Makiko Watanabe

Yuma, a 23-year-old comic book artist with profound cerebral palsy, has been emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overprotective mother. As she begins to seek independence and sexual awakening on her own terms, she discovers an unexpected path to love and forgiveness.

Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.

In a near-future Japanese city bracing for a devastating earthquake, a group of teenage friends navigate personal struggles and fractured bonds amid rising tension.

The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing - which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian - dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.

When a woman, able to read the thoughts of others, comes to help survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, she encounters a girl with Multiple Personality Disorder whose dangerous 13th personality, Isola, must be stopped

On the Japanese island of Amami, despite lacking parental guidance, Kaito and his girlfriend Kyoko try to find their place in the world. While Kaito suffers from the absence of his father, who moved to Tokyo after his birth, Kyoko must come to grips with her mother’s terminal illness.

The individuals that comprise the Tokyo MER team rush to on-site disasters and accidents, performing life-saving treatment thanks to the OR equipped within their vehicle. Their one mission is simple: leave no one dead. But conflicts arise when an unprecedented event rocks Yokohama after a bomb explodes in Landmark Tower, leaving thousands fighting to escape. Although the chief doctor Kitami believes they should not wait and presses for a quick dispatch, the more level-headed Chief Kamoi of the elite Yokohama MER thinks otherwise — they need to wait until the area is safe to enter, or they won’t be able to save anyone.

Keiko surprises everyone when she overcomes adversity to win her first two boxing fights. But when an unexpected incident threatens the closure of her gym, she is pushed further than she thought possible.

Masashi is a photographer. He has his parents and an older brother Yukihiro. Through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Masashi begins to take staged photos of his family.

Two 14-year-olds from troubled, abusive homes come together sharing misery and pain. In the aftermath of an earthquake, the classmates learn how to survive while relying on one another for emotional and physical support.

Tetsuro is living with his young girlfriend Aki in a pleasant house in Tokyo. They both spend a lot of time at their jobs. However their routine is upset when Tetsuro brings his 8-year-old son Shun to live with them, while his ex-wife recovers from a car accident.

Banana, Gloves and Whale Shark

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Part-time worker Hazuki lives with her younger sister, high school student Koharu, and their mother Sawa. One day they receive word that their estranged father is on his deathbed, so Sawa asks Hazuki and Koharu to visit him and take one last photo to remember him by.

Based on a true story - a true love story of a man and his wife who are at the mercy of fate, but wish to be reunited for 11 years. With thoughts of his wife and his fellows, Yamamoto Hatao never gave up hoping that he'd return home despite hopeless circumstances.

Based on a 2016 novel by Mana Sakura, “The Lowlife” shows the stories of three women who work in Japan’s adult video industry.

A young girl named Sato watches on television as a man named Tomoki states brazenly at a press conference that he hopes convicted murderer Mitsuo is eventually placed back into society so that he can kill him with his bare hands.

With a contagious sense of abandon, three young adults' lives become intimately entangled over the course of a long summer in Hakodate, Hokkaido.

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Saeko and Yukako live together in a small apartment complex in Tokyo. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, both live in a state of unease. Saeko, who is in a divorce, is worried that her daughter is exposed to radiation. Yukako is also afraid of radiation and tries to convince her husband to move. The two become friends after Yukako tries to save Saeko after a suicide attempt.

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This Japanese thriller finds a sexy policewoman becoming entangled in Japan's S&M underground while investigating a gruesome murder. Soon, her investigation has led her to a seductive sadist and his equally appealing masochist victim. Falling prey to her suspects' powerful allure, she struggles to extricate herself from an increasingly torrid affair to solve the mystery she set out to investigate.

A down-and-out schoolteacher receives the calling to become the real life personification of an old television superhero, Zebraman.

A failed director is trying to get his next movie off the ground, while dealing with his cranky brother and his estranged wife.

Baffling serial killings unfold in which the victims are tied up and left to starve. Tone was just released from prison after finishing his sentence for another crime, and he surfaces as a suspect but detective Tomashiro can't nail down conclusive proof.

Eight years after the devastating tsunami, the wounds it left in Japan have still not healed. In her touching search for answers, Haru sets out on a long, eventful journey to her home town, where she lost her family in the flood.

A young, temperamental Tokyo beautician struggles to navigate her relationships with lovers, friends, and family.

A man is immobile and incapacitated, but has professional and nonprofessional volunteers serve and help him. Though, he takes full advantage of the situation and uses and abuses the volunteer crew.

Comedy about a woman who finds a new life after she loses her busband.

The intertwined love story of four young people on Christmas night.

Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple.

