Tomoko Otakara

Rhapsody in August

An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.

Shikoku

Years after moving to Tokyo with her parents, Hinako returns to her hometown in rural Shikoku. She soon learns that her childhood friend, Sayori, died several years ago and that Sayori's mother, who used to perform seances and exorcisms, has gone almost insane with grief. After seeing Sayori's ghost several times during the night, Hinako consults with some local experts on the paranormal and discovers that Sayori's mother has something planned for her daughter...

A Samurai Chronicle

A retired samurai must redeem himself for a crime that he committed earlier in his life.

The Enchantment

A Tokyo psychiatrist is hoping to better his career by marrying the daughter of a prominent doctor. The match is threatened however when an attractive but very troubled tourist guide comes to him for consultation...

Swimming Upstream

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.

Roar of the Crowd

Based on the non-fiction books by Takushi Ono (the NHK announcer, not the gymnast) and Yoshinari Tobe.

Tulips in October

Detective Ushio is called in to the murder of an elite heart surgeon, who was stabbed twice at a cluster of vending machines in a parking lot.

See You at the Campground

Japanese romantic comedy film.

Summer Vacation 1999

This highly homoerotic tale based on a yaoi manga manages to convey great desire without sexual explicitness, mostly due to the young age of the boys cast. The story deals with adolescent boys who still inhabit an empty school in summer, and follows their jealousies and romances.

Terminal Station Series - Umbrella of Goodwill

Masanao Ushio and other detectives from Shinjuku West PD discover the strangled dead body of a woman in an empty building in West Shinjuku in Tokyo. According to her husband Takeshi, the murdered Chieko Akiba was a top salesperson at the insurance company where she worked, but quit her job three months ago and planned to open a beauty salon after buying the building which happens to be the crime scene. The call history on her mobile phone reveals the victim answered a call at 8:16 PM and is presumed to have been murdered immediately afterwards. However, Ushio is surprised to hear who was on the other side of the call: Kyoko Yamano, a woman who accompanied Ushio under an umbrella on a rainy night one year ago and whose husband was killed by someone that very night...

Murderous Intent in the Pacific

A ferry captain named Sugisaki (Takahashi Hideki) and his first officer, Kojima (Funakoshi Eiichiro), participate in a photoshoot conducted by camerawoman Yamaka Shiori (Ohama Tomoko) of the ferry. The ferry reaches Miyazaki and Sugisaki and Kojima go to the hotel where a showing of Yamakawa's photos is being held. Yoshizawa (Nakajima Hisayuki), a magazine editor, is waiting for Yamakawa at the hotel.

The Drive

Kono Takeshi has given up work as an electrician to run a gift-shop business with his partner/mistress Rieko, who's a couple of years older than him. When the company faces bankruptcy Kono wants to quit, but Rieko strings him along with the promise of a large cash investment, the proceeds of a real-estate deal. Her actual plan to raise the money is to kidnap a young woman and demand a ransom for her release. The trouble is, it never occurs to her to keep the victim alive before trying to extort the cash. And when things start to go wrong, Rieko responds by murdering another girl and attempting another ransom scam..

Detective Ushio vs. Case Writer Saeko: Last Family

The body of Kou Fujisaki, who fell to her death, is discovered in front of an old building in West Shinjuku. Chief Sakamoto notifies Ushio, who arrives at the scene. Ushio thinks that this must be a murder, but according to Yamaji, who was at the scene before him, an eyewitness testified that Kou had jumped off the roof of the building, killing herself. Kou is someone who has lingered in Ushio's memory - as a suspect...

Madadayo

In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.

The Guard from Underground

A former sumo wrestler, now working as a security guard, goes on a murderous rampage.

Seventeen, Hokuto Summer

Ayami Kawaguchi is a 17-year-old high school student. Her family runs a tofu shop where the tofu is made with local spring water. She is a member of her high school's kyudo club, but she doesn't do well there. One day, Ayami delivers tofu to a local sake brewery. There, she finds the owner of the sake brewery, Shozo Sugita, collapsed and he is sent to hospital. Afterwards, Ayami Kawaguchi gets involved in a dispute over the water source succession.

Grapes Sting My Eyes

Set in Katsunuma, Yamanashi Prefecture, heartland of grape cultivation, Okazaki Noriko, a high school senior and daughter of a grape farmer, reflects on her first encounter with Iwanaga Takeo, a star rugby player, three years ago in her family’s vineyard. Now, with her last summer vacation approaching, Noriko and her friends Kikuyo and Yuuko embark on a mission to confess their feelings to their crushes. Noriko, smitten with Iwanaga, who appears to be dating the school’s most beautiful girl, Nakayama Kyoko, gathers the courage to write him a love letter. In a twist of fate, she loses the letter, only to hear Iwanaga recite its exact words over the school announcement, revealing that their destinies are more intertwined than she ever imagined.

Taxi Driver’s Mystery Diary SP22

Yoake Sudeo, a former elite detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, now works as a taxi driver. One day, he picks up Michiko Takanezawa, a university assistant professor recently acquitted of murdering her former lover. Hounded by the media and the victim’s wife at her home, Michiko pleads with Yoake to drive her to her hometown, Aizu-Wakamatsu. But the next day, the wife of the murdered professor is found dead near Tokyo—turning the case on its head.