Rentarô Mikuni

Based on the mystery novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this intense drama starts with 2 dead bodies found at the site of a shipwreck. They could be among the many victims who perished in the wreck but a gnarled old school detective thinks otherwise. (original uploader & me)

July, 1945: Japan's army is on the run. A platoon in Burma sings to keep its spirit up. Inspiration comes from their self-taught lute player... (imdb)

This film contains four distinct, separate stories. "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money... (imdb)

An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him things take an unexpected turn. (imdb)

With his closest friend, Matahachi, Takezo (the town's wild, orphan kid) leaves his village to join an army on its way to battle... (imdb)

Zatoichi arrives in a town where a gambling house is kidnapping its poor, debt-ridden patrons. A rival establishment moves to pay those debts and free the peasants, but this house's seemingly altruistic boss is actually laying the groundwork for a ruthless money-grabbing scheme.

Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about to be forced into prostitution for want of a payment the dead mother was bringing. Zatoichi determines to save the woman from her fate.

This film is such a milestone that it's a shame that it will probably never be screened again in it's original IMAX format. Petrov's animation technique involves oil painting on glass, which most animation geeks are familiar with. When combined with IMAX the result is stunning... (Amazon.com)

The death of the Inugami Family head leaves behind a complicated series of relationships, both personal and business, that results in increased danger, some murders and deaths, and a subsequent investigation by Tokyo Private Detective, Kindaichi. (twitchfilm.net)

Iwao Enokizu is a middle-aged man who has an unexplainable urge to commit insane and violent murders. Eventually he is chased by the police all over Japan, but somehow he always manages to escape. He meets a woman who runs a brothel. They love each other but how long can they be together? (imdb)

The Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island to drill a well to provide water for the sugar mill. He is assisted on the island by Kametaro, from the inbred Futori family. Nekichi Futori is chained in a pit that he has to dig, in order to appease the gods for breaking island customs... (imdb)

The film centers on Gohime, a vivacious tomboy living on Hideyoshi's estate who soon develops a strong friendship with Oribe. When the brash young Gohime learns that officials looking to curry favor with Hideyoshi have publicly exhibited Rikyu's head, she and Oribe's gallant gardener Usu retrieve it and place the disembodied body part at Rikyu's gravesite. (All Movie Guide)

Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting, Hideyoshi becomes Japan's most powerful warlord, unifying the country. Rikyu, through the tea ceremony and floral arrangements, tempers his lord, helping Hideyoshi focus on a single flower or be in a simple room where the shape of a cup is of most importance... (imdb)

Feudal Japan. Kamo Serizawa and Isami Kondo turn a collection of student fencers into a band of assassins known as the Shinsen Group, devoted to the Tokugawa shogunate and to an elegant code of action and behavior. Kondo leads the band against the forces of the Emperor in hopes of preventing his restoration to the throne. (imdb)

Ikka Kita is a revolutionary, who suffers when he is brought his younger brother's clothes, still smeared with his blood. Ikka's brother followed the revoltionary's precept and acted, attempting on the life of a finantial group manager and then, unable to escape, killing himself. Now, Ikka is more determined than ever to take his own teachings to the ultimate end, the «coup d'etat». (imdb)

Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman. (imdb)

The context here is tightly drawn in scope around a couple and their colleagues and friends, and the intended theme of marital discord is consistent and pervasive. The plot weaves around within these constraints, bringing out the various aspects of the eternal battle of the sexes. (imdb)

The competing husband and wife voiceovers that open the 1953 Mikio Naruse melodrama Wife set up a character dialectic that never comes to fruition and though the title suggests the resulting imbalance may be intentional, the film still plays out as a deeply flawed examination of marital discord. (Slant Magazine)

Tetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. (imdb)

Immediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, live with their grandmother in the country. Because their hair colour is different from Japanese, they'd have a hard time, being bullied or treated like unusual creatures. (imdb)

Starving Christian peasants, oppressed by landowners and samurai alike, rise up, led by a teenage boy called Shiro, against the Shogunate. (American Cinematheque)

In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation and were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation. This is the situation that The young Shinran discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.

Ryoko Itakura returns as the government tax agent willing to tackle the toughest cases. This time she takes on a fanatical but lucrative religious cult run by a vile lecher. (imdb)

As a cargo ship is preparing to leave on a long voyage mysterious and sinister events start to occur.

A young teacher struggles to overcome prejudices in early 20th century Japan.

