Akira Takarada

A World Without Cherry Blossoms (2022)

Saki, a high school girl who always skips classes, works part-time as a life adviser. ...

The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019)

Japan, 1954. A legend emerges from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by atomic bombs in 1945. The creature's name is Godzilla. The film that tells its story is the first of kaiju eiga, the giant monster movies. ...

Nipponia Nippon – Fukushima Rhapsody (2019)

Naraho town in Fukushima Prefecture is on the front-line of the government-funded nuclear power plant decommissioning work. Kokuhei Kusunoki is transferred from Aizu Wakamatsu City to Naraho Town to take over the Disaster PR Division. Murai takes Kokuhei a ...

The Great Buddha Arrival (2018)

An all-star reboot of the lost classic 1934 film, The Giant Buddha Statue's Travel Through The Country, made with the cooperation of director Yoshiro Edamasa's grandson. From Japan, a modern kaiju story based on what may be the first kaiju film. ...

Bridge over Troubled Water (2018)

Miyuki works as an OL. Her younger sibling died from a car accident in 1989. Due to her sibling's death, her mother became ill and her father drank constantly until he died. Miyuki believes if she could prevent the car accident, her family would have a hap ...

The Man of the Political Economy (2015)

Matsunaga Yasuzaemon was a man called "Electricity Monster". The post-war recovery and high economic growth serve as the basis for him to achieve the breakup and privatisation of the electricity business. As a follower of Fukuzawa Yukichi, he inherited the ...

Hail to the King: 60 Years of Destruction (2015)

An independent crowd-funded documentary that celebrates the sixty-year legacy of the world's greatest monster, Godzilla. Filmed on location in Tokyo to document kaiju-related events, locations and to interview cast, crew and fans of the Godzilla series abo ...

Godzilla Battle Royale (2014)

Godzilla Battle Royale is a low-budget Godzilla fan film, directed and written by Billy DuBose. It was theatrically screened in the Pickwick Theater. ...

A Far Promise (2014)

There was a tragedy that began at the end of the '69 war. The sad story about the lives of the orphans of Manchuria refugee camp who had to struggled against perpetual cold and hunger. ...

The Cabin Attendant (2014)

Miho (Kyoko Fukada) works as a cabin attendant for an international airline. She takes a job to find wine to serve to passengers on a New York route. Miho doesn't know much about wine and turns to senior cabin attendant Tomoko (Kazue Fukiishi), who enjoys ...

Godzilla (2014)

Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to ...

A Sparkle of Life (2013)

Lonely after the death of her husband, whom she nursed for years, Tae decides to find a new life partner. Her family and friends try to dissuade her. ...

Making of Godzilla vs. Mothra (2010)

A look into the production of the nineteenth Godzilla film. Includes filmmaker and actor interviews with behind the scenes footage of the film's visual effects. Includes an interview with Akira Ifukube and a brief discussion of the late Ishiro Honda. ...

Bringing Godzilla Down to Size: The Art of Japanese Special Effects (2008)

A look at the unrecognized work of the talented artists and craftsmen who've maintained the tradition of Japanese special-effects. Highlighted is Yasuyuki Inoue along with various crew members who crafted meticulously detailed miniatures and risked life an ...

Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007)

Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project. ...

Fantastipo (2005)

Two brothers must take the helm of their family's company, Armadillo, Inc., after their father steps down from his position as the company's director. Through trials and tribulations, the two slowly begin to learn the true meaning of family. ...

Mikio Naruse 100th Birth Anniversary (2005)

Because his style was similar to that of Yasujiro Ozu, who was already active at Shochiku, he moved to PCL (currently Toho) in 1933, where he appeared in the talkie works "My Wife, Like a Rose" and "Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro." It got attention. There were times ...

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as X ...

Fukumimi (2003)

29-year-old Satonaka Takashi (Kudo Kankuro) is a freelancer. He falls in love at first sight with Satoru Nobunaga (Shiho Takano), who was a nurse at his previous hospitalization. He half stalks her and ends up working at the "Time Machine" restaurant in To ...

