Asao Sano

The Aesthetic Salon Murders 2 (1998)

Iwatsuki Reiko, a writer for a weekly magazine goes on a trip to Amakusa, Kyushu with Yukitake Asami, the president of a company. Yukitake informs Iwatsuki that she has many enemies. ...

Shadow Hunters (1992)

In the middle of the Edo period, when the finances of the shogunate were in a desperate situation, the shogunate sent its shadow spies to each clan, who secretly planned the abolition of the clans and the seizure of their territories. The Inami clan has ma ...

The Empty Table (1985)

One year after the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths, all the other perpetrators' parents have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobu ...

The Blazing Valiant (1981)

Jo has just come back to Japan for the funeral of his parents, who were killed in tribal warfare in Africa where the family had been living throughout most of Jo's life. Once the funeral was over, he missed the boat that was going to take him back home, an ...

Kagero-za (1981)

A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron's deceased wife. ...

Shinobu Otake's Inspirational Girl: Youth Lived by Love and Psychic Powers (1980)

The biography of Mifune Chizuko a woman clairvoyant. ...

May Love Be Restored (1980)

A tragic love story between a prostitute and a young trainee monk. ...

The Incident (1978)

The body of Sakai Hatsuko, a woman of 23 who has been slain with a knife, has been found in a forest. Some days later, Ueda Hiroshi, a 19-year-old shipyard worker, is arrested and charged with the murder. At Ueda's trial, a complex story unfolds. ...

Beauty Wandering Story (1977)

Permanent Blue (1976)

In a fishing town by the Seto Sea, a student discovers a woman motionless on the beach and takes her back to his family's inn to nurse her, but he soon discovers than she is an extremist on the run from the police. ...

Tora-san's Sunrise and Sunset (1976)

Tora-san arrives in Shibamata on Mitsuo's first day of school only to find that on his account, Mitsuo was embarrassed. After a fight with his family, he goes to a bar to drink, then brings home a surly old man with a sad story, whose identity will surpri ...

Japan Beauty Story: A Woman Among Women (1975)

Cops vs. Thugs (1975)

When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kun ...

The Last Samurai (1974)

The film follows the story of Sugi Toranosuke, a ronin, who returns to his home town of Edo many years after his attempted suicide as a sickly child. Rescued and adopted by a master swordsman, he has grown into a master swordsman and a very kind gentleman. ...

Japan Beauty Story (1974)

Deeper Than Blue (1973)

About a girl who marries in the middle of the Pacific War, is widowed at 18, and her unflagging struggle to survive during and after the war with her son. ...

A Narcotics Agent's Ballad (1972)

Undercover cop Kikuchi teams up with the Okinawa local police to clean up the narcotics and prostitution underworld. ...

Mysterious Thirteen Nights: Chapter 11 - The Ghost Story of Decapitation (1971)

Eleventh film of "Mysterious Thirteen Nights" series. ...

High-School Outcasts (1970)

Tsutomu (Kensaku Morita), an orphan who once stabbed a man, is released from a reformatory and goes to Tottori, on the Japan Sea coast, to enter a high school. On the beach, he meets a young fisherman, Yusuke (Norihiko Yamamoto) also a student of the same ...

Abare chōhan (1970)

Apart from Life (1970)

A film set in Nagasaki examining prejudice against atom bomb victims. ...

Blood End (1969)

Sentaro is been severely beaten for his defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine. He is befriended by Kada Gentaro, a leader in the Mito Tengu group, which plans to overthrow the shogunate. ...

Gambler's Dilemma (1969)

The love story between a traveling guest and a geisha who inadvertently becomes the leader of her father's yakuza clan, after his death. ...

The Girl I Abandoned (1969)

Tsutomu Yoshioka, a Tokyo office worker, is engaged to Mariko, the niece of his company's president. But Yoshioka has a crisis of consence when he remembers his former love Mitsu, a rural girl whom he met and later left while in college. Shimako, a former ...

