
Acting
Haruko Katō
Born — Died
1922-11-24 — 2015-11-02
Place of birth
Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
75 titles
Haruko Katō (加藤 治子 Katō Haruko, 24 November 1922 – 2 November 2015) was a Japanese actress. Haruko Katō was born in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, on 24 November 1922. After attending the Shochiku Girls' Opera School, she joined the Shochiku Girls' Opera Company under the stage name Kyoko Mifune. She was signed by the film production company Toho in 1939, making her film debut in Hanatsumi Nikki that same year. In 1940, she joined the New Theatre Research Society, which had been founded by Hiroshi Akutagawa and Michio Kato, whom she married in 1946.
Known for
8.4Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Howl's Moving Castle
2004
7.8A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Kiki's Delivery Service
1989
8.0A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.
Kimi no na wa
1991
6.7Shūichirō Kiriyama works at the Limitation Task Force, the place where the cases which have reached the statute of limitations are destroyed. Getting bored of his job, he decides to find a hobby, because it seems important to him to have a hobby. So he decides to puzzle out the unsolved cases on his free time, helped by his coworker Mikazuki, who seems to have a crush on him.
Time Limit Investigator
2006
8.8Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.
Furuhata Ninzaburo
1994
6.7Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks of a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power.
A Thousand and One Nights
1969
Film credits
2010s · 2 titles
6.4Ginko's younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.
About Her Brother
2010
7.0A woman named Kazuko (Kimura) who was guilty of a “serious crime” in the past, along with three of her friends. Those friends suddenly begin to die one by one. Kazuko learns that one of those deaths is somehow connected to Mamoru (Nakamura Aoi), her younger brother from whom she has been separated ever since their father disappeared 15 years earlier. Although Mamoru knows nothing of his sister, Kazuko is determined to find the killer in order to protect Mamoru and herself.
Majutsu wa Sasayaku
2011
2000s · 9 titles
8.4Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Howl's Moving Castle
2004
6.6A foreign spy using the Sorge alias is assigned to Tokyo the capital of Japan just prior to the outbreak of World War II and in the midst of the Japanese imperial ambitions in Eastern Asia. The spy becomes acquainted with a sympathetic communist who like he is attached to the ideals of freedom and rule of the masses. Sorge is able to feed the Soviet Union useful information regarding the Axis allies and their movements in Asia and beyond.
Spy Sorge
2003
NRNews comes out that several people found 1 kg of solid gold in their mail boxes. Maya Yamabuki moves back to her hometown and surprises the movers by the amount of money she gives them.
It's On Me
2009
3.8A shy, nerdy man, Takeru finds a schoolgirl hooker Lily is unconscious in a Tokyo park, so he decides to bring her home and lock her up in a secret basement. Although Lily is afraid of him, in fact, Takeru didn't do anything to hurt her. After Lily begins to uncover a shocking episode
Perfect Education 4: Secret Basement
2003
6.1An assassin fends off numerous attacks from her comrades, who are trying to move up in rank by killing off the competition.
Pistol Opera
2001
8.0After the death of a man in their nursing home, a group of residents find his notebook titled "Shinibana" containing a plan to tunnel into and steal 1.7 billion yen from a bank.
Blooming Again
2004
5.7Keiko 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
NRLIFE IS JOURNEY is an anthology of four stories about people who live in solitude, but who yearn for togetherness. Each day brings chance meetings and reluctant partings, joy and pain. The first vignette, "Life", portrays half of a woman's life in one-scene, one-cut, nine-minute sequence. "N" is a comical take on a man abandoned by his lover. "Ya" explores the bond of female friendship as one woman consoles a brokenhearted girlfriend. In "Nowhere", a man and a woman roam the streets of a foreign land in search of lost time.
Life Is Journey
2003
5.0After 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
1990s · 7 titles
7.0Crippled Kabuki player Tonbo is taken in by a strolling company of itinerant actors. An influential publisher notices his honest, bold art, and nurtures him despite persecution and betrayal.
Sharaku
1995
8.5Eiji Kawano (Kunie Tanaka) has recently broken from the Japanese company he used to work for. As an immigrant to Tasmania, he has been won over by the island's immense natural beauty, and he is conscience-bound to oppose his former employer's ecologically unsound practices. He is also estranged from his grown son, who still resides in Japan. When his son comes to Tasmania for a visit, he must face the challenge of renewing their relationship.
