Kirin Kiki

Kiki Kirin's Life (2019)

This documentary follows the last days of actress KIKI Kirin, who passed away on September 15, 2018. The documentary is the first long-term, in-depth coverage of Ki-kin, and is a re-edited version of the NHK documentary of the same title that was broadcast ...

Erica 38 (2019)

Satoko Watabe, who calls herself Erica was organizing business support meetings, and collecting a fortune with a fictional investment story, under the order of her lover Ikuo Hirasawa. But she finds out that Hirasawa was actually dating multiple women and ...

Cherry Blossoms & Demons (2019)

When everything in his life seems to be going wrong, downtrodden and alcohol-dependent Karl has a fateful encounter in Munich with Yu, a mysterious Japanese dancer from his father's past. Unexpectedly, Yu begins to help Karl confront his demons (both liter ...

Every Day a Good Day (2018)

A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy. ...

Shoplifters (2018)

In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows ...

Mori, The Artist's Habitat (2018)

Vegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily basis for ...

The Gods of Food: The Last Promise (2017)

Life is Fruity (2017)

90-year-old architect Shuichi Tsubata and his 87-year-old wife Hideko live in Aichi Prefecture. Their garden is bursting with 70 types of vegetables and 50 types of fruits, and they live in harmony with nature. ...

After the Storm (2016)

Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One day, Ryota ...

Mystery Trilogy Special (2015)

This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers. ...

Our Little Sister (2015)

After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them. ...

Sweet Bean (2015)

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a g ...

Kakekomi (2015)

Kakekomi tells the stories of Edo women in the 1800s that escape abusive husbands and lovers by taking refuge in Tokeiji, a monastery in Kamakura. ...

This Mystery is Excellent! ~ Challenge from Bestseller Writer (2014)

Kashiopea no Endo Roru A murder takes place on a luxury overnight train which runs from Sapporo to Ueno, Tokyo. The victim is a film director. The suspects are 4 women. Nokosareta Senritsu After a pianist concludes her best performance to date, she dies ...

Like Father, Like Son (2013)

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own. ...

Promise: The Nabari Poisoned Wine Case, The Life of a Death-row Inmate (2013)

Masaru Okunishi is a prisoner who has been on death-row for over 40 years. In 1961, 5 women died from drinking poisoned wine in a small village gathering in Nabari City in Mie Prefecture. After his arrest, he appealed his innocence on the grounds that the ...

Until the Break of Dawn (2012)

High school student Ayumi is trained by his grandmother to act as a "tsunagu," an intermediary for people who want to reach the dead. ...

Chronicle of My Mother (2012)

Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior ...

Hanezu (2012)

Woodwork artist Takumi moves to the small village Asuka in Nara Prefecture. He remodels old homes and lives a peaceful existence with nature. Takumi then meets Kayoko, a woman who went to the same school as Takumi. Kayoko is fascinated with the color crims ...

I Wish (2011)

Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed. ...

A Honeymoon in Hell: Mr. & Mrs. Oki's Fabulous Trip (2011)

Although Nobuyoshi and Saki just got married and moved into a new apartment, their relationship still lacks spark. Things start to change as they meet a weird fortune-teller who also happens to operate tours to hell. Without further ado the young couple bo ...

Hokaibito: Ina no Seigetsu (2011)

Part documentary, part fiction this film revolves around the life of the haiku poet Seigetsu Inoue who wandered Ina Valley for about 30 years from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era. ...

Ghost (2010)

Nanami Hoshino, a wealthy entrepreneur, marries potter Kim Jun-ho, and they both live a seemingly happy life until Nanami is killed by a biker on her way home. Now a ghost whose presence cannot be seen, she realizes that her death was no coincidence and se ...

Villain (2010)

Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is ...

The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty. ...

Two Portraits of MIYAGINO (2010)

In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master's shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance ...

Making 'Still Walking' (2009)

A documentary filmed behind the scenes during the making of Hirokasu Kore-eda's 2008 film "Still Walking. ...

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 " ...

Still Walking (2008)

A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear. ...

Dots and Lines (2007)

Jutaro Torikai is a senior detective set to uncover the truth behind an apparent double suicide. ...

Dog in a Sidecar (2007)

The film begins in the present, with its heroine, Kaoru, a grown-up woman working as a real-estate agent, while helping out the folksy proprietor of a neighborhood fishing pond. There she meets a shy girl who needs her help baiting a hook and reminds her o ...

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (2007)

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotio ...

