Acting
No biography available.
87 movies sorted by popularity
The students of Suzuran High compete for the King of School title. An ex-graduate yakuza is sent to kill the son of a criminal group, but he can't make himself do it as he reminds him of his youth.
Hiroko attends the memorial service of her fiancé, Itsuki Fujii, who died in a mountain-climbing incident. Although Itsuki's mother says that their old house is gone, Hiroko records the address listed under his name in his yearbook and sends him a letter. Surprisingly, she receives a reply, and discovers it came from his old classmate, a girl who also happens to be called Itsuki Fujii.
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.
Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.
Based on the true story of former professional boxer Iwao Hakamada who has spent over 40 years incarcerated on death row. Iwao Hakamada was arrested for the June 10, 1966 murder of a family in Shizuoka . Iwao Hakamada has always insisted on his innocence and many others also believe Iwao Hakamada has been falsely accused ...
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
In rural Japan, the survivors of a tragedy converge and attempt to overcome their damaged selves, all while a serial killer is on the loose.
In spring, a girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo. Once there, she is asked to reveal why she wanted to go there in the first place.
One night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, meets his first love, Monica, an imprisoned sex worker. Caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, they find themselves pursued by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin.
A James Brown fanatic gangster decided to disband his own gang and see his long lost daughter before entering prison. Hoping to change his mind, his underlings planned to kidnap James Brown to convince him to perform privately for their boss.
Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.
A disabled child of separated parents gets caught up in police espionage due to his uncanny ability to remember license plate numbers.
Nikkatsu Home Video release.
A simple funeral turns a man's world Topsy turvy. He wakes up in a posh hotel room, totally clueless about how he got there. Slowly, he recalls what happened a day before.
Upon receiving a message from an old friend’s daughter, Goro arrives in Paris and learns of the elderly man’s wish to taste a particular soup he had in his childhood before he dies. Deciding to help, Goro sets out on a quest to find this mysterious soup, traveling through Japan, braving a storm, and even ending up in South Korea.
A salaryman debates selling his grandfather's land to pay off his father's debt.
In an attempt to spur citizens into taking more productive roles in society, the Japanese government issues death messages, or "ikigami", informing them that they have only 24 hours left to live. The film follows a young man tasked with delivering these messages, as well as the victims.
Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo, berates and mocks the troubled loner.
The film opens as a jury is about to acquit a defendant -- a bar hostess who pushed her ex-husband path of an oncoming truck, supposedly in self-defense. Just as everyone seems to be in agreement over the woman's innocence, one juror voices second thoughts.
A new salesman named Kosuke Okuda happens to meet Mao Watarai, a friend from his middle school days. Back then, Mao was called stupid and bullied, but now she is an attractive woman. Kosuke and Mao fall in love and decide to marry, but Mao has a secret.
Existential study on a newly unemployed factory worker who silently moves through the city, unknowingly influencing other people's lives.
Eiji Akutsu is a newspaper reporter. He is working on unsolved case that took place 30 years ago. The case involved a group of people extorting several companies for money. The group sent cassette tapes to the companies. Eiji Akutsu comes across a mysterious cassette tape. Meanwhile, Toshiya Sone lives in Kyoto and runs a tailor shop. He discovers a cassette tape among his late father's possessions. He plays the cassette tape and hears his voice from his childhood days.
Masaharu Fukuyama reprises his role from 2008's "Suspect X," playing the physicist-cum-detective Manabu Yukawa. The scientist-sleuth arrives in an oceanside town to speak on a panel. But when a man turns up dead outside the inn where he's staying, Yukawa begins to unravel the connections that tie the victim to the activist daughter of the innkeepers, and a precocious boy who first appears on a train—and keeps popping up. It's a Sherlock Holmes mystery with an environmental twist, and one that should please fans of a classic whodunnit.
