
Acting
Kirin Kiki
Born — Died
1943-01-15 — 2018-09-15
Place of birth
Tokyo, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
80 titles
Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林 Kiki Kirin) (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress known for her work in Japanese cinema and television.
Known for
9.5No synopsis available yet.
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
8.0A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.
Kimi no na wa
1991
7.8In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Shoplifters
2018
2.6A female teacher is raped by a gang of students in her school. The repercussions of this lead to scandal, blackmail and murder.
Female Teacher
1977
8.0Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents, the story revolves around the Tachibana family and Rin's life throughout many years.
Hanekonma
1986
7.714-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
Arrietty
2010
Film credits
2010s · 16 titles
7.8In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Shoplifters
2018
7.714-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
Arrietty
2010
7.6After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.
Our Little Sister
2015
7.7Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Like Father, Like Son
2013
7.5The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.
Sweet Bean
2015
7.2Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One day, Ryota, his ex-wife Kyoko, and son Shingo gather at Yoshiko's apartment. A typhoon passes and the family must stay there all night long.
After the Storm
2016
7.2A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.
Every Day a Good Day
2018
6.6Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds.
Chronicle of My Mother
2012
7.3Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
I Wish
2011
5.9Kakekomi tells the stories of Edo women in the 1800s that escape abusive husbands and lovers by taking refuge in Tokeiji, a monastery in Kamakura.
Kakekomi
2015
6.8Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo, berates and mocks the troubled loner.
Villain
2010
7.3Vegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily basis for over three decades, and those who love him.
Mori, The Artist's Habitat
2018
6.6High school student Ayumi is trained by his grandmother to act as a "tsunagu," an intermediary for people who want to reach the dead.
Until the Break of Dawn
2012
NRKashiopea no Endo Roru A murder takes place on a luxury overnight train which runs from Sapporo to Ueno, Tokyo. The victim is a film director. The suspects are 4 women. Nokosareta Senritsu After a pianist concludes her best performance to date, she dies mysteriously in the waiting room. The cause of her death is potassium cyanide that was laced in her coffee. Kuroi Pan Teru A man works as a supervisor for a construction company. 30 years ago, he was a popular actor who played a hero character on TV. Now, he has a wife and a 20-year-old daughter. One day, the man learns that his daughter is kidnapped. Daiyamondo Dasuto A cold wave hits Tokyo. Two men, working for the same company, are unable to avoid overtime work that night. The snow storm then causes electrical outages. The two men must face difficult life or death decisions.
This Mystery is Excellent! ~ Challenge from Bestseller Writer
2014
5.1When everything in his life seems to be going wrong, downtrodden and alcohol-dependent Karl has a fateful encounter in Munich with Yu, a mysterious Japanese dancer from his father’s past. Unexpectedly, Yu begins to help Karl confront his demons (both literal and figurative) and begin to heal.
Cherry Blossoms & Demons
2019
NRThis mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.
Mystery Trilogy Special
2015
2000s · 10 titles
7.1Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Kamikaze Girls
2004
7.8A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
Still Walking
2008
7.5A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.
The Taste of Tea
2004
6.6A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.
Returner
2002
6.9Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.
Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad
2007
6.0Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.
Izo
2004
9.0Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses.
The Whispered City
2000
7.2Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady.
Tokyo Tower
2005
7.7Half a Confession introduces itself as a thriller and abruptly changes gears, transforming into a tale of morality with deeper insights into its characters than we had anticipated. It begins when Soichiro Kaji (Terao), a retired detective, walks into police headquarters and confesses to the murder of his wife. We learn that the victim had prematurely developed Alzheimer's after the tragic death of their son, and in her suffering, had asked to die. The police chiefs would be far more content to take him at his word if it were not for a conspicuous hole in his story: 48-hour gap between the alleged murder and his confession. Fearing a public relations nightmare, they are eager to bury the incident and keep the press in the dark.
Half a Confession
2004
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
1990s · 10 titles
5.5A young girl befriends an infant T-rex after her paleontologist father nurtures a lair of lost dinosaur eggs.
