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196 movies sorted by popularity
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.
Asuka Kotobuki, a junior college student, is in the middle of her job hunting. She spends all her time visiting companies and taking job exams, but her honesty and truthful personality causes her to keep receiving rejection notices.
The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death.
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.
When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
Shigematsu Shizuma, who lives with his family in a village near Fukuyama, was in Hiroshima with his wife and niece just after the devastating atomic bombing, a tragedy that cruelly took the lives of thousands of people and forever marked the harsh existence of the survivors.
When a lone traveller stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.
A trio of high school boys get summer jobs at a seaside resort. Soon, however, they learn that the woman who runs it is in financial trouble. The three decide to help her.
Shozo is plagued by the needs of his ex-wife and his current one, but prefers the company of his cat.
Based on a celebrated book by Kuniko Mukoda, this film directed by Yasuo Furuhata tells of a close friendship undone by love.
Kôsuke Kindaichi, a somewhat peculiar private detective, visits a remote town. He meets a police detective and they start to investigate an old unsolved murder. Then some murders happen. Kindaichi must find out about the past in order to reveal who the murderer is.
A scruffy detective investigates the murders of three sisters on a small Japanese island in 1946.
A car going at 25 mph plunges into the sea at Shinko Harbour, Toyama prefecture. Inside is the local business magnate Fukutaro Shirakawa, who perishes. Riding alongside him and surviving unhurt is his second wife, Kumako. It soon comes to light that Kumako’s husband was insured for 300 million yen and she is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband for the insurance money. The newspapers denounce her as an evil woman, while the public is in no doubt about Kumako’s crime. Ritsuko Sahara is chosen as her defence attorney but the pair clash over almost everything...
No description available.
The second "Bottomless Ninjutsu War" feature.
At the time between the World Wars, Japan is involved in empire-building throughout East and Southeast Asia. After a brief career as a low-level military adventurer, Iheiji sets up chains of brothels throughout Asia. As Japan's power in the region grows, so does Iheiji's prosperity and patriotism.
Hisaya Morishige is Kyutaro, a nuclear physicist and his twin brother, Eiji, a con man. Eiji finally hits on his most elaborate scheme yet, to pretend to be a king of a remote, undiscovered island, and becomes a media sensation.
Itinerant masseur and master swordsman, the blind Zatoichi, is near the village of his teacher, Hikonoichi, so he decides to visit. He learns of Hikonoichi's recent robbery and murder and the imprisonment of his virginal daughter, Osayo, in a brothel. Through friendship with Denroku, a local dice thrower and devoted father, Ichi uncovers an unholy alliance between the governor and the area strongman: among their scams is falsifying tax records to put farmers in debt, then forcing their daughters into prostitution at the boss's brothel. With help from Denroku's daughter, Otsuru, Ichi comforts Osayo until he can provoke showdowns with the villains and their henchmen.
On 17 May 1936–during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable–Sada Abe killed and emasculated her lover. Condemned by the law, Sada finds herself lionised by the press and hailed as a 'saint' of love. Because hers was a crime of passion, the purity of her motivation elevates her from criminal to heroine.
Tatsuo, a reverent lumberjack, seeks to disrupt plans to build a marine park on his family land, instead promoting his traditions in reactionary ways.
After her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply gets in trouble.
A large earthquake hits Tokyo, which was predicted by a seismologist but was ignored.
To solve the mystery of a murder of an old governess which takes place at a wealthy Daidoji family's country estate, family secrets and lies dating back several generations must be sorted out once and for all.
Hisa Ishii and his brother Akira emigrate from Japan to the United States. They settle in rural California and start a strawberry farm, slowly integrating themselves into the life of the community, which includes Japanese-Americans of both lengthy and brief residence.
The 16th "Ekimae" feature.
Sequel to the 1955 movie.
Based on the story "Actress and Poet" ("Joyu to shijin") by Minoru Nakano.
Hikaru and Ichiro are close friends in high school. Hikaru's elder brother Tadashi fell in love with Ichiro's elder sister, Mikako at first sight. Although she gave the cold shoulder to Tadashi, she gradually became fond of Tadashi.