Kensho Aoto reunites with Yoko Sudo, whom he had feelings for in junior high school, for the first time in 35 years. On the second floor window sill of a small apartment. Yoko was leaning against the window and looking up at the moon in the night sky, then Kensho was watching her from outside. Kensho “What were you thinking back then?” Yoko “...Something like a dream. Just about something like a dream.” The two of them are naturally attracted to each other for the first time at the age of 50. They eventually start talking about the future...
A young girl, Sayaka, develops a heartwarming friendship with an old man named Hasu. Based on an award-winning novel by Ijuin Shizu.
A love story starring Tamaki Hiroshi, Konishi Manami, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Hirayama Aya and Kamiki Ryunosuke. Hiroyuki, a fourth-year law student who has just broken up with his girlfriend Miwa, is approached by Satoshi, a student at the same university, on his way home from school and asked to do something strange. He wants to make a will for himself. Satoshi, who calls himself the "God of Death," begins to tell him about his mysterious past. He wants to get close to people but cannot. He says that everyone he was close to would die. So he has lived his life without befriending or loving anyone since he was a child. But when Satoshi meets a woman named Mizuki, he unexpectedly falls in love with her. And that was the beginning of a very sad love story...
Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.
No description available.
When Mutta was 12-years-old and Hibito was 9-years-old the two brothers saw what they thought was an UFO flying towards the moon. They made a pact then to become astronauts and one day fly into space together. Fast forward to the year 2025. Older brother Mutta (Shun Oguri) works as for an automotive company and his younger brother Hibito works as an astronaut. Although Mutta failed to follow through on his childhood promise, after losing his job, he receives a phone call from Hibito which reignites his childhood dream of flying into outer space ...
Teacher Kawashima Haru takes a position on a remote island off the coast of Hokkaido, where she takes charge of six students. However, she is later forced to leave after an accident occurs. 20 years later, Haru learns that one of her former students has committed a crime, and eventually returns to the island once more.
An appassionato art student and a dispassionate college girl make a vow, saying they would meet each other again in the Florence Cathedral after 10 years.
Kenichi Asakura is an uptight, hyper-square salesman. One day, three bank robbers commandeer his van. They are in hot pursuit of their fellow robber who has snatched the money. Unfortunately for the bank robbers, Asakura never drives over 40 km/h speed limit even under the extreme situation.
Flowers examines the lives of six women across three generations, from the Show period all the way through to the present day.
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.
Suzuki’s world is shattered when his teenage daughter is brutally attacked. The assailant, Ishihara, son of a politician, brazenly mocks Suzuki as he throws him cover-up money. Angry, Suzuki finds he has no answer to Ishihara and in venting his anger, loses his daughter’s trust too. A sleep-deprived, crazed Suzuki goes to Ishihara’s school wielding a knife. He does not find Ishihara, but instead forms an alliance with an odd group of school misfits called the Zombies. The group’s elusive leader, Pak Sun Shin, decides to train Suzuki, who quits his job and embarks on a punishing programme to win back freedom for his daughter.
Kenta, a young pianist who has just lost his job, is drowning his woes at a bar, when he meets a man in a Hawaiian shirt named Yamaki. He invites Kenta to work with him, and the next thing he knows, Kenta wakes up to find himself in a room he has never been in before. It is a strange room that seems to have no connection to life. He descends a staircase to find many shelves of books.
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 the school and becomes a special friend to everyone.
On September 9th, the day of the Katakai Fireworks Festival, high school student Hana comes home from the hospital after six months of treatment for leukemia. She then discovers that her older brother Taro has become a social recluse. Taro used to be tender, smart and proud of his younger sister, but now he even turns his back on her and stays in his room. With Hana's help Taro slowly opens up to the world again. Then, with winter approaching, Hana has a relapse with her leukemia. Taro comes to the hospital everyday to visit Hana and soon learns that the Katakai Fireworks Festival is a symbol of happiness for Hana. Taro then takes the initiative to make Hana happy and approaches the town's youth group once more for admittance.
A set of twins -- one a hard-working student and the other a drifter -- team up with a dropout to unlock the secrets of the universe and to build one of their own.
