
Acting
Masuyo Iwamoto
Born — Died
1940-03-05 — 2020-08-19
Place of birth
Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
41 titles
Known for
7.0Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".
Key Hunter
1968
9.0The 13th NHK Asadora. Starring Youko Takahashi in a story about a brother and sister coming of age in Hakodate and Kanazawa.
Kita no kazoku
1973
8.2Yuri Ishikawa and her team try to crack unresolved cold cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Cold Case: Door of Truth
2016
5.0Ichiro Onizuka is a skilled detective who is confined to a wheelchair after being injured in an incident that occurred right before his retirement. Armed with a detailed "city of memory" in his mind, he solves modern-day cases alongside Saki Toyama and Keitaro Jin, while recalling the cases of the past.
Kioku Sousa ~Shinjuku Higashi-sho Jiken Fairu~
2019
NRThe 26th NHK Asadora. Shimazaki Kayo is a woman from Hagi, Yamaguchi, who joins the Takarazuka Revue, a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyougo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shoujo manga and Japanese folktales.
Niji wo Oru
1980
8.0On a return flight to Japan, cabin attendant Isaka Rei arrests a thief at Narita Airport’s International Terminal, and receives a reward of 1 million yen. However, she is half-forced to resign from her job as a cabin attendant because of this roundup. Furthermore, her younger sister, Akane, has made her a guarantor and disappeared, leaving her 10-year-old daughter, Haru behind. Rei starts to live with a reluctant Haru at ‘Shunkato’, the small eating house that Akane has been running. There is a firsthand account of Akane meeting a ‘Shunkato’ customer on the day she went missing. Rei brings the photograph of the man whom Akane met to Tsukishima Police Precinct, and learns that there is a 1 million yen bounty because he is a wanted criminal. The lack of motivation of the attending detective, Gondo Takeshi of the precinct’s Community Safety Division, spurs her to decide that she has to arrest this criminal who has some sort of connection to her sister. And so, Rei becomes a bounty hunter together with the ladies who gather at ‘Shunkato’.
HUNTER - Women After Reward Money
2011
Film credits
2010s · 4 titles
No synopsis available yet.
Shadow Area
2015
NRKaito was a marathon runner and hoped to compete in the Olympics. He gave up those dreams after an injury. Kaito now works in city hall and just drifts through his days. His girlfriend Marino leaves him. One day, he goes to the mountain as a tourist guide. Heavy rain passes over the area. Kaito finds a mysterious mine and enters the mine to stay dry, but Kaito suddenly finds himself outside of the mine. The rain is gone and his memory is different now. Kaito has won a gold medal in the Olympics and he is still with Marino.
Two Pasts Towards Tomorrow
2018
NRNobuko Sawaguchi is back housekeeping again in this sequel to the 2014 SP! This time around, Nobuko, having been given some pearl earrings as a present sometime before, decides to attend an exhibition for a pearl described as being the world's most expensive one. That pearl is owned by the Iwakura family, who run a large pearl company. While looking at the pearl however, Nobuko is pulled away by a handsome man who seems to have some connection to the family. So when Nobuko finds one of her pearl earrings missing and probably taken by that man, she decides to work as a housekeeper for the Iwakura family until the man shows up again and she can get her earring back. But the Iwakura family that Nobuko is now working for has plenty of secrets beyond just pearls that she'll have to sort out if she wants her earring back...
The Housekeeper Saw!
2015
1.0Goro is an archeologist, fascinated with the national treasure Gassho clay figure and remains from the Jomon period. He meets a woman, Momoko who is timid with love. Momoko often has memories from ancient times and landscapes of the heart in her dreams. She tells Goro about her dream and their relationship deepens.
Raia Prays For…
2015
2000s · 2 titles
7.7Half a Confession introduces itself as a thriller and abruptly changes gears, transforming into a tale of morality with deeper insights into its characters than we had anticipated. It begins when Soichiro Kaji (Terao), a retired detective, walks into police headquarters and confesses to the murder of his wife. We learn that the victim had prematurely developed Alzheimer's after the tragic death of their son, and in her suffering, had asked to die. The police chiefs would be far more content to take him at his word if it were not for a conspicuous hole in his story: 48-hour gap between the alleged murder and his confession. Fearing a public relations nightmare, they are eager to bury the incident and keep the press in the dark.
Half a Confession
2004
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Nihon no aozora
2007
1990s · 2 titles
4.4Shoko and Mutsuki get married to satisfy their worried parents, but she is well past the age at which a ‘good’ Japanese woman should marry, and he is in love with a young male college student.
