Shinobu Otake

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.

After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.

Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordinary as it seems.

28 year old freelance writer Sakura Asuka wakes up tied in a white room. The white room is a protected room located in an isolated ward of a psychiatric hospital. Sakura first became unconscious because of heavy alcohol use and a druge overdose. She’s confined in the single room because of her high risk of committing suicide. Sakura tried to talk to the nurses and doctors but they didn’t listen to her. Under the circumstances another patient Miki, who suffers from an eating disorder, leads her to understand the unknown world. But, Sakura is looking for the way to get back to the real world as soon as possible.

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A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.

Bent on revenge, a traumatized ex-police officer must infiltrate a yakuza organization by befriending one of the group's most unhinged members.

Brash single mother Nikuko is well-known for her bold spirit, much to the embarrassment of Kikuko, her pensive yet imaginative daughter. In contrast to her mother, Kikuko wants nothing more than to fit in as she navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school. Life in the harbor is peaceful until a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pair's tender relationship.

A railway stationmaster at a dying end-of-the-line village in Hokkaido is haunted by memories of his dead wife and daughter. When the railroad line is scheduled to be closed, he is offered a job at a hotel, but he is emotionally unable to part with his career as a railroader. His life takes a turn when he meets a young woman with an interest in trains who resembles his daughter.

Sugihara, a Japanese-born, third-generation Korean teenager struggles to find a place in a society that will not accept him.

The four Takezawa sisters discover that their father has an illegitimate child so they hire a private detective to investigate.

One year after the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths, all the other perpetrators' parents have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobuyuki Kidoji remains adamant that he is not responsible for his son's actions.

Legendary Crocodile, Jake and His Fellows (伝説のワニ ジェイク) is a Japanese surreal fantasy media project. Originally a 2001 TV series and an illustrated book, it was adapted into a feature film in 2001 for DVD and again in 2004 for theaters. It blends live-action interviews with unique short animations. The people who have witnessed Jake come from completely different backgrounds, countries, ages, and circumstances. A young American woman spotted Jake in the opening of a waterway. An elderly Japanese man, confined to his sickbed, saw Jake on his ceiling. A Singaporean woman saw Jake sitting on a swing in a park while waiting to meet her lover... Jake suddenly appears in the midst of their ordinary lives, and each time he takes on a different form and appears in a different place. Yet only certain chosen people are able to see him.

A strange old woman allows a teenage runaway and a young orphan to stay in an abandoned house that overlooks the sea. However, when a menacing entity threatens their new home, they must band together and face their fears to save it.

A 30-year-old man's life gets up-ended when his girlfriend accepts an arranged marriage meeting with a more successful man.

Hiroshi has given up on his dreams of becoming a painter and works part-time cleaning office windows. He learns that he has only 3 months left to live. During his last summer, high school student Mai appears. Hiroshi becomes attracted to her.

Live-action adaptation of a madcap manga about art, opposites, love and a whole lot of cosplay.

A Japanese production of Jean Racine's Phèdre.

A man whose son has been murdered pushes to create laws to financially protect victims' families.

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Set at the end of the Sengoku period to early Edo period, "Sanada Ten Braves" follows 10 members of a ninja group who all serve under samurai warrior Yukimura Sanada.

When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears.

A young queen requests a bouquet of snowdrop flowers for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward. One greedy woman sends her stepdaughter, whom she does not like, to look for the flowers in a cold forest, knowing the task will be impossible for her. The girl almost freezes to death in the forest, but she is rescued by the spirits of the Twelve Months, who create spring around her. The girl is able to deliver the bouquet to the queen, but others want a share of the reward.

A mother and daughter are stranded in small, isolated cabin, and are starving to death. In order to survive, they plan to entice men that happen to stray to their cabin with sex, and kill them. All goes well until a local cop shows up and, then, an old relation.

