Shinichi Yanagisawa

A hustler who gets in trouble with a gang boss in the port town of Sukago agrees to make good with the don by putting him in contact with a mysterious hitman — an assassin the hustler has no idea how to contact. Instead, he hires an actor to play the role, though the thespian has no idea what he's getting into.

Saori is a young woman struggling to make her way in life. Her gay father, Himiko, had abandoned Saori and her mother years before. Now her father's young lover Haruhiko shows up to tell Saori that her father is dying of cancer. Still angry with her father but in need of money, Saori travels to the House of Himiko, a nursing home established by her father for gay men. Over time, a tenuous relationship begins to develop between Saori, her father, and Haruhiko.

A series of interconnected vignettes regarding Makoto Sawada, an energetic yet socially inept kindergartner, and his long-suffering family. Makoto strives to receive the title of his school's "Best Child" award, resulting in chaos and misunderstandings wherever he goes.

At midnight, Yamabe, a killer, escapes from prison. Two years before, bribed by a narcotic smuggler, Yamabe killed a real estate broker. As he was being arrested by detective Negoro, the detective's bullet struck Sakuko, Yamabe's girl friend who attempted to protect him, and crippled her. When Yamabe was sent to prison, Negoro cared for her and they fell in love. Sakuko asked him to marry her, but Negoro was reluctant to take the killer's sweetheart from him. Learning of the relationship of his girl friend and the detective, Yamabe had pledged revenge.

Suspense film about a beautiful photographer who becomes involved in a murder case.

Comedy about five good-for-nothings who run a phony exercise-hall.

The spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan to make a landing on the planet Mars and investigate reports of UFOs in the area. As they near the red planet, they encounter a mysterious UFO that coats the ship's hull with unusual spores. Taking one of the specimens back to earth, it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.

Set in the postwar turmoil, Akasaka no shimai paints a vivit portrait of the life of three sisters who struggle to live in Tokyo.

A young female samurai comes upon a dying messenger and agrees to deliver the scroll he was carrying to its destination. However, unbeknownst to her, the scroll is actually a formula for a new kind of gunpowder. An evil clan that is planning to overthrow the Emperor is also after the scroll, and they try to take it from her.

Epic saga of an idealistic land-owning family dealing with militarism, war, social change and economic reform.

A young girl named Oichi is abandoned by her mother and blinded by a lightning strike. When her guardian is killed, she learns to wield a sword from a traveling ronin. As she develops into a master swordsman, her profession becomes that of a bounty hunter. Many test her sword and many die by her skills. She travels throughout the countryside to seek her mother and her revenge.

This movie is based on an immortal literary work "The Snow Country," a story about a life of geisha Komako who lives in a region with heavy snowfalls.

A group of four chorus singers leave their hometown in Kyushu and go to Tokyo to become stars. It’s a musical comedy that shows Segawa’s talent.

Immigrant gangs terrorize a Japanese town with their threats, loud jazz, and tasteless fashion sense, and only the tough but suave Dr. Amamiya (Ando) can stop them, as long as he gets rid of his silly peace-loving ideals.

1961 Toei comedy

A sequel to Ohana han.

Two rival groups of gangsters vie for control of a tiny port town in northern Japan. Daisuke, a member of the older of the two gangs, and Kosuke, a hoodlum in the newer gang, both fall in love with the daughter of an inn proprietor, even though she evinces more interest in improving the town than in their romantic advances. Eventually, the two hoodlums come to respect her efforts and decide to join forces in ridding the town of all gangsters. The two men succeed in restoring peace to the town and, rejected by the innkeeper's daughter, they leave town as friends.

Musical about the "Blue Star," a struggling jazz band led by pianist Takarada and trumpet player Takashima and their love interests. Done very much in the style of a Fox musical of the same 1940s, complete with an elaborate "History of Jazz" finale.

The golden duo of Yukio Hashi and Chieko Baisho. A film rich in a variety of songs, dances and falling in love to the rhythm of Yukio Hashi's song of the same name.

Japanese comedy film.

Mr. Mito, a former president of an instant food company, with two young men’s help, solves the quality problems and wins a big ramen contract with a large Chinese company.

A poignant story about a young couple, Setsu and Chozo, who are torn apart to save Setsu's father's restaurant.

No synopsis available yet.

Japanese comedy film.

A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her.