Tasmania Story
1990
8.0A young woman tries to reconcile with her mother, who left their family for another man.
A Brief Message from the Heart
1995
5.6Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to escape jail for gunning down his cruel adoptive father. His life begins to unravel when a journalist following him takes an interest in the wife of a boyhood chum, and the wife of another close friend takes an interest in Ise. A couple of murders later, Ise/Haga goes on the run and also sets out for revenge.
Bonds
1998
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
7.5In spite of a longstanding tradition forbidding women from working in a sake brewery, Retsu, a young blind woman, challenges herself to overcome her disability in order to save her family's sake business.
Kura
1995
7.0Movie adaptation of a novel by Rampo Edogawa.
Secret Liaisons
1995
1980s · 21 titles
7.8A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Kiki's Delivery Service
1989
7.8A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985
6.4Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath.
A Taxing Woman's Return
1988
7.0During the peaceful Tokugawa period, handsome samurai Gonza becomes entangled in a tragic love triangle and a web of deceit while trying to advance his social standing through the tea ceremony.
Gonza the Spearman
1986
6.2Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome-shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.
Tokyo Blackout
1987
6.2Grandfather Fuyukichi Takano, a former university professor, gets fired from his museum job when he is affected by Alzheimer's disease, but his affliction serves to deepen family ties. Japan's submission to the 58th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Gray Sunset
1985
6.3Born in affluent families among the Japanese mountains, two close cousins fall in love and have to suffer through the social constraints of their time.
The Wild Daisy
1981
10.0Once again, director Shunichi Kajima and star Takanori Jinnai are teaming up to create a new type of yakuza film that stylishly depicts the short but vibrant life of legendary urban yakuza Takashi Hanagata.
Kizu
1988
6.0Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune.
Capone Cries a Lot
1985
7.2Deaths in Tokimeki tells the story of a nondescript hitman, in a remote country villa, waiting to carry out a job: the assassination of the leader of a religious cult.
Deaths in Tokimeki
1984
7.0The love story of an architect and a fashion designer in Mexico.
Caribe: Symphony of Love
1985
Adaptation of a 1956 novel by Yukio Mishima.
The S.S. Happiness Sets Sail
1980
10.0Team DANKAI are set to compete in the Paris-Dakar Rally, an off-road endurance race spanning thousands of miles and multiple continents. Prior to the event, DANKAI leader Mizuki is ordered by their sponsor to add popular celebrity Ryuichi Yoshii to the roster for publicity. This exacerbates DANKAI's resentments and baggage. Needing a steady hand to mediate dispute and navigate their support vehicle, Mizuki recruits legendary retired mechanic/driver Eiji Honma to the team. Soon Honma discovers his ex-wife Kei is also participating in the rally, alongside her current husband, the bullfighter Antonio Vázquez. Honma's truck also comes to include stowaway passenger Yuko Takei, Yoshii's pop star girlfriend who is trying to salvage their relationship.
Umi e, See You
1988
7.0Heartbroken Ukiko takes refuge with a relative after a devastating breakup. While away, she makes a dangerous match with the husband of her frigid cousin.
Beyond the Shining Sea
1986
6.4Against the backdrop of late 19th-century Berlin, Toyotaro Ota, a young Japanese uni student studying in Germany, meets and falls in love with 16-year-old local dancer Elise. Their unconventional affair and subsequent cohabitation stir up a massive scandal that threatens his reputation, eventually reaching the ears of officials in Japan.
The Dancer
1989
5.5While trying to search for her missing father, Atsuko Moriya meets a group of outcasts that help her. Having only an encrypted disk in her possession and while being chased by unknown people, Atsuko tries to solve the mystery of her family origins.
Someday, Someone Will Be Killed
1984
5.0Life seems to be good for Shintoto, an up-and-coming rakugo artist who has just had his first sexual experience at a local brothel. Lucky for him, he gets to date the beautiful sex worker he meets that day, and a younger high school rakugo aficionado is also vying for his attention. But for clumsy, heart-on-his-sleeve Shintoto, life doesn’t stay rosy for long.
Something Like It
1981
8.0Tokiko Enomoto finds out that her husband Kazuya, who mostly lives at an apartment near his work while she and their children live at home, has been having an affair with a live-in mistress, Ryōko, at his apartment. Tokiko tells her two sons, Tarō and Jirō, that she has decided to divorce their father. The children are shocked but understand their mother's position. Kazuya realizes the damage he has done and tries to remedy the situation.