A comedy-action film depicting a kind-hearted protagonist who, feeling disillusioned with the world, asks a hitman for assistance with suicide, only to find himself embroiled in a thrilling and hilarious journey involving money and women.
The third of four "The Surprising Legend of Jirocho" films.
The 17th "Ekimae" feature.
Young writer Tamako, who is wrongfully accused of killing the head yakuza, must find a way out of trouble.
Adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip. The first entry in the series shot in color.
The Second movie based on a popular TV show about Pintemps Cosmetics and their struggles to make new successful products, filled with singing, dancing, and laughter.
A new third-class president wins an appointment thanks to his marriage with the former president's daughter.
The fourth an final film in the "Jirocho igaiden" series.
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
Based on the story "Tokyo Station" by Tsunehiko Sagawa.
The 12th "Ekimae" feature.
Based on the comic book by Kenshi Hirokane
As Marukyū Department Store plans its Hawaii expansion, company executives become sidetracked by local pleasures and personal entanglements. By the time they resume business, the target property is lost to a rival—forcing an abrupt return to Japan with both deals and relationships unresolved.
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.
Four sisters are all named after flowers. While the two youngest are married, the eldest two remain single, much to the annoyance of their long-suffering mother. The mother and her brother try various schemes to find husbands for them.
A story about the development of a bright and strong yakuza. Otaki is an old-fashioned respectful yakuza who tries to protect his small yakuza family. When his boss gets shot, he decides to go after the plotters.
The president learns that the company's biggest stockholder is also a friend of his singing teacher and spies on his movements.
Shûe Matsubayashi movie
Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.
The mythical adventures of the legendary Chinese trickster Monkey, who must outwit a variety of wily demons who stand in the way of him and his fellow Buddhist travelers. Though portrayed as a literal, if rather anthropomorphized, monkey in the original legends, this film substitutes the spindly comic actor Norihei Miki, sans makeup.
Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome-shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.
A country boss gives up his way of life because of his daughter's marriage.
The 9th "Ekimae" feature.
Hachigoro, a carpenter living in the Rakugo Tenement, is an honest and skilled craftsman, but he loves sake more than his three daily meals, and had even been barred from entering the Akasaiya shop where he worked. However, thanks to the intervention of the landlord he was fortunately allowed back in, and Oka, the landlord’s maid who had long harbored feelings for Hachigoro, sent him a celebratory kimono as a gift.
Penultimate 23rd "Ekimae" comedy is about oil-field exploration.
Set on a quiet ranch in Hokkaido. One day, a colt is born from a legendary bloodline. It is given the name Oracion or "prayer". When Oracion is grown, a factory owner buys the horse. Will he be the key to solving the man's problems? Based on the novel by Teru Miyamoto.
Comedy about a man's adventures in Bangkok, Thailand.
Set in the Edo period, Zenigata Heiji is a policeman who catches criminals by throwing coins (zeni).
After graduating from detective school, Achao and Entaro received their certificates and launched a private detective agency. One night, while investigating Otoyo, the wife of a soba shop owner, the two went to the basement of a theater and unexpectedly stumbled upon the murder of model Ranko Nemoto. Using the earring she was wearing as a clue, they began their investigation.
The third installment in the Shacho Series.
Sixth entry in the Company President Series.
Japanese comedy film.
The 18th "Ekimae" feature.
1962 Japanese movie
Late entry "Ekimae" feature, about the hunt for lost treasure.
The university professor Ozeki Hitoshi (Ryu Chishu) is regarded as an eccentric by people in his surroundings. When his daughter Tokiko is asked to marry a colleague, she and her mother are overjoyed, but Hitoshi is not satisfied with the situation.
A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.
Ushinosuke returns broke to his hometown, where everyone believes he's rich and successful. Part two (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.
In the 9th year of Genroku, Mitsukuni Mito Komon of Hitachi Province set out on a pilgrimage to various countries with his reluctant vassals, Sukesaburo and Kakunosuke, under the name of Koemon, a retired peasant.
