Junji Sakamoto

Directing

Junji Sakamoto

Born

1958-10-01 (68)

Place of birth

Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

42 titles

Junji Sakamoto (阪本順治 ) is a Japanese film director.

Known for

KT poster
6.7

This movie is a political/espionage thriller, based on a real kidnapping incident of Korean politician, Kim Dae-Jung.

KT

2002

Climbing for Life poster
10.0

In 1975, a woman reached the summit of Mount Everest: Junko, the first woman in history to reach the world's highest peak. Junko's unforgettable feat stunned the world, bringing her into the spotlight but casting a huge shadow over her friends and family. Despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness in her final years, Junko continued to challenge the mountains. What was the last thing she saw beyond the summit?

Climbing for Life

2025

Okiku and the World poster
7.5

Two rogue vagrants make their living as "manure men", turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished love story unfolds.

Okiku and the World

2023

Another World poster
6.4

Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification brings back both pleasant and painful memories.

Another World

2018

The Human Trust poster
4.0

A professional scammer is hired by a wealthy young businessman to find a hidden treasure looted from the Bank of Japan and supposedly stashed away by a group of men after WWII in various locations around the globe. Eventually an assassin is put on their trail.

The Human Trust

2013

A Chorus of Angels poster
7.1

Teacher Kawashima Haru takes a position on a remote island off the coast of Hokkaido, where she takes charge of six students. However, she is later forced to leave after an accident occurs. 20 years later, Haru learns that one of her former students has committed a crime, and eventually returns to the island once more.

A Chorus of Angels

2012

Film credits

Behind the camera

KT poster
6.7

This movie is a political/espionage thriller, based on a real kidnapping incident of Korean politician, Kim Dae-Jung.

KT

2002

Climbing for Life poster
10.0

In 1975, a woman reached the summit of Mount Everest: Junko, the first woman in history to reach the world's highest peak. Junko's unforgettable feat stunned the world, bringing her into the spotlight but casting a huge shadow over her friends and family. Despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness in her final years, Junko continued to challenge the mountains. What was the last thing she saw beyond the summit?

Climbing for Life

2025

Okiku and the World poster
7.5

Two rogue vagrants make their living as "manure men", turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished love story unfolds.

Okiku and the World

2023

Okiku and the World poster
7.5

Two rogue vagrants make their living as "manure men", turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished love story unfolds.

Okiku and the World

2023

Another World poster
6.4

Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification brings back both pleasant and painful memories.

Another World

2018

Another World poster
6.4

Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification brings back both pleasant and painful memories.

Another World

2018

The Human Trust poster
4.0

A professional scammer is hired by a wealthy young businessman to find a hidden treasure looted from the Bank of Japan and supposedly stashed away by a group of men after WWII in various locations around the globe. Eventually an assassin is put on their trail.

The Human Trust

2013

The Human Trust poster
4.0

A professional scammer is hired by a wealthy young businessman to find a hidden treasure looted from the Bank of Japan and supposedly stashed away by a group of men after WWII in various locations around the globe. Eventually an assassin is put on their trail.

The Human Trust

2013

A Chorus of Angels poster
7.1

Teacher Kawashima Haru takes a position on a remote island off the coast of Hokkaido, where she takes charge of six students. However, she is later forced to leave after an accident occurs. 20 years later, Haru learns that one of her former students has committed a crime, and eventually returns to the island once more.

A Chorus of Angels

2012

Someday poster
NR

The annual kabuki show is the main attraction in a rural Japanese mountain town. However, Yoshi's life is thrown into disarray days before the performance when his estranged wife and former best friend arrive back in town...

Someday

2011

Someday poster
NR

The annual kabuki show is the main attraction in a rural Japanese mountain town. However, Yoshi's life is thrown into disarray days before the performance when his estranged wife and former best friend arrive back in town...

Someday

2011

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

다마코

—

Another Battle poster
6.0

Former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kaneo's boss Awano and the young Nakahira. Nakahira's men try to extort money from Masatatsu, bringing him in between a yakuza battle.

Another Battle

2000

Awakening poster
5.0

After the unexpected death of her husband a new life begins for Toshiko. 30 years of a happy marriage seem to suddenly vanish as she finds out that her husband had lived a double life. Struggling between her anger and the chance to begin a new chapter for herself, she finds her life moving into unchartered waters as she faces her 60th birthday.

Awakening

2007

Awakening poster
5.0

After the unexpected death of her husband a new life begins for Toshiko. 30 years of a happy marriage seem to suddenly vanish as she finds out that her husband had lived a double life. Struggling between her anger and the chance to begin a new chapter for herself, she finds her life moving into unchartered waters as she faces her 60th birthday.