Twinkle
1992
8.0A serious-minded policeman plays the role of robber in a police training operation against bank robberies. He's so good his fellow policemen can't catch him. TV networks begin to broadcast the operation nationwide. TV audiences are amused and root for the runaway robber and police grows desperate to arrest him to save their face. However the robber remains at large.
Playtime Never Ends
1991
1980s · 4 titles
6.7The boys and girls are uniformed and sport 1950s' style sleek hair and features, but the educational institution has more to do with A Clockwork Orange than Degrassi High. The students fight, brawl, get bloodied and are not all too polite to the dames either.
Be-Bop High School
1985
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Okita Soji: Swordsman of Fire
1984
To solve the mystery of her deceased husband, his wife departs to Shinshu.
The Unmarked Path
1984
NRA student, running late on the day of the University of Tokyo entrance exams, calls in a fake bomb threat in order to arrive on time.
Examination Hell
1982
1970s · 4 titles
9.0A reporter is framed for murder while investigating organized crime. Upon being released from prison the plan for his revenge unravels.
A Hoodlum At The Risk Of His Life
1970
10.0Let's Go, Grandma! plays like an exuberant, goofy update to Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story. Kinuyo Tanaka plays the titular Grandma, who, after selling her Hokkaido property, is apparently flush with cash but newly homeless. Her grown children take turns hosting her, making extravagant performances of filial devotion with an eye to potential profit. Making use of a catalog of wacky visual effects, bracketed by gratuitous ham-fisted fight scenes, and costarring pop singer Hideki Saijo, the film is balanced by Tanaka's nuanced performance, which delivers a denunciation of hypocrisy and greed.
Let's Go, Grandma!
1975
NRFirst live action "Barefoot Gen" sequel.
Barefoot Gen: Explosion of Tears
1977
NRBased on an autobiographical novel by Toshiko Takagi, set close to the end of World War II
Tokyo Air Raid Glass Rabbit
1979
1960s · 8 titles
6.8Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.
The Shape of Night
1964
7.5Epic saga of an idealistic land-owning family dealing with militarism, war, social change and economic reform.
The Kii River
1966
9.0No synopsis available yet.
My Destiny
1968
7.5After the war, Kijima (Bunta Sugawara) returns to Tokyo where he meets Ôba (Noboru Andô), an Ex-Kamikaze pilot, and the two ruffians gather hooligans to join their group. In Ginza, the Togawa gang have taken over Sakurada's territory. After several fights Kijima and Ôba gain control of the territory by chasing out the notorious Togawa Group in the name of Sakurada. But Kijima is arrested for assaulting an American soldier. A few years pass. Kijima has served his prison term and the sears of war have been erased from Ginza. Ôba is now president of a company specializing in collection of bad debts, cheque frauds and everything that means money. People call their organization the “Private Police,” and Kijima begins to work for Ôba. Now the Takegami gang waits a chance to seize the Ginza territory.
The Private Police
1969
7.5Takamura, a poet and sculptor, marries a budding artist named Chieko who dreams of becoming an oil painter. When a series of hardships befall her family, she finds herself unable to confide in her husband, and the pain she carries within begins to weigh heavily on her sanity...
Portrait of Chieko
1967
NR1963 Japanese movie
Onna yajikita-tatchi ryokō
1963
NR1962 Japanese movie
Asu no hanayome
1962
6.0Executive management of a major Tokyo construction company are getting bumped off one after another. It seems obvious that it is a former partner of the company with a long-standing grudge who is responsible, but he died in the first ten minutes of the movie. Or did he? This may aptly be described as a giallo-noir for the unrelenting string of murders by a mystery man and the black-and-white gritty urban setting.
Song of Vengeance
1968
Series credits
7.0Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".
Key Hunter
1968
9.0The 13th NHK Asadora. Starring Youko Takahashi in a story about a brother and sister coming of age in Hakodate and Kanazawa.
Kita no kazoku
1973
8.2Yuri Ishikawa and her team try to crack unresolved cold cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Cold Case: Door of Truth
2016
5.0Ichiro Onizuka is a skilled detective who is confined to a wheelchair after being injured in an incident that occurred right before his retirement. Armed with a detailed "city of memory" in his mind, he solves modern-day cases alongside Saki Toyama and Keitaro Jin, while recalling the cases of the past.
Kioku Sousa ~Shinjuku Higashi-sho Jiken Fairu~
2019
NRThe 26th NHK Asadora. Shimazaki Kayo is a woman from Hagi, Yamaguchi, who joins the Takarazuka Revue, a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyougo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shoujo manga and Japanese folktales.
