Gustavus Library Movie Guide: Japanese Cinema

"This book looks at Japanese films released in the United States in theaters or on video and the important actors, directors, producers and technical personnel involved in them." - from the publisher

"What might Godzilla and Kurosawa have in common? What, if anything, links Ozu's sparse portraits of domestic life and the colorful worlds of anime? In this book, Yomota Inuhiko provides a concise history of Japanese film that shows how cinema tells the story of Japan's modern age. Discussing popular works alongside auteurist masterpieces, Inuhiko considers films in light of both Japanese cultural particularities and cinema as a worldwide art form. He covers the history of Japanese film from the silent era to the rise of J-Horror in historical, technological, and global contexts. Inuhiko shows how Japanese film has been shaped by traditional art forms such as kabuki theater as well as foreign influences spanning Hollywood and Italian neorealism. Along the way, he considers the first golden age of Japanese film; colonial filmmaking in Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan; the impact of World War II and the U.S. occupation; the Japanese film industry's rise to international prominence during the 1950s and 1960s; and the challenges and technological shifts of recent decades. Alongside a larger thematic discussion of what defines and characterizes Japanese film, Inuhiko provides insightful readings of canonical directors including Kurosawa, Ozu, Suzuki, and Miyazaki as well as genre movies, documentaries, indie film, and pornography." - from the publisher

"A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie, the foremost Western expert on Japanese film, gives us an incisive, detailed, and fully illustrated history of the countrys cinema. Called "the dean of Japans arts critics" by Time magazine, Richie takes us from the inception of Japanese cinema at the end of the nineteenth century, through the achievements of Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu, then on to the notable works of contemporary filmmakers. This revised edition includes analyses of the latest trends in Japanese cinema, such as the revival of the horror genre, and introduces todays up-and-coming directors and their works." - from the publisher

"In A New History of Japanese Cinema Isolde Standish focuses on the historical development of Japanese film. She details an industry and an art form shaped by the competing and merging forces of traditional culture and of economic and technological innovation. Adopting a thematic, exploratory approach, Standish links the concept of Japanese cinema as a system of communication with some of the central discourses of the twentieth century: modernism, nationalism, humanism, resistance, and gender." - from the publisher

"The decade of the 1960s encompassed a 'New Wave' of films whose makers were rebels, challenging cinematic traditions and the culture at large. The films of the New Wave in Japan have, until now, been largely overlooked. Eros plus Massacre (taking its title from a 1969 Yoshida Yoshishige film) is the first major study devoted to the examination and explanation of Japanese New Wave film. Desser organizes his volume around the defining motifs of the New Wave. Chapters examine in depth such themes as youth, identity, sexuality, and women, as they are revealed in the Japanese film of the sixties. Desser's research in Japanese film archives, his interviews with major figures of the movement, and his keen insight into Japanese culture combine to offer a solid and balanced analysis of films by Oshima, Shinoda, Imamura, Yoshida, Suzuki, and others." - from the publisher

"Keiko McDonald presents a historical overview and outlines a unified approach to Japanese film theory. She analyses a wide range of work, from familiar classics by Ozu and Kurosawa to the films of a younger generation of directors." - from the publisher

"Among Asian countries--where until recently documentary filmmaking was largely the domain of central governments--Japan was exceptional for the vigor of its nonfiction film industry. And yet, for all its aesthetic, historical, and political interest, the Japanese documentary remains little known and largely unstudied outside of Japan. This is the first English-language study of the subject, an enlightening close look at the first fifty years of documentary film theory and practice in Japan. Beginning with films made by foreigners in the nineteenth century and concluding with the first two films made after Japan's surrender in 1945, Abe Mark Nornes moves from a "prehistory of the documentary, " through innovations of the proletarian film movement, to the hardening of style and conventions that started with the Manchurian Incident films and continued through the Pacific War. Nornes draws on a wide variety of archival sources--including Japanese studio records, secret police reports, government memos, letters, military tribunal testimonies, and more--to chart shifts in documentary style against developments in the history of modern Japan." - from the publisher

"Here is an authoritative look at Japan's cinematic underworld. An invaluable resource for fans, film buffs, and researchers, The Yakuza Movie Book features: profiles of 7 notable genre directors like Tai Kato and 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, along with extensive interviews with Teruo Ishii, Seijun Suzuki, Rokuro Mochizuki, and the shock jock of Japanese film, Takashi Miike, plus, one of Kinji Fukasaku's last interviews; profiles of 14 of the genre's top actors, including Junko Fuji, Shintaro Katsu, Akira Kobayashi, Hiroki Matsukata, Jo Shishido, Ken Takakura, Riki Takeuchi, Koji Tsurata, Tatsuo Umemiya, Tomisaburo Wakayama, and Tetsuya Watari, plus interviews with Show Aikawa, arguably the hardest-working gangster in show business, Noboru Ando, one of the only gangster-actors, and the legendary Bunta Sugawara; reviews of 123 films, with storylines and critical commentaries; 50 images, including stills and movie posters; a guide to finding the films on video and DVD; a bibliography and glossary; finding guides for directors, actors, and themes." - from the publisher

"Now illustrated throughout with color and black and white photographs and film stills; completely revised and up-to-date; and Praised in American Cinematographer as “the definitive study of this traditional movie genre,” Alain Silver’s The Samurai Film is the ultimate resource for one of world cinema’s most influential and compelling genres. The image of a lone hero, marked by a violent past and bound by honor, has fascinated film audiences the world over, but nowhere more than in Japan where Samurai films have gained legions of passionate followers. Popularized by one of the greatest directors in cinematic history, Akira Kurosawa, the themes of the Samurai film continue to cross over into Western films, recent blockbusters include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Kill Bill. The most astute Western analyst of this genre, Alain Silver deconstructs its key themes, from its focus on death and the significance of weaponry to key motifs such as hara kiri, and nostalgia for Japan’s feudal past. With comprehensive filmographies of the major directors and films, a survey of the history and myths of the Samurai, a glossary of Japanese terms, and extensive illustrations including more than two hundred photos, The Samurai Film covers every aspect of this fascinating cinematic tradition." - from the publisher

"Japanese animation, known as anime to its fans, has a firm hold on American pop culture. However, anime is much more than children's cartoons. It runs the gamut from historical epics to sci-fi sexual thrillers. Often dismissed as fanciful entertainment, anime is actually quite adept at portraying important social and cultural issues such as alienation, gender inequality, and teenage angst. This book investigates the ways that anime presents these issues in an in-depth and sophisticated manner, uncovering the identity conflicts, fears over rapid technological advancement, and other key themes present in much of Japanese animation." - from the publisher

"This friendly guide offers concise but detailed demystifications of more than 85 aspects of ancient and modern Japan. It can be read in sequence, or just dipped into, depending on the moment’s need. Explanations go much deeper than a typical travel guide and cover 1,500 years of history and culture, everything from geisha to gangsters, haiku to karaoke, the sun goddess to the shogunate . . . and anime to Zen." - from the publisher

"Although Kenji Mizoguchi is one of the three most important Japanese directors (along with Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa), there has been no systematic critical study of his work in English. Correcting this omission, Donald Kirihara examines in extraordinary detail the brilliant early works of one of the world's great film directors, offering a sensitive analysis of his career. The book targets a key phase of Mizoguchi's career, the 1930s. It was in that period that conditions within the Japanese film industry allowed Mizoguchi more freedom to experiment with film style and narrative structure. Kirihara analyzes the formal and stylistic components of four of Mizoguchi's films, The Downfall of Osen (1935), Naniwa Elegy (1936), Sisters of the Gion (1936), and The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939), while considering the historical context in which they were produced and consumed. Using scores of frame enlargements, drawing from a variety of historical sources, and integrating concepts from contemporary film theory, Kirihara proposes a new way of understanding Mizoguchi’s films, arguing that at the heart of Mizoguchi’s brilliance as a filmmaker is an obsessive need to challenge spectators, implicating them in the production of meaning through the dynamic manipulation of spatio-temporal relations. The result is a film style that self-consciously leads, frustrates, and surprises. Kirihara's exploration of Mizoguchi within his national and cultural context marks a new step forward in the integration of film theory, historical research, and auteur criticism. He offers what are likely to remain the definitive readings of these four films." - from the publisher

"A critical and popular triumph, Osaka Elegy established Mizoguchi as one of Japan’s major filmmakers. The director's often-used leading actress Isuzu Yamada stars as Ayako, a switchboard operator trapped in a compromising, ruinous relationship with her boss to help support her wastrel father. With its fluid cinematography and deft storytelling, Osaka Elegy ushered in a new era of sound melodrama for Mizoguchi." - from Criterion.com

"Sisters of the Gion follows the parallel paths of the independent, unsentimental Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) and her sister, the more tradition-minded Umekichi (Yoko Umemura), both geishas in the working-class district of Gion. Mizoguchi's film is a brilliantly shot, uncompromising look at the forces that keep many women at the bottom rung of the social ladder." - via Criterion.com

"After World War II, Mizoguchi was inspired by Italian neorealism to make one of the most emotionally and visually raw films of his career. Filmed on location in Osaka, Women of the Night concerns two sisters—Fusako, a war widow, and Natsuko, having an affair with a narcotics smuggler—who along with their younger friend Kumiko descend into prostitution and moral chaos amid the postwar devastation surrounding them." - via Criterion.com

"A peerless chronicler of the soul who specialized in supremely emotional, visually exquisite films about the circumstances of women in Japanese society, Kenji Mizoguchi had already been directing movies for decades when he made The Life of Oharu in 1952. But this epic portrait of an inexorable fall from grace, starring the astounding Kinuyo Tanaka as an imperial lady-in-waiting who gradually descends to street prostitution, was the movie that gained the director international attention, ushering in a new golden period for him."