Miyuki Asakawa tells her colleague Etsuko Yamagiwa that she has a ghost in her home. When Etsuko goes to Miyuki's home, there is only Miyuki's father there. Etsuko becomes worried about Miyuki's state of mind, and she takes Miyuki to the psychiatric hospital where her husband, Tatsuo, works. There, Miyuki receives a diagnosis that she lacks the concept of "family." Later, Etsuko tells Tatsuo that she is not comfortable with Dr. Jirō Makabe. Tatsuo introduced her to Dr. Makabe earlier at the hospital. Etsuko has a feeling of unease about her husband working with Dr. Makabe. One day, Etsuko hears Dr. Makabe state "I came to Earth to invade."

"Daijobu 3 Kumi" depicts the interactions between new teacher Shinnosuke Akao, who was born without arms and legs, and the 28 students in his 5th grade class, told from the vantage point of school board member Yusaku Shiraishi

A documentary showcasing the making of Sion Sono's Himizu

Natsuki, a sales clerk of a bookstore, and Koji. a high school student. Seemingly nothing in common, they have one thing they can share: books.

Based on the comic by Tsuchida Seiki, inspired by the artist's own life experience, this film portrays the loss and regeneration of the life of four men.

War photojournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

The super unconventional lawyer is back! Our new friends are comic book girls! And the biggest enemy of all! The strongest lawyer who manipulates the prosecution behind the scenes sets out to prove the devil... Take on a case that is 100% impossible to prove!

I is a university, who came to Tokyo from his hometown. I lives alone and doesn't have friends or a girlfriend. I's university life is boring and he doesn't have a dream. I supports himself by working as a day laborer at a construction site. I meets two people at a hide-and-seek club. One is his Senior and the other person is Black Suit. By meeting them, I's boring life changes. They start the "Midnight Maiden War," which is their plan to destroy Tokyo.

It is a taboo story about love and incest between twins. It's not about sex, it's about the feelings the two have for one another and how society views them.

Tourists, foreigners and outcasts converge on the streets of Osaka in this sprawling ensemble drama by Japan-based, Malaysia-born filmmaker Lim Kah Wai. His eighth feature explores the lesser-known aspects of the Asian melting pot city through the eyes and experiences of a dozen characters who struggle to find their place in society: among them a Nepali refugee with dreams of opening a restaurant, a Burmese student struggling to make ends meet while working two jobs, and a Taiwanese sex tourist who travels to meet his favorite adult video actress.

A timid young woman who lives with her domineering mother accepts an Adult Video scout's offer to "become somebody else" by performing in porn videos. As she rises in popularity, the boundaries between her two lives begin to disintegrate.

Masuda, an aspiring journalist, plans to write an article in order to expose his co-worker Suzuki, who is a psychopathic murderer according to Masuda.

Schoolteacher Yohei is married to Miyoko. For the first time in 25 years they begin to live by themselves when their son marries and moves out. Then Yohei discovers that all’s not well in his marriage.

Hiroko is a young, alienated woman "in love" with a blow-up male torso. Tension rises when her sister discovers her secret desire.

An omnibus film consisting of 4 short films and a documentary related to COVID-19.

1989: 64th and last year of the Showa era. A girl is kidnapped and killed. The unsolved case is called Case 64 ('rokuyon'). 2002: Yoshinobu Mikami, who was the detective in charge of the Case 64, moves as a Public Relations Officer in the Police Affairs Department. His relation with the reporters is conflicted and his own daughter is missing. The statute of limitations for the Case 64 will expire in one year. Then a kidnapping case, similar to the Case 64, takes place. The rift between the criminal investigation department and police administration department deepens. Mikami challenges the case as a public relations secretary.

Anthology film. "What's Wrong with Eating?" Numayama Kazuki is always complaining about his wife's, Atsugi Shizuka, body shape. Because of that Shizuka tries her best to restrict her diet and please Kazuki. "It's So Far Away!" Karuma Sae is an office lady who works in the city center but lives with her family in a house far away from her work. Because she is always rushing to catch the last train, she can never enjoy a decent date with her boyfriend, Oishi Mamoru. Her father is also always interfering in her life, so she can't appreciate the city life and isn't happy. "Get Ready to Drive!" Masuko is a new taxi driver in Tokyo who is very stressed from dealing with the behavior of some passengers. One night he drives a very beautiful drunk hostess home. "What Is English?" Kosaka Shigeru, a businessman, was transferred to a Chicago branch factory. He tried hard to learn English, practicing day and night, but couldn't improve as much as he expected.

Two children, each abandoned by their families, come together in the wake of the Sarin gas attack in Tokyo. Based on the true events of the deadly gas attacks perpetrated by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult on the Tokyo subway system.

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.

Japan, 2024. The Earth is dominated by a mysteriously giant creature (That Thing) and the group of 12 survivors has formed an uneasy community out of necessity to survive Two years later, Hirayama, the hotel owner, is found dead. Is it suicide or murder? As they search for the truth behind his death, the past and the secrets of each individual are revealed.