Niji wo Oru
1980
8.0On a return flight to Japan, cabin attendant Isaka Rei arrests a thief at Narita Airport’s International Terminal, and receives a reward of 1 million yen. However, she is half-forced to resign from her job as a cabin attendant because of this roundup. Furthermore, her younger sister, Akane, has made her a guarantor and disappeared, leaving her 10-year-old daughter, Haru behind. Rei starts to live with a reluctant Haru at ‘Shunkato’, the small eating house that Akane has been running. There is a firsthand account of Akane meeting a ‘Shunkato’ customer on the day she went missing. Rei brings the photograph of the man whom Akane met to Tsukishima Police Precinct, and learns that there is a 1 million yen bounty because he is a wanted criminal. The lack of motivation of the attending detective, Gondo Takeshi of the precinct’s Community Safety Division, spurs her to decide that she has to arrest this criminal who has some sort of connection to her sister. And so, Rei becomes a bounty hunter together with the ladies who gather at ‘Shunkato’.
HUNTER - Women After Reward Money
2011
8.0A 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and daughters.
Back of Father
2014
7.5Twenty-eight-year-old Mei Aihara is a single working woman with no time or talent for housework and romance. But when she is forced by her sister to hire Nagisa Shigino, a middle-aged male housekeeper, hilarity ensues in this must-see romcom!
My Housekeeper Nagisa-san
2020
NRA moving story of intense love, hate, and reconciliation born out of a fateful encounter between the only daughter of a conglomerate leader and a girl from a poor family.
Stepsisters
1985
7.7Advancements in science and the unchanging human psyche have given rise to new forms of terrifying crimes as the Science Research Institute (SRI) investigates various strange phenomena in Japan.
Operation: Mystery
1968
8.5A major newspaper has informally decided to employ a female university student. However, shock ripples within the newspaper because of a weekly magazine’s scoop that she is the daughter of the criminal in a serious case. This was the kidnapping of a newborn baby at a big hospital 20 years ago. The criminal demanded a ransom from the director of the hospital instead of the parents. But after the criminal had the large sum of money in hand, he died in an accident while being pursued by the police. The baby was never found. Kaji Hidekazu, a former hotshot journalist who has become deadwood in the wake of an incident, is ordered by the newspaper to re-investigate the kidnapping case. He finds out the shocking, tragic truth which had been kept under wraps.
A Fading Summer
2015
6.5Hikari will perform household chores to perfection for the sake of her husband, Kubota Masazumi. Her own life is only to support him. Kubota, a newscaster, takes pride in his popularity because of his outspoken remarks despite the conventions of sponsors and the television network. His behaviour mobilises public opinion and he wishes that he can change society with his words. Kubota owes his position as main newscaster on the news programme to the support of his wife of six years too. But why does Hikari devote herself completely to him? The certain characteristic that Kubota’s wife possesses is an enigma, and a shocking development awaits him.
Marumaru Tsuma
2015
NRKanji Takizawa worked diligently at a bank, successfully reaching the position of branch manager. Despite the fact that his conversation with his wife Mariko was dwindling and there was a growing distance between him and his young, unmarried daughter, Misaki, he had come to accept his peaceful life. One day, Kanji gets loaned out to a client company for an unjustifiable reason. Shocked, Kanji lies to his family that he was going on a business trip to Switzerland, where he meets and finds a kindred spirit in Shiori Meguro. Meanwhile, Mariko suspects that her husband may be having an affair, and finds herself falling in forbidden love with her daughter’s fiancé, Haruki Hino.
Like Shooting Stars in the Twilight
2018
NRIn 1999, a general trading company in Tokyo celebrates because Shinkansen of Japan wins priority negotiating rights for the Taiwan High Speed Rail. Haruka Tada (Haru) has been working at the general trading company for 4 years and she is sent to Taiwan for work. When Haruka Tada was a university student, she visited Taiwan for the first time during the summer. During that time, she happened to meet young Taiwanese man Eric and he showed her Taiwan for a day. She lost contact with him after that and she could not find him again. She then sealed away her thoughts about him in her mind. 6 years later, Haruka Tada arrives in Taiwan again.
Ru: Taiwan Express
2020
NRMatsushita plays Kiriyama Yuki, an assistant professor in forensic science at a university's faculty of medicine, who's great at finding the true cause of unnatural deaths. On the other hand, she has a reputation of being a weirdo with her messy hair, going without makeup and behaving more like a man than a woman. Co-stars include Yokoyama Yu who plays the role of Inukai Hajime, a research student working under Kiriyama and Matsushige Yutaka who plays Murakami Mamoru, the police detective who is at odds with Kiriyama.
Shikatsushi: Jô-oh no hôigaku
2013
Suspense Drama Series
Kyoto Josei Kisha Series
1988
No synopsis available yet.
受験地獄
1982