A beautiful mother and her two daughters run a bar in a town. They have a dream of becoming rich, reforming the building, and living as celebrities. With no chance of their dream coming true with just their everyday earnings, they had another face - blinding the elderly with their beauty, putting on insurance coverage and seeking to get rich quick by murdering. However, their scheme begins to collapse from one little mistake.

Based on a novel by Bo Nishimura, the film is about an extramarital affair between the wife of an estate agent and a 22 year old man.

Hironoshin is a samurai of the Echigo-Nagaoka clan. One day, Hironoshin attends a party at a mansion in Edo where his lord, Tadakiyo is invited to recite poems. Hironoshin is asked to give his opinion and foolishly comments that the piece was plagiarized. Infuriated, Tadakiyo orders Hironoshin to live his life without honor as a ‘cat flea picker', which is in fact a pseudonym for a male prostitute. The honest and straight-shooting Hironoshin convinces himself that he has no other options, and resigns himself to live as a sex worker. Hironoshin becomes an apprentice to a flea-picker boss who encourages him, convinced that Hironoshin is exacting revenge in the guise of a prostitute.

A mahjong neophyte loses everything to game master only to hone his skills, take on all challenges and plan for an ultimate revenge match.

The year is 1575 in feudal Japan. Oda Nobunaga's (Kippei Shiina) forces defeat Takeda Katsuyori, when Nagashino Castle was besieged during the Battle of Nagashino. The next year Oda Nobunada decides to build a lavish new castle symbolizing his unification of various factions. The castle named Azuchi Castle will be built near water and high enough to be seen from the capital city of Kyoto. Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's novel of the same name received the 33rd Japan Academy Film Prize for Excellent Art Direction.

Five women snatch one billion yen in jewellery from the yakuza, while construction manager Toyama burns for revenge against the mobsters who raped and caused the death of his wife. Before long, the yakuza and Toyama arrive at the women's hideout.

Coming of age story about a boy and his mother.

While on a cigarette break in between sets, Koji, a jazz musician, witnesses a murder and runs into a girl, Linda, who is being pursued by the killers. Mistakenly identified as prime suspects, they have to solve the crime but time is running out: Koji has to be back to perform in his club by midnight, as a very special guest will be attending.

The story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900s in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The women and girls worked in a hot, humid atmosphere without rest, and endured those conditions and sexual harassment to earn money for their poor families. Across the ocean, it was the great depression in America.

It is based on the story of The Ballad of Narayama updated to the present day, with the substitution of putting a parent into an old people's home for the abandonment of the original. The film won the Golden St. George and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival.

The body of Sakai Hatsuko, a woman of 23 who has been slain with a knife, has been found in a forest. Some days later, Ueda Hiroshi, a 19-year-old shipyard worker, is arrested and charged with the murder. At Ueda's trial, a complex story unfolds.

Set in the year 2265. There is a small restaurant along the main road Galaxy Kaido, which connects Earth and the space colony Uzushio.

Matsuoi and his wife Tsuya moved to Oshima City because of her unpredictable character. Even though Tsuya continues to have affairs, Matsuoi loves her and is a devoted husband. Tsuya is then diagnosed with a cancer and later goes into a coma. Matsuoi then thinks of his wife's lovers. Matsui goes to those men and informs them of Tatsuya's condition. The other women in the lives of those men are shocked and begin to re-examine their views of their men.

A vast wheat field, a straight road that has no end, a sky without a single building in sight – this is a town in the country where time comfortably passes by. But this former paradise is now being stirred up by a fight amongst its people over constructing an airport. This is a tale of three young people exploring youth and friendship as they reach out into the sky.

Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu.

Drawing influence from the street musicians of Miyagi, four high school students form a band and spend their free time practicing for their school's upcoming festival. When the festival is abruptly concealed, they come up with a dimwitted strategy of faking a bomb threat to the school in order to force the principal to change his mind. Their plan seems to work at first, but when a real bomb goes off, the group is forced to take responsibility for the explosion and they are kicked out of school. Three years later, more details of the incident is revealed as the youth look back on the past.