Tales of the Unusual (2000)

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and ha ...

Road to the Don 12 (2000)

The twelfth 'Road to the Don' film. ...

History of Japan’s Yakuza — Ambition Corps (1999)

In the late 1950s, Uragami Ryuji leaves his hometown with big ambitions. Working at a factory by day and attending night school, he witnesses a yakuza clash where a fearless man stands his ground against several opponents. The sight awakens a burning deter ...

History of Japan’s Yakuza — Ambition Corps 2 (1999)

Using his strong sense of justice, Uragami Ryuji gains influence at both the factory and school. Though a dispute with the Nio-kai yakuza is once settled, their renewed provocation leads Ryuji and his followers to quit the factory and confront the Nio-kai ...

Tom Cat Holmes and the Twilight Hotel (1998)

The second TV movie Obayashi Nobuhiko directed based on Akagawa Jiro's Mikeneko Holmes series. ...

Woman in Witness Protection (1997)

Vain, middle-aged actress Biwako is placed in witness protection while authorities investigate the brutal murder she witnessed. Under the watch of two dedicated cops, Biwako struggles to maintain her career, her public image, and her personal life as she p ...

Sure Death 6 (1996)

When an artist dies, the official cause of death is judged to be a stroke, but his daughter suspects foul play. She recruits the services of an assassin, who by chance encounters an old friend... ...

My name is Reiko Shiratori! The Movie (1995)

Reiko and Tetsuya continue to live together. Reiko, who was informed by Kyoko that she was engaged to Takada, pretended not to be interested in her marriage, but in her heart, she wanted to marry Tetsuya. Tetsuya, unable to see through Reiko's true feeling ...

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

Mothra's dark counterpart, Battra, emerges to eliminate humanity on behalf of the Earth. Two tiny fairies called the Cosmos offer their help by calling Mothra to battle the creature. Unfortunately a meteorite has awoken a hibernating Godzilla as a three wa ...

Patio (1992)

As an engaged couple, Shinichi Kida and Mari Egawa spend a romantic night on a premarital trip to the southern island, but Shinichi suddenly disappears the next morning. Mari searches for her classmates Yu Sawamoto and Shinichi who happened to meet again, ...

Minbo, or The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992)

An upscale Japanese hotel hires Mahiru Inoue, a lawyer adept at dealing with the Yakuza, to help them rid their hotel of the local gangsters so they can get a contract for a meeting of important foreign officials. ...

Tales of a Golden Geisha (1990)

Nayoko, a good-hearted geisha, brings luck to the men she sleeps with, even though most are scoundrels who don't deserve it. ...

Clara White Paper - ShohjotaiPHOON! (1985)

Three young girls coming of age in a Catholic boarding school bond over the strict rules and vow to support each other. Kikuka dreams of becoming a manga artist, Makiko an actress. Shinobu just didn't want to relocate to Hokkaido with her parents. ...

The Audition (1984)

Four girls and their manager aiming for stardom! ...

Legend of Plumeria (1983)

Emiko Hayasaka (Seiko Matsuda), who lives in Hawaii, has arranged a marriage with Akira Kuniyoshi (Shinji Yamashita), the son of the president of a hotel chain. Although Emiko is not yet ready to get married, Akira and both of her parents are enthusiastic ...

Godzilla (1977)

A re-edited Italian-language dubbed version of the original Godzilla, using as a basis the U.S. version, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" (1956), plus WWII newsreel footage and clips from other science fiction films. The re-edited film was then colorized ...

Travels of Lord Mito (1969)

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. ...

Latitude Zero (1969)

A massive underwater volcano erupts and puts a group of investigative scientists in danger. They are rescued by an atomic super submarine named The Alpha under the command of Captain McKenzie. The group is quickly taken to a vast underwater city known as L ...

Imaginary Paradise (1968)

Comedy-fantasy about a salaryman (Tani) and his imaginary friends. ...

Golden Eyes (1968)

A killer-for-hire gets mixed up with a cast of wacky characters involved in a gold smuggling route from Beirut to Tokyo. ...

