Noritaka Sakamoto

Ino Tadataka: Meridian dreams

Biographical story, based on life of Ino Tadataka, a Japanese measurer and cartographer. Ino Tadataka travelled the length and breadth of Japan on foot for 17 years from the age of 55 to perform his surveys. The accuracy of his maps also owed much to the fact that he was the first surveyor in Japan to combine measurements on the ground with observations of the heavens. Ino started the work as a private individual but earned the confidence of the Shogunate and it eventually turned into a national project. His maps were later used for many years as the foundation for maps made by modern survey techniques.

One Summer's Day

Veteran filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi rounds out the second of his two trilogies about his hometown of Onomichi with this film about the budding relationship between a young lad and an eccentric old man. Fifth-grader Yuta (Takuro Atsugi) is a typical city child looking forward to a summer of reading comic books and playing video games. Instead, he is bundled off to his grandparent's house on the Inland Sea. His grandfather, Yuta's parents explain, has been acting strangely as of late -- he eats the offerings in the family altar and once tried to lead attendants at a funeral in a rousing round of calisthenics. Since his mother and father are swamped with work, and his elder sister (Nana Sano) is studying for college entrance exams, Yuta has been asked to look after Grandpa. The old man takes Yuta on a tour of Onomichi, regaling him with 70 years of its history. Along the way, Grandpa slips in and out of the past, increasingly unable to discern between the two.

I Want to Hear the Wind's Song

A heartwarming, based-on-true-story of how a hearing-impaired couple, Masahiro and Namiko, knew each other, got married and began participating in the Triathlon. The story is told in flashbacks as Namiko awaits childbirth.

Sada

The film follows the life of Sada Abe, who became a celebrity in 1936 after strangling her lover and slicing off his penis.

Goodbye for Tomorrow

People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to go to a small island in the Inland Sea that evening.

Abayo Hakusho

1995 DTV Japanese film. Based on Ayumi Tachihara's manga.

Turning Point

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

Gekashitsu

Melodrama about a woman refusing surgery.

Dream Street

A comedy about the lives of people living in the shopping district of Osaka.

Guys Who Never Learn

Comedy based on a book by Joji Abe, about a man in prison for the 12th time.

Joke with a Sorrowful Heart

This is a sad and beautiful story about a father who is a popular comedian and a son who suffered by an incurable disease.

Kitsune

It is early summer in the Nekushiro Plains of Hokkaido. A scientist, Ogata, who was dispatched to the same research institute, meets a 14-year-old girl, Maya, in a fog-shrouded forest. The two gradually become friends. However, one day, as the end of summer vacation approaches, Ogata's lover, Tomonori, comes to visit.

The Shootout

A run-in with the police once again puts three former reformatory inmates on the wrong side of the law. Their situation becomes increasingly desperate as events spin out of control, culminating in an audacious hijack at sea...

Flame of Father and Son

Yokomizo, a police officer in the traffic police force, is looking forward to watching his son Kazuhiko grow up. However, Kazuhiko rebels against his perfectionist father and turns to delinquency. Kazuhiko teams up with his bad friend Teshima to rob 300 million yen from a cash transport truck. Yokomizo, who is investigating the case, is shocked to realize that his son is the culprit.

Summer of Demon

A former retainer to a noble family kills his wife's father when he tries to expose his past crimes. When he begins an affair with the daughter of another clan's retainer, her father tries to poison him but the substance instead claims an innocent victim...

May Love Be Restored

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

Heaven Sent

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! Sayoko and Shinsaku set out on a journey to find the real father.

Demon Pond

When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.

Demon Pond

When a lone traveler stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.

September Sky

Kobayashi Isamu, a first-year high school student, lives in a family of four with his father, an artist, his mother, an insurance agent, and his sister, an office worker. To make ends meet, he works as a milkman. At school, he is a member of the kendo club and spends his days working out with his seniors. Over time, he has various encounters with a series of girls.

August without Emperor

Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.

Double Clutch

Hiromi Go plays a high school student who need's a role model in his life badly. He's raised by his older sister played by Keiko Matsuzaka who is a hostess at a night club. She meets a man who becomes her boy friend. He races in a off road car rally professionally. The same man becomes Go's role model and teaches him sophisticated car driving technique. One of the technique taught is 'double clutch' ( Thus the movie's title Double Kuracchi ) to make gear transition smoothly between shifts. Through a misfortunate accident Matsuzaka's character dies and Go is left to fend for his life. Hiromi Go was a big pop idol in Japan when this movie was created. Both Go and Matsuzaka still enjoys high celebrity status in Japan.

Crocodile, Parrot and Fur Seal

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 the main roles, demonstrating an exquisite combination.

Seasonal Wind

Shinji, a young man who accidentally met a successful model, moves to Tokyo because of his admiration for her. However, a harsh reality awaits him in Tokyo. As a result, Shinji returns to his hometown to start life anew. A romantic drama inspired by the hit song of the same name by Goro Noguchi.

Suddenly, Like a Storm

21-year-old Hideo Ishida is a reckless young man. Today again, he took part in a car race with a stolen driver's license and a car belonging to the junkyard. But unfortunately, things go wrong and after a collision with another car, the seriously injured Hideo is taken to the hospital. Here he meets the nurse Yuki Kobayashi. Yuki is the opposite of Hideo. During the day she works as a nurse and in the evening she studies hard. However, Hideo's behavior leaves an unforgettable impression on Yuki and the two soon develop an intimate friendship ...

Permanent Blue

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.

Frozen River

A young doctor starts working at a mental hospital in the Yokohama region and falls in love with one of the patients there.

Light and Shade of Youth

Hiroshi Nanjo is an active and tactful youth devoting more of his energies to his part time job than to studying for a college entrance exam. On the other hand, Bunpei Noro is an awkward fellow who once failed in a college entrance exam and is now studying hard for a second try. ‘Light and Shade of Youth’ depicts the friendship between these two young men of opposite characters, interlacing a cute waitress along the way.

Takehisa Yumeji monogatari: koi suru

Based on the life of artist Yumeji Takehisa

Someday, Somewhere

Ken's older sister Yoko, who has raised Ken like a mother, decides to move to Brazil with an older man.

The Homeless

Two inmates are simultaneously released from jail, but go their separate ways, only to cross paths again in the nearest brothel. There they make the acquaintance of a would-be prostitute. They help her escape and decide to guide her on her quest for sunken contraband somewhere off the coast.

Tsugaru Folksong

A young girl is being asked about a man with whom she was keeping company, as her grandmother plays a lament on a shamisen. Then the focus changes to a couple arriving from Tokyo - the woman returning to her home, the man an escapee from the yakuza. The man doesn't seem to mind when the woman sells her favours to tourists at the local bar, just as she seems to take his attentions to Yuki, a blind girl, with equanimity.

Second Chance

A man survives a double suicide attempt, while his girlfriend does not.

Journey Into Solitude

Bored with her school life, a 16-year-old student leaves home to take a trip along the Pacific Ocean. After meeting with a theatre group she falls sick and is rescued by a fisherman with who she shares her life with.

The Rendezvous

The brief love story of an attentive young man and a beautiful woman who meet, fall in love and part during the course of a train ride.