Nobuo Kaneko

In this third part of the trilogy Kaji, a Japanese WWII soldier, finds himself struggling to survive behind enemy lines towards the end of the war.

Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, Zatoichi determines to escort the baby to its father. He gains the reluctant help of a young pick pocket and together they travel to find the baby's father... (imdb)

This film is about the story of the relationship between a daughter-in-law (Setsuko Hara) and the father (So Yamamura) of her neglectful and selfish husband (Ken Uehara). As the father becomes more and more aware of the unhappiness of Hara, he takes ever more unconventional steps to try to rescue his son's marriage. Though the issues of infidelity, abortion and divorce swirl through this film, the tone is remarkably low-key and unmelodramatic (IMDB Comments)

Hard luck Yukiko (Takamine Hideko) remembers the days of wine and romance back in Indochina but Kengo (Mori Masayuki) isn't having any of it. The war is over, the survivors are back in Japan and Yukiko wants to rekindle the old flame. (IMDB Comments)

Kinji Fukasaku directed this powerful and uncompromising look at the deadly stakes of life among the Yakuza -- the Japanese Mafia. Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) is a former Japanese soldier who, following his nation's defeat in World War II, finds himself in a prison cell in Hiroshima on a murder charge. While behind bars, Hirono gains a loyal friend in fellow criminal Wagasugi (Tatsuo Umemiya), and upon his release Hirono joins Wagasugi in an underworld gang. What starts as a seemingly easy way to earn some quick money becomes something darker and bloodier... (All Movie Guide)

n this violent and morally ambiguous crime drama from master genre filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku, Takeda (Akira Kobayashi), a longtime leader of one of Hiroshima's Yakuza families (the Japanese Mafia), attempts to resolve the longtime war between various mob factions by reshaping his organization into a political organization that would be both powerful and legal. (All Movie Guide)

Reiko Oshida stars as a young wannabe gangster tough girl, just released from reform school. She tracks down one of her classmates fathers, who runs an auto repair shop that the local Yakuza are trying to force out of business and take over, and starts working for him. At the same time a recently released from prison, and now ill Yakuza is trying to make a new life for himself and his girl, a friend of Reiko's, who also just graduated from reform school... (imdb)

Police officers and gangsters work hand in hand in this bloody urban drama, which splits the difference between a good guy and a thug. Just as the Ohara gang -- a crafty group of criminals that's unofficially sanctioned by local police -- prepares to pull off a profitable scam, their leader emerges from prison with plans to go legit. To make matters worse, a new police lieutenant has plans of his own to shake things up in the department. (Netflix)

Jo Shishido stars as Det. Tajima, a smug investigator who nabs a pair of criminal gangs with flamboyant aplomb while the police remain baffled. Suzuki treats the rather hoary plotline as an excuse for dark-humored camp, and young audiences were delighted with his irreverent approach, which made him one of the few distinctive names in the '60s assembly-line of Nikkatsu Studios. (www.surrealmoviez.info)

Comedy about a man stuck in a brothel after he can't pay his bill.

When a gambling crime boss dies his followers have to decide who will replace him.

Late 60's period drama/romance film with some yakuza leanings. Junko Fuji is beautiful and graceful as Shinji, a Hakata geisha who is being pursued by a corrupt and evil coal mining baron, but ends up falling in love with an ex-yakuza (Ken Takakura) who owns a competing mine. Tensions rise between the rival mine owners with Shinji in the middle.

Concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for promotion. (DVD blurb)

The movie is set in Kure (same place as Yakuza Papers part 1), and the initial story once again revolves around the Yamamori clan. Boss Yamamori is the same whining, crying bastard you hate from the original series. In this new series Bunta plays Mikio Miyoshi of the Yamamori family. He is a similar type of character to the one he played in the first set of movies. These new ones are differernt though. There is a lot more (uncoregraphed) gun violence. (KG)

Yumi Takigawa replaced popular actress-singer Meiko Kaji in this first of two spin-offs of the series begun with Joshu 701-go Sasori (1972). In this installment, Scorpion/Nami (Takigawa) is out for revenge when her sister is murdered by a corrupt politician. She gets it, and -- not surprisingly to followers of the series -- is arrested and sent back to jail. Takigawa is miscast in the part, with an overbearing effervescence which seems completely out of place. (allrovi.com)

In this atmospheric tale of revenge from beyond the watery grave, a pirate-ransacked freighter's violent past comes back to haunt a young woman living in a seaside town. Mixing elements of kaidan (ghost stories), doppelganger thrillers, and mad-scientist movies, Hiroshi Matsuno's The Living Skeleton is a wild and eerie work, with beautiful widescreen, black-and-white cinematography. (criterion.com)

Tetsuro Tamba portrays Kotaro Takamura, one of Japan's most celebrated artists. A poet and sculptor, Takamura is married to Chieko (Shima Iwashita), who has artistic aspirations of her own. She gradually comes to realize that her husband has all the talent in the family; as she sinks deeper into depression, Takamura tries to comfort her by writing several poems in her honor. She descends into insanity, while Takamura manifests his despair into some of his greatest artistic achievements. (Rovi)

"Kiri no Hata" revolves around the failings of the Japanese judicial system and the efforts of the sister of a falsely indicted defendant to gain representation by a prominent Tokyo defense attorney. (KG)