Red Whale, White Snake (2006)

On her way to Chikura to live with her son, Yasue Amami gets off at the Tateyama train station. She wants to see her old house. The a new owner, Mitsuko Kawahara, intends to demolish the place and replace it with a modern new house. With Mitsuko's permissi ...

Our War (2006)

"Our War" is a special drama produced by Japanese TBS TV. This is the third bomb of the war-themed TV series after the "Song of Sugarcane Field" and "Guangzhou·Showa August 6th, 20th." It is said that in 2005, young people from the end of the island, Kenj ...

Tokyo Tower (2005)

Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady. ...

Izo (2004)

Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Her ...

The Taste of Tea (2004)

A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after ...

Fireflies: River of Light (2004)

After finally passing his teacher's exam, Miwa (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) devoted himself to teaching in a rustic primary school. He struggles to get through to his students, until he creates a class project to raise fireflies to fly over it once again. All student ...

Kamikaze Girls (2004)

Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town. ...

Half a Confession (2004)

Half a Confession introduces itself as a thriller and abruptly changes gears, transforming into a tale of morality with deeper insights into its characters than we had anticipated. It begins when Soichiro Kaji (Terao), a retired detective, walks into polic ...

Teacher's suitcase (2003)

Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, 'Sensei', in a bar. He is at least thirty years her senior, retired and, she presumes, a widower. After this initial encounter, the pair ...

Through the Night (2002)

When poverty-stricken Korean-Japanese (Zainichi) discover there is valuable iron ore in the rubble of a destroyed shantytown they plan to haul it out for profit. Amidst this plan there is discrimination, war and an infatuation between a man and a woman, bu ...

Inochi (2002)

Yu Miri is a writer who's just become pregnant by her married lover. When she decides to keep the baby without his help, her ex-boyfriend Yutaka, decides to help raise him. ...

Returner (2002)

A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race. ...

Pistol Opera (2001)

An assassin fends off numerous attacks from her comrades, who are trying to move up in rank by killing off the competition. ...

Cardboard House Girl (2001)

Sakurai Ann, an office worker, has been steadily saving money to move to the U.S. and live freely. When she finally reaches her goal of 5 million yen, her apartment is broken into and all of her money is stolen. She quits her job, cancels her apartment lea ...

Tokyo Marigold (2001)

Eriko – lonely, aimless and self-absorbed – falls for Tamura. Despite knowing that he is waiting for his girlfriend to return from overseas, she requests to enter into a relationship with him for just one year. ...

The Whispered City (2000)

Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses. ...

Keiho (1999)

The psychiatric evaluation of a young actor arrested for a brutal double murder concludes he may be unfit for trial. Further investigation, however, reveals the crime was a well-planned statement against the section of Japan's criminal code granting dimini ...

Magnitude: Bridge to Tomorrow (1997)

A drama about a father and his son centered around the Great Hanshin earthquake. ...

The Best Bad Thing (1997)

After her husband's death, Mrs. Hata desperately needs help on her cucumber farm. Rinko' mother wants her to spend the summer helping Mrs. Hata, her life-long friend. But 12-year-old Rinko sees Mrs. Hata's traditional Japanese ways as being backward and "c ...

Hissatsu shimatsunin (1997)

A former assassin is drawn into a conspiracy which leads him to return to his old ways, endangering his brother who suspects that something is afoot... ...

Fireworks, Ferris Wheels and Love (1997)

Morihara was left a widower 8 years ago when his wife passed away. He attends his first mixer party under the guidance of his daughter. There he meets Fumika and starts conversation. Morihara is too shy to show his love since he is much older than Fumika. ...

Oishinbo (1996)

Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. 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". ...

Mitabi no kaikyô (1995)

Toki no kagayaki (1995)

Yuka came to work as an intern nurse at a hospital and she met Shunichi again. They were school friends, and she liked him. But, she found out that Shunichi had an osteosarcoma. ...

The Mystery of Rampo (1994)

Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events jus ...

Sakura (1994)

The story of a bus conductor who dedicates his life to the cherished Japanese symbol. ...

Rex: A Dinosaur's Story (1993)

A young girl befriends an infant T-rex after her paleontologist father nurtures a lair of lost dinosaur eggs. ...

Yearning (1993)

Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant's family. ...

The Triple Cross (1992)

Following the bloody aftermath of a heist, three robbers are double-crossed by a new accomplice, who is then tracked down amid escalating carnage and spectacular car chases. ...

Ritsuko: Her Love, Her Death (1992)

Winner of the 1992 Galaxy Award Encouragement Prize and the 1992 Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Award Excellence Prize. Winner of the 10th ATP Award '93 Grand Prix. Winner of the 10th ATP Award '93 Excellence Prize. Selected as one of the "Best ...