"By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men." - via Criterion.com

"When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. Under Kenji Mizoguchi’s dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story became one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil." - via Criterion.com

"One of a string of late-career masterworks made by Kenji Mizoguchi in the first half of the 1950s, A Story from Chikamatsu (a.k.a. The Crucified Lovers) is an exquisitely moving tale of forbidden love struggling to survive in the face of persecution. Based on a classic of eighteenth-century Japanese drama, the film traces the injustices that befall a Kyoto scroll maker’s wife and his apprentice after each is unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Bound by fate in an illicit, star-crossed romance, they go on the run in search of refuge from the punishment prescribed them: death. Shot in gorgeous, painterly style by master cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, this delicately delivered indictment of societal oppression was heralded by Akira Kurosawa as a 'great masterpiece that could only have been made by Mizoguchi.'" - from Criterion.com

"For his final film, Mizoguchi brought a lifetime of experience to bear on the heartbreaking tale of a brothel full of women whose dreams are constantly being shattered by the socioeconomic realities surrounding them. Set in Tokyo’s Red Light District (the literal translation of the Japanese title), Street of Shame was so cutting, and its popularity so great, that when an antiprostitution law was passed in Japan just a few months after the film's release, some said it was a catalyst." - via Criterion.com

"This text offers a new interpretation of Ozu Yasujiro's career, from his earliest work in the 1920s up to his death in 1963, focusing on Ozu's depiction of the everyday life and experiences of ordinary Japanese people during a time of depression, war and economic resurgence." - from the publisher

"Yasujiro Ozu, the man whom his kinsmen consider the most Japanese for all film directors, had but one major subject, the Japanese family, and but one major theme, its dissolution. The Japanese family in dissolution figures in every one of his fifty-three films. In his later pictures, the whole world exists in one family, the characters are family members rather than members of a society, and the ends of the earth seem no more distant than the outside of the house." - from the publisher

"Combining three prevalent genres of the day—the student comedy, the salaryman film, and the domestic drama—Ozu created this warmhearted family comedy, and demonstrated that he was truly coming into his own as a cinema craftsman. The setup is simple: Low wage–earning dad Okajima is depending on his bonus, and so are his wife and children, yet payday doesn't exactly go as planned. Exquisite and economical, Ozu's film alternates between brilliantly mounted comic sequences and heartrending working-class realities." - from Criterion.com

"One of Ozu's most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . is a blithe portrait of the financial and psychological toils of one family, as told from the rascally point of view of a couple of stubborn little boys. For two brothers, the daily struggles of bullies and mean teachers is nothing next to the mortification they feel when they realize their good-natured father’s low-rung social status. Reworked decades later as Ozu's Technicolor comedy Good Morning, it's a poignant evocation of the tumult of childhood, as well as a showcase for Ozu's expertly timed comedy editing." - from Criterion.com

"The first of many films featuring the endearing single-dad Kihachi (played wonderfully by Takeshi Sakamoto), Passing Fancy is a humorous and heartfelt study of a close, if fraught, father-son relationship. With an ever more sophisticated visual style and understanding of fragile human relationships, Ozu seamlessly weaves rib-tickling comedy and weighty family drama for this distinguished precursor to a brilliant career." - from Criterion.com

"One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu’s family portraits, Late Spring (Banshun) tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent Ozu players Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara command this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, which remains as potent today as ever—and a strong justification for its maker’s inclusion in the pantheon of cinema’s greatest directors." - from Criterion.com

"The Mamiya family is seeking a husband for their daughter, Noriko, but she has ideas of her own. Played by the extraordinary Setsuko Hara, Noriko impulsively chooses her childhood friend, at once fulfilling her family's desires while tearing them apart. A seemingly simple story, Early Summer is one of Yasujiro Ozu's most complex works—a nuanced examination of life's changes across three generations. The Criterion Collection is proud to present one of the director's most enduring classics." - from Criterion.com

"A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu. The film, which follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces." - from Criterion.com

"A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after their parents refuse to buy a television set. Ozu weaves a wealth of subtle gags through a family portrait as rich as those of his dramatic films, mocking the foibles of the adult world through the eyes of his child protagonists. Shot in stunning color and set in a suburb of Tokyo where housewives gossip about the neighbors’ new washing machine and unemployed husbands look for work as door-to-door salesmen, this charming comedy refashions Ozu’s own silent classic I Was Born, But . . . to gently satirize consumerism in postwar Japan." - from Criterion.com

"The last film by Yasujiro Ozu was also his final masterpiece, a gently heartbreaking story about a man’s dignifed resignation to life’s shifting currents and society’s modernization. Though the widower Shuhei (frequent Ozu leading man Chishu Ryu) has been living comfortably for years with his grown daughter, a series of events leads him to accept and encourage her marriage and departure from their home. As elegantly composed and achingly tender as any of the Japanese master’s films, An Autumn Afternoon is one of cinema’s fondest farewells." - from Criterion.com

"In the first part of the epic Samurai Trilogy, Toshiro Mifune thunders onto the screen as the iconic title character. When we meet him, Miyamoto is a wide-eyed romantic, dreaming of military glory in the civil war that is ravaging the seventeenth-century countryside. Twists of fate, however, turn him into a fugitive. But he is saved by a woman who loves him and a cunning priest who guides him to the samurai path. Though the opening installment of a series, this film, lushly photographed in color, stands on its own, and won an Academy Award for the best foreign-language film of 1955." - from Criterion.com

"Toshiro Mifune furiously embodies swordsman Musashi Miyamoto as he comes into his own in the action-packed middle section of the Samurai Trilogy. Duel at Ichijoji Temple furthers Miyamoto along his path to spiritual enlightenment, as well as further from the arms of the two women who love him: loyal Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa) and conniving yet tragic Akemi (Mariko Okada). The film also brings him face to face with hordes of rivals intent on cutting him down, especially his legendary rival Kojiro (Koji Tsuruta). The titular climax is one of Japanese cinema’s most rousingly choreographed conflicts, intensified by Jun Yasumoto’s color cinematography and Ikuma Dan’s triumphant score." - from Criterion.com

"A disillusioned Musashi Miyamoto (Toshiro Mifune) has turned his back on the samurai life, becoming a farmer in a remote village, while his nemesis Kojiro (Koji Tsuruta) now works for the shogun. Circumstances bring them back together for one final face-off. Though it’s marked by a memorably intense final battle sequence, the rousing conclusion to the Samurai Trilogy is engaged with matters of the heart as well, as Miyamoto must ask himself what it is that makes a warrior and a man." - from Criterion.com

"A giant of 20th-century cinema, Akira Kurosawa holds a unique place among the world's most distinguished filmmakers as the only non-Westerner. Yet, surprisingly little is known of Japan's greatest filmmaker outside of his native country, and only a few of his films are familiar to American audiences. Now, with the personal endorsement and participation of his children, Hisao and Kazuko, this film presents a definitive two-hour profile, exploring Kurosawa's work in its entirety. There are film excerpts, archival footage never before seen in the West, interviews with actors influenced by Kurosawa's work, and re-creations from his book 'Something Like an Autobiography' examining the personal circumstances that produced one of the world's greatest cinema artists."