A lone-wolf detective known as "The Shark" must navigate hostile territory within both the criminal underworld and his own corrupt department to hunt down a ruthless serial cop-killer in the streets of Shinjuku. Adaptation of the Arimasa Ohsawa novel Shinjuku Shark.
The suicide of a female teacher 15 years ago was actually a murder. A new investigation team, spearheaded by Mizorogi, is formed based on new information turned in to the police. Obsessed about cracking cases right up till the statute of limitation, Mizoguchi has a bitter thought about a 300 million yen case that has reached the statute of limitation... When he goes to investigate the male high school student(s) whom the woman had taught and other persons related to the deceased, he sees an unexpected connection with another case...
The movie is part of the Kindaichi TV movie series. Kindaichi is played by actor Goro Inagaki. The character's grandfather began with the written word. Kousuke Kindaichi started life in the novels of Seishi Yokomizo, written and set in post-war Japan. Inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Kindaichi is still very much a unique character, giving the Japanese their very own literary hero-detective. Young Hajime Kindaichi is a young man with bad dandruff and worse dress-sense (decades before Columbo), who wears a trademark, scruffy sunhat. He also happens to be better than the police at deductive reasoning. Having gained publicity for solving a high-profile murder case, the detectives allow him to work with them again. This story is slimmer than the twisty plots of Inugami and Village, but is graced by the presence of Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Great Yokai War) in the title role.
Five years have passed since Kuryu Kohei's transfer from Tokyo to Ishigaki, and then to Sapporo. He ends up in a small town of Nijigaura in Yamaguchi Prefecture. There, he investigates a murder case involving a local enterprise, Kamoi Group, and the people related to it. Everyone in town thinks he's innocent except Kuryu, whose unorthodox investigation methods perplex not only the townspeople, but his colleagues as well.
Shinko (Karin Aiba) is a high school student from Hamamatsu. Due to university admission pressures, she struggles with her mother. She hasn't really made conversation with her mom in a year. Shinko's friend Misato (Mayuu Kusakari) then recommends to her to join the school's calligraphy club. Shinko is impressed by Teacher Yatsushiro's (Kazuki Namioka) words. Teacher Yatsushiro is the one who takes care of the calligraphy club. Shinko decides to join the calligraphy club.
This documentary-style film recreates the infamous Asama Sanso Incident of 1972 wherein an extreme faction of the Students Allied Red Army holed themselves up in a mountainous cabin in the dead of winter. By the time the police finally caught up with them, it was discovered that they had murderously turned upon themselves in a bizarre extension of their radical philosophy. This event virtually marked the end of the Student Revolution.
Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, is the northernmost zoo in Japan. The unpopular zoo welcomes a new zoo keeper, young Yoshida (Yasuhi Nakamura), who has more affection for insects than people after years of being bullied at school when he was young. Yoshida soon realizes that Asahiyama Zoo is facing a financial crisis and the zoo director Takizawa (Toshiyuki Nishida) has been doing everything in his power to save the zoo from closing down. Moved by Takizawa's passion, Yoshida and other zoo keepers came to share the zoo director's belief that one's dreams can come true, and together they tackle this seemingly impossible task of revitalizing Asahiyama. A breakthrough arrives in the form of “Behavioral Exhibition,†a method that is pioneered by Ashiyama's zoo keepers and which eventually makes the zoo renowned throughout the world.
The members of the Ameya family are all scammers. After their election scheme goes bust in their hometown, they move from Shikoku to Tokyo and resume their fraudulent activities. Everything carries on smoothly until the eldest and the fourth sons' modus operandi go awry, the mother's lover runs off with another woman, and disasters strike one after another. This film is a collaboration between Yoichi Sai and Goro Kishitani following "All Under the Moon." The family business of the Ameya family is defrauding people. The matriarch, who keeps getting married and divorced, has five children with different fathers. The Ameya family chases after fortune and leaves a trail of trouble on their path.
Assistant police inspector Aida is assigned to investigate the murder of a former gang member. When a justice ministry official is killed days later in a similar manner, he begins to suspect that something bigger is going on...