Devils-in-Law (1968)

King Kong Escapes (1967)

An adaptation of the Rankin/Bass cartoon, "The King Kong Show". King Kong is brought in by the evil Dr. Who to dig for Element X in a mine when the robot Mechani-Kong is unable to do the task. This leads to the machine and the real Kong engaging in a treme ...

Let's Go! Young Guy (1967)

College student Yuichi Tanuma is fired up for Nationals where his university Kyonan will face off against their rivals, Seihoku. Yuichi has his sights set on winning football gold, but his father, who wants him to take over his sukiyaki restaurant, isn't t ...

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacea ...

The Daphne (1966)

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. ...

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As ...

Ironfinger (1965)

A silly yet skilled Interpol agent flies to Tokyo and gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer. ...

The Longest Night (1965)

Blood and Diamonds (1964)

A group of criminals whose diamond heist goes wrong retreat to a WWII era bunker where tensions begin to rise. ...

Hibari, Chiemi, Izumi: We Are Three Best Friends (1964)

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla ...

Mr. Giant's Victory Flag (1964)

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. ...

A Woman's Life (1963)

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son. ...

Anything For Success (1962)

A "hustler's hustler" (Takarada), works his way up the corporate ladder at a camera company. His biggest scheme involves winning the business of a foreign visitor by setting him up with a beautiful "model" (Tsukasa), actually a bar hostess, but the plan ba ...

Chûshingura (1962)

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor. ...

A Wanderer's Notebook (1962)

Based on the life and career of novelist Fumiko Hayashi, she bitterly struggles for literary recognition in the first half of the 20th-century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, o ...

Let's Meet in Our Dreams (1962)

Mie Nakao runs away from home to join her older sister's production company as a new talent. We follow her ups and downs on the way to stardom as she falls in love with two men, a petty thief and a music writer and teacher, and makes her way in the industr ...

Me and Me (1962)

Toho comedy shot in Tohoscope featuring performances from the Peanuts and the Crazy Cats. Original released alongside another Toho comedy, King Kong vs. Godzilla. ...

Star of Hong Kong (1962)

Wang Xinglian returns from her studies in Japan to visit her father in Hong Kong where she has an encounter with the young Japanese Hasegawa Toru. The two meet again and fall in love in Hokkaido when Wang and her best friend Sugimoto Kanako are going on a ...

Breakthrough Course of Women in Trouble (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Long Way to Okinawa (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Shimizu Port Salaryman Part II (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Woman of Design (1962)

Story of romance and rivalry between two ad agencies vying for the same account with a pharmaceutical firm. ...

The Wiser Age (1962)

Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner. ...

Different Sons (1961)

In the middle of the period of high economic growth in Japan, a family is thrown into disarray over work, money, and romance. Their father's sudden unemployment later in life causes friction among the siblings of the Akagi family. Kensuke, a salaryman at a ...

The End of Summer (1961)

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth. ...

The Last War (1961)

A Japanese family is torn apart by the tensions of an avoidable nuclear world war between the superpowers. ...

A Night in Hong Kong (1961)

Romantic melodrama set in contemporary Hong Kong, Japan and Laos. Hiroshi Tanaka (Takarada) is a Japanese journalist on assignment in Hong Kong who meets and falls in love with Wu Li Hung (Ming). He proposes to Wu Li but she rejects him because of her dis ...

The Masterless 47 – Part II (1961)

The eighth entry in the President series. ...

The Masterless 47 (1960)

Part one of The Masterless 47. ...

The Lovelorn Geisha (1960)

A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself 'already dead'. ...

The Dangerous Kiss (1960)

Starring Akira Takarada as a lightweight boxing champion. ...

Daughters, Wives and a Mother (1960)

Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family. ...

The Storm of the Pacific (1960)

Lt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed with pride in his hometown on his return. As Japan racks up victory after victory in t ...

Beyond the Hills (1960)

Story of young love in the hills. ...

Sazae-san, the Wayward Wife (1959)

Masuo and Sazae are enjoying their newlywed life in their new house, even though they are in company housing. Masuo's colleague is invited to thank him for the newlyweds, but Masuo has been told by Managing Director Hanamura to go on a business trip to Kan ...