"Unfolding in a series of eight mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa was inspired by the beloved director’s own nighttime visions, along with stories from Japanese folklore. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master’s imagination, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic apparitions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of creation, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (who is played by Martin Scorsese), Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams is both a showcase for its maker’s artistry at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance." - from Criterion.com

"At 72, Akira Kurosawa was considered by many to be the world's greatest living film director. Yojimbo, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Kagemusha--such motion pictures as these, and nearly two dozen more, had created an extraordinary reputation. Many books and monographs had described him and his work. Here, he tells his own story. It covers, in often intimate detail, the forty years from his birth in a now-vanished Tokyo to the release of the film that made him (and Japanese cinema) famous, the magnificent Rashōmon. Here is Kurosawa as a little boy, swaggering through the streets with his wooden kendō sword, dreaming of medieval heroes; on a horrifying walk with his brother through the ruins of earthquake-wrecked Tokyo ("This must be the end of the world," he remembers thinking); going to the movies (everything from William S. Hart to Ernst Lubitsch); joining the Proletarian Artists' League and going dangerously underground as a party courier; living in a Tokyo slum and becoming fascinated by the old popular culture of story-tellers and neighborhood theaters; answering a newspaper ad and getting into movies, almost by accident, at the old P.C.L. studios ("really the kind of place it would be correct to call a dream factory"); writing scripts (the one for his first film, Sugata Sanshirō, he produced at a single sitting); learning lighting and camerawork; battling the censors as Japan slid into war ("we were all like deaf-mutes"); discovering and working with actor Toshirō Mifune; scripting and making Rashōmon. It's a wonderful story, and Kurosawa tells it wonderfully well. Introspective, personal, to a degree eccentric and opinionated, this book is a remarkable combination of personal reminiscence, cultural history, and hard-headed, witty commentary on what it was like to make movies in Japan. It will fascinate anyone interested in Japan, in film, in the springs of creativity and genius." - from the publisher

"The Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, who died at the age of 88, has been internationally acclaimed as a giant of world cinema. Rashomon, which won both the Venice Film Festival's grand prize and an Academy Award for best foreign-language film, helped ignite Western interest in the Japanese cinema. Seven Samurai and Yojimbo remain enormously popular both in Japan and abroad. In this newly revised and expanded edition of his study of Kurosawa's films, Stephen Prince provides two new chapters that examine Kurosawa's remaining films, placing him in the context of cinema history. Prince also discusses how Kurosawa furnished a template for some well-known Hollywood directors, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. Providing a new and comprehensive look at this master filmmaker, The Warrior's Camera probes the complex visual structure of Kurosawa's work. The book shows how Kurosawa attempted to symbolize on film a course of national development for post-war Japan, and it traces the ways that he tied his social visions to a dynamic system of visual and narrative forms. The author analyzes Kurosawa's entire career and places the films in context by drawing on the director's autobiography--a fascinating work that presents Kurosawa as a Kurosawa character and the story of his life as the kind of spiritual odyssey witnessed so often in his films. After examining the development of Kurosawa's visual style in his early work, The Warrior's Camera explains how he used this style in subsequent films to forge a politically committed model of filmmaking. It then demonstrates how the collapse of Kurosawa's efforts to participate as a filmmaker in the tasks of social reconstruction led to the very different cinematic style evident in his most recent films, works of pessimism that view the world as resistant to change." - from the publisher

"The films of Akira Kurosawa have had an immense effect on the way the Japanese have viewed themselves as a nation and on the way the West has viewed Japan. In this comprehensive and theoretically informed study of the influential directors cinema, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto definitively analyzes Kurosawas entire body of work, from 1943s Sanshiro Sugata to 1993s Madadayo. In scrutinizing this oeuvre, Yoshimoto shifts the ground upon which the scholarship on Japanese cinema has been built and questions its dominant interpretive frameworks and critical assumptions." - from the publisher

"Film scholars and enthusiasts will welcome this new edition of Donald Richie's incomparable study, last updated in 1984. The Method section, filmography, and bibliography contain new information, and Richie has added chapters on Ran, Dreams, Rhapsody in August, and Madadayo. Kurosawa's films display an extraordinary breadth and an astonishing strength, from the philosophic and sexual complexity of Rashomon to the moral dedication of Ikiru, from the naked violence of Seven Samurai to the savage comedy of Yojimbo, from the terror-filled feudalism of Throne of Blood to the piercing wit of Sanjuro. Running through all Kurosawa's work is a tough, humane, and profoundly ethical concern for the painful, beautiful, frequently ridiculous ambiguities of human life. Donald Richie's acclaimed study is as much a clear and winning introduction for those unfamiliar with Kurosawa's films as it is a bountiful critical appraisal for the initiate. Each film receives thorough sensitive examination, with many illustrations chosen by the author to underscore his analysis. Excerpts from the scripts, notes on camera usage and sound, reconstructions of outstanding moments - all these contribute insights into the director's powerful technique. In addition, Richie includes many quotes from his conversations with Kurosawa, allowing ideas and biographical information to emerge in the filmmaker's own words." - from the publisher

"In Akira Kurosawa's first film after the end of World War II, future beloved Ozu regular Setsuko Hara gives an astonishing performance as Yukie, the only female protagonist in Kurosawa's body of work and one of his strongest heroes. Transforming herself from genteel bourgeois daughter to independent social activist, Yukie traverses a tumultuous decade in Japanese history." - from Criterion.com

"A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side. Starring Toshiro Mifune as the rookie cop and Takashi Shimura as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, Stray Dog (Nora inu) goes beyond crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind." - from Criterion.com

"A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema—and a commanding new star by the name of Toshiro Mifune—to the Western world." - from Criterion.com

"One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an explora­tion of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two­part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive." - from Criterion.com

"One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope." - from Criterion.com

"A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. Throne of Blood fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience." - from Criterion.com

"A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director’s most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas’s Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity." - from Criterion.com

"A young executive hunts down his father’s killer in director Akira Kurosawa’s scathing The Bad Sleep Well. Continuing his legendary collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa combines elements of Hamlet and American film noir to chilling effect in exposing the corrupt boardrooms of postwar corporate Japan." - from Criterion.com

"The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa's visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage. Remade twice, by Sergio Leone and Walter Hill, this exhilarating genre-twister remains one of the most influential and entertaining films of all time." - from Criterion.com

"Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akira Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a "proper" samurai on its ear. Less brazen in tone than its predecessor but equally entertaining, this classic character's return is a masterpiece in its own right." - from Criterion.com

"Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku), the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society." - from Criterion.com

"A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard (Akahige) chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a compassionate clinic director. Toshiro Mifune, in his last role for Kurosawa, gives a powerhouse performance as the dignified yet empathic director who guides his pupil to maturity, teaching the embittered intern to appreciate the lives of his destitute patients. Perfectly capturing the look and feel of 19th-century Japan, Kurosawa weaves a fascinating tapestry of time, place, and emotion." - from Criterion.com

"When a warlord dies, a peasant thief is called upon to impersonate him, and then finds himself haunted by the warlord’s spirit as well as his own ambitions. In his late color masterpiece Kagemusha, Akira Kurosawa returns to the samurai film and to a primary theme of his career—the play between illusion and reality. Sumptuously reconstructing the splendor of feudal Japan and the pageantry of war, Kurosawa creates a historical epic that is also a meditation on the nature of power." - via Criterion.com

"With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa's late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power." - from Criterion.com

"Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here, along with Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 'Americanized' version." - from Criterion.com

"Young Ichiro escapes the reality of his dreary home life and schoolyard bullies by dreaming of Monster Island, a fantasy world ruled by Godzilla. Ichiro befriends Godzilla's son, Minilla, who has his own monster bully, Gabara. When kidnapped by thieves, Ichiro uses the confidence he learned from Godzilla and Gabara to fight back." - from Amazon.com

"Kon Ichikawa has long been internationally acknowledged as one of the most important and prolific masters of Japanese cinema.Celebrated for his many adaptations of Japanese novels, such as Fires on the Plain, Harp of Burma, Kagi, Conflagration, and The Makioka Sisters, Ichikawa is an artist with an astounding command of many genres, forms and tones, from ferociously humanist war films to sophisticated social satires, formalist documentaries (the acclaimed Tokyo Olympiad) to extravagant period pieces (An Actor's Revenge)." - from the publisher

"An Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II and finds harmony through song. A private, thought to be dead, disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment. Magnificently shot in hushed black and white, Kon Ichikawa’s The Burmese Harp is an eloquent meditation on beauty coexisting with death and remains one of Japanese cinema’s most overwhelming antiwar statements, both tender and brutal in its grappling with Japan’s wartime legacy." - from Criterion.com

"An agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese soldiers stranded in a strange land during World War II, Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain is a compelling descent into psychological and physical oblivion. Denied hospital treatment for tuberculosis and cast off into the unknown, Private Tamura treks across an unfamiliar Philippine landscape, encountering an increasingly debased cross section of Imperial Army soldiers, who eventually give in to the most terrifying craving of all. Grisly yet poetic, Fires on the Plain is one of the most powerful works from one of Japanese cinema’s most versatile filmmakers." - from Criterion.com

"A spectacle of magnificent proportions and remarkable intimacy, Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad remains one of the greatest films ever made about sports. Supervising a vast team of technicians using scores of cameras, Ichikawa captured the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo in glorious widescreen images, using cutting-edge telephoto lenses and exquisite slow motion to create lyrical, idiosyncratic poetry from the athletic drama surging all around him. Drawn equally to the psychology of losers and winners—including the legendary Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who receives the film’s most exalted tribute—Ichikawa captures the triumph, passion, and suffering of competition with a singular humanistic vision, and in doing so effected a transformative influence on the art of documentary filmmaking." - from Criterion.com

"This lyrical adaptation of the beloved novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for director Kon Ichikawa. Structured around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four siblings who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, in the years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors." - from Criterion.com

