Chikage Awashima

In postwar Tokyo, this household is loving and serene: older parents, their 28-year-old daughter Noriko, their married son, his devoted wife, and two rascally sons. (imdb)

First of a trilogy of films. During the Second World War, a Japanese conscientious objector named Kaji works as a supervisor in a Manchurian prison camp. He hopes to avoid duty as a soldier, but he also hopes to be helpful to the welfare of his prisoners. An escape attempt by Chinese prisoners results in Kaji's arrest for collusion. He faces the possibility of transferral to combat -- or worse

A young man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital romance.

Takeo, a capricious wife from Tokyo high-society, is bored by her dull husband, a quiet and reliable company executive raised in the country (Shin Saburi) After a crisis, she understands better his true value. A parallel sub-plot shows her niece rebelling against the tradition of arranged marriages. (imdb)

A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control. (imdb)

Keijiro and Ayako Kono (Masayuki Mori and Chikage Awashima) seem like a picture-book upper middle-class family. He is a respected professor and the couple has two amiable children (a high school-aged girl and middle school-aged boy). But the Kono's domestic siutuation is more complicated than it seems on the surface. The children are actually the illegitimate children of Kono's long-time mistress, Miho. To compensate for giving up the children, the Konos subsidize a bar which Miho operates. (imdb)

Three short tales from stories by Ichiyo Higuchi. In one, a young woman is degraded by her family after an arranged marriage. Another deals with the troubles heaped upon a young servant by her family and the wealthy people who employ her. Yet another tells of a prostitute and her hopes of finding a new, respectable life. (imdb)

A comprehensive biography on Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu.

In The Good Fairy Kinoshita juxtaposes two extremes - the smarmy world of tabloid journalism and the hero's (Rentaro) romantic longings for a sweet 19 year old girl who is scheduled to die within the next few months. She has no prospect of future life and her family is poor, which means that loving her makes absolutely no practical sense at all. If she dedicates herself to him, it is an easy dedication; with only a few months to live, she has nothing to lose. (Fully Reconditioned)

In this Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, director Heinosuke Gosho -- a master chronicler of Japanese middle-class life -- presents the story of Kiyoshi Yoshida (Koji Shitara), who feels estranged from both parents after his father returns from war. How the boy adapts to life with the virtual stranger his father has become is the film's focus. (Netflix)

Old fisherman takes a journey so he'll no longer burden his granddaughter Haru. Together they visit family in search of a new home.

A delightful and moving coming-of-age story. One summer, three young boys take an increasing interest in an eccentric old man who lives alone in a house surrounded by an overgrown garden. (mubi)

A naive stripper falls for an artist engaged to the daughter of a controversial female politician. (imdb)

A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own. (The Movie Database)

Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small inn in the Kyoto suburb of Fushimi.

During an air raid on Tokyo, a young couple meet and fall instantly in love. They part, promising to meet again on the bridge but unfortunately neglect to tell each other their names. After the war, and after much waiting and dreaming, the young girl-Machiko by name-marries. The marriage does not work out, however, and she decides to get a divorce, only to discover that she is pregnant. (KG)

From the pen of Yoshikawa Eiji comes this exciting story. The Naruto Strait separates Tokushima from the islands of Awaji and Honshu. On Tokushima the mad lord dreams of conquest and forges a bloody revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate. A mysterious swordsman named Noriyuki Gennojo has crossed Naruto's waters to uncover the Awa clan's secrets. He puts his life on the line after finding a testament of Awa's secrets, written in blood by a dying man... (themoviedb)

Adapted from Naoya Shiga's novel about the emotional turmoil of a man who suspects that his wife is committing adultery with his father.

Kuniko, a former prostitute, tries to leave her past behind, with the support of her reform counselor and friends. But the more she tries to lead a regular life, the more society rejects her.

A traditional impersonator of females in a kabuki troupe (a yukinojo) he courts and takes revenge from the three nobles who twenty years ago forced his parents to commit suicide.

For his 1st color film, Ichikawa did an Edo era story of two geishas scheming against each other for control of the Nihonbashi bridge area, and vying for the affections of a young doctor. (imdb)

Director Minoru Shibuya adapted Masuji Ibushi's masterpiece to film. The film depicts a doctor who has a sign that reads "Closed Today," but is busy with all kinds of people visiting the hospital.

Machiko and Haruki’s drama continues. Machiko is not allowed to see Haruki. They finally meet again, but Haruki departs to Europe.