Kaoru Kobayashi

Acting

Kaoru Kobayashi

Born 1951-09-04 · Kyōto, Kyōto Prefecture, Japan

Kaoru Kobayashi is a Japanese actor born in Kyoto. A multi-award winning thespian, he won best actor at the 30th Yokohama Film Festival and best-supporting actor at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for Sorobanzuku.

Acting credits

Princess Mononoke poster
8.3

Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

Princess Mononoke

1997

The Boy and the Heron poster
7.4

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

The Boy and the Heron

2023

Tales from Earthsea poster
6.5

As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea.

Tales from Earthsea

2006

The Egoists poster
4.9

Kazu attacks a bar in Kabukicho, a Tokyo red-light district, and flees to his hometown with abducts Machiko, a pole dancer he's been stuck on. They begin living together, but their happiness is short lived as their pasts torment them both.

The Egoists

2011

We Made a Beautiful Bouquet poster
7.7

Two people meet each other after missing the last train home, leading to a beautiful relationship over five years.

We Made a Beautiful Bouquet

2021

Lear on the Shore poster
6.4

Chokichi Kuwahata was once a leading actor, but he is ravaged by dementia and old age now. His daughter and the men in her life go against his wishes and place him in a retirement home. He slips away one day and meets another offspring from a different union.

Lear on the Shore

2017

The Last Blossom poster
8.1

An elderly inmate serving a life sentence awaits a lonely death in solitary—until a voice calls out to him. It belongs to a balsam flower, Housenka, that speaks like a human. Through their 'conversation', the old man reflects on the life he's led.

The Last Blossom

2025

Abraxas poster
10.0

Former punk rocker Jonen, now a Buddhist priest, seems to have lost the meaning of his life. His manic depression handicaps him further. Music seems to be the only solution for him to exorcise his demons, against all obstacles and sound volume controllers.

Abraxas

2010

Botchan poster
8.3

Botchan (Kazunari Ninomiya) has sense of strong justice and does not lie. He is offered a teaching job at a middle in a small village far away from his hometown of Tokyo. Botchan accepts the position and begins to work as a math teacher. The assistant principle there wields absolute power. Botchan has a hard time dealing with his fellow teachers and the students.

Botchan

2016

Coquille poster
7.6

Thirty years after graduation, a man and a woman meet again at an alumni reunion. They are no longer young, but the moment she sees him, memories of her first love are revived. Her love for him has never faded even though she married another man and bore his child. What has kept her going is a white shell the boy gave her and a phrase of Jean Cocteau's poem, "My ears are shells, fondly hearing the sound of the sea..." She gets a divorce, returns to her hometown and opens a bar named "Coquille," which means "shell." Without their knowing, an unexpected turn of events awaits the two...

Coquille

1999

Secret poster
6.9

A man is shocked to find out that after a deadly car accident involving his wife and daughter, his wife died, but her mind somehow got transfered into their daughter's body.

Secret

1999

The Great Passage poster
7.2

Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, The Great Passage. In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems.

The Great Passage

2013

The Second Love poster
6.3

Kazumi - whose sensitivity does not undermine her strength when she handles her second husband's emotional conflicts with the wisdom of an adult. Kazumi's younger and more inexperienced husband Hideo is continually suspicious of her fidelity.

The Second Love

1983

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store poster
7.0

In 2012, Atsuya and his 2 childhood friends do something bad and run into an old general store. They decide to stay there until the morning. Late into the night, Atsuya sees a letter in the mailbox. The letter is addressed to the Namiya General Store and the letter was written by someone to consult about worries. Incredibly, the letter was written 32 years ago. The mailbox is somehow connected to the year 1980. Atsuya and his friends decide to write a reply and place their letter in the mailbox.

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store

2017

Untamagiru poster
4.6

A magical realist story of the legendary Okinawan hero Untamagiru participating in efforts to form an independent Okinawa before the island was returned to Japan in 1972.

Untamagiru

1989

Trapped Balloon poster
NR

A woman who has not seen her father for several years and does not have a good relationship with him. An unsociable man who lives near her father's house. Slowly the relationship between the woman, her father, and the man changes.

Trapped Balloon

2023

Kiseki: Sobito of That Day poster
7.9

Based on the true story of 4 member Japanese pop group "GreeeeN.” Jin is the producer of “GreeeeN” and his younger brother Hide is the lead member for the group. Their song "Kiseki" is released as their 7th single and becomes a huge hit. Hide and the other 3 members have others jobs including working as a dentist.

Kiseki: Sobito of That Day

2017

Dr. Coto's Clinic poster
7.6

In this drama set on Shikina Island, a far-flung island of the Japanese archipelago located more than six hours from the Japanese main islands, the young physician Kensuke Goto arrives at the island and has to deal with the island's inhabitants, not eager to accept him, at a clinic lacking sufficient medical equipment. Here's a human drama showing how Dr. Coto values the dignity of human life while unflinchingly facing disease with a serious attitude.

Dr. Coto's Clinic

2022

Midnight Diner 2 poster
7.5

The 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

Paradise View poster
6.5

Go Takamine's first theatrical feature is a pioneering work of Okinawan cinema, filmed almost entirely in Okinawan dialect. Taking place shortly before the resumption of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa, Takamine’s film tacitly addresses the island prefecture's complicated history of occupation and feelings of dislocation through the story of a small community and its preparations for a wedding between a local girl and a Japanese teacher. On the periphery of these events is Reishu (Kaoru Kobayashi), who quits his job on a US military base and uses the extra time to catch snakes and play with ants – and get the bride-to-be pregnant. Takamine’s leisurely-paced film is full of uniquely Okinawan touches that mix in aspects of the island's folklore, accompanied by Haruomi Hosono’s spare and evocative score.

Paradise View

1985

The Yin Yang Master Zero poster
6.2

During the Heian period, Abe no Seimei trains in magic but lacks interest, until a collaboration with Minamoto no Hiromasa arises to solve a strange phenomenon.

The Yin Yang Master Zero

2024

Ghiblies: Episode 2 poster
7.0

Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there. This rare Ghibli Comedy is a look into who the people making the films are. Plotlines run from office jokes to Nonaka's first love, bringing together a short feature of random events.

Ghiblies: Episode 2

2002

Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog poster
7.0

A Labrador retriever named Quill begins specialized training as a guide dog from an early age, then the canine is paired with a blind man who is initially reluctant to rely on his new partner.

Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog

2004

Ballad of Orin poster
7.2

Expelled from her group for losing her virginity, blind travelling musician Orin endures a life of hardship, abuse, and poverty while wandering the countryside, finding brief companionship with an army deserter, and struggling against a society that marginalises her.

Ballad of Orin

1977