Shuhei, a mystery writer, is invited to a dinner party at a country house. The guests include Tanase and his wife Noriko. Next day, Tanase is shot and Noriko with a gun stands near him. Tanase calls one of the guest's name and dies.

Dramatic story of one man trying to make a difference.

A timid insurance agent investigates a possible insurance fraud case that involves a death. As the facts are slowly revealed, he becomes progressively more frightened.

Coin Laundry Story: Hashimoto Manabu is a temporary worker who has been laid off and has no choice but to live on part-time work. One day, he finishes washing his work clothes at a coin laundry and is about to put it into a dryer but the dryer just will not start. .. Story: Tatemoto Masako works for Shinwa Stationery’s General Affairs Department. She seems to be a typical office staff but she possesses a strange ability to manipulate people using the power of words.. Imaginary Friend Story: Harada Saki is a university student majoring in clinical psychology. At a lecture, she learns about imaginary friends created by a figment of imagination. It is said to be most common for those who are an only child or the eldest son or daughter. ... Update Kazoku Story: Three generations of the Kurosaki family live together under one roof. But they have not been a happy for a long time and the scene when they eat breakfast as a family has changed into a savage one....

A widow who has single-handedly raised her autistic son loses her job and begins attending a technical college to gain new qualifications. She meets others looking for a new start in life, including a former salaryman with whom she begins a furtive romance...

Inuyama is intrigued by the existence of "Jake," a mysterious crocodile that has been sighted in many countries around the world. He continues to travel around the world, listening to the testimonies of various people of different ages, nationalities, and sighting situations who have seen "Jake".

Junior high school student Yuna lives with her father Toshiharu. Her mother Akemi moved to Naha when her older sister entered high school, and Yuna is worried about her father's life after she leaves.

Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of the life of the characters. Shinsuke's father dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue a group of trapped Korean miners. Several older men attempt to help he and his mother cope, including a kind Korean and a Harley-riding yakuza.

Kozo Nakase attends meetings for single widowers looking to remarry. He meets Sayoko Takeuchi and eventually marries her. Not longer after their marriage, Kozo Nakase suddenly collapses and dies. Kozo Nakase leaves everything to Sayako. The rest of his family are left out of his will including his daughter Tomomi. Tomomi hires a private investigator, Honda, to find out more about Sayoko.

A young girl befriends an infant T-rex after her paleontologist father nurtures a lair of lost dinosaur eggs.

Toward the end of World War II, middle-aged soldier Keita is entrusted with a postcard from a comrade who is sure he will die in battle. After the war ends, Keita visits his comrade's wife Yuko and bears witness to the tragic life she has led.

Typically thieves enter a house, steal things and get out. This time an unsuspecting thief enters a home to steal as much as he can and instead is faced with an occupant inside the house. There is a woman within who is going to commit a murder. She is also about to set the place ablaze. The thief stops her and in the process the criminal becomes the one stopping a crime. The situation is connected to a case from some twenty years go.

A mother and son are eating sushi at a conveyer belt sushi bar in Tokyo. This film depicts their conversation using cutout animation.

A suspense drama based on Osamu Takahashi's original work starring Shinobu Otake. The shooting location of Gunkanjima is a famous tourist attraction. When Mansako returns to her husband's parents' house, she noticed a young man named Shinji playing drums at a village festival. Shinji who felt her gaze also looked back at Mansako. Masako invites Shinji to her house to welcome her husband together, and is witnessed by a housewife who came to inform her husband of the accidental death while helping him change clothes. She is stigmatized for infidelity. They are separated, but they vow to meet again 12 years later.