During a military training exercise in snowy mountains, things go awry.

A black soldier flying during World War 2 is taken prisoner in a small Japanese village when his plane goes down.

A lonely gangster tries recruiting men to plunder a respected and powerful gang. (imdb)

A satirical take on yakuza films, the storyline of the film involves a teenage delinquent schoolgirl named Izumi Hoshi who inherits her father's clan. (Wikipedia)

This erotic and violent story taken from Emily Bronte's classic novel, takes place in medieval Japan instead of 19th-century Yorkshire. Onimaru (Yasaku Matsuda) is an orphan boy taken in by a group of priests who worship the Mountain of Fire and try to appease the gods of anger. He loves Kinu (Yuko Tanaka), the beautiful daughter of a local family. (mubi.com)

The Sun Goddess responsible for the founding of Japan is seen as conniving woman Himiko, who rules a small portion of the Japanese islands in the third century through her influence over several powerful men. When she is killed for reasons of political expediency, the film zooms back to reveal her mourners as figures in modern-day Japan. (allmovie.com)

With his friend Matahachi, Takezo has joined an army on its way to battle. After their side loses, they seek shelter in the isolated home of a widow, Oko, and her daughter, Akemi. Oko seduces Matahachi, who forgets his betrothal to the virtuous Otsu. Takezo returns to the village. Matahachi's family rejects Takezo's report and has him arrested for treason. A monk rescues him from death and sentences him to the study of the samurai code..(IMDB) (imdb)

"Chronicles Of My Mother" recounts the relationship of an author (Koji Yakusho) and his elderly parents. The author has a strained relationship with his father and his mother's (Kirin Kiki) memory grows weaker by the day. A reconciliation is attempted by the son. (asianwiki.com)

The story follows the very affluent and aging director Buhei Mikai (Rentaro Mikuni) who is currently filming a movie starring himself in the role of a great conductor who is battling cancer yet perseveres toward the final concert they have all prepared for. When off the set, Buhei lives a life of decadence, greeted and pampered by fans and inferiors, drinking massive amounts of whiskey, and ingesting handfuls of viagra to voraciously get it on with his mistress. (sarudama.com)

Soldiers Hayate and Yaheiji secretly escape from their besieged castle. Hayate has left behind his lover, Kano. On his way, Hayate is wounded and cared for by O'Ryo, who falls in love with him. But when Hayate accidentally kills her caretaker, he flees, with O'Ryo in pursuit. Subsequently, Hayate's comrade Yaheiji falls in love with Oryo. Kano, the lover left behind by Hayate, believes him dead, and becomes involved with another soldier, Jurota...

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)

When a married woman has an affair with a young musician, feudal Japanese law requires that both offenders pay with their lives. However, the woman's husband blames himself for his wife's straying and attempts to thwart the law demanding capital punishment. (imdb)

Hama-chan joins a company excursion to Oita with the rest of his department including his new junior Daisuke. Beautiful Namiko, the organizer of the trip is a contract employee and her elder brother is a fisherman. Hama-chan, as always sets out to sea for a bout of angling. He is a tad surprised when Namiko's brother consults him about Namiko's status as an unmarried contract worker.

Hama-chan's supervisor is promoted after many frustrating years with his wayward, fishing-obsessed underling, and Hama-chan's new boss naively tries to retrain him. Later, Su-san and Hama-chan go on a business trip, where they meet a beautiful, warm-hearted truck driver.

Hama-chan takes more paid holidays than anyone else at work, but is friends with the company's president, whom he calls Su-san. Su-san's doctor, concerned for the president's health, suggests that he retire. Su-san becomes depressed, goes fishing and collapses on the beach, but Hama-chan come to his rescue.

Hama-chan still works at Suzuki Construction in Tokyo, while continuing his friendship with company president Ichinosuke Suzuki. Hama-chan wishes he could have child - the only thing missing in his happy life. Su-san then takes Hama-chan on a fishing trip to cheer him up. While on the trip Su-san meets the daughter of his first love. He learns from the girl that his first love's tomb is about to be demolished to make way for a resort.

Densuke Hamazaki is an office worker at Suzuki Construction and gets transferred to the main Tokyo office. After settling in to his surrounding along with his wife Eri, Densuke befriends an elderly man named Ichinosuke Suzuki. Ichinosuke is a lonely and old man who learns to enjoy life again through his friendship with Densuke. Meanwhile, Densuke is completely unaware that Ichinosuke is the boss of his construction company. The two men become friends through their shared passion for fishing.