Nine maids serve the household of a writer and his wife. The couple treat their maids like daughters and marry them off to eligible men. So, they are forever looking for new maids. As the years go by maid servants become hired help and more bossy and independent, so Chikura and his wife find themselves adjusting their lives to keep up with changing times.
The 22nd film in the Shacho comedy series.
Fourth entry in the Ekimae series, focusing on the restoration of a Fukushima hot spring inn.
A clothing manufacturer president tries to revitalize his company during a business downturn by securing new sales partners and chasing a deal with a world-renowned fashion designer.
A new stationmaster is appointed to a dilapidated local line. On top of the failing local line feuding for hot spring customers with a bus company looking to start a new route, they even get involved in a disappearance and a murder...
A film about the life of Kiyoshi Yamashita, a Japanese painter with disabilities.
1958 Japanese movie
After a promotion brings new professional challenges, a diligent employee is pulled into corporate matchmaking and a high-stakes business conflict over a critical eel supply.
Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions.
Tora-san befriends the descendant of a feudal lord. The man asks Tora to locate his deceased son's wife who resides somewhere in Tokyo.
A crime story (with strong elements of comedy) that pits a determined detective against a gang of pickpockets in Osaka. The detective (played by Keiju Kobayashi) and the leader of the gang (played by Norihei Miki) have an interesting wartime backstory together that fuels much of the story.
The second "The Surprising Legend of Jirocho" feature.
1961 Japanese movie
The fifth entry in the Company President Series
The 11th "Ekimae" feature.
On the day his mother dies, young gambler Jirocho swears in front of her grave that he'll never gamble again. But, that night, Jirocho heads to a gambling den, where he bets the condolence money for his mother's funeral. No surprise to learn he loses the lot. Not the hard-boiled yakuza story it seems, this is a comedy featuring many new artists who were making a name for themselves at the time.
The 10th "Ekimae" feature.
Based on a story by Akiyuki Nosaka.
A group of hustling peddlers swindle rural towns with fake goods, facing betrayals, close calls, and constant setbacks as they chase survival and dream of a better future.
Ushinosuke returns to his hometown to become a farmer. Part three (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi’s novel, Oban.
Iwato Construction secures a major project in Hokkaido and promotes a key employee, but chaos follows—personal conflicts, missed deals, and a lost hotel contract. Redemption comes when they restore a fire-damaged department store, earning overdue payment and a morale boost.
Apparently a baseball drama starring real-life stars Nagashima (The Babe Ruth of Japanese Baseball) and teammate Oh-known collectively as ON-from the Yomiuri Giants. Nagashima nickname was 'Mr. Giants.
Five fellows are taken by the police for bank hold-ups.
The 24th and final entry in the Ekimae series, set at Takamatsu Station in Kagawa Prefecture, formerly known for its ferry service to the Seto Inland Sea.
A lighthearted satire of Japan’s postwar corporate elite, The Executive Gentleman’s Register blends farce, romance, and boardroom comedy with the polished charm of 1960s salaryman cinema. When mild-mannered secretary Tsutomu Harada’s wedding is postponed yet again due to the sudden promotion of his matchmaker, Reitarō Koizumi, to company president, chaos ensues in the world of business and matrimony alike. At a raucous nightclub party, a game of musical chairs leads to injury, scandal, and rivalry with a competing paper-bag tycoon. Limping through his first day as president, Reitarō faces corporate sabotage, eccentric clients, and a disastrously comic “business trip” that tangles together love, liquor, and misplaced ambition.
Ensemble comedy.
Keita, after his death, was taken to the court of heaven as Defendant No. 1361, where his past was projected. He was formerly a favorite of the Meriken Circus troupe, yet he sinned by exposing a certain woman. During the screening, he realizes what he has done, and fate gives him a chance to redeem his sins.
The fifth "Ekimae" film set in a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama's Chinatown.
While on a business trip to Kyushu, a paint company president competes with a rival firm for a key overseas client, only to face setbacks both in work and in the personal affairs of his team.