The Three Treasures (1959)

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has con ...

Someday I'll Know (1959)

A modern love story involving different affairs. ...

Samurai Saga (1959)

Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as a friend, so he helps another man to woo her by giving him the poetry of his own ...

A Whistle in My Heart (1959)

The story is about the social problems faced by Japan's indigenous Ainu, mostly centered on the reactions of the characters to their oppressed state. ...

The Big Boss (1959)

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents p ...

Bright Young Maidens (1958)

In order to get Kanako (Izumi Yukimura) married, her mother places a rental listing in the student medical school newsletter and attempts to find a suitable lodger who will catch the eye of her daughter. ...

Yaji and Kita on the Road (1958)

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, mistak ...

Holiday in Tokyo (1958)

May Kawaguchi is a famous Japanese fashion designer. Returning to Tokyo from her home in New York, she travels incognito with a tour group, in hopes of having a quiet vacation without being noticed. But she is spotted and the press has a field-day with the ...

The Capital of Love (1958)

Aiko, a bar hostess, falls for the son of a company president who also keeps a mistress, and whose family disapproves of his relationship with the bar hostess. ...

On Wings of Love (1957)

On Wings of Love is a 1957 Japanese romantic musical film directed by Toshio Sugie. It was Toho's highest-grossing film of the year and the first film released in Tohoscope. ...

A Rainbow Plays in My Heart: Part 2 (1957)

An Ishiro Honda film. The second part of A Rainbow Plays in My Heart released the same day as the first film. ...

A Rainbow Plays in My Heart: Part 1 (1957)

An Ishiro Honda film. The first part of A Rainbow Plays in My Heart released the same day as the second film. ...

Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman (1957)

An American scientist tells two colleagues about the finding of an abominable snowman living in the Japanese alps, where it is worshipped by a remote tribe as a god, and how it was discovered by modern man after it raided a skiers shelter following an aval ...

Birth of Romance (1957)

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 Mi ...

Godzilla, the Monster of the Pacific Ocean (1957)

Obscure French version of the original Godzilla. The film combines elements of the original Toho version and the American King of the Monsters! in a unique assemblage exclusive to the Francophone market. Released by Les Films du Verseau. ...

Price of Beauty (1957)

Melodrama about a young factory girl who "chooses riches over chastity". ...

The Paradise Island Story (1957)

Musical-comedy about nine soldiers deserted on an island in South Pacific. ...

Love on Rainbow Island (1956)

Japanese counterpart to Romeo and Juliet ...

Jacks and Jills (1956)

A 1956 color Japanese film starring Hibari Misora, Eri Chiemi, and Izumi Yukimura. The film was the second part of the "three girl" series of films from Toho studios ("So Young, So Bright", "Romantic Daughters", and "On Wings of Love"). ...

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which ...

Runaway Bride (1956)

Beast Man Snow Man (1955)

Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman. ...

All is Well 2 (1955)

A year 's date has flowed since Toyoshi Daikichi was driven out of Toyo Electric. In the company Okazaki's plan steadily progressed, a capital increase was also made to strengthen the voice. Daikichi, who knew about it, had been buying Toyo Electric shares ...

All is Well (1955)

Daichi Tateharu who was an employee of the Mori Seisakusho has been recruited from Siberia, but the company changed its name to Toyo Denki Seisakusho, and the president Shingo Mori was the general affairs manager. ...

Godzilla (1954)

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. ...

A World Without Cherry Blossoms (2022)

Saki, a high school girl who always skips classes, works part-time as a life adviser. ...

Long Way to Okinawa (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Beyond the Hills (1960)

Story of young love in the hills. ...

The Big Boss (1959)

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents p ...

The Capital of Love (1958)

Aiko, a bar hostess, falls for the son of a company president who also keeps a mistress, and whose family disapproves of his relationship with the bar hostess. ...

Price of Beauty (1957)

Melodrama about a young factory girl who "chooses riches over chastity". ...