Sakai plays Rui, a 35-year-old single woman forced to live alone after the aunt who raised her suddenly decides to get married and move out. Through an unexpected set of circumstances, she winds up becoming roommates with an aging ladies’ man named Tony and a timid younger man named Kosuke.
An abandoned car is discovered near a camping ground and inside it is the body of an identified middle-aged man and a dog who seems to have died months later. This is the story of the life of the loving and faithful dog and his owner told from the dog's point of view. City hall employee Kyousuke Okutsu is assigned to uncover the man's identity for a proper funeral. As he investigates the situation, he remembers his late family and his own dog's unfailing loyalty.
Mayu Daimon is a woman who does not remember her mother's face, and her father is the only person she has blood relationship in this world, but he is going to die soon. Mayu has just started a new life as a detective at the Criminal Investigation Division which deals mainly with murder cases soon, and has to handle with two corpses of old men continuously. One corpse found frozen buried in the snow and the freezing sea. Soon with a detailed investigation she finds out a connection between the two cases which seemed to be completely different at first glance. It was just the breach to open a history of an incident which had origin back to the 1960s in Aomori Prefecture. Growing more and more as a detective, Mayu has to unravel the mystery of a case which goes beyond time and space and which ends in Hokkaido with a result that no one expected.
If you loved movies such as Shonen Merikensack and GS Wonderland, then this one, which predates the former, will impress you as well. The story is set in the 80s rock scene and revolves around Nakajima (Kazunobu Mineta), the lead singer of a band called 'Speed Way'. Because he refuses to write trite, pop-friendly songs he is constantly at odds with his own record company. However, he refuses to bend on his rock principles simply for better record sales. The most interesting parts of this movie is how they pay homage to music icon, Bob Dylan who gave the filmmaker his blessing, which is no small feat itself, especially for a Japanese indie debut.
An entertainment drama depicting the conflict of yakuza, centering on the female torso and her sister's feud.
Haruna is a lively tomboy in the 5th year at elementary school. One day, while playing with Hiroyuki, a boy whom she has known for a long time, they play a game of putting their private parts together. A sex education lesson given by a new teacher, Yagi, makes Haruna suspect that she might be pregnant.
As an engaged couple, Shinichi Kida and Mari Egawa spend a romantic night on a premarital trip to the southern island, but Shinichi suddenly disappears the next morning. Mari searches for her classmates Yu Sawamoto and Shinichi who happened to meet again, but a large amount of insurance money was paid to Shinichi...
The TV movie follows a detective with a burning sense of justice who risks his life to pursue a corruption case involving the prime minister's office.
Ichikawa Shinichi, who actually participated as a scriptwriter in the tokusatsu series Ultra Seven, depicts behind-the-scenes stories from the filming of Seven and the youthful ensemble of its cast and production staff. He weaves in fictional elements introduced for the drama's structure, featuring the series' heroine, Yuri Anne, as the protagonist.
The story of three pairs of characters involved one way or the other with the yakuza and a rigged boxing match and fleeing the thugs one way or the other. Filmed as a showcase of the Japanese boy band V6, Hard Luck Hero has food, drink, cars, kickboxing, debt, shooting, theft, blackmail and music.
The beast that lives in a cool man is awakening now!
12-part omnibus made under the rules: "the main character is a detective" "at least one gag per minute" "the length must not exceed 10 minutes"
The story involves an aloof thief, a young man who turns to God after his father’s suicide, a manipulative marriage councilor, a man who recently lost his job, and several others whose lives become intertwined in various unexpected ways.
A yakuza search for his past
Nanako is an ordinary high school girl who lives with her mother, who is a taxi driver. One day, suddenly she has a younger brother - Nanao, the son of her late father's mistress. While Nanao's mother is being put in jail, Nanako's mother decides to take care of him. Nanako doesn't like it at all. Everything Nanao does irritates her. Shortly afterwards, Nanako's mother becomes very sick. In fact, she doesn't have much time left. Since she is in hospital, Nanako is forced to live with Nanao alone...