Chiyomatsu under the hill, also known as Choromatsu. He is a young man whose occupation is an approach shop, that is, a phony business of sex brokerage. Choromatsu is partnered with Umekichi, whom he calls "big brother," in this business. They live on the second floor of the aka-chochin (red lantern) owned by Takeko, where boys and girls who were abandoned at the abandoned children's temple on Mukojima also live together, making up a family of people who are not related to each other.
An old man who has spent his life being respectful, honest and married for 35 years suddenly has thoughts of cheating with a young girl. He goes on a trip with the girl, but they are followed by a yakuza and all hell breaks loose.
Comedy of two brothers working at a local governmental office.
As his fashion company rides a wave of post-recession success, President Kurihara seeks to expand into women’s apparel through a deepening partnership with a French firm.
#13 in the Ekimae series of films. Set at Todai University, Professor Sakai (played by Frankie Sakai) mentors a group of university hopefuls. Cut to 25 years later, the students have each settled into their careers and cross paths with Professor Sakai's son, a P.E. teacher (also played by Sakai).
The 10th film in the travel series. The original work and screenplay is by Kazuo Funahashi, the director is Shoji Segawa, and the cinematography is by Keiji Maruyama.
In this continuation of Discover Japan with the 5 Gents (Shacho sen ichiya, 1967), Shoji (Morishige) and his employees plan to build a hotel for Expo 70.
Executives from a Japanese department store travel to Hawaii to acquire land for expansion but become entangled in romantic distractions and miscommunication. By the time they act, the property is lost to a rival, forcing an abrupt return to Tokyo and uncertain outcomes.
Two obaachans become fast friends listening to music in front of a record store. They both boast about their loving sons but in reality, one had just escaped a retirement home and the other was looking for an escape from her son and daughter-in-law. With nowhere to go, the two wander around, befriending a cosmetics salesman and a kind waitress who give them beer. This biting social satire starring two memorable grandmothers, scripted by Yôko Mizuki, picked up on Japan’s aging population problem far ahead of its time.
The film adaptation of Kazuo Kikuta novel "Kumo no Ue Dangoro Ichiza", which enjoyed great success at the performances of the Toho Takarazuka Theater at the end of the year. The troupe "Kumo no Ue Dangoro" continues to tour from town to village. The small cast of the troupe includes its leader (Kenichi Enomoto), Norizo (Norihei Miki) and Taizo (Mutoshi Happa), who play female roles - they are all super actors, each of whom plays five roles. Dan Goro dreams of performing in a major theater and tries to put on a big show with a young man he meets in Shikoku named Sakai (Frankie Sakai), but...
7th film in the President series and the first entry in color.
Two residents of Edo city Yaji and Kita make a journey to the temple of Ise, as part of a religious pilgrimage, but actually to get away from their wives for a little while. As they travel, they are constantly beset by complications involving women, mistaken identity, and misunderstood events. Another film adaptation of the famous novel Ikku Jippensha Footing It Along the Tokaido (Tokaidochu Hizakurige)
1956 Drama by Toshio Sugie
Owner and workers of a tiny medicine factory fall in love with a lovable girl.
An adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip.
1956 japanese movie.
In this outing, Shoji (Morishige) and his employees plan to build a hotel for Expo 70.
A straight-laced employee is tasked with supervising his impulsive CEO during a business trip intended to revive struggling sales.
Koji Tsuruta plays dual roles: Kyotaro, the young master of a pharmaceutical wholesaler in Osaka, and Ken, a street thug in Tokyo.
A high school girl becomes convinced that her mother, who was said to have died fourteen years ago, is alive and residing in Hokkaido.
Three college friends support swimmer Okubo through family and financial troubles. Junko, a woman he helped, develops feelings for him, while a former classmate reappears. With his friends’ quiet help, Okubo regains focus and wins a major student swimming competition.
Teppei Omori is a man of extraordinary virility, with 21 mistresses, over 30 children, and more than 1,100 women he has had relations with. Teppei's daily routine involves visiting each of the beef hot pot restaurants, "Akasatana," run by his mistresses, to collect the sales and keep an eye on the women. One day, Noe, one of his mistresses at the first branch, announces that she wants to marry Urakawa, the chef. The other mistresses, in the prime of their lives, can no longer be content with working for him only once a month, and they compete for Teppei's attention, cheating on him behind his back.