The Games Teachers Play (1992)

The story of an unconventional teacher facing up to his unruly and apathetic class. ...

The Voyage Of Little Sinbad (1991)

Story about the adventures and the friendship of two Japanese-Malaysian boys. ...

Kim's War (1991)

After shooting a gangster in self-defense, Kim Hui Ro takes refuge at a hotel and takes the guest hostages. Realising his position, he invites the press inside and explains why he was driven to his crime. ...

War and Youth (1991)

An auto repairman's daughter questions him about what happened to her aunt during the war, but the father remains reticent. Finally the man opens up, and the girl is able to piece together her aunt's tragic story. ...

Rainbow Kids (1991)

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place. ...

Misty Kid of Wind – The Glass Cape (1989)

Karin has lived alone in a secluded mountain village with her consumptive mother since her father died. Her worried grandfather advises her to send her mother to a sanatorium and be adopted by him, although she refuses to accept. On the Buddhist All Soul's ...

Crane (1988)

Based on the folk tales "Repayment from a crane". One snowy night a beautiful woman named Tsuru (Crane) visits poor peasant Taiju and says she will become his wife... ...

Remembrance (1988)

The Yamaoki family moved from Kyoto to Tosa around the turn of the '50s; local school teacher Hirao becomes involved with Yasuko, sister to Sumio. ...

The Ballad of the Sea of Genkai (1986)

A young woman's life is turned upside down when her husband suddenly disappears, leaving behind numerous debts and his illegitimate child. Desperate to track down her missing husband, she travels to Kyushu in hopes of finding clues to his whereabouts and i ...

Yume-Chiyo (1985)

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully acc ...

Lonely Heart (1985)

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real? ...

Song of the Spring Pony (1985)

Hoshino Bunzo raises up his orphan grandson, Keiji whose right leg gets paralyzed when he was an infant. Bunzo loves Keiji so much that he does every thing to protect his grandson. Sonoda Keiko, a new young teacher comes to the school when a new term start ...

Capone Cries a Lot (1985)

Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune. ...

Private Detective DOBU 6: The Origami Murder Case (1983)

A spree of murders in the city targets peddlers and komuso monks, all killed in the same method. Dobu investigates after a ronin's death with a unique clue. ...

Hometown (1983)

Deep in the mountains of Japan a dam is scheduled to be built, thus forcing a relocation of the farmers. One of them is 78-year-old Denzo, whose son and his wife consider him senile. Left alone, he befriends a young boy, Sentaro, who has heard that the old ...

Private Detective DOBU 5: The Pinwheel Murder Case (1983)

After two thugs are killed, Dobu and his crew have three days to catch the murderers. Dobu suspects a hidden mastermind influencing the magistrate. ...

Amagi Pass (1983)

Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a prin ...

Private Detective DOBU 4: The Mysterious Kite Murders Case (1983)

In Edo's autumn, a wave of murders hits, targeting those linked to an old case. A young man, Utaro, takes charge, but Dobu's love interest is involved. ...

Highschool Scramble (1982)

High school boys movie. ...

Private Detective DOBU 3: The Exile Island Murder Case (1982)

After six exiles return to Edo, four are mysteriously killed. Two survivors, Kosuke and Kingo, lead a search to uncover a hidden motive behind the murders. ...

Private Detective DOBU 2: The Kyoto Murder Case (1982)

Dobu, an Edo samurai, is tasked with investigating a string of noble murders in Kyoto, disrupting his routine in Shimotani. ...

I Are You, You Am Me (1982)

9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the ...

Karate Cop (1982)

A martial arts master/detective investigates a series of murders and helps a deaf bathhouse attendant, Hisako. ...

The Wild Daisy (1981)

Born in affluent families among the Japanese mountains, two close cousins fall in love and have to suffer through the social constraints of their time. ...

Private Detective DOBU 1 (1981)

Dobu (Kunie Tanaka) used to be a soldier but now is a private detective. Three vagrants were killed in a shrine, and Dobu found out that those three had a grudge on a timber whole seller, Hinokiya. He reunited with Zirokichi (Takeo Chii), one of his friend ...

The First Catch (1980)

Based on the comic book series of the same name by Yûsuke Aoyagi. ...

Nurse's Husband (1980)

"Quit working as a nurse!" "All right, I will!" thus began the married life of Yasuo and Keiko. But the reality is harsh. Keiko even had to work on the first night after her marriage. Ten years later, the married couple is still at it. Yauso tends to the h ...

Zigeunerweisen (1980)

A surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways. ...

