Asako Kobayashi

Acting

Asako Kobayashi

Born

1972-03-21 (54)

Place of birth

Saitama, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

24 titles

Known for

GARO poster
7.7

The Makai fight a secret war against the demon forces known as Horrors, evil creatures that manifest themselves through darkness to devour Humanity. On the frontlines are the Makai Knights, given the task of watching over a district and eliminating any Horrors that manifest there. GARO follows the tales of the Knights bearing the title of ‘Golden Knight Garo’, and their duty to vanquish the Horrors and protect Humanity from the darkness.

GARO

2005

Solitary Gourmet poster
8.9

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

Solitary Gourmet

2012

Midnight Diner poster
8.2

Set in a small restaurant in the corner of a shopping district. The unusual eatery is only open after midnight, and its standard menu consists of just a single choice. However, the customers still come for the amusing chatter and the proprietor's willingness to cook any dish that they request. This drama depicts the lives of the restaurant's patrons, including a yakuza, an unsuccessful actor, a group of office ladies, a newspaper delivery boy, and a stripper.

Midnight Diner

2009

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories poster
7.9

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

2016

Wakako Zake poster
6.7

Murasaki Wakako, who is 26 years old, loves going out alone to enjoy eating and drinking, especially when something unpleasant happens at work. Thie show follows Wakako through many solitary outings, where she enjoys different combinations of food and drink!

Wakako Zake

2015

Tokyo Swindlers poster
7.0

A team of swindlers gets wind of prime real estate worth 10 billion yen and will stop at nothing to pull off their most ambitious scam yet.

Tokyo Swindlers

2024

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

2000s · 7 titles

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad poster
6.9

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad

2007

The Bleep Brothers poster
9.0

Tatsuo and Ikuo have been raised by hard-working parents who run a funeral home. For relief, they practice games of manzai, a Japanese comic vaudeville. Tatsuo grows up to be a handsome chick magnet, while Ikuo is nerdy and unappealing. He spies on his brother to get material for their reality porn show. The show is bleeped heavily, and their bleep language becomes trendy and makes them stars.

The Bleep Brothers

2002

The Whispered City poster
9.0

Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses.

The Whispered City

2000

Invisible War poster
6.0

Kitahara Shuji, an ordinary business man turns into a spy for his town's war against a neighboring town in a Dystopian society.

Invisible War

2007

Turn poster
6.8

Maki is a talented copper plate artist, however, just before her first gallery show, she gets struck by a truck. When she comes to she is at home. When she ventures outside, the city is deserted and she knows something is deeply wrong. Each day repeats; she wakes up at 2:15 in the afternoon. Gradually things start change, the phone rings, and she finds that she is not alone...

Turn

2001

The Hanging Balloons poster
10.0

Film adaptation of three short stories by horror mangaka Junji Ito: The Devil's Logic, The Long Hair in the Attic, and The Hanging Balloons.

The Hanging Balloons

2000

Wave poster
10.0

Yuka is staying at hotel Seaside in a Japanese resort. She is alone and bored, so she gets something going with the night porter.

Wave

2001

1990s · 5 titles

Osaka Story poster
6.0

Young Wakana is the daughter of a husband and wife comedy act, who have worked together for 20 years without any big success. Wakana’s parents quarrel constantly, and her mother often threatens to leave. When one day her father disappears, Wakana sets out to find him.

Osaka Story

1999

Body and Soul poster
3.0

A group of four friends and lovers in their forties recall their past intimacies while trying to build new ones.

Body and Soul

1997

Shomuni poster
7.0

The day after being dumped by the boyfriend to whom she was going to give her virginity, Sawako Tsukahara (Kumiko Endo), an office lady in the accounting department of Manpan Trading Co., is dispatched as a helper to General Affairs Section 2. General Affairs Section 2, nicknamed "Shomuni," is the company's cesspool department where underachieving office ladies are gathered. The members of the General Affairs Department are Chinatsu Tsuboi (Reiko Takashima), who is in charge of the department; the femme fatale Kana Miyashita (Michiko Kawai); the self-disciplined Yumiko Maruhashi (Asako Kobayashi); the boastful Kayoko Tokunaga (Mari Hamada); the unremarkable Section Chief Inoue (Masao Komatsu); and the stray cat, Butcha.

Shomuni

1998

The Human Chair poster
7.0

After seeing her husband off to work, the young author identified only as Yoshiko sets off to read the large collection of letters she received from other young authors. These are often letters containing samples of their work for critique. One large envelope contains a letter. The letter-writer does not provide his name. The letter is a confession of crimes. The letter-writer has no family or friends, and claims to be "ugly beyond description". He is a chair maker and loves his work and all the chairs he creates, even going so far as to claim some sort of intangible connection to his work.

The Human Chair

1997

Forever with You poster
7.0

In a room with only a bed, Shizumi's left hand was somehow fixed to the bed by handcuffs and chains. "Who is this man?", "Why am I sleeping like this?" Shizumi who woke up with a terrible headache started to recall the memory from last light...

Forever with You

1995

Series credits

GARO poster
7.7

The Makai fight a secret war against the demon forces known as Horrors, evil creatures that manifest themselves through darkness to devour Humanity. On the frontlines are the Makai Knights, given the task of watching over a district and eliminating any Horrors that manifest there. GARO follows the tales of the Knights bearing the title of ‘Golden Knight Garo’, and their duty to vanquish the Horrors and protect Humanity from the darkness.

GARO

2005

Solitary Gourmet poster
8.9

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

Solitary Gourmet

2012

Midnight Diner poster
8.2

Set in a small restaurant in the corner of a shopping district. The unusual eatery is only open after midnight, and its standard menu consists of just a single choice. However, the customers still come for the amusing chatter and the proprietor's willingness to cook any dish that they request. This drama depicts the lives of the restaurant's patrons, including a yakuza, an unsuccessful actor, a group of office ladies, a newspaper delivery boy, and a stripper.

Midnight Diner

2009

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories poster
7.9

In an otherwise mundane diner open from midnight to 7 a.m., there is no menu – but the chef cooks anything his customers want. Each episode is about different a different customer, as they find simple yet profound connections with one another based on their shared love of a particular dish.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

2016

Wakako Zake poster
6.7

Murasaki Wakako, who is 26 years old, loves going out alone to enjoy eating and drinking, especially when something unpleasant happens at work. Thie show follows Wakako through many solitary outings, where she enjoys different combinations of food and drink!

Wakako Zake

2015

Tokyo Swindlers poster
7.0

A team of swindlers gets wind of prime real estate worth 10 billion yen and will stop at nothing to pull off their most ambitious scam yet.

Tokyo Swindlers

2024

My Brother's Husband poster
5.8

Yaichi (Ryuta Sato) is a single father and he raises his elementary school aged daughter alone. One day, a foreign man named Mike (Baruto Kaito) visits him. Yaichi has an identical twin brother Ryoji, but Ryoji moved to Canada years ago. They have disconnected since that time. Mike introduces himself as the husband of Ryoji. They are a married gay couple. Yaichi is confused and doesn't know how to deal with Mike.

My Brother's Husband

2018