3 women are happy and busy raising their boys named Yu. Due to some little thing, their lives fall apart. Their anger and anxiety unconsciously head towards their sons Yu.

Kyohei Nagashima (Masaki Okada) has shut away the world. During his high school days he was the target of bullying and experienced horrifying moments. Now as a young adult Kyohei takes a new job. He works for a company that specializes in cleaning out the homes of recently deceased individuals. With his new job Kyohei meets co-worker Yuki (Nana Eikura). Yuki has also experienced a traumatizing event as a teen and has also shut herself away from the world. These two young people form a bond as they go through the homes of the recently departed people. They gradually open up to each other and in the process to the world. Yet, their fragile psyches may or may not be ready for such changes ...

In the closing days of World War II, Japanese-American Hiromi, a girl age 16, encounters an American deserter, Bob, and a Japanese soldier, Iwabuchi, living together in a cave on a small island in Okinawa. The two men are deserters from their armies; yet both vow never to harm another human being again. Hiromi looks after the deserters until another soldier appears and the peace of the cave is shattered. It leads to the death of three of them and a fascinating mystery that isn't solved until the present day.

After failing her university entrance exam, Sakuko is invited by her aunt Mikie to spend summer vacation in a beautiful seaside town. Sakuko gets to know the people of the town, including Takashi, a shy relative of her childhood friend.

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Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete (パーfectブルー 夢なら醒めて, Pāfekuto Burū: Yume Nara Samete) is a 2002 Japanese psychological thriller film directed by Toshiki Satō and adapted from the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. The story centers on Ai, a teen pop idol transitioning to a recording career, whose life unravels amid fixation from a obsessive convenience store clerk, leading to themes of distorted self-perception, narcissistic delusions, and violent events.

Miyako works as a call girl, living with her close friend Sakiko. After encountering a client, Shintani, with whom Miyako experiences sexual pleasure for the first time in her life, the two women begin to drift apart. Miyako suggests that Shintani should sleep with Sakiko, an event that draws the three into a love triangle in which their various flaws and anxieties are reflected.

Haji is an actor on the cusp of turning 40, who has gotten stuck in life. At the invitation of an old friend, he visits his hometown for the first time in ages. On the way Haji has an accident, and wakes up to find himself transported back to high school with his adult body in tact.

Tamio Akanishi works at a public office in Yokohama. He is going through one of the worst periods of his life, having been left by his fiancée. One day, his boss tells him to take care of a big, white dog, abandoned by its previous owner. Tamio begins to live with the dog, who doesn't bark and only makes a sound that sounds like "haw", and thus he names it Haw. While living together, the connection between the two deepens.

The growth and struggles of Akari, a third-generation Korean born the year of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. A post-disaster story based on people living in Kobe.

The slow collapse of the relationship between an out-of-work actor and his girlfriend.

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the series. In this work, we collaborate with five popular manga artists such as Go Nagai, Junji Ito, Eiichiro Oda, Kazuo Umezu and Masayuki Ishikawa.

A troubled teenager only lives through her camera and the Internet. Fascinated by science, she experiments on various animals, and her own mother, poisoning her with thallium and documenting the results.

A young female founder runs in to societal barriers during her drive to create startup projects, in a Japanese society that hasn't traditionally accepted entrepreneurs . She finds herself, and maturity along the way.

A story about how Kuboshima Seiichiro overcomes various difficulties to open Mugonkan, an art museum in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture, featuring artworks by students before they were sent to fight in WWII.

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When her husband is hospitalized with tuberculosis, Chika has a series of three relationships: with a teacher in her hometown, with a student in Tokyo, and with an aging gangster.

Hazuki and Aoi are classmates but their relationship outside class is fraught, and outside school non-existent. But when both girls are drawn to helping an elderly woman, they're forced to interact, confronting their differences and similarities as well as their deepest secrets.

About an energetic kindergarden student and the people around him

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Fate brings a man and woman together in Lyon, France. They fall in love, but time is set to run out on them ...

Three girls - Miwa, an introvert who's best friend is her turtle, Saori, a rich girl from a celebrity family, and Koyuzu, a member of a revenge agency - wind up in a complex rivalry with one another.

A sixteen year old boy, Ryo, experiences the painful ordeal of his mother being hospitalized and then dying. The boy turns to crime, but doesn't find success. He then seeks out his remarried father, but the pain still exists.

Sensitive and refined drama in which experiences from the puberty of a female teacher and a piano student reflected in the world of the younger generation they have contact with.

A story of a 16-year old girl who comes to Tokyo aspiring to be an actress.

Atomu (Shuhei Nomura) was raised by his mother in a poor environment. He is now a young adult, but he stutters and has timid personality. To support himself, Atomu works part-time for a used junk collecting company. Atomu finds inspiration in rap music and his life changes.