"Celebrated as one of Japan's greatest filmmakers, Kobayashi Masaki's scorching depictions of war and militarism marked him as a uniquely defiant voice in post-war Japanese cinema. A pacifist drafted into Japan's Imperial Army, Kobayashi survived the war with his principles intact and created a body of work that was uncompromising in its critique of the nation's military heritage. Yet his renowned political critiques were grounded in spiritual perspectives, integrating motifs and beliefs from both Buddhism and Christianity. A Dream of Resistance is the first book in English to explore Kobayashi's entire career, from the early films he made at Shochiku studio, to internationally-acclaimed masterpieces like The Human Condition, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion, and on to his final work for NHK Television. Closely examining how Kobayashi's upbringing and intellectual history shaped the values of his work, Stephen Prince illuminates the political and religious dimensions of Kobayashi's films, interpreting them as a prayer for peace in troubled times. Prince draws from a wealth of rare archives, including previously untranslated interviews, material that Kobayashi wrote about his films, and even the young director's wartime diary. The result is an unprecedented portrait of this singular filmmaker." - from the publisher

"This mammoth humanist drama by Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three installments of two parts each, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition, adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji—played by the Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai—from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet prisoner of war. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals to be an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of Japan’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best." - from Criterion.com

"Following the collapse of his clan, an unemployed samurai (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on the property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for a new position, try to force his hand and get him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his beliefs and his personal brand of honor. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Harakiri, directed by Masaki Kobayashi is a fierce evocation of individual agency in the face of a corrupt and hypocritical system." - from Criterion.com

"After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. This version of Kwaidan is the original three-hour cut, never before released in the United States." - from Criterion.com

"Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord's mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice." - from Criterion.com

"In a poor 19th century rural Japanese village, everyone who reaches the age of 70 has to climb a nearby mountain to die. An elderly woman is reaching close to her cut-off age during her last days with her family." - from IMDB.com

"The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel." - from IMDB.com

"Mr. and Mrs. Shizuma and their niece Yasuko make their way through the ruins of Hiroshima, devastated by the atomic bomb. Five years later, Yasuko is living with her aunt and uncle, and her senile grandmother, in a village containing many survivors of the bombing. Yasuko does not appear to be affected, but the Shizumas are worried about her marriage prospects, fearing that she might succumb to radiation sickness at any time."

"Sachiko Hidari gives a towering performance in Kinji Fukasaku's devastating anti-war drama as Mrs.Togashi, a war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after the war, she seeks out four survivors of her husband's garrison. Each tells a dramatically different story about her husband's conduct, but she is determined to learn the truth. "Until my husband can rest in peace," she proclaims, "I'll have no comfort." Thus begins a Rashomon-like mystery that unfolds in harrowing flashbacks, punctuated by archival still combat images that convey the brutality and absurdity of war." - from Amazon.com

"In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza. After joining boss Yamamori, Shozo is drawn into a feud with his sworn brother's family, the Dois. But that's when the chivalry ends and the hypocrisy, betrayal, and assassinations begin.Deadly fight in Hiroshima: Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hit man and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero Shozo Hirono into a new round of bloodshed, culminating with the tragic demise of the young Yamanka."

"TORA-SAN, a 48-film series, is by far the longest-running film series in Japanese history and the second-longest overall in the world. Typical story lines have Tora-san, a suitcase carrying, leisure-suit wearing, traveling salesman visiting different parts of Japan, where he meets a beautiful young woman, is smitten, and tells her if she ever needs help, she should come visit him in his hometown. After returning home to his family, which disapproves of his wandering lifestyle, the damsel in distress shows up, and Tora-san falls in love. Included in the set are the first four films of the series, It's Tough being a Man, Tora-san's Cherished Mother, Tora-san, His Tender Love, and Tora-san's Grand Scheme." - from the publisher

"A nominee for the Best Foreign Film Oscar and winner of twelve Japanese Academy Awards, The Twilight Samurai (2002) is a contemplative character study of Seibei (Hiroyuki Sanada), a traditional samurai reduced—in a rapidly modernizing Japan—to working as an accountant. A widower, Seibei has to care for his senile mother and his two young daughters; his financial problems are so severe that he finally, humiliatingly, must pawn his sword. And then, his clan comes to him with one last job. Directed by veteran Yoji Yamada, best known for helming Japan’s beloved 'Tora-san' films." - from Amazon.com

"The epic tale of Munezo, a samurai being displaced in a rapidly changing Japan. After a failed political coup, he is ordered to prove his innocence by finding and killing Yaichiro, a former friend, samurai and brilliant swordsman. Munezo enlists the help of their old teacher who entrusts him with the secret technique of THE HIDDEN BLADE. Now he must choose between duty and honor." - from Amazon.com

An award winning masterpiece of sacrifice and devotion, Love and Honor weaves a timeless tale set in the waning days of feudal Japan. Directed by Academy Award nominee Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) and starring Takuya Kimura (2046), Love and Honor depicts the emotional intensity of an age when respect was more valuable than riches and love cut more truly than any sword. Shinoj Mimura is a samurai sharing a hand-to-mouth existence with his beautiful wife, Kayo. Frustrated by his lowly status within the castle ranks, Shinoj dreams of better days instructing children in the way of the sword. But destiny, it would seem, has other plans… A freak accident takes the warrior's sight, leaving Shinoj cursed. Losing his status and pride, his hopes and dreams, and even himself to this life of eternal darkness, only one path lies open for Shinoj: That of the true and noble samurai. Love and Honor – Tale of the fallen samurai." - from Amazon.com

"Many films have drawn from classic Japanese theatrical forms, but none with such shocking cinematic effect as director Masahiro Shinoda's Double Suicide. In this striking adaptation of a Bunraku puppet play (featuring the music of famed composer Toru Takemitsu), a paper merchant sacrifices family, fortune, and ultimately life for his erotic obsession with a prostitute. Criterion is proud to present Double Suicide in a stunning digital transfer, with a new and improved English subtitle translation." - from Criterion.com

"In this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village must come to terms with their nation's defeat and the sudden occupation of General MacArthur and his troops." - from IMDB.com

"It’s death, Japanese style, in the rollicking and wistful first feature from maverick writer-director Juzo Itami. In the wake of her lascivious father’s sudden passing, a successful actor (Itami’s wife and frequent collaborator, Nobuko Miyamoto) and her husband (Tsutomu Yamazaki) leave Tokyo and return to their family house to oversee a traditional funeral. Over the course of three days of mourning that bring illicit escapades in the woods, a surprisingly materialistic priest (Yasujiro Ozu regular Chishu Ryu), and cinema’s most epic sandwich handoff, the tensions between public propriety and private hypocrisy are laid bare. Deftly weaving dark comedy with poignant family drama, The Funeral is a fearless satire of the clash between old and new in Japanese society in which nothing, not even the finality of death, is off-limits." - from Criterion.com

"The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made." - from Criterion.com

"Itakura Ryōko is a tireless, single-minded tax auditor who has just landed a big promotion and becomes a member of 'Marusa,' an inspection group at the National Tax Agency. She starts an inivestigation of a wheeler-dealer businessman Gondō Hideki."

"The owner of a high-class Japanese hotel, the Europa, hopes to win a prestigious and lucrative contract for the hotel as the site of a summit meeting between important international officials. Unfortunately, the yakuza have taken a liking to this hotel as both a hangout and a target for extortion. In order to win the contract, the owner realizes, he must rid the hotel of the yakuza. Fearing to confront them himself, he deputizes a hotel accountant, Suzuki (Yasuo Daichi) and a bellboy and former college sumo-club member, Wakasugi (Takehiro Murata). The hapless pair are no more daring than their employer, however, and their tentative attempts to address the problem fail until they meet Mahiru Inoue (Nobuko Miyamoto), a lawyer who specializes in dealing with the yakuza. With Inoue's direction, the hotel staff comes together to face down the yakuza ruffians, who are portrayed as craven, outwardly-threatening-but-inwardly-weak, fools." - from Wikipedia

"A new supermarket 'Bargains Galore' opens, and threatens the longer-established 'Honest Goro' with its aggressive price cutting. The owner of 'Honest Goro' (Goro, played by Masahiko Tsugawa) inspects the new store, and bumps into an old classmate he hasn't seen for years (Hanako, played by Nobuko Miyamoto). She uses her 'housewife's know' to show him why his supermarket is performing so badly. He resolves to make his supermarket the best in Japan, and gives her a job as head cashier."

"The story of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's life and work, including his significant impact on Japan and the world."A thirtieth-century toxic jungle, a bathhouse for tired gods, a red-haired fish girl, and a furry woodland spirit--what do these have in common? They all spring from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest living animators, known worldwide for films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises. Japanese culture and animation scholar Susan Napier explores the life and art of this extraordinary Japanese filmmaker to provide a definitive account of his oeuvre. Napier insightfully illuminates the multiple themes crisscrossing his work, from empowered women to environmental nightmares to utopian dreams, creating an unforgettable portrait of a man whose art challenged Hollywood dominance and ushered in a new chapter of global popular culture." - from the publisher

"Pazu is an engineer's apprentice who finds Sheeta, a young girl, floating down from the sky, wearing a glowing pendant. Together, they discover both are searching for Laputa, a legendary floating castle, and vow to unravel the mystery of the luminous crystal around Sheeta's neck. Their quest won't be easy. There are greedy air pirates, secret government agents and astounding obstacles to keep them from learning the truth."