Heaven Sent (1979)

Sayoko is desperate to bear a child of her own, but her live-in boyfriend Shinsaku strenuously objects to the idea. One day, someone leaves behind a six-year-old child at their door, claiming that Shinsaku—or four other men—is the child's father! Sayok ...

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi (1979)

Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to ...

Down with The Big Boss (1979)

In pre-war Japan, two members of a large yakuza syndicate instigate a turf war that embroils the highest echelons of Tokyo's underworld. ...

Taro the Dragon Boy (1979)

Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon ...

Truck Rascals: Another Odyssey of Momojiro (1978)

Hoping to romance an alien, Momojiro meets beautiful animal trainer Eriko instead. Then he and Jonathan get drawn into her old friend's fraud. ...

Crocodile, Parrot and Fur Seal (1977)

A comedy farce depicting the noise that occurs when two unemployed circus participants discover a debt bond in a basket with parrots, which they received instead of pension money. At that time, Hiromi Go and Kirin Kiki, who were gaining popularity, play th ...

Ballad of Orin (1977)

A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed wherever she goes, even as the modern world imposes change around her. ...

Tomorrow Evening (1977)

Ayako is a 7-year-old girl with a dark, tanned face and a somewhat mysterious expression on her face. She shows up at the elementary school and acts strangely, but the children don't know her name and just call her "that girl". There are two groups of chil ...

Female Teacher (1977)

A female teacher is raped by a gang of students in her school. The repercussions of this lead to scandal, blackmail and murder. ...

Sachiko no sachi (1976)

Based on the manga of the same name by Kazuo Kamimura. ...

The Sea of Eden (1976)

Nanjo, a new teacher at a girls' high school, unwittingly becomes the object of gossip when he buys underwear for Shimizu and spends his vacation with a female teacher. It turns out that Nanjo and Shimizu have fallen in love. ...

The Viper Brothers and the Young General (1975)

The last in the series. Sugawara runs into two mahjong cheaters (Ichiro Araki and Mako Midori + sidekick Takuzo Kawatani) whom he takes for friends in need as his naivety prevents him from seeing their true nature. ...

Without Complaint (1975)

Based on the novel of the same name by Seichô Matsumoto. ...

Statue in Fire (1974)

Drama about young people in the Japanese rock scene starring the lead singer of Japanese rock band The Tigers (1966-1971, 1981-1983). ...

The Four Roughnecks (1974)

Gimme gimme gimme! Yusaku Matsuda and his gang are on the hunt for women, money and more money! Takeo Natsuki (Yusaku Matsuda) was just released from prison. He was the leader of three rascals; all they did was cause trouble. When they meet a girl whose f ...

Jack and the Beanstalk (1974)

An adventurous young boy named Jack climbs a giant beanstalk to a magical kingdom governed by a greedy, tyrannical giant. ...

Akumyo: Notorious Dragon (1974)

About small-time gangster Asakichi's chaotic life in the 1930s. His gambling addiction means that he must not continue working in the family business. Instead he supports himself by arranging cockfights. He becomes ex-geisha Okinu's patron and lover, and f ...

Red Paper Lantern (1974)

A young and newly-married couple in Tokyo lives a hard life moving repeatedly because of their unfamiliar relationships with their surroundings. ...

My Voiceless Friends (1972)

A man who survived the war carries the will of his comrades in arms, walking across the country visiting the bereaved families. ...

Go As Messy As Messy Can Be (1971)

Comedy about a young man who causes pandemonium by raiding a bar patronized by his father, winning the favors of a hostess and ends up feeling the breasts and hips of all the girls in his father's office. ...

Live My Share, Mother (1970)

At school, Fumio is good in everything. His cheerful, out-going personality makes him a great favorite with teachers and classmates alike. He is in perfect health and there does not seem to be a single shadow to cloud his life. Then, one day, he feels a su ...

Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970)

Traveling salesman Kuruma Torajirō falls in love with an inn manager as New Year's approaches. ...

Crazy Big Explosion (1969)

Chaos ensues when a secret agent gathers a group of criminals (The Crazy Cats) to steal gold from a bank. ...

Angel's Lover (1968)

Comedy about two employees who work against their boss. ...

Nunnery Confidential (1968)

Erotic Pinku film showcasing he life of Buddhist nuns during the Edo Period. ...

Journey (1967)

Koto—The Lake of Tears (1966)

A touching story following young shamisen string maker, Saku. Beautiful Saku moves to Lake Yogo, known for its production of quality shamisen strings, only to find her peaceful life turned upside down when a master musician takes personal interest in her. ...

Dynamite Doctor Returns (1966)

Second movie in the yoidore hakase serie ...

Dianas of the Campus (1966)