After the RAA was shut down by GHQ, businessman Kuramoto Daisuke returned to Sakurahara with his women and rebuilt his brothel, Hinomaru-ro. His son, Maresuke, returned from the war but fled, disgusted by his father’s business. By 1953, the red-light district flourished again. Wealthy customer Kinokuniya took Mitsuko, a young virgin, as his mistress. Meanwhile, university student Chieko entered the brothel to research prostitution for her thesis, challenging the women’s views. In 1956, the Prostitution Prevention Law was enacted, and Kuramoto died from the shock. Maresuke took over the brothel, improving the women’s treatment. Mitsuko later returned after being rejected by her family and fell for an innocent student, Shibata. When the law took effect in March 1958, the women became soapland workers. On the night Sakurahara’s lights went out forever, Mitsuko took poison.

An adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip.

Chieko, a fifth-grader living with her father, struggles to cope with the absence of her mother. When her father's mistress decides to join the household, Chieko rebels.

Hibari Misora plays a singing guide, who is secretly in love, her fortunes turn for the worse when a gangster’s henchman hears her singing and takes a liking to her beautiful voice. The trouble starts when her family borrows money from the gangsters, setting off a series of incidents which lead to tragedy.

A comedy about a good-natured train conductor Shinsaku helping his old friend Miwako find her missing brother.

Comedy movie

No synopsis available yet.

1961 Japanese movie

Kenta (Kayama), a boxer-turned-wandering minstrel becomes involved in a yakuza plot to rid slum dwellers from a piece of land the gangsters wish to develop. Kenta befriends a wandering poet and the younger sister (Hoshi) of a boxer Keota killed in the ring.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Set in post-war Japan, a group of five, four men and one woman, gathers in the basement of a butcher shop to dig up a cache of morphine buried during the war. A grimly humorous tale of twisted relationships as one by one each of the group is eliminated.

Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.

Kyoko is the third daughter of the Nonomiya family, a very ordinary family. Momoko, the eldest daughter, is married to Ichiro, the president of Mihara Shoji, and Riko, the second daughter, is married to Jiro, the managing director, and they plot to marry Kyoko to Saburo, the third son of the Mihara family. Kyoko is angry at the marriage talk that is being pushed forward without her permission, and declares that she "definitely won't get married," but before she knows it, she begins to become aware of the other person...

The first of six "Otora-san" features.

Masuo and Sazae are enjoying their newlywed life in their new house, even though they are in company housing. Masuo's colleague is invited to thank him for the newlyweds, but Masuo has been told by Managing Director Hanamura to go on a business trip to Kansai. Before long, Masuo contacted Sazae to come to Osaka.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The fourth "Otora-san" feature.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

It’s been five years since her husband had passed away. Fuyuko lives in the quiet suburbs, in a small but loving home with her three beautiful daughters. Haruko, the eldest, is the lead vocalist in a band. Natsuko is the conscientious type, who spends her days in ballet classes beautifying herself. The youngest of the three, Akiko is a bookworm who found her niche in philosophy. Although the sisters may appear to have nothing in common, there is one thing they all agree on; "Mom needs a new husband".

A rambunctious and ribald tale of a troupe of travelling actors who alternate highlights of kabuki theatre with strip shows.

In a warehouse area at night, a drunk chief engineer is stabbed to death by someone who whistles. After the break of dawn, two seamen join the crew of a rusty cargo ship Kaiyo Maru. One is a troublemaker with bad attitudes, Senkichi Nomura, who pursues an enemy in order to take revenge for his father's death. The other is Keizo Sasaki, a buff, eagle-eyed man on board for a certain mission.

The fifth "Otora-san" feature.

Hachigoro, a carpenter living in the Rakugo Tenement, is an honest and skilled craftsman, but he loves sake more than his three daily meals, and had even been barred from entering the Akasaiya shop where he worked. However, thanks to the intervention of the landlord he was fortunately allowed back in, and Oka, the landlord’s maid who had long harbored feelings for Hachigoro, sent him a celebratory kimono as a gift.

The third "Otora-san" feature.

No synopsis available yet.

Based on a comic strip by Kaoru Akiyoshi. First in a four part film series.

A youth lyrical story of pure love of a girl who grew up in the Kyoto Gion quarter, with a geisha mother and sisters Maiko and a college student.

1958 Japanese movie

No synopsis available yet.

Japanese comedy film.

A fresh graduate from a university in Tokyo takes a job as an English teacher at a prestigious high school in Kobe. However, shortly after arriving, he is pranked by four students.