Su-san must give a lecture in far-off Iwate, which serves as another excuse for the company president and Hama-chan to go fishing. Once there, however, Hama-chan is mistaken for the company president and Su-san for his chauffeur! But Su-san is delighted at the mix-up: he gets to go fishing with a beautiful woman working at a local inn.

In the late Edo Period, a fishing-crazy warrior is kicked out of his clan and leads an itinerant existence with his long-suffering sister. He finds a kindred spirit in the leader of another clan.

Hama-chan and Michiko have a son, whom they name Koitaro. At the office, Su-san's nephew begins work at the construction company and becomes friends with Hama-chan. When the nephew runs off with the sister of Hama-chan's friend, he and Su-san go looking for the young lovers ? and fishing, of course.

Hama-chan gets his construction company a big contract to build a museum through one of his fishing friends. But the man proves difficult to work with, especially after the he insists on a ludicrous design that will make everyone look foolish. The contract in jeopardy, Su-san enlists Hama-chan's help.

On a fishing trip, Hama-chan and Su-san meet a beautiful lady and the three have a great time. Later, Su-san gets a toothache, and his dentist turns out to be the woman, whom he secretly takes fishing, lying to Hama-chan in the process. When the two men later run into one another, their friendship is threatened.

One of Hama-chan's shy pupils falls in love with the daughter of Su-san's friend, and the young lovers eventually get married. After the wedding Hama-chan and Su-san go fishing, but when Su-san slips and injures his leg, concerned company employees rush to their cabin and finally learn of their surprising friendship.

Hama-chan's sales department gets a new supervisor, a hard-working taskmaster that's the very opposite of carefree, irresponsible Hama-chan. The veteran employee decides to find his boss, a divorced father, a new wife. The supervisor loves a bar hostess "mama-san," but is unable to confess his true feelings until Hama-chan comes to his rescue.

Su-san burnt out, and suddenly resigned as president of the company and run away. Hama-chan looked for him and finally found out him at the office building where Hama-chan used to work. Su-san got a job as a caretaker of that building.

Approached by a friend about a matchmaking arrangement, Su-san goes to Hama-chan's home seeking help. Hama-chan is away on a business trip, but Michiko entertains Su-san late into the night. When he gets drunk and ends up spending the night, Hama-chan, begins to question his boss's relationship with Michiko.

Mr. Takano, a company employee, announces plans to take an early retirement so he can return to his home town and spend his days fishing. Su-san and Hama-chan envy his decision, and Hama-chan conspires to visit Takano, even though he has no vacation time left.

Hama-chan's construction company once again faces the prospect of downsizing in the shrinking Japanese economy. Despite this, Hama-chan goes on vacation where he meets the firm's downsizing consultant, who has doubts about her career.

Densuke Hamada, aka Hama-chan, is an ordinary businessman working in a construction company, except for one thing. The fishing. It's the first priority in his life. Hama-chan and Suu-san come to Nagasaki for the opening ceremony of the bridge constructed by Suu-san's company. There Hama-chan meets Bob, an American soldier who is also crazy about fishing. When Suu-san returns to Tokyo, he is told Hama-chan has become missing.

Hama-chan & Su-san travels to Sasbo, Nagasaki for the opening of the 2nd Saikai Bridge. While on business, Hama-chan thinks of only fishing and eventually finds himself in trouble.

Su-san has put in the hard yards as president of the Suzuki Construction Company, and he has now been appointed its chairman. Su-san went missing sometime during his daily morning walk one day. Hama-chan fakes an illness in order to be absent from work and heads to Okayama, where the town residents, mainly the young folk have formed a anti-development group to protest the project which they believe will destroy their beautiful coastal waters.

Hama-chan and Michiko's son, Koitaro, is now one year old. When Michiko leaves home to attend a school reunion and Michiko's mother is unable to care for the infant, Hama-chan is forced to take Koitaro to work and the baby soon gets lost, creating all manner of havoc at the construction firm.

Realistic docudrama on daily police life.

The last episode in the long running comedy film series.

During a long train trip in Japan, a young man tries to talk to an older woman which initially refuses any proximity. After several tries some aspects of her past are unfold and they arrange a meeting.

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)

In the second film in the series Takezo embarks on a quest after three years of solitary contemplation.