Rex: A Dinosaur's Story
1993
6.3The psychiatric evaluation of a young actor arrested for a brutal double murder concludes he may be unfit for trial. Further investigation, however, reveals the crime was a well-planned statement against the section of Japan's criminal code granting diminished responsibility to the mentally impaired.
Keiho
1999
7.2Following the bloody aftermath of a heist, three robbers are double-crossed by a new accomplice, who is then tracked down amid escalating carnage and spectacular car chases.
The Triple Cross
1992
6.7A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.
Rainbow Kids
1991
10.0Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant’s family.
Yearning
1993
6.5Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu".
Oishinbo
1996
6.8An auto repairman's daughter questions him about what happened to her aunt during the war, but the father remains reticent. Finally the man opens up, and the girl is able to piece together her aunt's tragic story.
War and Youth
1991
10.0Morihara was left a widower 8 years ago when his wife passed away. He attends his first mixer party under the guidance of his daughter. There he meets Fumika and starts conversation. Morihara is too shy to show his love since he is much older than Fumika. On learning that Fumika goes to England to study about English Tea, Morihara rushes to the airport but his effort is in vain. He takes out his dead wife's photo and consults her: "I love Fumika, what should I do?"
Fireworks, Ferris Wheels and Love
1997
7.1Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events just like his forbidden story. As the film progresses, fantasy and reality intermingle in a tale that draws heavily on influences from Poe and Stoker's Dracula. The film's strongly Expressionistic direction skillfully combines a variety of media (animation, computer-generated imagery, grainy black-and-white fast film stock, color negatives) for artistic effect.
The Mystery of Rampo
1994
NRYuka came to work as an intern nurse at a hospital and she met Shunichi again. They were school friends, and she liked him. But, she found out that Shunichi had an osteosarcoma.
Toki no kagayaki
1995
1980s · 11 titles
6.5A surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
Zigeunerweisen
1980
6.5Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.
Amagi Pass
1983
7.2Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?
Lonely Heart
1985
6.49th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.
I Are You, You Am Me
1982
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
7.0A young woman's life is turned upside down when her husband suddenly disappears, leaving behind numerous debts and his illegitimate child. Desperate to track down her missing husband, she travels to Kyushu in hopes of finding clues to his whereabouts and in the process discovers disturbing secrets about the man she loves.
The Ballad of the Sea of Genkai
1986
8.0Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.
Yume-Chiyo
1985
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
6.5The Yamaoki family moved from Kyoto to Tosa around the turn of the '50s; local school teacher Hirao becomes involved with Yasuko, sister to Sumio.
Remembrance
1988
6.8Based on the folk tales "Repayment from a crane". One snowy night a beautiful woman named Tsuru (Crane) visits poor peasant Taiju and says she will become his wife...
Crane
1988
9.0A martial arts master/detective investigates a series of murders and helps a deaf bathhouse attendant, Hisako.
Karate Cop
1982
1970s · 10 titles
2.6A female teacher is raped by a gang of students in her school. The repercussions of this lead to scandal, blackmail and murder.
Female Teacher
1977
6.4An adventurous young boy named Jack climbs a giant beanstalk to a magical kingdom governed by a greedy, tyrannical giant.
Jack and the Beanstalk
1974
7.2Expelled 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
6.4Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.
The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi
1979
7.4Traveling salesman Kuruma Torajirō falls in love with an inn manager as New Year's approaches.
Tora-san, His Tender Love
1970
6.5Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon.
Taro the Dragon Boy
1979
8.0In pre-war Japan, two members of a large yakuza syndicate instigate a turf war that embroils the highest echelons of Tokyo's underworld.
Down with The Big Boss
1979
7.2A young and newly-married couple in Tokyo lives a hard life moving repeatedly because of their unfamiliar relationships with their surroundings.
Red Paper Lantern
1974
8.0A comedy farce depicting the noise that occurs when two unemployed circus participants discover a debt bond in a basket with parrots, which they received instead of pension money. At that time, Hiromi Go and Kirin Kiki, who were gaining popularity, play the main roles, demonstrating an exquisite combination.