Ichigo no kakera deals with a female manga artist Ichigo Nekoda (Miyazawa), whose career is heading into a downward spiral as she can't reinvent the success of her 12 year old hit the Cherry Road. Now in her early 30's she's become quite fond of alcohol and egoism to some annoyance of her loyal manager Tomoko (Kajiwara), who isn't willing to leave her side even though the financial strains of her client are also becoming her personal burdens. Ichigo still gets greeted by her female fans and willingly signs autographs, but getting praised for work that she's done over a decade ago doesn't digest as smoothly as one would assume. Her on and off man, who happens to also be her editor steers toward the off days more than usual as he also grows tired of Ichigo's uninspired ways. But when the going gets tough, Ichigo heads down to a transvestite bar where she's more than welcomed with words of wisdom and a few hard drinks.
Hama-chan and Su-san go fishing during a business trip, but Hama-chan has to give a lecture on Su-san's behalf in a case of mistaken identity.
A struggling model and a troubled divorcee face loneliness and desperation in Tokyo.
Near the slopes of Mount Fuji, there is a so-called suicide forest, an infamous place where people who are tired of living have their last breath of air. The four different stories of this film all revolve around this place.
Fuyuko (Tomoko Nakajima), begins the film nine months pregnant, but doesn't deliver until her third year, to the bafflement of all around her.
Based on the long running manga of the same name by Sadao Shouji.
A unique group of individuals who stand out in the Japanese film industry.
This drama depicts the turbulent daily life of the heroine, who works in the family's tofu shop, and her father and daughter.
Maiko is a 17 year old aspiring picture book writer who was abandoned by her widowed father at the age of 3 and has lived in a foster home ever since. She meets Lisa, also 17, and the two quickly form a bond of understanding as they help each other work out their problems. Lisa holds a grudge against her mother for paying more attention to the men she brings home than her own daughter and Maiko begins to doubt her artistic dream will ever come to fruition after a book editor judges her writing ability harshly.
Young French journalist Ada Servier arrives in Kobe to cover the memorial ceremonies of the big earthquake from 1995. Fifteen years after the disaster the city’s wounds have finally disappeared but the former victims continue to suffer. Among them is Kenji whose past is hiding a secret that only Ada is willing to hear...
The biggest crisis has come to Matsushita, a shootist who has passed through numerous shrines!
At a train station in the suburbs of Tokyo, an accident takes place causing death and injury. Tsuyoshi is at the scene and witnesses the death of a woman. Right before the accident occurred, Tsuyoshi took a photograph of the woman, who carried a gentle look. Later, Tsuyoshi learns the woman has a daughter named Kiriko. Tsuyoshi meets Kiriko.
Collaborations between some of contemporary Japan's finest musicians and filmmakers. The Nihon no Uta Executive Committee produced a series of original short films inspired by the classic Japanese songs included in the albums Nihon no Uta Vol. 1–4, released by commmons (founded by Ryuichi Sakamoto). Each film pairs a celebrated musician with an acclaimed filmmaker, creating a unique fusion of music and visual storytelling. Artists: Takoko Oshinaki, Tomoyo Harada, Keiichi Suzuki, Miyuki Hayama, Blue Hats, Kenji Endo, cero, Yoshihiro Takahashi, Tomohiko Mito, Mush Kamayatsu, Nokazu Takemura, Kaori Konishi, Kiyhiko Senami, Rooji Nakanana, ASA-CHANG
Haruo Iwashita, known as “Tōtsū no Tsuno” (The Heaven-Reaching Horn), along with his underling Sadayoshi, aim to be Kansai's top bargain hunters, snatching up anything profitable like locusts. Today, after getting word of a bounced check from a loan shark, they went to seize the goods, only to find them completely cleared out by Onikubo of the Yashiro-gumi gang.
A day in the life of Kiriko, who has not told anyone about her father's disappearance.