"From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away and Ponyo, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes a classic tale of magic and adventure for the whole family. When Satsuki and her sister Mei move with their father to a new home in the countryside, they find country life is not as simple as it seems. They soon discover that the house and nearby woods are full of strange and delightful creatures, including a gigantic but gentle forest spirit called Totoro, who can only be seen by children. Totoro and his friends introduce the girls to a series of adventures, including a ride aboard the extraordinary Cat Bus, in this all-ages animated masterpiece featuring the voices of Tim Daly, Lea Salonga, and real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, in early roles." - from Amazon.com

"From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes an epic masterpiece that has dazzled audiences worldwide with its breathtaking imagination, exhilarating battles, and deep humanity. Inflicted with a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka heads west in search of a cure. There, he stumbles into a bitter conflict between Lady Eboshi, the proud people of Iron Town, and the enigmatic Princess Mononoke, a young girl raised by wolves, who will stop at nothing to prevent the humans from destroying her home and the forest spirits and animal gods who live there." - from Amazon.com

"Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, Hayao Miyazaki's wondrous fantasy adventure is a dazzling masterpiece from one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation. Chihiro's family is moving to a new house, but when they stop on the way to explore an abandoned village, her parents undergo a mysterious transformation and Chihiro is whisked into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress, Yubaba. Put to work in a magical bathhouse for spirits and demons, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world. Overflowing with imaginative creatures and thrilling storytelling, Spirited Away became a worldwide smash hit, and is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time." - from Amazon.com

"A young woman named Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste and is turned into an old woman who is unable to tell anyone of her plight. Unable to continue her job at her mother's hat shop, she goes to the ambulatory castle of the notorious wizard Howl and insinuates herself into his household. Sophie befriends Calcifer, the fire demon who powers the castle and who is bound to Howl by a contract, the terms of which Calcifer cannot reveal. They promise to help each other with their problems. Like Calcifer, Howl can also see through the Witch's spell, and he and Sophie fall in love. Sophie helps Howl confront his former teacher, and the Witch of the Waste."

"A young boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish named Ponyo, and they embark on a fantastic journey of friendship before Ponyo's father forces her to return to the sea. Ponyo's desire to be human upsets the balance of nature and only Ponyo's mother, a beautiful sea goddess, can restore nature's balance and make Ponyo's dreams come true." - from the publisher

"The Cinema of Takeshi Kitano: Flowering Blood is a detailed aesthetic, Deleuzian, and phenomenological exploration of Japan's finest currently-working film director, performer, and celebrity. This volume uniquely explores Kitano's oeuvre through the tropes of stillness and movement, becoming animal, melancholy and loss, intensity, schizophrenia, and radical alterity; and through the aesthetic temperatures of color, light, camera movement, performance and urban and oceanic space. In this highly original monograph, all of Kitano's films are given due consideration, including A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Dolls (2002), Outrage (2010), and Outrage Beyond (2012)." - from the publisher

"Original and elegaic Yakuza drama from cult actor-director Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano. Murakawa (Kitano) is a powerful and trusted gangster who is persuaded to travel to Okinawa to help clear up a dispute between rival gangs. The task proves anything but easy, and as bloody conflict erupts around him, Murakawa realises that he has been set up, and decides to retreat to a secret seaside hideaway, where he and his friends kill time and play games as they wait for their enemies to arrive." - from Amazon

"Feeling responsible for the shattered lives of his loved ones, beleaguered police detective Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows money from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt. The yakuza, however, are not so easily bought off, sending Nishi down a road paved with nihilism and violence. Considered Kitano's first true cinematic masterpiece, HANA-BI demonstrates the auteur's immense talents both in front of and behind the camera." - from Film Movement

"In the tradition of Central Station comes KIKUJIRO, the highly acclaimed film from 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, the award-winning director of Fireworks and Sonatine. Lonely nine-year-old Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi, Jam Session) leaves Tokyo in search of the mother he's never met. He's accompanied on his journey across the Japanese countryside by surly, middle-aged petty crook Kikujiro (Kitano), who is none too happy being the chaperone. When Kikujiro gambles away all of Masao's travel money, the two must rely on their wits and the kindness of colorful strangers. The two share a series of wild and unpredictable adventures, ending up at a destination that neither of them could have imagined." - from Amazon.com

"Takeshi Kitano's dazzling film is a thrilling tale of swordplay and adventure set in 19th Century Japan. Zatoichi ('Beat' Takeshi) is a blind wanderer whose humble facade disguises his prodigious skills as a master swordsman, gifted with a lightning fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Arriving in a remote mountain town, he finds its people terrorised by the ruthless Ginzo gang and their mighty samurai ronin Hattori, who mercilessly dispose of all who get in their way. With his legendary cane sword at his side, Zatoichi's path is destined for many violent confrontations..."

"Internationally acclaimed actor and director Takeshi Kitano gives his most captivating performance yet as Kim Shunpei, a Korean immigrant in Japan whose life is a disturbing tableau of cruelty, abuse and shocking violence. Kim is a despicable man who physically and emotionally assaults everyone around him the workers at his fish cake factory, his mistress, his estranged wife, and his entire family. Ruthlessly pursuing success at any cost, he wastes away his earnings while keeping the people closest to him in desperate need. Spanning several decades and adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel by Korean-Japanese author Yang Seok-Il, Blood and Bones is a fiercely beautiful film that exposes the raw brutality of unchecked ambition and greed. Winner of four Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay, Blood and Bones was Japan s official entry as the Best Foreign Language Film for the 2006 Academy Awards." - from Amazon.com

"Light Yagami is an ace student who finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil."

"Light Yagami has joined the investigation team in pursuit of the serial killer known as 'Kira.' While L strongly suspects Light is 'Kira, ' Light continues to seek out L's real name so he can kill him using the Death Note. Things get more unpredictable with the appearance of a second 'Kira' who possesses the 'Eyes of Death God, ' enabling the owner to see the true identity and lifespan of any person."

"Yojiro Takita's epic film set at the end of the Edo period in Kyoto tells the story of Kanichiro Yoshimura, a lone Samurai whose sole purpose in life was to make enough money to support his family. His fellow warriors initially view him as dishonorable for this mercenary approach, especially Saito, another member of the Shinsengumi, guardians of the Imperial capital. It is here that Kanichiro proves himself time and time again as a master swordsman, eventually earning the respect of Saito and the other samurai." - from Amazon.com

"Daigo Kobayashi is a young married cellist who played in an orchestra that has just been disbanded. Suddenly on the street without a job, Daigo decides to move back to his hometown with his wife. There he gets a job as an undertaker. He sees himself as a sort of gatekeeper between life and death. However, Daigo's work is despised
by all the people around him. But it is through his relationship with death on a daily basis that Daigo begins to understand what life is really about." - from Blu-Ray.com

"With his grades sliding at university, Shuhei's professor gets the cunning idea of blackmailing him into joining the sumo wrestling team. Shuhei begrudgingly accepts, knowing it's the only way for him to graduate. The only problem is the Sumo Club has only one other member--the rather pathetic Aoki who hasn't won a single bout in four years. Together they draft together a motley bunch of wrestlers, including a pudgy sad-sack named Tanaka, Shuhei's brother Haruo who's been wrestling in drag, and a foreigner named Smiley who refuses to wrestle without his underpants."

"A middle-aged businessman's dull life takes an interesting turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class just to meet the beautiful dance instructor."

"A businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal." - from Amazon.com

"Young couple Tomoo and Kana's lives are turned upside down when skinheads kidnap their young son, in the process of which the enraged Tomoo spontaneously grows a gun from his arm--and ends up accidentally killing his own child. Fueled by grief and guilt, the once mild-mannered Tomoo continues his bodily metamorphosis, transforming into the ultimate weapon and setting the stage for an explosive showdown with the metal-worshipping fanatic who leads the skinheads."

"Insurance salesman Tsuda has a chance encounter with an old friend, Kojima, now a professional boxer. Meek and mild-mannered, Tsuda finds himself threatened by the rawer and more visceral form of masculinity that Kojima represents--particularly when Kojima embarks on an affair with Tsuda's wife. Enraged and humiliated, Tsuda's only recourse is to enter the boxing ring himself, setting the stage for the ultimate showdown between the two rivals and former friends."

"TV commercial director Goda's world is rocked when he loses his beloved girlfriend to suicide. His ensuing grief, and desire to understand the circumstances of her death, leads Goda down a dark and violent path, exploring Tokyo's seedy underworld, where he comes face to face with juvenile delinquents, gang violence, and an illicit fighting ring."

"A young woman, Rinko, endures a passionless marriage to a physically unattractive, hygiene-obsessed workaholic. When Rinko receives a series of compromising, sexually explicit photographs of herself from an anonymous voyeur, she is forced to submit to this blackmailer's every demand, acting out her own erotic fantasies for his satisfaction."