The Sands of Kurobe (1968)

Kitagawa is an engineer charged with construction of a gigantic tunnel through the Japan Alps for the transportation of equipment in the building of the massive Kurobe Dam. The tunnel crosses an earthquake fault and Kitagawa is beleaguered not only by cave ...

A Warm Misty Night (1967)

When Toru Sagara (Yujiro Ishihara) returns home from a foreign cargo route, he proposes to his beloved girlfriend Akiko (Ruriko Asaoka). She joyously agrees, promising a life together. On the day they were to be joined in matrimony, Akiko suddenly goes mis ...

Birth of a Fighter (1967)

A young boss proves his right to rule his gang. ...

Fighting Elegy (1966)

Kiroku boards with a Roman Catholic family and falls for the daughter Michiko. He ignores his feelings, joins a gang, gets in fights and, eventually, becomes involved with the radical Kita Ikki group. ...

I'll Never Cry! (1966)

The rehabilitation of a delinquent on leaving reformatory. Her redemption comes through a boy in a wheelchair; by his rehabilitation, growing comes in courage along with her patient, she grows by finding meaning in her own existence. She finally sees a new ...

Fearless Comrades (1966)

The first film in the Fearless Guy series. Kosuke was part of a huge organized crime group, but decided to leave after his best friend died a brutal death at the hands of the gang leader. He goes on a trip with a guitar in his hand and ends up in Yokohama. ...

The Heart of Hiroshima (1966)

One morning, Kazue is nearly knocked over by a motorbike in front of an instrument store, breaking all the records that she was carrying. The two connect instantly and begin seeing each other every day. However, Iwai, Yukio's foster parent, is concerned - ...

Carmen from Kawachi (1966)

Like a girl runaway, Tsuyu moves to Osaka to work as a bar hostess. She meets the owner of a model school, Yoko, and seriously thinks about becoming a fashion model. Yoko tells her that she can move in to Yoko's house to take lessons, while making a living ...

The Dragon of Macao (1965)

Ryu (Akira Kobayashi) sets foot on the Yokohama port with a suitcase filled with 300 thousand dollars. He was sent by a jewelry company in Hong Kong to retrieve a certain diamond that was stolen from them. The "Himalayan Star" is worth couple hundred milli ...

Zoku seiun yakuza - ikari no otoko (1965)

A Chain of Islands (1965)

When a US army sergeant is found drowned in Tokyo Bay, an investigation is launched to determine how and why he lost his life. The investigation uncovers a black market scheme involving counterfeit money, murder, and conspiracy. ...

The Witness' Chair (1965)

Murder case and trial. ...

Seishun zenki: Aoi kajitsu (1965)

1965 Nikkatsu youth film. ...

Gambling is My Destiny (1965)

Shadowed and alone. Today, a melancholy guitar sobs in a wandering seaside town.... To make amends, he hides his identity and saves his girlfriend's sister from certain death. Filmed on location on the scenic Manazuru Peninsula, the action is set amidst ru ...

Black Strait (1964)

Newly out of prison after killing his boss' rival, Akio Maki is eager to move on and start a new life with the boss' daughter. However, the chains of the past are not so easily broken and Maki is soon ordered to kill again. ...

A Man's Crest: Fight Challenge (1964)

Sixth part in the Enblem of Man series. ...

The Long Death (1964)

On January 26, 1948, a robbery of the Teigin bank took place in Tokyo - the criminal poisoned the bank employees and fled the scene with a large amount of money. In parallel with the investigation conducted by the Japanese police, journalists are also tryi ...

Gun Demon Without Form (1964)

A detective drama that realistically shows the work of an experienced detective who, under cover, pursues the organizer of the arms trade route from Kobe. ...

The School Cap (1963)

A Tokyo student transfers to a rural school and finds it difficult to adjust himself to its customs and traditions. One of the customs is the wearing of an old school cap by a senior. It is a symbol of courage and bravery and is handed down to a new senior ...

The Incorrigible (1963)

Based on the loosely autobiographical novel of the same name by Toko Kon. Ken Yamanouchi stars as Togo Konno, the titular bastard. ...