An old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death. (imdb)

A young wife looses patience with her career-minded husband and returns to her parents' home while an unpaid mortgage force the couple to rent out their home for the summer to the husband's boss. (imdb)

In the film, Musashi (Kinnosuke Nakamura), hoping to extend his knowledge of the techniques of personal combat, visits the home of Baiken Shishido (Rentaro Mikuni), a bandit who has developed a highly unorthodox way of fighting with ball and chain in one hand and a small very sharp scythe in the other. Musashi first comes upon Baiken's wife (Hideko Okiyama), also adept in her husband's methods, training her baby not to fear the whirling iron ball or the cries of an advancing warrior. (nytimes.com)

An Iranian boy (Farbod Ahmadjo) mobilizes villagers to complete a special carpet that a Japanese girl (Miyu Yagyu) and her father need for a festival. (imdb)

Five years ago Minako spent a night with Sozo, the younger brother of her ex-husband. Now she is married to a wealthy old man, who (though he loves his young wife) is no longer able to fulfill his conjugal duties. Consequently, Minako goes to Tokyo every three months to meet Sozo, who has married the daughter of his respected teacher. (imdb)

The picture belongs to the jidai gekki (historic) genre. It is a powerful story of violence and eroticism, picturing a world at once sordid and poetic, with two central themes which intermingle to compound an admirable panel of a critical period in Japanese history: the great famine in the mid 19th Century. (imdb)

Two men and a woman plan to steal 1,5 Billion Yen... (guernica)

During the winter in Toyama in 1962, Tatsuo Mizushima is fretting about his feelings for his classmate Eiko Tsujisawa while agonizing about his upcoming high school examinations. When he was little, he and Eiko had heard that in April of a year when the winter has been very harsh, any couple finding fireflies together needs to get married. However, his family's situation does not allow Tatsuo to continue his worrying about such things for very much longer... (letterboxd)

When a family has to relocate due to the war, they are ostracized by their new community.

At Rabaul, ace pilot Wakabayashi leads a rapidly depleting squad of airmen trying to defend Japanese forces from air attacks. Known as "Devil" Wakabayashi, he rules with an iron fist – taking issue with men who spend their time in local bars and pointedly refusing to send rescue craft for crashed pilots. (Windows on Worlds)

A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan without fear of consequences. (imdb)

1957 film directed by Miyoji Ieki. Winner of the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. (themoviedb)

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)

Sonejiro sacrifices all comfort to devote himself to research. Young housewife Yachiyo is disappointed with her husband Kappei, who is more attracted to mountain climbing and another girl. When Yachiyo's father is introduced to Sonejiro, good will turns evil, and all happiness is at stake. (imdb)

A modern adaptation of Narayamabushi-ko, The Ballad of Narayama. (imdb)

Ten years before the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia, a Japanese Go master and his Chinese rival meet in China to play a game of Go (loosely described as an Asian version of chess). It soon becomes evident that the Chinese master's son is the most talented player that the Japanese master has ever encountered, and he convinces the boy's father to let him bring the child back to Japan to train him as a professional Go player... (Simon Levy)

An overworked executive finds himself in a love triangle.

Odoshi is a 1966 film directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

In Hiroshima Prefecture during the Meiji era, simple housemaid Seki accepts the proposal of Moichi, an educated mail carrier, who has decided to quit his job and save money for a warehouse by transporting goods with his wooden cart. Seki's parents disown her for not asking for their approval, and also Moichi's mother, a widow, does not accept her as her daughter-in-law, treating her disdainfully.

Oshima, a rich girl married Shinzo, and her cousin girl Sawa has been jealous of Oshima deeply. Sawa cursed Oshima so Shinzo could not hold her and do anything at all. Shinzo hated Oshima, and he made love with Sawa.

A native of Echigo, Gonsuke, is working far from home, and envies his countryman Tomekichi for his excellent reputation at work and his beautiful wife. (mubi.com)

Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu". Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya.

Ise, a successful entrepreneur, accidentally murders his lunatic wife after he is spotted having an affair with his secretary, Harumi. In his attempt to perfect his crime, he drives to a remote quarry to bury his wife’s body, but along the way, he finds another dead body in the back of his car! Given no choice, Ise dumps both bodies. Meanwhile, Yoshie begins her search for her missing brother, Yoshihiko. After surprising twists and turns, Ise faces his fate. (Avistaz)

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.

A woman who grew up in a prestigious household, begins to have an affair outside the marriage. Based on a Yukio Mishima novel.