Based on a comic strip by Kaoru Akiyoshi. First in a four part film series.
Senta lives with his mother and little brother and supports them by working at day at a factory and attending eighth grade in the evening. One day he finds a letter on his desk, left by Ryohei, a day school student who has lost his pencil case and asks his night-school counterpart to return it…
15th entry in the Ekimae series, surrounding the then-insanely popular Weekly Shounen Sunday series Osomatsu-kun and Obake no Q-Taro.
A drifting gambler named Tamegorō befriends a weary salesman and helps connect him with a nightclub hostess whose father has just been released from prison. In a rapidly industrializing coastal town dominated by yakuza influence, Tamegorō becomes entangled in gang conflicts and the exploitation of local workers. As he grows attached to the struggling people around him, the carefree drifter finds himself driven toward an act of rebellion against the corrupt underworld controlling the city.
It is the 16th series of the call series with the highest masterpiece among the "President" series. The president of the U. s.solar paint, heitaro Domoto (Morishige), has become completely American, and plans to rationalize the company to the American style and prohibit the company's entertainment. Members of the Taiko Kyushu Branch Company (Ryohei Miki), who were living in the banquet, were hit by a big blow, and the company and the meeting club were very annoying. After that, the president who went to the business trip to Kyushu met with a sexy Geisha (Junko Ikeuchi) on the way to the tour, and he felt like a fool.
This film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Hisashi Inoue, which tells the story of a comedian who teams up with a strange man he meets while traveling, and the two become very popular in Asakusa while performing their unusual acts.
A Japanese film from 1965, directed by Shirô Toyoda.
1963 Japanese movie
The cabaret «Romance», run by Masami Daisaku's father, is experiencing financial difficulties, and Masami is betting on changes and asks singer Hibari Misora to perform. Musical youth comedy with young actors, passion, funny songs and laughter. Hibari Misora appears as herself.
After winning a singing contest, Momoko leaves her rural village for Tokyo to pursue her dream. Misunderstandings, scams, and shifting ambitions lead her from aspiring street performer to jazz singer, culminating in her big debut on stage.
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.
Movie version of NHK renzoku drama "Tokyo Romance"
Seventh in the Ekimae series, detailing the exploits of the landladies around Ryogoku Station in Tokyo, and their sumo clientele.
Based on the comic by Shosuke Kurakane. Shown in two parts.
Optimistic student Hideyoshi struggles to land a job at Japan Motors, facing setbacks and rivalry but winning his way in through persistence—and a mix of charm, luck, and chaos in both work and love.
The 14th film in the Ekimae series, set in Nagano Prefecture, focusing on the love lives of a group of husbands and their wives.
Nemoto Ritsuko is the girlfriend of Kuroki Tamotsu. Both are 22 years old. Ritsuko lives with her father, Shingo, a piano tuner and city hall clerk. Meanwhile, Tamotsu is a small club's pianist in Yokohama. Ritsuko, close to the age of marriage, is worried and forms a concrete plan. Ritsuko's sister, Kinue, arranges for her to meet her husbands colleague Abe Goro. Tamotsu and Ritsuko wind up quarreling on their date the following day where Tamotsu eventually promises to meet her father. However, due to their conflicting future life plans, their relationship begins to fray. They begin to go their separate ways, however...
After a transfer to a rural factory, salesman Hideyoshi faces blunders, schemers, and rivalries but proves his integrity, winning respect and a return to headquarters.
Serious-minded company accountant Kosuke Yamashita is facing problems at both work and home when a young woman unexpectedly asks him to meet his childhood friend Shozo Obama. The two men have not seen each other for twenty-seven years, and Kosuke soon learns that Shozo is terminally ill. Still as persuasive and opportunistic as ever, Shozo proposes one final money-making scheme: travel to Nagano, acquire a supposedly valuable rare carp called a “Karasugoi,” and sell it for a fortune. Their quarrelsome journey gradually becomes a chance to revisit old memories, regrets and a friendship neither man truly left behind.
