Kumiko Tsuchiya

ICHI (2008)

Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She's in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortu ...

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 ...

World's End / Girl Friend (2005)

Shinnosuke and Misawa are joint managers of a Bonsai shop. Suddenly Shinnosuke's childhood friend Haruko turns up. She has split up with her boyfriend and finds herself out on the streets. Shinnosuke starts to like her and really wants to cheer her up, but ...

Ashura (2005)

Adapted from the successful play, the film takes place in 19th-century Japan, where a war between demons and their slayers is fought. Izumo, a kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past, meets and falls in love with Tsubaki. However, something is not right, a ...

Karaoke Terror (2003)

One of a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women is murdered by a young man. Her friends track him down and kill him. His friends track them down and kill the killer and it escalates! ...

The Sea Is Watching (2002)

O-Shin is a young brothel worker who, one night, helps a young samurai escape from his pursuers. Against the warnings of her fellow workers, particularly Kikuno and the brothel's owner, O-Shin falls in love with the samurai. ...

Shooting Stars in the Twilight (2002)

Hiromi works in a posh French restaurant. One day, he meets an ordinary-looking old man who has a discerning palate. He is no ordinary cook, and can pinpoint the exact problems with Hiromi's dishes. His name is Tatematsu Ippei, a legendary chef renowned fo ...

Leave It to the Nurses (2002)

Flighty young nurse Izumi Asakura longs to have her honeymoon in a far off tropical paradise but her doctor husband feels that he cannot afford to take time off from developing his career. To Izumi's dismay, Wakabakai General Hospital is fast becoming a fa ...

Sunflower (2000)

Reunited by the death of a friend, a group of former schoolmates reassess themselves and their earlier times together. ...

Off-Balance (2000)

13-year old Chiaki Matsumoto enters middle school with two rules for herself: 1. Always stay cool and 2. Don't make friends. Having suffered bullying in elementary school, Chiaki chooses a path of isolation, building emotional walls and deciding to live a ...

The Night the Angel Turned Away (1999)

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 ...

Bonds (1998)

Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to escape jail for gunning down his cruel adoptive father. His life begins to unravel when a journalist following him takes an interest in the wife of a boyhood chum, ...

Phantom of the Toilet (1995)

Set in an elementary school and centered on a boy named Takuya and a new transfer student named Saeko. Takuya's classmates think that Saeko has been possessed by Hanako, the ghost that lives in the bathroom. The rumor is especially encouraged by a girl who ...

Sharaku (1995)

A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. An influential publisher notices his honest, bold drawings, and nurtures him despite persecution and betrayal. The film explores the eternal relationship between artist and pro ...

Nurse Call (1993)

Igarashi Kozue, a nurse at a Tokyo university hospital, feels bored with her job despite her experience. Yamazaki Natsumi, a younger nurse, is enthusiastic. Shibata Yuichi, a soccer student, is admitted with a fracture and a tumour, facing potential amputa ...

Twinkle (1992)

Shoko and Mutsuki get married to satisfy their worried parents, but she is well past the age at which a 'good' Japanese woman should marry, and he is in love with a young male college student. ...

Swimming Upstream (1990)

One day after school, Kaoru glances at Sonoko at the pool side. He falls in love with her at first sight and decides to join the swimming team even though he cannot swim. ...