"Medical student Hiroshi awakens after surviving a car crash, suffering from amnesia. Taking up his studies once again, Hiroshi finds himself participating in the autopsy of a young woman who seems inexplicably familiar. Before long, he realizes the women is his beloved girlfriend, killed in the same accident that shattered his memory. Desperate to exorcise his own physical trauma, Hiroshi throws himself into the dissection of his former lover's body, exploring the boundaries between life and death, sex and violence, and perception and reality."

"A man wakes up in a small concrete maze bleeding from the abdomen. He can barely move and has no recollection of why or how he came to be there. Crawling forward he eventually meets a woman and they try to piece together their past lives."

" The story of a young mother, Kotoko, tormented by violent hallucinations and bouts of self-harm. When her baby is taken from her by child services, Kotoko enters into a relationships with a celebrated novelist, using his body as a canvas on which to enact her violent fantasies, all the while spiraling further into psychotic madness."

"A masterless samurai, Mokunoshin, finds his peaceful life in a quiet village under threat with the arrival of an older samurai, seeking to recruit a band of warriors to fight for the shogun. Soon, Mokunoshin, who has never before killed a man, finds his pacifistic ideal being tested to the absolute limit, as swords are crossed and bloody carnage ensues."

"Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a wartorn future." - from Magnolia Pictures

"FIRST LOVE is an action-packed yakuza film by acclaimed Japanese director Takashi Miike.
Set over one night in Tokyo, we follow Leo, a young boxer down on his luck as he meets his ‘first love’ Monica, a call-girl and an addict but still innocent. But, little does Leo know, Monica is unwittingly caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, and the two are pursued through the night by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin sent by the Chinese Triads. All their fates intertwine in spectacular Miike style, at his most fun and anarchic." - from Well Go USA

"The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan's greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda's films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda's oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives." - from the publisher

"Yumiko is a vibrant and happy young wife and mother who is haunted by the childhood memory of watching her grandmother walk away from the family home, never to be seen again. When her husband dies a mysterious suicide, Yumiko is devastated by shock and grief. She struggles to care for her toddler son in the couple's cramped Osaka apartment."

"If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? That’s the question at the heart of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s revelatory international breakthrough, a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single cherished moment from their life to be recreated on film for them to take into the next world. After Life’s high-concept premise is grounded in Kore‑eda’s documentary-like approach to the material, which he shaped through interviews with hundreds of Japanese citizens. What emerges is a panoramic vision of the human experience—its ephemeral joys and lingering regrets—and a quietly profound meditation on memory, our interconnectedness, and the amberlike power of cinema to freeze time." - from Criterion.com

"Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers. They have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, asking her 12-year-old boy to look after the others. And so begins the children’s odyssey, a journey nobody knows. Though engulfed by the cruel fate of abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. When they are forced to engage with the world outside their cocooned universe, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. Their innocent longing for their mother, their wary fascination toward the outside world, their anxiety over their increasingly desperate situation, their inarticulate cries, their kindness to each other, their determination to survive on wits and courage…" - from IFC Films

"Director Hirokazu Koreeda turns the popularly held conventions of the typical samurai revenge tale on their head with this story of a man whose quest to avenge the death of his father gradually takes a back seat to his emerging role as a key figure in the community. The year is 1702, and young samurai Sozaemon Aoki (Junichi Okada) has arrived in Edo to seek revenge against Jubei Kanazawa (Tadanobu Asano). Kanazawa is the man responsible for the death of Aoki's father, and now it's up to the grieving swordsman to settle the score. When Aoki begins teaching the children of Edo to read and write, however, his bloodlust slowly begins to subside as he comes to realize the true value of his useful place in society. Upon falling in love with the beautiful Osae (Rie Miyazawa), Aoki comes to realize that although the sword may be a powerful symbol of strength, allowing oneself to fall victim to its savage allure may not always be the best way to realize one's true heroism."

"The lyrical, profoundly moving Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo) is contemporary Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda's most personal work to date. Created as a tribute to his late mother, the film depicts one day in the life of the Yokoyamas, gathered together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear. Rather than focus on big dramatic moments, Kore-eda relies on simple gestures and domestic routines (especially cooking) to evoke a family’s entire life, its deep regrets and its daily joys. Featuring vivid, heartrending performances and a gentle naturalism that harks back to the director’s earlier, documentary work, Still Walking is an extraordinary portrayal of the ties that bind us." - from Criterion.com

"Three sisters, Sachi, Yoshino and Chika, live together in the city of Kamakura, Japan. When their father, absent from the family home for the last fifteen years, dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their shy, teenage half sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them. Suzu eagerly agrees and a new life of joyful discovery begins for the four siblings."

"Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defense of murder-robbery suspect Misumi who served jail time for another murder 30 years ago. Shigemori's chances of winning the case seem low; his client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death penalty if he is convicted. As he digs deeper into the case, as he hears the testimonies of the victim's family and Misumi himself, the once confident Shigemori begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer after all."

"On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family." - from Magnolia Pictures

"Church worker Dong-Soo (Gang Dong-Won) and laundryman pal Sang-Hyeon (Song Kang-Ho) found a lucrative side hustle by taking infants dropped off in the church's care and selling them on the black market. They got caught in the act-by one returning and regretful mother (Lee Ji-Eun)-who then insisted on tagging along and screening prospective parents. Hirokazu Koreeda's disarming Korean-language bow co-stars Doona Bae, Lee Joo-Young." - from Amazon.com

"A bullied employee has a run-in with yakuza, a shy nurse, and a stuffed suitcase. So begins his new life of excitement and adventure with the nurse." - from IMDB.com

"In a Japanese high school, a class of adolescent geeks joins the new synchronized swimming teacher and takes up the challenge to take part in the competition, in spite of the mockeries of the 'real sportsmen'." - from IMDB.com

"Sweet Bean is a delicious red bean paste, the sweet heart of the dorayaki pancakes that Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) sells from his little bakery to a small but loyal clientele. Absorbed in sad memories and distant thoughts, Sentaro cooks with skill but without enthusiasm. When seventy-six-year-old Tokue (Kirin Kiki) responds to his ad for an assistant and cheerfully offers to work for a ridiculously low wage, Sentaro is skeptical about the eccentric old lady's ability to endure the long hours. But when she shows up early one morning and reveals to him the secret to the perfect sweet bean paste, Sentaro agrees to take her on. With Tokue's new home cooked sweet bean paste recipe, Sentaro's business begins to flourish, but Tokue is afflicted with an illness that, once revealed, drives her into isolation once again." - from Kino Lorber

"After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a child. Over the next six years, the middle-class couple and their young son Asato settle into a comfortable, albeit routine, life. The family’s orderly existence is shattered by the arrival of Hikari, a young woman claiming to be Asato’s biological mother, demanding his return. As tensions mount, Satoko grows more and more emboldened to defend her family. Weaving together multiple timelines and genres with a contemplative pacing and keen sense of place, hallmarks of Kawase’s work, TRUE MOTHERS 'is a deeply touching celebration of women who assume duties of love, support and compassion' (Awards Watch)." - from Film Movement

"From director Makoto Shinkai, the innovative mind behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters Per Second, comes a beautiful masterpiece about time, the thread of fate, and the hearts of two young souls. The day the stars fell, two lives changed forever. High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other. Yet, somehow, it works. They build a connection and communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more importantly, an imprint. When a dazzling comet lights up the night’s sky, it dawns on them. They want something more from this connection—a chance to meet, an opportunity to truly know each other. Tugging at the string of fate, they try to find a way to each other. But distance isn’t the only thing keeping them apart. Is their bond strong enough to face the cruel irony of time? Or is their meeting nothing more than a wish upon the stars?" - from Funimation Films

"GKIDS proudly presents the highly-anticipated new film from director Makoto Shinkai and producer Genki Kawamura, the creative team behind the critically-acclaimed, global smash hit Your Name. The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day as if to suggest his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky…" - from GKids

"A powerful affirmation of the immersive potential of cinema. Happy Hour is a slow-burning epic chronicling the emotional journey of four thirtysomething women in the misty seaside city of Kobe. As they navigate the unsteady currents of their work, domestic, and romantic lives a sudden, unexpected rift opens between that propels each to a new, richer understanding of life and love. Filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s wise, precisely observed, compulsively watchable drama of friendship and midlife awakening runs over five hours, yet the leisurely duration is not an indulgence but a strategy to create a novelistic space for everyday moments to become charged with possibility that yields a subtle emotional intensity rarely possible in a standard-length film. Happy Hour is far more than just an ordinary melodrama. It is a spectacularly complex and fiercely poetic rendering of the details of daily life in which ideas and feelings are swayed by the unseen forces of friendship and love and buffeted by the weight of deception, loyalty and tradition. Winner of awards at major international festivals—including Locarno, where stars Sachie Tanaka, Hazuki Kikuchi, Maiko Mihara and Rira Kawamura shared the Golden Leopard for Best Actress—Happy Hour has brought new attention to the work and career of one of Japan’s most talented young directors." - from Kimstim, Inc.