The House of Wedlock
1986
5.8The story of a Japanese man who as a 16-year-old went to Maui to work in the sugar cane fields in order to support his family back in Japan. Now 89 and still living in Hawaii he is visited by his granddaughter who brings him a letter from his disinherited and recently dead son. This brings back memories of his life with his wife and family following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in particular of his son who had gone off to join the war for the Americans.
Lanterns on Blue Waters
1983
7.0No synopsis available yet.
Carefree Goddesses
1987
NRThe film depicts the counterattack by Haimis, who was swindled out of a large sum of money by a marriage swindler. Shizue (Tomoko Hoshino) goes to visit her parents' grave and meets Yamakawa (Ryo Tamura), who works for an airline company. Shizue is unwittingly captivated by his stylish manner and charming manner of speaking. However, Yamakawa is a marriage swindler. Shizue is lured by his clever words, and is forced to pay him over 5 million yen in tribute.
The Scent of Honey between a Man and a Woman
1987
1970s · 5 titles
7.3This is a story of love between a society girl and a yakuza boy. Mami lives an ordinary life in Tokyo, being with her friends and studying. Her biggest interest is ladies hats. She is rather well off, as her father is the ambassador of Japan in Spain. One day when she is out driving, she is attacked by a group of yakuza, but is saved by the honorable yakuza Jiro. This will change her life forever.
Love in the Mud
1977
6.8Masao is falsely accused and jailed for the murder of a loanshark to whom he owed a lot of money. His sister Kiriko makes the long trip to Tokyo, specifically to accost Otsuka, Japan's top criminal defence lawyer, and plead with him to take her brother's case. They live in Kitakyushu which, though a city, she contends that the local lawyers are not up to the job. Otsuka contemptuously brushes her off. A year passes. Masao has suicided in jail, his appeal having failed due to the lack of interest and competence of the local defence lawyer. Kiriko returns to Tokyo, planning revenge on Otsuka for refusing the case and causing her brother's death.
Sweet Revenge
1977
NRA 1970s Toho coming-of-age film.
First Love
1972
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Hobo General
1976
A young woman, an experienced gambler, enters a nunnery to atone for some of her father's crimes. When the nunnery runs into debt, she resorts to gambling and challenges the racketeer threatening to sell the place to a game.
The Gambling Nun
1971
1960s · 10 titles
6.7Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks of a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power.
A Thousand and One Nights
1969
9.0Tsutomu Yoshioka, a Tokyo office worker, is engaged to Mariko, the niece of his company's president. But Yoshioka has a crisis of consence when he remembers his former love Mitsu, a rural girl whom he met and later left while in college. Shimako, a former friend, persuades Yoshioka to meet with Mitsu while she plots to blackmail Yoshioka by photographing the meeting to break up Mariko and Yoshioka.
The Girl I Abandoned
1969
NRNo synopsis available yet.
春日和
1967
NR1962 Japanese movie
Fūryū onsen bantō nikki
1962
8.0Natsuko’s daughter Saori is born blind in 1941, just before her father is drafted. Despite an attempted surgery and years of struggle, her condition proves permanent. Growing up, she faces stigma and danger but eventually finds hope and love with a fellow blind student.
Till Tomorrow Is
1962
NRTwo sisters live with their family. The elder is reserved; the younger lively. Yet, the former is first engaged and all goes well until the young man disappears
Green Fruit
1964
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Young Girls Are Everywhere
1966
10.0Rokurō starts a part-time job on a fishing boat, but the ship has an engine failure in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
East China Sea
1968
NRThe story follows Misako Kitaoka, a junior college graduate and Nitto Lease sales department employee, as she grows through work, love, and friendship. For the sake of the company's managing director and his wife, Misako recommends her colleague Tensuke Sone to Fusako, the managing director's daughter and best friend. Fusako and Sone meet at the executive director's Karuizawa villa, but for some reason Kensuke becomes angry when he learns that Misako is the one who recommended him...
若い川の流れ
1968
NRChikako, who was living in a room at a temple affiliated with Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto while attending a women’s college, was deeply shocked when her boyfriend, Hashida, coldly rejected her after she told him she was pregnant.