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Professional killer Ken is trying to break away from the yakuza. Taking up work at a local motorcycle shop, he forges a new life under the motherly eye of Yoko, an older woman who owns the shop. However, Ken's dark past isn't letting him go that easily. Akira, Ken's ruthless mentor and himself an assassin, has been coming around and pressuring Ken to return to the family. Together with orphaned teenager Tsuyoshi, Ken decides to take to the road and settle matters in the only way he knows - by the trigger of his gun.

Nana is 19 and lives in a corner of Tokyo. Her birth mother and Marin, a girl the same age who she loves, were the only people she could trust. Nana confronts them in her yearning for love, but the world does not give it to her. With her whole life ahead of her, Nana struggles, suffers, and begins a search for the true meaning of love.

Momi’s House is a facility to support self-reliance of young people with problems. The facility is run by Yasutoshi (Naoto Ogata) and his wife Megumi (Misato Tanaka). Ayaka (Sara Minami) is a 16-year-old girl. She has refused to go to school for about half a year. Her mother decides to send her to Momi’s House. While staying there, Ayaka begins to change.

This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.

Mogura, a shut-in former musician, falls in love with a young cellist after seeing her photo in a magazine.

Four short films produced without a director

In the summer of 1963, flats of modern construction begin to be built in the slums where vagrants and women of the night gather. The city hall's plan is to house the slum dwellers in cultural housing, complete with gas and running water. Kenji, a construction worker, and Yumiko, a waitress at a late-night rest house, meet in the slum, but only at dusk. One day, a Korean worker falls from scaffolding at an apartment building site and dies. The site supervisor and city hall workers bury the corpse in the concrete foundations of the apartment building...

Wakana is a 17-year-old high school student who loves to cook. She enjoys peaceful days with her family and friends, but sometimes she senses delicate changes among people around her. Wakana meets office worker Mizuho through social media where she can talk about her worries, but Mizuho turns out to be a person Wakana never expected to be.

A widower who’s daughter has been murdered at high school meets the mother of the murderer by coincidence after moving to a small town in Hokkaido.

Hinako comes across the novel “Tamaran Hill” and immediately starts reading it with delight, as “tamaran” (intolerable) happens to be her father’s favorite swear word. She soon imagines herself inside the book’s story, which also deals with someone intrigued with that particular word, and even meets the real-life author Senji Kuroi there.

Near-future Tokyo. Kou, through the help of his high school best friend, finds a surprising way to express his mounting frustration at the insidious forces of commercialism that are forcing out the neighbors he cares most about. Initially inspired by a prank that the writer-director Neo Sora (The Chicken, 2020) had pulled on him in his childhood, a sense of warm nostalgia and cold, material reality intermingle to tell a tale set in the not-so-distant future about disappearing spaces and the forces of policing and gentrification that drills this process forward.

Another psychodrama, this time revolving around an SM club.

Ryoko hides herself in a closet after a patron in her restaurant becomes ill from food poisoning & she is held responsible. Her husband and co-owner Daichi attempts to lure her out of the closet. After a violent argument with Daichi, Ryoko seeks out old friend Yuka...

Film directed by Yoshitaka Kamada.

Satoshi learns his estranged mother has six months to live. They must reunite for one last farewell. A short film from the "Short Trial Project 2023."

A filmmaker is constantly on the move after recently ending a relationship. As she travels alone between Beijing, Nanjing, Hong Kong and Japan, she observes and engages with her ever-changing environs while seeking an inner calm.

Kohei and Akira are a couple running away together without a destination. They meet a geology researcher namend Shiraki on the way and the three visit a log cabin of a famous geologist Kanbe. With fortune teller Eiko, ex-girlfriend of Kanbe, joining the party, five people of diverse ages, sexes, statutes, and professions happen to spend a night together in the log cabin deep in the mountains. As the strangers get to know each other and grow closer, each one of their hidden pasts is brought to light. Meanwhile, following a thunderstorm and an earthquake, something even worse is approaching them...

A 2001 Japanese language film directed by Shinji Aoyama, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima. The film screened at Locarno International Film Festival in 2009. Directed by Shinji Aoyama, this installment of NHK’s "Recitation Travelogue" series features actor Hidetoshi Nishijima performing Jun Ishikawa’s postwar classic "Jesus in the Barn". Blending literature, performance, and cinema, the program reimagines Ishikawa’s demanding text through evocative modern landscapes.

Sanae is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother and six-year-old sister. She has not recently been able to be open with her fisherman grandfather. Sanae is awoken by the sound of hard rain one night. As she dozes, the rain changes into the flow of the river and she finds herself lying in a fishing boat when she opens her eyes. She hears, from far away, the strains of a harmonica which her grandpa loves... Next morning Sanae is informed that her grandfather has passed away. Frictions are revealed between Sanae and those around her. In her confused state, she runs out of the house leaving for the river where her grandpa's boat is moored...

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