"Only Ryusuke Hamaguchi, with his extraordinary sensitivity to the mysterious resonances of human interactions, could sweep up international awards (including the Oscar for Best International Feature) and galvanize audiences everywhere with a pensive three-hour movie—presented in nine languages and adapted from Haruki Murakami stories—about an experimental staging of an Anton Chekhov play. With Drive My Car, the Japanese director has confirmed his place among contemporary cinema’s most vital voices. Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) arrives in Hiroshima to direct a production of Uncle Vanya for a theater festival and, through relationships with an actor (Masaki Okada) with whom he shares a tangled history and a chauffeur (Toko Miura) with whom he develops a surprising rapport, finds himself facing up to his emotional scars. This quietly mesmerizing tale of love, art, grief, and healing is ultimately a cathartic exploration of what it means to go on living when there seems to be no road ahead." - from Criterion.com

"A winner of Academy Awards for best foreign-language film and best costume design, Gate of Hell is a visually sumptuous, psychologically penetrating work from Teinosuke Kinugasa. In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting; after he discovers she is married, he becomes frenzied in his attempts to win her love. Kinugasa’s film, an early triumph of color cinematography in Japan, is an unforgettable, tragic story of obsession and unrequited passion." - from Criterion.com

"Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi) is an elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher’s unwavering commitment to her students, her profession, and her sense of morality. Set in a remote, rural island community and spanning decades of Japanese history, from 1928 through World War II and beyond, Kinoshita’s film takes a simultaneously sober and sentimental look at the epic themes of aging, war, and death, all from the lovingly intimate perspective of Hisako Oshi (Hideko Takamine), as she watches her pupils grow and deal with life’s harsh realities. Though little known in the United States, Twenty-Four Eyes is one of Japan’s most popular and enduring classics." - from Criterion.com

"Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking, in this seminal Sun Tribe (taiyozoku) film from director Kô Nakahira. Adapted from the controversial novel by Shintarô Ishihara, and critically savaged for its lurid portrayal of the postwar sexual revolution among Japan’s young and privileged, Crazed Fruit is an anarchic outcry against tradition and the older generation." - from Criterion.com

"An entomologist is tricked by villagers into spending the night in a shack in a sandpit with a widow whose task is endlessly to haul away sand. He finds he cannot escape and gradually develops an intense bond with his companion and resigns himself to a lifetime of hypnotic routine." Based on the novel by Kobo Abe.

"In the small town of Minamata in Kyushu, far from the metropolitan center, the fertilizer company Chisso built a factory to take advantage of cheap labor and commenced dumping mercury-filled wastewater into the nearby sea. Soon residents began exhibiting symptoms of a mysterious illness, a happening that would eventually develop into the worst case of environmental pollution in postwar Japan. Noriaki Tsuchimoto visits the patients and their families who sued Chisso and listens to their voices. His camera gently lifts the veil and reveals their reality. Minamata: The Victims and Their World is impressive in how it stands on the side of the patients, not only providing a collage of individual portraits, but also an understanding of their everyday lives. One of the monuments of Japanese documentary, Minamata: The Victims and Their World played at many international festivals, winning an award at Locarno." - from Zakka Films

"Ten years before the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia, a Japanese Go master and his Chinese rival meet in China to play a game of Go (loosely described as an Asian version of chess). It soon becomes evident that the Chinese master's son is the most talented player that the Japanese master has ever encountered, and he convinces the boy's father to let him bring the child back to Japan to train him as a professional Go player. Years pass, and as the young Chinese master grows to maturity in Japan, the Japanese invasion of China forces him to choose between his triumphant career and his loyalty to his native country. His decision is complicated by his marriage to the daughter of the Japanese master, with whom he has produced a child. His choice will profoundly alter the lives of two families. Their saga serves as a reflection of the tragic relations between their two great countries, and the possibility of reconciliation and healing." - Simon Levy, IMDb.com

"A film that pokes fun at contemporary Japanese ideals, portraying a middle-class family as it battles against the Japanese educational system." - from the publisher

"Tatsuo, a gruff-mannered woodsman who lives in the mountains near a Japanese coastal town, refuses to sell his land for a planned tourist theme park – the only resident to oppose the project." - from MUBI

"Made with a righteous political anger that anticipates the incendiary polemics of documentarians such as Michael Moore and Joshua Oppenheimer, Kazuo Hara’s most renowned film is a harrowing confrontation with one of Japanese history’s darkest chapters: the atrocities committed by the country’s military during World War II. Hara’s unforgettable subject and collaborator in THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON is Kenzo Okuzaki—a former soldier, convicted murderer, and defiantly anti-establishment agitator—who has made it his life’s mission to expose the crimes committed by Japanese officers against their own men while stationed in New Guinea. As the often-violent Okuzaki resorts to extreme measures in his crusade to find out the truth about what happened to two soldiers murdered by their commanders, what emerges is at once a shocking piece of investigative journalism, a courageous condemnation of militarism and blind obedience, and a riveting portrait of a single-minded man driven by a raw fury bordering on madness." - from Criterion.com

"A powerful psychic force known only as Akira resurfaces in Neo-Tokyo in the 21st century. Tetsuo, a young, inexperienced motorcycle biker driven beyond the boundaries of sanity by the power of Akira, is forced to conjure up demons lying dormant within his subconscious." "Akira isn’t just a movie – it’s the genesis of a genre. Katsuhiro Otomo’s landmark cyberpunk classic obliterated the boundaries of Japanese animation and forced the world to look into the future. Akira’s arrival shattered traditional thinking, creating space for movies like the The Matrix to be dreamed into brutal reality. Without Kaneda and Tetsuo, without espers and psionic assassins, without that badass motorcycle – our world would be a far less exciting place to exist. But the manga became the movie and the movie became a phenomenon and the world took notice. Now, Akira is everywhere. If you can’t see it in the streets – if you can’t feel it crawling around inside your brain – then you have yet to be initiated. What. Are. You. Waiting. For?" - from Amazon.com

"A devastating meditation on the human cost of war, this animated tale follows Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi), a teenager charged with the care of his younger sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), after an American firebombing during World War II separates the two children from their parents. Their tale of survival is as heartbreaking as it is true to life. The siblings rely completely on each other and struggle against all odds to stay together and stay alive."

"'Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis' is a visually striking film portrait shot on location in Japan with the participation of the major Butoh choreographers and their companies. Although Butoh is often viewed as Japan's equivalent of modern dance, in actuality it has little to do with the rational principles of modernism. Butoh is a theater of improvisation which places the personal experiences of the dancer on center-stage. By reestablishing the ancient Japanese connection of dance, music, and masks, and by recalling the Buddhist death dances of rural Japan, Butoh incorporates much traditional theater. At the same time, it is a movement of resistance against the abandonment of traditional culture to a highly organized consumer-oriented society."

"In the early 1900's a young Japanese woman, leaving behind an unhappy past, goes to Hawaii as a mail order bride to marry a man she knows only through a photograph. Although she is disappointed when he turns out to be older than his picture indicated, she finds that life in this new land is more exciting and satisfying than she expected."

"Set in the year 2029 and following World Wars III and IV, a Japanese-led Asian block dominates world affairs. The alliance maintains its international supremacy through its elite security force whose cybernetically enhanced operatives tackle an array of hi-tech terrorists and other threats to international security. These augmented agents can "ghost hack" (i.e., download their consciousness) via the now omnipresent internet into other machines and human/machine cross breeds. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetically augmented female agent, has been tracking a virtual entity known as the Puppet Master with her crack squad of security agents. The shape-shifting Puppet Master, a rogue creation of a rival agency of the security apparatus, has concluded that it is a life form in its own right, 'born in sea of information,' and requested political asylum and true physical existence in defiance of its creators." - from Amazon.com

"A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it." - from IMDB.com

"Princess Nine, known in Japan as Princess Nine Kisaragi Girls High Baseball Club (プリンセスナイン如月女子高野球部, Purinsesu Nain Kisaragi Joshikō Yakyū-bu), is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series and a three volume manga. The series is about the trials of nine girls at the Kisaragi School for Girls who form a baseball team for the purpose of playing on equal footing with boys' teams at the most prestigious high school tournament in Japan, the National High School Baseball Championship. Their aim to qualify for, and ultimately to win, the final rounds of the tournament which is held each year at the Koshien Stadium. They are led by ace pitcher, Ryo Hayakawa, a daughter of a former pitching star in Japan who was banned from Nippon Professional Baseball." - from Wikipedia

"An inspiring, heartwarming tale of an ordinary girl who conquers trying odds to achieve her goals. Popular starlet Rena Tanaka stars as Etsuko, an average teenager saddled with a personal illness, as well as numerous circumstances that seem intent on keeping her down. Etsuko lives in the shadow of her brilliant older sister, and finds little teacher support thanks to her poor grades. Her one inspiration: to row for the school rowing team, which is composed entirely of boys. Denied membership in their club, she forms her own female rowing team and challenges the odds!"