Acacia no Ame ga Yamu Toki (1963)

Hideo Ishizaki, who was painting on the shore of the lake, saves a woman named Keiko. ...

I Have the Sun in My Back (1963)

Shigeru is a young man who works as a window cleaner. His older brother Kenzo has just returned from prison and is determined to start life anew. But a battle for leadership within his old gang causes him to be framed for murder. Shigeru sets out to uncove ...

Gone in the Rain (1963)

Ayako (Sayuri Yoshinaga) is a free-willed college girl who shares a room with Takako and Kimie. They each have a clear vision of what they want from their career and love life. Soon, their room share takes a turn, when ideals begin to clash with reality. ...

Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! (1963)

Tajima is a private detective in charge of his own company, Detective Bureau 2-3. When warring criminal gangs go overboard by robbing U.S. military munitions, Tajima steps in to stop what the cops can't. ...

The Guys Who Put Money on Me (1962)

An unofficial sequel to Million Dollar Match (1961) which also starred Koji Wada as a young energetic boxer. This story deals more with betting action surrounding a boxing match, concentrating mostly on the high-powered Yakuza gambling dens. ...

My Hobo (1962)

Story of a resourceful hobo (Kobayashi), a con woman (Takamine) who pretends to be a victim of the Nagasaki A-bomb, and two orphaned children who become a most atypical Japanese family. ...

I Hate But Love (1962)

A celebrity, dissatisfied with his personal and professional lives, impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging repor ...

Sun and Stars (1962)

It's a thrilling, action-packed entertainer with sparks of men versus villains in an up-and-down tale of brothers burning with masculine will and passion. ...

Teenage Yakuza (1962)

A high-school vigilante protects his community from the extortions of mobsters from a neighbouring city. ...

Quick Draw Sanshiro (1962)

Koji Wada, who is good at shooting, karate, judo and boxing, has a tough fight with the sea gangsters! ...

A Torrent of Life (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Black Dice (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Drunkard's Paradise (1962)

A father and son are both heavy drinkers. However, the son dies in an accident at a bar, leaving behind a fiance…. A unique social satire that focuses on why people drink alcohol. ...

Kusa wo karu musume (1961)

1961 Japanese movie ...

Dawn of a Canvas (1961)

A masterpiece depicting the lives of a father his daughter, he is an isolated artist and she's a model. ...

Gambler in the Sea (1961)

Joe, a master diver, explodes his fighting spirit and friendship across raging seas and scorching deserts in this gorgeous and entertaining epic. ...

The Man with a Shotgun (1961)

Ryoji, a wanderer, arrives in a remote mountain town, carrying a shotgun and claiming to be a hunter. He quickly becomes embroiled in a web of trouble surrounding the town's mill. ...

The Diary of a Police Officer: The Slammer Is Full (1961)

A small provincial town surrounded by mountains and fields in northeastern Japan. Here a group of eight policemen solve a series of unusual cases, ranging from extortion, to drunken fathers, to corruption and even the persecution of a man who claims to be ...

Hana to musume to shiroi michi (1961)

One of Sayuri Yoshinaga's first leading roles. ...

Women of Tokyo (1961)

Isseki Nicho (1961)

Girl in the Glass (1960)

This film depicts the pure love between a girl raised by a strict father and a young man working in a small factory to support his family. The friendship that had blossomed between them eventually grew into love. Yet the purer it was, the more it seemed d ...

Towering Waves (1960)

A young prosecutor named Takao falls in love with Yoriko, only to discover that her husband is the target of his investigation into a major corruption scandal. Torn between professional duty and their forbidden affair, the couple finds themselves trapped b ...

Covered Wagon (1960)

A Western-inspired film where a pair of traveling beekeepers odyssey by covered wagon from Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese archipelago's major islands, to Hokkaido, it's northernmost. ...

Blood Is Dry (1960)

An employee in an assurance company threatens to commit suicide when management announces a massive layoff, the company uses this threat to its own advantage by turning the incident into an advertising campaign. With the success of the campaign, however, h ...