Camellia Gate
1964
1950s · 4 titles
6.2A Japanese woman writes down three stories she has witnessed or heard of in her diary, each about the difficult situation a young woman finds herself in.
An Inlet of Muddy Water
1953
8.0After running away from her mother, Ashiko works as a maid at an inn and changes her name, but she finds herself torn between her past and a new relationship with a lonely trader on the beach of Atami.
The Mandarin Room
1956
NRWhen he was a little boy, Tokitō Kensaku was sent to live with his paternal grandfather and his mistress Oei. Years later, Kensaku realizes he has feelings for Oei.
Pilgrimage at Night
1959
NRThis story takes place at a school under the new educational system. It all began when a love letter addressed to Takeshi Kodama, the straightforward art teacher, from Yoko Kagawa, a young and beautiful female teacher, was found lying in the school hallway. It soon became clear that Ms. Kagawa was not the one who had written the letter, but this incident made her feel the need to explore the emotions of her adolescent female students.
The Love Letter Trial
1951
1940s · 2 titles
8.0What is marriage? Young couple in match-making wanted to know before they decide. They visited married couples of sisters and brothers. Love comedy in 1942.
Sky of Hope
1942
9.0It was supposed to be about a love story, but it was and was not. An aircraft mechanic working for the government is matched by his boss with the latter man's daughter (Setsuko Hara) who is both beautiful and aggressive. Yet, he picks a woman who is less assertive as his bride.
Currents of Youth
1942
Series credits
8.0A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.
Kimi no na wa
1991
6.7Shūichirō Kiriyama works at the Limitation Task Force, the place where the cases which have reached the statute of limitations are destroyed. Getting bored of his job, he decides to find a hobby, because it seems important to him to have a hobby. So he decides to puzzle out the unsolved cases on his free time, helped by his coworker Mikazuki, who seems to have a crush on him.
Time Limit Investigator
2006
8.8Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.
Furuhata Ninzaburo
1994
6.2Tottori Kenichi is a foul-mouthed but gifted veterinarian nicknamed Dolittle. His catch phrase is 'pet care means business'. He is the director of his animal clinic and rescues not only 'voiceless' pets but also helps their owners, who lack understanding and caution, with their problems and worries. Working with him is animal nurse Tajima Asuka. Hanabishi Masaru is Dolittle's rival, a charismatic vet and director of another animal hospital who has not only an opposite personality but also a different stance towards pet care.
Veterinarian Dolittle
2010
NRYumechiyo is the madam of a geisha house in a remote hot spring in the San'in region. When Yumechiyo learns that she is dying of leukemia caused by the atomic bomb, she writes about her life in the form of a diary, which is a collection of human dramas and the joys and sorrows of her life.
Yumechiyo Nikki
1981
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hito wa sore wo scandal to iu
1978
3.7Kuniko Mukōda's masterpiece, a poignant and subtle portrait of the jealousy and suspicion that secretly swirl behind seemingly peaceful family relationships.
Ashura no Gotoku
1979
NRThe story follows Ryota Mizusawa, a kitchen unit salesman, and Masumi Sakaki, a hand model and single mother of two children. Due to a real estate scam, both Ryota and Masumi are sold the same apartment. To retain their new home, they decide to pose as a married couple, leading to a series of comedic and heartfelt situations as they navigate their unconventional living arrangement.
Marriage Begins With A Lie
1993
NRThrough the lives of people aging in a seaside retirement home, the drama depicts the aging process that comes to everyone.
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi
1993
NRNo synopsis available yet.
突然の明日
1980
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Terauchi Kantarō Ikka
1974
NRNo synopsis available yet.
なんたって18歳!
1971
NRA love story about a young man who, despite being shunned by his father after shoplifting in high school, strives to live strongly with the support of his girlfriend..
Fuyu no Undokai
1977
No synopsis available yet.
森繁久彌の七人の孫
1987
NRBased on novel 1962 "Kyukei no Koya" by Seicho Matsumoto. A serial murder occurs around the heroine Kumiko because she finds evidence that her father, who should have died, was "alive." Set in 1945, near the end of WW II, Kenichiro Nogami is reported to have died in a Swiss hospital. In fact, he is working behind the scenes to save Japan from destruction. For this cause, Kenichiro Nogami has left behind his wife and nation to work in hiding.
Kyukei no Koya
1978