"In the industrial, tri-level world of Metropolis, Duke Red is a powerful leader with plans to unveil a highly advanced robot named Tima. But Duke Red's violent son Rock distrusts robots, and intends to find and destroy Tima. Lost in the confusing labyrinth beneath Metropolis, Tima is beginning a friendship with the young nephew of a Japanese detective. But when Duke Red separates the two innocents, Tima's life--and the fate of the universe--is dangerously at stake."

"Director Jun Ichikawa delivers Tokyo Marigold, an understated, atmospheric drama starring the enchanting Rena Tanaka. Eriko (Rena Tanaka) is a lonely young woman in Tokyo who takes an opportunity to spice up her life by proffering a deal to a shy young salaryman named Tamura (Osawa Masayoshi). Entertaining and affecting drama that convinces in its complete and realistic portrait of a girl who steps out of her shell to make a choice that forever changes her inside."

"A thirty-something freelance writer Rei's one night pick-up becomes a transformative journey of sexual and emotional self-discovery."

"Seven friends gather in Kyoto to celebrate Masamichi's entry to graduate school. There are also storylines about the rescues of a beached whale and a thief stuck between two buildings."

"A story of three girls on the subsidized dating circuit. At risk from angry clients, drug dealers, and the mob, they find themselves as they live their way of life on the night streets. Friendship, money, risk, youth, life, just another night in the world of the Ko Gals."

"Meet the Harunos, a rather unconventional but happy and loving family. They live in a small town in the mountains just outside Tokyo where life is good and quiet - but that doesn't mean they don't have their own little problems."

"One of the classics of the jidaimono or historical plays, this famous act chronicles a dramatic incident during the Battle of Ichinotani, during the long war between Genji and the Heike Clans. General Kumagai is, like many Kabuki tragic heroes, a victim of the medieval Japanese code of honor. Confronted with the prospect of having to kill the Emperor's son, he beheads his own son instead. Released from further duty, he spends his last days as a wandering priest."

"Only three days before their high school festival, guitarist Kei, drummer Kyoko, and bassist Nozomi are forced to recruit a new lead vocalist for their band. They choose Korean exchange student Son, though her comprehension of Japanese is a bit rough. It's a race against time as the group struggles to learn three tunes for the festival's rock concert, including a classic '80s punk-pop song by the Japanese group The Blue Hearts called 'Linda Linda'."

"During Late World War II, the Japanese Army starts losing in the battle. Special junior officers including Kamio (Kenichi Matsuyama) board Yamato and meet the officer Moriwaki (Takashi Sorimachi) and Uchida (Shidou Nakamura). However, this battle marks the virtual end of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Then in April 1945, Yamato is ordered to carry out a suicide mission and sets out to the waters of Okinawa..."

"Computer engineer Otaku (the Japanese term for 'geek') is an average young man, dressed in unstylish clothes and dorky glasses. But as luck would have it, he encounters a pretty young woman on a commuter train and saves her from a lecherous molester, falling in love with her at first sight. A few days later he receives a thank-you message from the woman along with a set of Hermes teacups. Having never had a girlfriend or received a gift from a girl in his life, Otaku seeks out his pals on his BBS website for advice using his codename Train_Man (Densha Otoko): 'How should I ask her out?' Deeply interested in Train Man's first love, his BBS pals eagerly supply him with advice. Encouraged by their support, Train Man undergoes a total makeover for his first-ever date with 'Hermess'. Little does he know that he is about to ignite an Internet phenomenon..." - from Amazon.com

"Prepare to enter the realm of fantasy and imagination -- where reality and dreams collide in a kaleidoscopic mindscape of sheer visual genius. The magical tale centers on a revolutionary machine that allows scientists to enter and record a subject's dream. After being stolen, a fearless detective and brilliant therapist join forces to recover the device -- before it falls into the hands of a "dream terrorist" in this gripping anime thriller from acclaimed director Satoshi Kon." - from Sony Pictures Entertainment

"Genghis Khan, the name is a legend, the man was mythical. He was a soul who was obscured by his own achievements. He was a son, husband, father, and conqueror. The saga of one man's march toward immortality and the battle to unite the tribes of Mongol under one rule."

"A student named Noguchi is bullied at school and attemps to commit suicide. He stops coming to classes so his desk is removed from the classroom. On the first day of the next semester, a substitute teacher arrives to teach this boy's class and the students are very surprised that he stutters. Although this teacher, Murauchi, cannot speak smoothly, his words are sincere and he is can reach the students in a way others have not. His first instruction when he arrives is to direct the students is to put the Noguchi's desk back in the classroom."

"Irreverently zany, black-comedy drama capturing a year in the life of 17-year-old Yu. Yu falls into sinful ways after the death of his saintly mother and his father's subsequent ordainment to the Catholic priesthood. Yu's speciality as a petty criminal is taking sneaky camera shots up girls' skirts while he ostensibly performs elaborate martial arts moves. He falls in love with rough diamond Yoko, but their future together comes under threat when the creepy Koike goes all out to lure Yu into his religious cult." - from Blu-Ray.com

"A young medical intern student is dismayed when he is assigned to work in a remote countryside village." - from IMDB.com

"nspired by the events of the 1985 Japan Airlines Flight 123 tragedy, the second deadliest aviation accident in history. The media angle of the JAL123 tragedy was recently covered in the 2008 feature Climber's High. Acclaimed actor Watanabe Ken delivers an award-winning performance as airline union head Onchi Hajime whose fight to improve working conditions crosses the corporate honchos and gets him transferred out of Japan. He spends the next ten years working in branch offices in Pakistan, Iran, Kenya, and other far-off places. After years of trials, Onchi is finally called back to Japan - to deal with the country's worst aviation accident ever."

"A single mother and her young son encounter a samurai who has slipped through time. Culture shock abounds, as they learn how much Japanese culture has changed since the Edo period. They start to feel like a family, but as Yasubē develops skills as a baker his bond with the boy slips away and he needs to think about what is most important in his life." "A Boy and His Samurai (ちょんまげぷりん, Chonmage Purin, Chonmage Pudding) is a 2010 Japanese time travel comedy film, directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura. Based on a manga by Gen Araki, the film chronicles the adventures of a samurai who accidentally travels through time from Edo-era Japan to present-day Japan where he meets a single working mother and her young son." - from Wikipedia

"Kim Longinotto is renowned for creating extraordinarily intimate portraits of women on the fringes of society, tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion. These two films are gripping explorations of the perceptions and complexities of female sexuality in modern Japan. Gaea Girls follows the gruelling training regime of a group of Japanese professional women wrestlers. Featuring the legendary Chigusa Nagayo, it is a fascinating account of a closely-guarded universe in a country where women are considered docile and subservient. The Shinjuku Boys are three 'onnabe' - Japanese women who live as men - working as hosts at a Tokyo nightclub for women clients. Filmed at home and at work, they speak frankly about their lives, their hopes and their sexuality." - from Second Run DVD

"The story is based on the life of Zensho Miyazato, a "substitute doctor" who served the people of Okinawa for roughly 60 years. After World War II, only about 60 doctors were left in war-torn Okinawa. As a result of the shortage, the occupying U.S. forces established a special "ikaiho" ("substitute doctor") system in 1951, authorizing former Japanese soldiers who had served as medics to practice medicine on the Okinawa Islands. Miyazato was one of 126 ikaiho who qualified. He served as the only doctor in his area, becoming a hero to the local people."

"The final 5 years of Isoroku Yamamoto's military career is shown through his family life. Yamamoto was a great naval strategist who climbed up the ranks in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Yamamoto was against many of the Imperial Japanese Army's decisions. He opposed the signing of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1939 and attempted to prevent the impending conflict with the United States amid World War II. This caused disdain from Japanese war hawks such as newspaper editor Kagekiyo Munakata (portrayed by Teruyuki Kagawa) and military officials. He was educated in the United States, aware of its strengths, and thought a war would be futile. His superiors increasingly pressured him to plan for a full-scale war with the US. Yamamoto was conflicted by his principles and duties. The Japanese military establishment entangles Yamamoto in the war and orders him to prepare the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto was obligated to carry out the orders as the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Imperial Navy's Combined Fleet. The film also follows the perspective of a Japanese A6M Zero aerial battalion, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway and finally to the American ambush of Yamamoto's Mitsubishi G4M." - from Wikipedia

"In 1944, a year before the end of the War in the Pacific, on Saipan, remembered by the Japanese soldiers as the Suicide Island, there was a Japanese officer who was feared by th American troops. His name is Captain Sakae Oba. The US soldiers called him the Fox with a sense of awe. With stealth and unpredictability he undermined the enemy forces with his guerilla campaign. Being on an island that was under enemy control, Oba was prepared to fight them even if he was alone. For 16 months Captain Oba fought against the US forces to protect the lives of civilians. His troop was reduced to only 47 in the end. His courage and determination moved not just his own people but his foes alike."

"Tells the story of Kyuzo Miyabe, a "Zero" fighter pilot and known coward who died in a Kamikaze mission during the final days of World War II and his presentday grandson, Kentaro Saeki, who tries to understand why he volunteered for such a mission."