In ancient Japan, a good lord is killed and his throne is taken by the trecherous Yuki Daijo and his wizard friend Oroki-maru. The young prince Ikazuki-maru is rescued from the jaws of death by a magic bird sent by a wizard. Ten years later, Ikazuki-maru embarks on an adventure to avenge his parents and the wizard's death with his magic powers he learned from the wizard. He kills Yuki Daijo but then must battle Oroki-maru in a battle to the death. (imdb)

We find Reiko Ike once again cast as a tough schoolgirl who eventually has to band together with her enemies to upset the reign of their private Catholic high school administration where institutionalized sexual abuse is endemic. Tables are turned finally on the lay principal (Nobuo Kaneko), various sanctimonious teachers as well as an American priest (who drives a vulnerable virgin to suicide when he deflowers her!). (wipfilms.net)

Delinquent girl boss meets and conflicts with an orphan girl who lives an isolated life after the dramatic deaths of her parents. She plays the piano, but stands up against her lecherous guardian, who is also a school official (wipfilms.net)

The Son of the Black Mass returns in this ninth installment in Daiei's longstanding Nemuri Kyoshiro series. This time Raizo Ichikawa as Nemuri is called to see that a gold statuette of the Virgin Mary gets safe passage to Kyoto from the prying hands of a sect of murderous Christian ronin that call themselves the Black Finger Group. (imdb)

Vice Admiral Takajiro Ohnishi could see that Japan's defeat in WWII was inevitable. He came to realize that the only way to force a negotiated solution was to convince the Americans that invading Japan would cause massive casualties on both sides. The cold logic of suicide attacks, where one man and one plane could kill hundreds, seemed the only solution. (letterboxd.com)

Ishikawa, a newspaper journalist, unexpectedly meets Asako, a woman who used to work for his company some time ago as a phone operator. Three years ago, she accidentally heard the voice of a suspect who committed a still-unresolved homicide. Since then, the suspect's voice has remained lodged in her mind as a terrifying memory. One night, her husband invites over his colleagues, Kawai, Hamazaki, and Muraoka. She realizes that Hamazaki's voice sounds exactly the same as the unseen suspect's! (imdb)

Shinji (Akira Kobayashi), a wandering street musician, gets involved with a mob boss, Akitsu (Nobuo Kaneko), after saving one of his henchmen in a bar fight. Akitsu gives Shinji a job to evict an offshore fishery, but things take an unexpected twist when Shinji finds out the owner's wife is Akitsu's actual sister. As Shinji protects the Akitsu family, Akitsu's daughter takes a romantic interest in him.... (imdb)

A hot-shot detective in Yokohama kills a witness during a drug investigation. He flees to the countryside and evades his past for several years, only to return to find the woman he loved married to his former partner. He searches for answers to his troubled past, knowing that his inevitable doomed fate is more or less sealed. (imdb)

Story of loyal sailors giving their lives for their country as human torpedoes towards the end of the War. (The Movie Database)

A carnivalesque tale of a young student who hooks up with a down-at-heels traveling circus troupe. (Arrow Video)

When Honjo is selected as Kansai district's chairman, Iwasa of the rival gang asks Itsuki to do everything possible to have Honjo step down, which puts Itsuki between a rock and a hard place. (themoviedb.org)

Based on a true story about a jailbird who was sentenced for 41 years and escaped seven times. In 1947, Ueda robs a drug dealer and his woman for morphine and kills them. He gets imprisoned in Hiroshima, but escapes next year. From then on he gets caught and imprisoned over and over. (thehawaiiherald.com)

The plot concerns a passenger train which is stalled when a typhoon wrecks the tracks. The commuters are offloaded onto a shuttle bus, which is then taken over by a pair of sadistic gangsters. (imdb)

A college student takes over the family business in the field of organised crime. (imdb)

Amidst endless construction and aircraft noise, a family whose father died in the war slowly disintegrates, as the daughter and stepmother juggle for position in a country whose future was uncertain. (MUBI)

Onsen suppon geisha was part of a Hot Springs series, with Sugimoto having debuted in the first installment in 1971. In this one, she's so good at using that super strong vagina of hers that she can fuck guys to death. In the end, she's pitted against a sexual superman and a showdown ensues. There's also a subplot about a mad scientist type who needs vaginal juices to create a potion designed to turn Japanese girls black.

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband's business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband. (MUBI)

A continuation of Hungry Soul, from the same year. Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband's business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband. (letterboxd)

A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.

Karate expert Katayama (Takeda) investigates the robbery of a bank in Hokkaido, where an apple seed left at the scene holds the answer to the robbers' whereabouts.

Eight villains, former pirates and one daughter of same, gather to attack the magistrate's office. They develop a plan and begin their actions in secret, making full use of their special abilities. In the end, their plan goes beyond what was intended and turns into a good deed for many people. A masterpiece of historical drama, full of breathtaking thrills and action. (KG & me)

The film focuses on the romantic life of Tetsu, the drifter, and the girls he loves but can never quite bring himself to settle down with. Our story is set in a picturesque harbor town to make matters even more atmospheric. Yoshida is Tetsu's double-crossing rival who pays in the end with his life.

8th film in a series of 8.

A dangerous mobster threatens the life of a businessman's mother in this thriller. As Ryuji oversees the building of a bridge in Japan, a powerful gangster plans to stop the project. By any means necessary. (imdb)