Awakening

2007

Aegis poster
5.5

The Isokaze, an Aegis-class escort vessel, sets sail on a routine training exercise, playing host to a platoon from the Fleet Training Group. No sooner is the Isokaze on open water, however, then the FTG reveal themselves to be terrorist stowaways who kill the ship's captain, send the rest of the crew overboard and take control of the vessel. The ship is carrying a secret biological weapon which the terrorists are now threatening to use to level Tokyo! Only a stowaway NCO, Sengoko (played by Sanada Hiroyuki from Ring and Twilight Samurai) is in a position to stop them - but does he really have what it takes to save the day? Playing like a cross between a sea-faring version of Top Gun and Die Hard, director Sakamoto Junji shows that it's not just Hollywood that can produce thrill-a-minute action spectaculars.

Aegis

2005

An Angel with Many Scars poster
8.0

An odd journey starts as Mitsuru, a private detective, and a boy, whom a dying mobster entrusts to him, decide to go to northern Japan in search of the boy’s mother, and the detective’s buddy Hisashi joins them later.

An Angel with Many Scars

1997

Chameleon poster
5.7

Keiko who leads a lonely life as a fortune teller on the streets meets Goro, a leader of the con-artists. One day, Goro witnesses a group of men kidnapping a middle-aged man in the parking garage. Goro records the man on his cell phone without knowing he could be in big trouble.

Chameleon

2008

Winter Rose poster
6.5

Jun Wataguchi lives a lazy, half-hearted life, not going to school, hanging out with half-witted delinquents, and begging money from his friends. His parents, who run a shipping business transporting earth and sand for reclamation by boat, manage to get by, despite the dwindling number of jobs and lack of successors over time. Jun showed no interest in his parents' business, and the father and son hardly ever spoke to each other. One day, one of Jun's friends is attacked by someone and an unexpected person emerges as the culprit.

Winter Rose

2022

Winter Rose poster
6.5

Jun Wataguchi lives a lazy, half-hearted life, not going to school, hanging out with half-witted delinquents, and begging money from his friends. His parents, who run a shipping business transporting earth and sand for reclamation by boat, manage to get by, despite the dwindling number of jobs and lack of successors over time. Jun showed no interest in his parents' business, and the father and son hardly ever spoke to each other. One day, one of Jun's friends is attacked by someone and an unexpected person emerges as the culprit.

Winter Rose

2022

Face poster
6.6

Awkward and withdrawn, Masako kills her sister in an explosion of pent-up humiliation and rage that sends her tumbling into fugitive life.

Face

2000

Face poster
6.6

Awkward and withdrawn, Masako kills her sister in an explosion of pent-up humiliation and rage that sends her tumbling into fugitive life.

Face

2000

Knockout poster
7.2

A Japanese boxer stages a dramatic and dangerous comeback after suffering brain damage in the ring.

Knockout

1989

Knockout poster
7.2

A Japanese boxer stages a dramatic and dangerous comeback after suffering brain damage in the ring.

Knockout

1989

Zatoichi: The Last poster
5.4

A blind master swordsman attempts to lead a quiet life with his wife but he is provoked back into battle.

Zatoichi: The Last

2010

Children of the Dark poster
6.3

A Middle-aged Japanese ex-pat journalist investigates child organ trafficking in Thailand and he uncovers a sinister network. In the darkest corners of Thailand, child prostitution and organ sales flourish. In order to save a child's life, another life must be taken. An outraged Japanese journalist and a passionate young Japanese NGO member attempt to save "children of the dark" from being consumed by arrogance and greed. However, the harsh realities of life intervene... Adapting Yan Sogil's book, which unflinchingly portrays the tragic realities unfolding today, filmmaker Junji Sakamoto directs a talented multinational cast to bring these stark events to life.

Children of the Dark

2008

Children of the Dark poster
6.3

A Middle-aged Japanese ex-pat journalist investigates child organ trafficking in Thailand and he uncovers a sinister network. In the darkest corners of Thailand, child prostitution and organ sales flourish. In order to save a child's life, another life must be taken. An outraged Japanese journalist and a passionate young Japanese NGO member attempt to save "children of the dark" from being consumed by arrogance and greed. However, the harsh realities of life intervene... Adapting Yan Sogil's book, which unflinchingly portrays the tragic realities unfolding today, filmmaker Junji Sakamoto directs a talented multinational cast to bring these stark events to life.

