Mitsuru Hirata

This film tells the story of professor Uehida Hyakken-sama (1889-1971), in Gotemba, around the forties. He was a university professor until an air raid, when he left to become a writer and has to live in a hut. His mood has hardly changed, not by the change nor by time. Every year his students celebrate his birthday, issuing the question "Mahda kai?" (not yet?), just to hear Uehida-san's answer "Madada yo!" (No, not yet!), in a ritual of self affirmation, and desires of lasting forever. It's a very "japanese" film who portrays everyday life and customs in Japan. (imdb)

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.

A comedic drama about the inside world of filmmaking, FALL GUY (KAMATA KOSHIN-KYOKU) was helmed by acclaimed Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku. A declining movie star, Ginshiro, decides to exploit the devotion of an over-dedicated fan, Yasu, to help restore his image and superstardom. First, he asks Yasu to marry his pregnant mistress Konatsu, in order to deflect any negative press and resulting scandal... (Yahoo! Movies)

Machi, a high school student unsure of where her life is heading starts making up stories with her two friends. Soon they all agree to work on one tale together each picking up where the last one left off. (Twitchfilm)

Sataka attempts to re-unite her mother, who is hospitalized with cancer, and her mother's first love, who is now a vagrant. (Yahoo)

After returning from the Burmese front in WWII, a man finds trouble brewing back home.

In Nagasaki, Tora-san and an acquaintance help an old woman who has fallen and injured herself. She invites them to her home where the three share a night of eating and drinking. The old woman's health deteriorates and she dies. At her funeral, Tora-san falls in love with the old woman's daughter, but winds up acting as a go-between for her and a young law student.

Yuichi Koga is an upper-class business executive, running his own adult video company, and living a successful life with his wife and daughter. Outwardly, his family seems really happy, but in reality Yuichi enjoys sex with everyone but his wife Chikako. One day, he gets a phone call from a woman named Sanae, an old elementary school classmate of his. Yuichi and Sanae immediately hit it off again and begin seeing each other, and Yuichi eventually discovers that they click in a sexual way.

Magazine reporter TANAKA is granted request to investigate a year old murder case gone cold, where a "perfect" family - a successful businessman, his beautiful wife and adorable child - were brutally murdered. Tanaka interviews acquaintances of the dead but gradually finds out that the family was not exactly ideal as believed, as stories of their true nature unfold. Equally disturbing are the interviewees themselves, each letting loose their own hidden nature. (imdb)

Four short films based on ghost stories written by award winning modern Japanese writers Yasunari Kawabata, Osamu Dazai, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, & Saisei Muro. (The Movie Database)

In 1995, five serial murder cases took place. Wataru Makimura took charge of the murder cases and tried to catch the serial killer. Due to the killer's trap, Wataru Makimura's superior was killed. The serial murder case has been unsolved to this date. 22 years later, a murder memoir "Watashi ga Satsujinhan desu" ("I am a Murderer") is published. The author describes himself as the killer responsible for the five unsolved serial murder cases. (KG)

A blind girl of around ten years old is not having a pleasant upbringing. She is poor, neglected, shunned and even loses a friend. Yet, she does not give up hope. That is the adaptation of the actual story of Kiyo Awazu who grows up to educate blind children. The young Fumiko becomes an apprentice to a masseuse and works hard to learn a skill. She also studies to learn braille.

Eiji, also known as Choji, quits the shipyard to start Izakaya Choji (snack bar) with his wife Shigeko on the outskirts of Hakodate. (imdb)

Police Officer Kankichi Ryotsu is back at the Kameri Park Polic Box. He usually means to do well, but more often than not he ends up causing all kinds of trouble. (imdb)

One relatively peaceful post-war day in Japan, a barber and good family man, is unexpectedly arrested by the Prefectural Police, declared a suspected war criminal, and subsequently sued for murder by the American occupation forces.

The year is 1947, during the war-torn period of the Showa era. The story begins when a man, presumed to have been killed in battle, returns home. Who was this man? Before the war, he had a bright future ahead of him as the proficient and popular rakugoka, Usagi Morinoya. However, because of an injury sustained during the war, his face is covered in bandages, and he suffers from total amnesia. As if trying to recover his memory, the man only keeps mumbling in a hollow voice his trademark...

In the present day, the local government of Katori City is in the process of sponsoring a taiga drama about its famous historical figure Tadataka Ino, who is known for being the first person to make a map of Japan in 1821. During the process of of making the drama series, a surprising fact is discovered about the first map. That fact is that Tadataka Ino was not the person who made the first Japanese map.

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. (letterboxd.com)

Hamakichi, who used to be a detective is now a toy merchant. His former boss has a grudge against the Yakuza family, which leads to the murder of a policeman in Edo. This places Hamakichi between the rock and a hard place.

Yu Miri is a writer who's just become pregnant by her married lover. When she decides to keep the baby without his help, her ex-boyfriend Yutaka, decides to help raise him.

Two sisters living on a peach farm in Koori town, Fukushima Prefecture, are opposites. Haruka Miyamoto feels less beautiful than her sister Akiba Miyamoto and hates being compared to her. She finds comfort in playing a piano in a barn. A year after the Great East Japan Earthquake, she decides she wants to be a pianist. Akiba, for her part, moved to Tokyo to attend college. When she moves back to Koori, Haruka is unsettled and memories connected to the disaster she has tried to forget resurface.