Junji Sakamoto

Okiku and the World (2023)

Two rogue vagrants make their living as "manure men", turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished lo ...

Winter Rose (2022)

Jun Wataguchi lives a lazy, half-hearted life, not going to school, hanging out with half-witted delinquents, and begging money from his friends. His parents, who run a shipping business transporting earth and sand for reclamation by boat, manage to get by ...

My Brother, The Android And Me (2022)

A lonely researcher doubting his own existence builds an android which looks exactly like himself. ...

I Never Shot Anyone (2020)

Renji Ishibashi, starring in the movie for the first time in 18 years, plays a hero with two faces, a dull novelist and a legendary killer. Susumu Ichikawa, an obsolete writer with no manuscript at all, had another face - a legendary hitman. But the truth ...

Another World (2018)

Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification b ...

Ernesto (2017)

Freddy Maemura Hurtado, a second-generation Japanese-Bolivian, heads to Cuba to study medicine. He meets revolutionist Che Guevara. When civil war breaks out in Bolivia, he decides to join Guevara's revolutionary army under the name of "Ernesto Medico". ...

The Projects (2016)

Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn ...

Joe, Tomorrow (2015)

Junji Sakamoto's documentary follows legendary boxing champ Joichiro over 20 years, from the ages 25 to 44. In a series of meetings, like the 7 Up series, Sakamoto conducts intimate interviews with Tatsuyoshi. Narrated by actor Etsushi Toyokawa. ...

The Human Trust (2013)

A professional scammer is hired by a wealthy young businessman to find a hidden treasure looted from the Bank of Japan and supposedly stashed away by a group of men after WWII in various locations around the globe. Eventually an assassin is put on their tr ...

A Chorus of Angels (2012)

Teacher Kawashima Haru takes a position on a remote island off the coast of Hokkaido, where she takes charge of six students. However, she is later forced to leave after an accident occurs. 20 years later, Haru learns that one of her former students has co ...

Someday (2011)

The annual kabuki show is the main attraction in a rural Japanese mountain town. However, Yoshi's life is thrown into disarray days before the performance when his estranged wife and former best friend arrive back in town... ...

Strangers in the City (2010)

Former high school teacher Kazuo Hatano (Toru Nakamura) reunites 12 years later with Masako Tezuka (Manami Konishi). Masako Tezuka was his former high school student whom he married after her graduation. Their marriage became a scandal & the couple div ...

Zatoichi: The Last (2010)

A blind master swordsman attempts to lead a quiet life with his wife but he is provoked back into battle. ...

The Short Films: We Were All Once Children (2008)

A dream collaboration between five directors who represent the modern Japanese film industry! An omnibus work composed of five short films has been created. "The Short Films: We Were All Once Children." The theme that runs through the five short films is " ...

Children of the Dark (2008)

A Middle-aged Japanese ex-pat journalist investigates child organ trafficking in Thailand and he uncovers a sinister network. In the darkest corners of Thailand, child prostitution and organ sales flourish. In order to save a child's life, another life mus ...

Awakening (2007)

After the unexpected death of her husband a new life begins for Toshiko. 30 years of a happy marriage seem to suddenly vanish as she finds out that her husband had lived a double life. Struggling between her anger and the chance to begin a new chapter for ...

Aegis (2005)

The Isokaze, an Aegis-class escort vessel, sets sail on a routine training exercise, playing host to a platoon from the Fleet Training Group. No sooner is the Isokaze on open water, however, then the FTG reveal themselves to be terrorist stowaways who kill ...

Out of This World (2004)

Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. A ...

Bokunchi - My House (2003)

A young Japanese boy's life is changed when his sister returns to the small island, full of eccentric characters, where he lives. ...

KT (2002)

This movie is a political/espionage thriller, based on a real kidnapping incident of Korean politician, Kim Dae-Jung. ...

Another Battle (2000)

Former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kane ...

Face (2000)

Awkward and withdrawn, Masako kills her sister in an explosion of pent-up humiliation and rage that sends her tumbling into fugitive life. ...

The Goofball (1998)

Hisashi gets fired from his temp job due to his impulsiveness. One day he meets Chikako, a housewife who constantly shoplifts at the supermarket he regularly goes. He somehow agrees to help her to look for her run-away son, Masaru. Unfortunate to Hisashi, ...

An Angel with Many Scars (1997)

An odd journey starts as Mitsuru, a private detective, and a boy, whom a dying mobster entrusts to him, decide to go to northern Japan in search of the boy's mother, and the detective's buddy Hisashi joins them later. ...

Billiken (1996)

The main hero of this film is the spirit of the once very popular wooden statuette called Billiken. It's a small god with a pointed head, a fat belly and a characteristic smile. When the casket in which the statuette was found is broken, the spirit of Bill ...

Boxer Joe (1995)

A docudrama about the boxer Jôichirô Tatsuyoshi. The documentary part follows Tatsuyohi for 18 months, from his comeback from an eye injury to his match against Yasuei Yakushiji in 1994. A fictional part follows a restaurant owner, fan of Tatsuyohi, wait ...

Tokarev (1994)

A school bus driver's life is irrevocably altered when his young son is kidnapped and murdered. ...

Tôhôkenbunroku (1993)

Check (1991)

Set in Osaka's Shinsekai, the film depicts the lives of Ayumu Tobita (Hidekazu Akai), who makes a living as a shogi gambler (shinken-shi), and Ryuzo Kayama (Masaya Kato) who aims to become a professional player. ...

Tekken (1990)

A directionless young man, recently released from prison, tries to make a new start in life as a boxer... ...

Knockout (1989)

A Japanese boxer stages a dramatic and dangerous comeback after suffering brain damage in the ring. ...

Dangerous Stories (1989)

Three stories with horror and science fiction elements. 1st episode: "The Curse of Tutankhamen" (Tsutankâmen no noroï) by Kazuyuki Izutsu. With Naoto Takenaka. Two clans of Yakuza clash in a bar. 2nd episode: "They came back, tonight too" (Yatsura wa kon ...

The Second Is a Christian (1985)

The story of beautiful Christian nun, Kyoko who is the object of affection for two very different men - one the happy-go-lucky yakuza gangster, Haruhiko who is the next-in-line to takeover the ragtag "Tenryu Gumi" gang and the other bumbling police detecti ...

Ryuji (1983)

Ryuji tries quitting the yakuza to actively support his wife and daughter; as he's used to easy money, it's a difficult transition. ...

Burst City (1982)

Set in a barren, futuristic Tokyo of highways and wastelands, a rowdy group of punk bands and their fans gather to protest slow, boring, Japanese living. ...

Joe, Tomorrow (2015)

Junji Sakamoto's documentary follows legendary boxing champ Joichiro over 20 years, from the ages 25 to 44. In a series of meetings, like the 7 Up series, Sakamoto conducts intimate interviews with Tatsuyoshi. Narrated by actor Etsushi Toyokawa. ...

What's a Director? (2006)

Works commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Japan mapping Supervision Association ...