Children of the Dark

2008

Tekken poster
5.0

A directionless young man, recently released from prison, tries to make a new start in life as a boxer...

Tekken

1990

Tekken poster
5.0

A directionless young man, recently released from prison, tries to make a new start in life as a boxer...

Tekken

1990

The Short Films: We Were All Once Children poster
NR

A dream collaboration between five directors who represent the modern Japanese film industry! An omnibus work composed of five short films has been created. "The Short Films: We Were All Once Children." The theme that runs through the five short films is "children." The styles vary from period dramas to contemporary daily life scenes, but all of the works highlight the dreams of children, who are entrusted with Japan's future, as well as the issues facing the social system surrounding children. ©ABC Television

The Short Films: We Were All Once Children

2008

I Never Shot Anyone poster
7.0

Renji Ishibashi, starring in the movie for the first time in 18 years, plays a hero with two faces, a dull novelist and a legendary killer. Susumu Ichikawa, an obsolete writer with no manuscript at all, had another face - a legendary hitman. But the truth of the matter is... he had never shot a person. One day, he receives a murder request from a friend. Seeing this as an opportunity to achieve the ideal hard-boiled novel, he decides to hire a real hitman and demands that he report to him the assassination situation as it was.

I Never Shot Anyone

2020

The Projects poster
6.6

Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn't care less. Having moved in just six months ago after the closure of their herbal medicine shop, the old couple is reluctantly putting their life back together. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns: divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control, and a mysterious man with a parasol puts in a tall order of natural remedies, the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. Ranging from incisive comedy of errors to absurdist adventure to moving late life romance, "The Projects" is one of the biggest surprises of the year.

The Projects

2016

The Projects poster
6.6

Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn't care less. Having moved in just six months ago after the closure of their herbal medicine shop, the old couple is reluctantly putting their life back together. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns: divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control, and a mysterious man with a parasol puts in a tall order of natural remedies, the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. Ranging from incisive comedy of errors to absurdist adventure to moving late life romance, "The Projects" is one of the biggest surprises of the year.

The Projects

2016

Out of This World poster
7.3

Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited "Danny Boy" during a birthday bash for a sergeant whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past they'd rather forget.

Out of This World

2004

Out of This World poster
7.3

Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited "Danny Boy" during a birthday bash for a sergeant whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past they'd rather forget.

Out of This World

2004

The Goofball poster
10.0

Hisashi gets fired from his temp job due to his impulsiveness. One day he meets Chikako, a housewife who constantly shoplifts at the supermarket he regularly goes. He somehow agrees to help her to look for her run-away son, Masaru. Unfortunate to Hisashi, Masaru starts following his around instead of returning home, after he was found by Hisashi. Then they end up stealing a gun from a police officer! In their course of running away, the similar two who cannot adapt to society very well start to develop a mutual friendship…

The Goofball

1998

The Goofball poster
10.0

Hisashi gets fired from his temp job due to his impulsiveness. One day he meets Chikako, a housewife who constantly shoplifts at the supermarket he regularly goes. He somehow agrees to help her to look for her run-away son, Masaru. Unfortunate to Hisashi, Masaru starts following his around instead of returning home, after he was found by Hisashi. Then they end up stealing a gun from a police officer! In their course of running away, the similar two who cannot adapt to society very well start to develop a mutual friendship…

The Goofball

1998

Ernesto poster
7.0

Freddy Maemura Hurtado, a second-generation Japanese-Bolivian, heads to Cuba to study medicine. He meets revolutionist Che Guevara. When civil war breaks out in Bolivia, he decides to join Guevara’s revolutionary army under the name of “Ernesto Medico”.

Ernesto

2017

Ernesto poster
7.0

Freddy Maemura Hurtado, a second-generation Japanese-Bolivian, heads to Cuba to study medicine. He meets revolutionist Che Guevara. When civil war breaks out in Bolivia, he decides to join Guevara’s revolutionary army under the name of “Ernesto Medico”.

Ernesto

2017

No artwork available
7.0

Three stories with horror and science fiction elements. 1st episode: "The Curse of Tutankhamen" (Tsutankâmen no noroï) by Kazuyuki Izutsu. With Naoto Takenaka. Two clans of Yakuza clash in a bar. 2nd episode: "They came back, tonight too" (Yatsura wa konya mo yattekita) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With Renji Ishibashi. A polar writer is pursued by two mysterious mountebanks. 3rd episode: "I want to come back to this day" (Ano hi ni kaeritai) by Banmei Takahashi. With Toshiyuki Nagashima. A couple who robbed a bank decides to separate to escape the police.

Dangerous Stories

1989