Toshiki Shima

A Japanese teenager bicycles aimlessly through the countryside after killing his mother.

Kenji Shimamura has trouble being intimate with his girlfriend Noriko after a lifetime of watching his parents bicker over his father’s infidelity. After he spurns her advances, causing her to storm off in an offended rage, he decides it’s time to seek psychological help. Unfortunately that costs money and the best way to earn some quick cash in his family is to spy on his dad for his mother. He quickly discovers his dad has a young girlfriend named Yukari. Figuring the best way to deal with this gracefully is to come clean with Yukari he tells her all about their family and the real estate business his parents run together. Unfortunately, however, his plan backfires. Instead of being scared off Yukari applies for a job at the family business and befriends Kenji’s mother, setting up a chain of events that makes things awkward for everyone involved.

Late Bloomer is the story of Sumida-san, a severely handicapped man, and his downward spiral into hell.

Pig heads, intestines, megaphones: all these and more have been thrown into crowds of loyal fans following the influential punk band THE STALIN or any of number of Michiro Endo's other bands since 1980. Taking a step in front of the camera, however, Endo offers a very different kind of encounter in this inspiring self-portrait. "Mother, I've Pretty Much Forgotten Your Face" follows the artist, a native of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, on the 2011 nationwide solo tour celebrating his 60th birthday, which was interrupted by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Traveling, performing and talking with fellow musicians and activists, Endo reflects on the past and future of Fukushima, the legacy of Hiroshima, his upbringing and his feelings about his mother, communicated in the song from which the documentary is named.

Set in Uzumasa, Kyoto, Shoji Hyakkan lives with his wife and kid happily. He then begins to build a house held together by magnets. One night, Koji steals and kills a cow, to use its cowhide as decoration wall material for his magnet house. By chance, Police Officer Kobayakawa happens to see what Shoji Hyakkan is doing. Police Officer Kobayakawa then offers Shoji a deal. (c) Asianwiki

A Japanese teenager bicycles aimlessly through the countryside after killing his mother.

A Japanese teenager bicycles aimlessly through the countryside after killing his mother.

Kenji Shimamura has trouble being intimate with his girlfriend Noriko after a lifetime of watching his parents bicker over his father’s infidelity. After he spurns her advances, causing her to storm off in an offended rage, he decides it’s time to seek psychological help. Unfortunately that costs money and the best way to earn some quick cash in his family is to spy on his dad for his mother. He quickly discovers his dad has a young girlfriend named Yukari. Figuring the best way to deal with this gracefully is to come clean with Yukari he tells her all about their family and the real estate business his parents run together. Unfortunately, however, his plan backfires. Instead of being scared off Yukari applies for a job at the family business and befriends Kenji’s mother, setting up a chain of events that makes things awkward for everyone involved.

Late Bloomer is the story of Sumida-san, a severely handicapped man, and his downward spiral into hell.

Pig heads, intestines, megaphones: all these and more have been thrown into crowds of loyal fans following the influential punk band THE STALIN or any of number of Michiro Endo's other bands since 1980. Taking a step in front of the camera, however, Endo offers a very different kind of encounter in this inspiring self-portrait. "Mother, I've Pretty Much Forgotten Your Face" follows the artist, a native of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, on the 2011 nationwide solo tour celebrating his 60th birthday, which was interrupted by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Traveling, performing and talking with fellow musicians and activists, Endo reflects on the past and future of Fukushima, the legacy of Hiroshima, his upbringing and his feelings about his mother, communicated in the song from which the documentary is named.

Set in Uzumasa, Kyoto, Shoji Hyakkan lives with his wife and kid happily. He then begins to build a house held together by magnets. One night, Koji steals and kills a cow, to use its cowhide as decoration wall material for his magnet house. By chance, Police Officer Kobayakawa happens to see what Shoji Hyakkan is doing. Police Officer Kobayakawa then offers Shoji a deal. (c) Asianwiki