
Acting
Asako Kobayashi
Born 1972-03-21 · Saitama, Japan
Acting credits
7.5The Master's late-night diner welcomes a woman troubled by funeral fans, an elderly scam victim, and a noodle delivery man struggling with love.
Midnight Diner 2
2016
7.7A restaurant opens at midnight. Both the menu offerings and personality of the owner draw a series of flawed patrons including Tamako, whose boyfriend has passed away, live-in worker Michiru, and ruckus-raising Kenzo.
Midnight Diner
2014
6.9Adapted 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
9.0Tatsuo 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
7.0The 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
NRSakura Ueno has recently quit her job and decided to work temporarily in a nursery school at a friend's request. There she meets a whole lot of cute kids including a girl named Ai. Shindo, the girl's father, often comes to pick her up late after school. Seeing him pick up his daughter triggers a memory of her own father, following this, changes happen…
Good-Bye
2020
10.0Yuka 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
9.0Director 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
7.0Shinjiro Watari, a former tap dancer, plays the lead as a dancer who is forced into retirement following an accident while on stage. He tries his hand at Directing, but struggles to make the transition. Shinjiro turns to alcohol to cope with his plight. But when the manager of a theater being closed down turns to Shinjiro to direct its final performance, he works with a group young dancers and in the process learns a few things about himself. The movie is very well done and worth the price of admission. A view into the Japanese dancing world, as well as Japanese society.
TAP THE LAST SHOW
2017
3.0A group of four friends and lovers in their forties recall their past intimacies while trying to build new ones.
Body and Soul
1997
7.0In 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
4.0Yuichi Koga is an upper-class business executive, running his own adult video company, and living a successful life with his wife and daughter. Outwardly, his family seems really happy, but in reality Yuichi enjoys sex with everyone but his wife Chikako. One day, he gets a phone call from a woman named Sanae, an old elementary school classmate of his.
Love Bites Back
1988
6.0Young 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
7.0After 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
10.0Film 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
6.0Kitahara 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
6.8Maki 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