Jungle Block (1960)

A young doctor falls into a despair of developments. He plans to revenge the disgrace inflicted upon his sister, whose engagement was broken as a result. ...

Cruel Story of Youth (1960)

A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men. ...

Teenage Wolf (1960)

In the bustle of the city, on the corners of neon streets, the eyes of a wild beast are fixed on a young girl! A gloomy portrait of youth, in which distorted energy explodes! A unique social drama that acutely depicts the psychological conflict bubbling in ...

The Cards Will Tell (1960)

A 1960 crime film ...

Fires on the Plain (1959)

In the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier afflicted with tuberculosis is abandoned by his company and left to wander the Philippine island of Leyte. ...

The Ghost of Iwojima (1959)

The monologue and mysterious death of a man who survived and returned from Iwo Jima. A newspaper reporter writes an article about "The Man from Iwo Jima" asking the people who were close to him about his character and the painful memories off all those inv ...

Break Down that Wall (1959)

A man is wrongfully accused of murder. ...

The Song of the Cart (1959)

A lifetime story of a woman who stubbornly lives in a poor mountain village in post-war Japan. ...

Immoral Lecture (1959)

I Want to Be a Shellfish (1958)

Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the ...

The Night is Mine (1958)

Four criminals break into the home of a jewelry merchant, Sanpodo, rob the diamonds, and escape. However, one of them receives a bullet during a skirmish between bandits, and the second is wounded by the police. To help their wounded comrades, criminals lo ...

Black River (1957)

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era. ...

Streetlights (1957)

A sophisticated comedy about love games between men and women that arise from an intentionally dropped train ticket. ...

The Thick-Walled Room (1956)

A group of rank-and-file soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a whole. ...

Flesh Smuggling (1956)

A true semi-documentary drama depicting a record of a sheriff's challenge to the vivid evil of a sailor who embarked on a single underworld to uncover the crime of an inhumane international prostitution organization called "Japanese women's smuggling. ...

How Sorrowful (1956)

The story of a novelist whose wife is confined in a mental hospital. His love for her drives him to write about her, though he runs into trouble when her parents accuse him of cashing in on her misfortune. ...

Season of the Sun (1956)

The film tells the story of a group of high school boxing team members who spend their days drinking, sailing and chasing girls, and who more often than not spend their nights getting into brawls. In particular, it focuses upon Tatsuya, a sullen young man, ...

Funny Friend: The Baby and Express (1956)

East-West Transportation, headquartered in Tokyo, operates daily scheduled cargo flights on the Tokaido Road from Tokyo to Osaka and back, as the name suggests. Daikichi was a driver working for the East-West transportation company, and Rokuheita served as ...

The Burmese Harp (1956)

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW. ...

Ishigassen (1955)

Across the Inagawa River that runs through the center of the village, the children of the two villages scrambled for a swimming pool, and each time a stone battle took place. Takemaru, the only son of the priesthood of Tada Shrine, was weak and was always ...

The Samurai of Edo (1955)

This historical film depicts the life of a man who was at the mercy of the waves during transition from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, and therefore, shows audience the dynamic change from Edo to Meiji. Before the war, the director, E ...

The juvenile (1955)

A good young man accidentally joins a group of leg breakers ...

Passion and Rifle Bullets (1955)

Private Detective Ippei Shizuno faces off against a serial killer and a wealthy woman's society who runs an illegal gun trade. ...

Tales of Ginza (1955)

In the thriving Tokyo neighborhood of Ginza, a woman in the process of selling her estranged husband's art collection attempts to identify the man who painted her own portrait fifteen years prior. ...

Miniature (1953)

Ginko, a poor cobbler's daughter, becomes a geisha to support her family. She passes from one geisha house to the next, trying to find love and hope in the process. No matter how hard she tries, she just can't escape her sad fate. ...

Listen to the Voices of the Sea (1950)

This film is strongly anti-war film. The film is based on the collection of writings by Japanese student soldiers who died during World War II. The film is located to Burma. It shows the everyday problems of soldiers in contrast of their ideas and the cyni ...