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Shinobu Otake takes on her first role as an adult male in *King Lear*! This much-talked-about production brings together a stellar cast including Rie Miyazawa, Ryo Narita, Erika Ikuta, Oji Suzuka, Eiji Yokota, Tamae Ando, Masanobu Katsumura, Hajime Yamazaki and others. King Lear (Shinobu Otake), King of Britain, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters upon abdicating due to old age. His eldest daughter, Goneril (Rie Miyazawa), and his second daughter, Regan (Tamae Ando), skilfully flatter their father to please him, but his youngest daughter, Cordelia (Erika Ikuta), can only speak her mind honestly. Enraged, Lear disinherits her, and the Earl of Kent (Eiji Yokota), who tries to defend her, is also banished. Cordelia, though disinherited, becomes Queen of France, whilst Kent disguises himself to conceal his identity and returns to serve King Lear.

Tsukiko, whose father died before she was born, lives with her mother Yoko and they provide mutual support for each other. One day, Yoko comes home completely drunk with Kenji, a young man with blond hair, and tells Tsukiko, "I'm going to marry him."

A great famine struck all of Japan: the so-called Great Tenpō famine. It was a time when there were frequent uprisings in rural areas due to farmers losing their land as a result of strict tax collection. The Tonegawa area of ​​Boso was a lawless area for a generation, as two major forces fought against each other: Sukegoro of Iioka, who wields power with his industrial capital behind him, and Shigezo of Sasakawa, a rising yakuza. Furthermore, the successive floods of the Tone River, which could be called fate, forced the farmers into even more poverty and despair. Meanwhile, farmers in Nabe Village continue to live a lethargic life, but agricultural reform is about to begin under the hands of Yugaku Ohara, a ronin who has settled in the village.

A nurse is caring for a patient in a life and death situation whilst also dealing with her own emotional issues.

A couple originally from Okinawa run an inexpensive restaurant in Kobe, with their grade-school daughter, Fuuchan. The movie depicts the warm interaction between her and adults that grew up with the rough history of Okinawa and discrimination from the mainland. Shots partly on location at beach of Itoman, Yogi Park and Hateruma Island. This is the movie version of the well-known novel by Kenjiro Haitani.

The 95-year-old director shot the film in his hometown of Ishiuchi, Hiroshima. The story is based on a teacher he had when he was a child.

A humorous wedding story fueled by a rather no-good father and son, disguised as the old and new “good guys.” The father Nobuo, and his son Tamio, are unable to mature, unable to break the parent-child roles, have no sense of responsibility, and keep holding on to the past. The pair is overwhelmed by all the colorful characters around them telling them what to do. They go to strenuous and humorous efforts to make Tamio’s wedding an event to remember.

Tora-san becomes friends with Toraya's newest tenant, a pachinko-playing electrician that goes by the nickname Watt. Tora attempts to match Watt with a young waitress.

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.

August 9, 1945. An atomic bomb drops on Urakami, Nagasaki at 11:02am. The story of Dr. Nagai and his family.

Based on a true story. A Japanese girl and an American guy, fall in love in Japan. Their relationship will not be easy to manage, with their different cultures and their different langages.

An unemployed young man who has just broken up with his girlfriend meets a woman at a bicycle race. They start dating but then strange things then begin to happen to him, including a beating from the local yakuza. - Wikipedia

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A nostalgic human drama based on Dazai Osamu Prize winner Tsujiuchi Tomoki's novella. Set in a declining coal-mining town in 1950s Fukuoka, the story depicts a rambunctious but pure-hearted young boy in love with an older woman. Director Hirayama Hideyuki and writer Chong Wishing, both from Begging for Love (Ai o kou hito), join hands again to make this film. Michiyo (Koyuki) has left Tokyo for Fukuoka with her son Mamoru (Ikematsu Sosuke) after divorcing her husband. The story follows Mamoru's memories of his time spent with the notorious rebel Shinichi (Ishida Takuya), who stood up for him against bullies.

On Sado Island, Kii works as a cleaner at a gold mine. One day, she finds a collapsed woman in the facility and takes the woman to her home. The woman doesn't remember her past or even her name. The woman is named Midori by the two other girls living with Kii. Kii gets permission from the director for Midori to work as a cleaner at the mine. One day, Midori is attracted by the presence of cats and this leads her to meet Ao, who works as a night guard at the gold mine. Ao tells her that he also doesn't remember his past. Midori and Ao get attracted to each other and spend time together. One day, Midori meets Murasaki who seems to have a close relationship with Ao. This disturbs Midori.