Crocodile, Parrot and Fur Seal
1977
9.0Hoping to romance an alien, Momojiro meets beautiful animal trainer Eriko instead. Then he and Jonathan get drawn into her old friend's fraud.
Truck Rascals: Another Odyssey of Momojiro
1978
1960s · 2 titles
5.5Erotic Pinku film showcasing he life of Buddhist nuns during the Edo Period.
Nunnery Confidential
1968
7.2A touching story following young shamisen string maker, Saku. Beautiful Saku moves to Lake Yogo, known for its production of quality shamisen strings, only to find her peaceful life turned upside down when a master musician takes personal interest in her.
Koto—The Lake of Tears
1966
Series credits
9.5No synopsis available yet.
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
8.0A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.
Kimi no na wa
1991
8.0Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents, the story revolves around the Tachibana family and Rin's life throughout many years.
Hanekonma
1986
10.0The 39th NHK Taiga Drama is Aoi Tokugawa Sandai. It is James Miki's dynamic and colorful tale of three generations of the Tokugawa dynasty--from its founder Ieyasu to Iemitsu, the third Shogun who solidified the Tokugawa power base.
Aoi: Tokugawa Three Generations
2000
NRSakazaki Iwane is a ronin who spends idle days in Edo. Until a few months ago, he was a promising son and successor to a powerful family in Bungo. He has came back to Edo, where he lived for a while for swordplay training with his two best friends, after a tragedy in the three's home domain—both of the two friends died, one of them killed by Iwane by command of the domain lord's chief retainer. Iwane left his home for Edo, leaving behind his fiancée, a sister of the friend he killed. Eventually, Iwane detects the conspiracy behind the deaths of the two friends and struggles to reform his domain.
Kagerou no Tsuji
2007
NRA maverick man arrives at Yūhigaoka School. The drama incorporates educational issues as well as family problems and adult romance, and can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Prime Minister of Yuhigaoka
1978
6.0Historical drama about the life of Saigō Takamori and his involvement with the Meiji Restoration.
As If In Flight
1990
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.
時間ですよ
1970
NRNo synopsis available yet.
時間ですよ
1970
NRShinobu, who works in the advertising department of the female underwear maker Princess Underwear, has a dream of becoming a fairy tale writer. He has a colleague and fiancé Taeko, but he promised that he won't get married until he saves up 3 million yen, so until then he continues living in a second-hand bookstore. One Sunday, Shinobu, who was just walking around the city, helps an old woman who has fallen over. The old woman, Ijuuin Ayano, was born in a noble family and had run away from Kyoto due to a disagreement with her daughter-in-law.
Kimagure Honkakuha
1977
10.0Set against the backdrop of the reign of the 11th Tokugawa Shogun, Ienari Tokugawa, this drama is a masterpiece of action period drama that broke the mold of traditional detective stories and attracted a great deal of attention.
Ōedo Sōsamō
1970
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.
Terauchi Kantarō Ikka
1974
7.0A Meiji era home drama about the great writer Soseki Natsume and his wife Kyōko. A story of love and tears of a funny couple starring Rie Miyazawa and Masahiro Motoki!
Natsumeke no Shokutaku
2005
NRDobu, an unconventional detective, teams up with Yoriki Samon to solve crimes in Yaoyacho, Edo, showcasing their courage and detective skills.
Private Detective Dobu
1991
NRA former couple, separated for over 20 years, were reunited after being told their son had only 3 months to live. What should they do as parents? As they worried, they soon began to feel the weight of their family ties...
An Early Autumn
1987
NRSet in a remote hot‑spring town in the San’in region, the story continues in the diary format of Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam who survived intrauterine radiation exposure during the Hiroshima bombing and consequently has leukemia. While returning home from a hospital in Kobe by train, Yumechiyo meets a runaway teenage girl who resembles her youth.
Zoku Yumechiyo Nikki
—
NRJutaro Torikai is a senior detective set to uncover the truth behind an apparent double suicide.
Dots and Lines
2007
No synopsis available yet.
森繁久彌の七人の孫
1987

