
Acting
Makoto Ashikawa
Born
1960-04-19 (66)
Place of birth
Osaka, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
30 titles
Makoto Ashikawa (芦川誠, born 19 April 1960) is a Japanese actor.
Known for
8.2Set 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
6.7Murasaki 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
7.2Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
Zatoichi
2003
7.7Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With those close to him suffering their own tribulations, Nishi's methods become increasingly extreme.
Fireworks
1997
7.2A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and yakuza activities.
Violent Cop
1989
6.9Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
Kids Return
1996
Film credits
2020s · 5 titles
6.9Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears.
Kubi
2023
7.2Tells the story of three bottom-dog boxers who gets used as punching bags. Pro boxer Suenaga Akira fell off the path to greatness but still tries to crawl his way to the top. Omura Ryuta is a youngster who grew up in foster care. Miyagi Shun, a TV celebrity with famous parents, takes a shot at boxing as part of a TV show. Three underdogs with very different back stories put their pride on the line as they exchange blows.
Underdog: Part One
2020
6.8Haruko is a single mother. She has an unusual living arrangement. She lives with her son Riku, her friend Aiko and Aiko's boyfriend Sorao. One day, Yuko stays at Haruko's house to attend an art institute for the summer. Yuko is the daughter of Haruko's old friend Tomoyo. They haven't spoken for many years prior to Tomoyo reaching out to Haruko to ask if her daughter could stay with her for the summer. Haruko and Tomoyo have an uncomfortable past.
Around The Table
2021
NRDaiki has autism spectrum disorder. He works as a janitor and lives independently with some support. His younger sister Nozomi is a counselor and has supported him since their mother passed away. When Nozomi's marriage plans come up, they are forced to face their own futures.
Lives at Right Angles
2026
7.0Suenaga finds his life on the verge of collapsing as violence consumes those around him. However, he finds a worthy opponent in Omura, an up-and-coming wunderkind who is trying to escape his violent past. The men's fight for redemption culminates in a climatic match brimming with raw, testosterone-fueled emotions. Upholding the Rocky Balboa spirit of learning to get hit and keep moving forward, Underdog is a tough, uncompromising epic that deserves a spot in the pantheon of great boxing films.
Underdog: Part Two
2020
2010s · 8 titles
6.9When fish shop owner Shamoto's teenage daughter Mitsuko is caught stealing, a generous middle-aged man named Murata helps resolve the situation. The man and his wife offer to have Mitsuko work at their opposing fish store. Shamoto soon discovers that something far more sinister lives behind Murata's friendly demeanor.
Cold Fish
2011
6.8A novelist receives a letter from a female university student named Kubo about strange sounds that emanate from a room in her apartment. They begin to investigate incidents involving former residents, and eventually discover the shocking truths lurking inside the building.
The Inerasable
2016
6.2Ryuzo and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.
Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen
2015
7.1When easy-going Aoyagi meets an old friend for a fishing trip, he ends up drugged, framed for the Prime Minister's assassination, and on the run from corrupt cops. It's only the beginning of what quickly becomes the worst, weirdest day of his life. But he'll get by with a little help from his friends, who include a famous pop diva, a rockabilly deliveryman, a crippled old gangster, and the world's most cheerful serial killer.
Golden Slumber
2010
5.8In 1959, a body of a flight attendant of an international airline is found, strangled. Detective Rokuro Fujisawa takes charge of the investigation with a young detective Ichimura and his investigations lead him to Father Tolbeck as a suspect. But the police are forced to move very discreetly as the time was right after the Second World War, when a sensitive situation that involves Western people and religion is likely to become an international issue. The investigation leads to an unexpected discloser of a shadowy business behind the church that reflects the uncertainty of the time.
Seicho Matsumoto's Black Gospel
2014
5.0Sensual love story about a single woman struggling with romance. Director Morikawa Kei won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival for Makeup Room. Yamagishi Shiori (Maru Junko) is a single 38-year-old woman working in the editorial department of a women's magazine. Workaholic Shiori's only diversion is watching erotic videos for women and indulging in fantasies of romance with her favorite male porn star Shunsuke (Arima Yoshihiko). Then, one day she covers a porn shoot for a feature story about popular male porn stars…
Love Circumstances for Adults
2016
5.7Saeko and Yukako live together in a small apartment complex in Tokyo. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, both live in a state of unease. Saeko, who is in a divorce, is worried that her daughter is exposed to radiation. Yukako is also afraid of radiation and tries to convince her husband to move. The two become friends after Yukako tries to save Saeko after a suicide attempt.
Odayaka
2012
NRA man with a wife and child attempts to run off with a hostess, but he doesn’t show up at the place they agreed to meet. The hostess continues to wait fully aware he won’t come. Then a man calls out to her…. “The Dork, The Girl, and The Douchebag,” the latest film in three years by OKUDA Yosuke who made his commercial film debut with “Tokyo Playboy Club” (11), is a powerful ensemble drama intertwining a drug dealer, a yakuza, an ex-convict youth, and others. It can be said the film inherits the setting of his previous work, but the intense realism exhibited in the raw chaos far exceeds the previous film and amply points to OKUDA’s future potential. Portraying the complex male character who only lives for violence, OKUDA’s talents as an actor should also not be overlooked.
The Dork, The Girl, and The Douchebag
2015
2000s · 7 titles
7.2Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
Zatoichi
2003
6.2Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat.
Takeshis'
2005
6.2On his request, the sensitive sister of a real estate agent visits a house he intends to put up for sale, only to cross paths with its resident curse.
Ju-on: The Curse 2
2000
6.8When elementary school teacher Kobayashi investigates the absence of one of his young pupils from the classroom, he finds himself at the doorstep of an anonymous suburban house that harbours a horrible secret, and into which all who enter are doomed.
Ju-on: The Curse
2000
7.2A rock band writes a song called "Fish Story" that is foretold to save the world. The song exceeds the boundaries of space and time and ties people and their stories together.
Fish Story
2009
NR#45 in the series, following "The Men's Past"
The King of Minami: Fraud Methods
2003
6.7Shogo, the arrogant and condescending star of a popular call-in radio-show must temporarily broadcast out of Studio 6, a creepy and dilapidated booth abandoned since its last DJ committed suicide several years ago. Suddenly, Shogo begins receiving disturbing calls, the voice on the line whispers "Liar" over and over. Is the joke on him, has someone discovered the truth about his sinister past, or has the curse of Studio 6 been unleashed again? In this Booth, all sins will be atoned for.
The Booth
2005
1990s · 4 titles
7.7Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With those close to him suffering their own tribulations, Nishi's methods become increasingly extreme.
Fireworks
1997
6.9Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.
Kids Return
1996
6.9Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.
Boiling Point
1990
5.8While pursuing his dream of having car sex, a goofy middle-aged man makes all the wrong moves and ends up enrolling in a number of crazy escapades.
Getting Any?
1995
1980s · 2 titles
Undated · 1 titles
Series credits
8.2Set 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
6.7Murasaki 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