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 marriage.

A yakuza boss's daughter starts a pirate TV broadcast.

Heartbroken Ukiko takes refuge with a relative after a devastating breakup. While away, she makes a dangerous match with the husband of her frigid cousin.

Hanako is a mother, who was not enthusiastic when her husband took in two foster children some years ago. He died not long afterward, leaving her alone to care for the youngsters, Koya and Torataro, a task that she rose to with a passion. As the two boys graduate from high school, Hanako has become not only a devoted parent but the neighborhood's most reliable mother in the Osaka style: strong, responsible, irreverent. After the two boys leave school they also leave home, though Torataro continues to work in the family factory. Koya secures employment at a restaurant, where he is forced to put up with the bullying of an older colleague. Unable to take it any more, he runs away, and Hanako and Torataro look for him. They eventually find him pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician.

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Kitahara Kazunori was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in the fall of his second year in high school, and thereafter spent a year and 10 months battling the disease. Although he studied hard for the university examinations and was successfully admitted to his first choice, [the prestigious] Tokyo University, he only managed to visit it for a day before passing away. After that, last January [i.e. 2005], Kazunori's mother compiled the thoughts he had left behind and published it as a book, and it was adapted into this drama. Even as Kazunori had to fight his serious illness, he received support from his friends, school teachers and family members, and had warm relations with many people. This drama illustrates the 1 year and 10 months young Kazunori persevered together with the people around him.

Ken Ota is a Japanese-American GI. He comes to Hiroshima after WW2 looking for his big sister, but finds Keiko, a bomb victim with a keloid scar on her shoulder.

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In William Shakespeare's "Cymbeline," King Cymbeline is furious when his only daughter, Inogen, marries Postumus, a man of low birth, instead of marrying Cymbeline's stepson, Cloten. As a result, Postumus is exiled from the kingdom and heads to Rome... There, he meets a Roman named Jaquimo and bets his wife as the stake, but what is Jaquimo's true motive? Saitama Arts Theater Grand Hall, Kitakyushu Arts Theater, Umeda Arts Theater Theater Drama City London Performance - Barbican Theater

The first instalment of a social comedy series depicting a company, the Night Escape Agency, that allows debtors to flee at night.

A rural high school takes part in a mountain-climbing exercise and are caught in a sudden typhoon.

A unique combination of social problem and entertainment TV movie about a female journalist who is hurt to the core when the truth of an article is questioned.

Shinji, a young man who accidentally met a successful model, moves to Tokyo because of his admiration for her. However, a harsh reality awaits him in Tokyo. As a result, Shinji returns to his hometown to start life anew. A romantic drama inspired by the hit song of the same name by Goro Noguchi.

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Shohei Taguchi is a salaryman who works for a securities company and loves women like no other. One day, he plans to use the cash borrowed from the gangsters and snatch to repay his debt . However, Sayoko Mukai, who said that she used the money of the company for gambling , took over the money. Shohei and Sayoko plan a robbery and steal cash from the gallery, but another man steals it.

The story of a man and woman dealing with amnesia, set in Prague.

A documentary exposing the sexual violence euphemistically termed "entertainment" inflicted on women of the Kurokawa settler group during Japan’s imperialist expansion in Manchuria. Under state-led colonization in the 1930s–40s, Japanese settlers occupied Chinese lands. In August 1945, facing the Soviet invasion, the group offered 15 women to enemy troops in a desperate act of survival. Decades later, the survivors confront the silenced legacy of imperial violence, discrimination, and trauma. Directed by Fumie Matsubara, with narration by Shinobu Otake.

This is the first in a series of documentaries following the lives of Japanese citizens based off Michael Apted's Up series.

This is the second in a series of documentaries following the lives of Japanese citizens based off Michael Apted’s Up series.