his way to his brother-in-law, Iwai. While talking about themselves, they someday felt something similar to friendship.

Part 5 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. After serving four and a half years in prison, Masa and his brother Katsuji leave Kobe to go to Nagoya to help a hostess get her daughter back from her mother. As they arrive in Nagoya, they get into a scuffle with the local yakuza affiliate. Sugawara and Kawaji's chemistry is even more evident here than usual, the storyline is alright if melodramatic. Delightful start with Tatsuo Endo as a nice guy prison guard! How many times have you seen that? And we got Kyosuke Machida (henchman) with cool beard and the always good Tsunehiko Watase (young hood) on board as well. One of the best films in the series.

A studio introduction version for Daiei Stars.

Kinichi and Akiko meet when they visit their fathers in prison. After successfully gambling on a bicycle race, they spend an enjoyable day together at the beach.

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At a coastal hot spring inn, a group of women navigate work, personal struggles, and unexpected scandals. When a guest threatens to expose one maid's past, she must decide whether to run or face it—with help from a kind local officer.

Sasaki Kojiro tells the story of the genius who staked his love, glory, and life on a duel with the supreme master of the sword, Miyamoto Musashi (Tatsuya Nakadai). Oscar winning Hiroshi Inagaki directs this epic motion picture based on Genzo Murakami’s fascinating story. Despite his humble birth, the orphan Sasaki Kojiro (Onoe Kikunosuke) is determined to become the foremost swordsman in all Japan, a title that traditionally belongs to a nobleman. At fencing school, young Kojiro receives the contempt of his classmates because of his superior swordsmanship. When rumors of the upcoming civil war between Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans spread, Kojiro leaves the school and sets out, seizing every opportunity to realize his dream.

Story of loyal sailors giving their lives for their country as human torpedoes towards the end of the War.

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A Girl isn't Allowed to Love is a 1955 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa.

A legendary pre-war comedy operetta starring Enomoto Kenichi, Hideko Takamine and Li Xianglan. The Sanzo Ikkou continues its westward journey, on a mission to prevent a demonic resurrection. As Genjo Sanzo, Cho Hakkai, Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku (Kenichi Enomoto) fight their way to their goal, their path is fraught with internal strife.

A love melodrama about five siblings and the daughter of a businessman.

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A story about being scared of getting old.

In postwar Osaka’s bustling textile district, a tough and highly rational moneylender named Katsumi builds a successful lending business in a world driven by debt, greed, and ambition. As rival lenders and business owners compete to take control of a struggling textile company, Katsumi becomes caught in a web of financial schemes, betrayals, and personal loyalties. What begins as a ruthless climb to power gradually turns into a fight to survive the consequences of the world she helped create.

Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner.

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An award-winning Japanese film about a child's experiences during the Second World War.

In the roaring 1970s, a man who has left the world of the yakuza to become the owner of a sushi restaurant decides to rise up again when he sees his former family being overrun by a modern yakuza group from the Kansai region.

A home drama about a mother and her three daughters, based on the novel by Fumiko Hayashi.

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A traveling yakuza is sent to collect a debt owed by a man who was killed in the parlor where she dealt a game, setting in motion a chain of betrayals in a region rife with corruption.

Coal miner Isamu Oba is forced to quit his village and leave his mother and siblings behind. Mining buddy Ichiro accompanies him to Tokyo, and the pair enjoy several "fish-out-of-water" sequences before finding employment at a boxing gym with trainer Sawada and his spunky sister Tomoko. The boys also find part time night jobs as roving minstrels in the club district courtesy of benevolent gang boss Asakawa. Of course, they run afoul of boss Karasawa's cruel gang. Karasawa also has it in for Asakawa, and this indirectly throws a spanner into the works as far as Isamu's burgeoning success as a kickboxer. When Asakawa's HQ is burned to the ground by Karasawa's men, Asakawa tries to kill Karasawa - which, of course, leads to his own gruesome death. Isamu goes on the rampage with his sword, wiping out Karasawa and men.

1956 Daiei movie

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The first in a series of 31 "mother films" produced by Daiei in the post-war period.

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While working in an education center for lonely children, a mother seeks her missing son.

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Melodrama about two sisters with different mothers.

Directed by Nobuo Adachi and starring Aiko Mimasu as a mother who lost three of her four sons to war. Aki is an elderly mother who has lost three of her sons to war. She is happy to be reunited with her youngest son, who has been demobilized from the South, only to find him imprisoned in Sugamo Prison as a suspected war criminal. The mother wishes only to be reunited with her son, but she falls ill from overwork and heartache...

During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the Choshu and Satsuma clans. This is the story of Tsukigat Khanpayit, the sword maker of the Choshu clan, who, along with Katsuro Kogoro and Sakamoto Ryoma, sought to fulfill the dream of a new peaceful era in Japan. Can he realize his ideals or will he die in the chaos of internecine fights...

Based on a novel by Tei Fujiwara