Masaya Takahashi

Acting

Masaya Takahashi

Born — Died

1930-03-16 — 2014-01-16

Place of birth

Ushigome, Tokyo, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

71 titles

Known for

Key Hunter poster
7.0

Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".

Key Hunter

1968

Edogawa Rampo no bijo shirīzu poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Edogawa Rampo no bijo shirīzu

1977

稲垣吾郎の金田一耕助シリーズ poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

稲垣吾郎の金田一耕助シリーズ

2004

Ponytail Won't Look Back poster
NR

After her family breaks apart and she ends up behind bars, a defiant teen fights her way back into the world through rhythm and rebellion, driven by a dream to start a band and rewrite her life.

Ponytail Won't Look Back

1985

Ryoma ga Yuku poster
NR

The chronicles of Sakamoto Ryoma, a pre-revolutionary who helped shape the face of modern Japan. In order to study swordsmanship, Ryoma heads for Edo where he meets many people who influence his thinking. He becomes close friends with men like Katsu Kaishu and Saigo Takamori and later establishes a naval training school in Kobe. Ryoma's controversial political views make him a target for shogunate assassins but his fervent belief in a classless society helps forge the Choshu-Satsuma alliance which ultimately brings about the Meiji Restoration.

Ryoma ga Yuku

1968

Air Doll poster
6.9

A life-size, inflatable sex doll suddenly comes to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her until something unexpected happens.

Air Doll

2009

Film credits

2010s · 2 titles

2000s · 8 titles

Air Doll poster
6.9

A life-size, inflatable sex doll suddenly comes to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her until something unexpected happens.

Air Doll

2009

Returner poster
6.6

A 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

Otakus in Love poster
6.1

Live-action adaptation of a madcap manga about art, opposites, love and a whole lot of cosplay.

Otakus in Love

2004

The Suspect: Muroi Shinji poster
6.0

One day in February, 2005, Metropolitan Police Department Superintendent Muroi (Toshiro Yanagiba) is arrested to take responsibility for a botched murder case he headed. His faithful colleagues, including Arashiro (Toshio Kakei) and Okita (Miki Maya), only exacerbate the situation when they try to help clear his name. Is Muroi guilty as charged or merely taking the fall? What is the truth behind the murder? Two lawyers, one determined to get Muroi, the other resolved to save him, a feud between two police departments, political power plays and legal trappings, all combine to orchestrate Muroi’s downfall.

The Suspect: Muroi Shinji

2005

Translucent Tree poster
3.7

Translucent Tree is centered around divorced Chigiri, a suburban middle-aged mother taking care of her teenage daughter, Mayu, and her ailing father Kaho. Her life is mundane and rather hopeless until Go, a TV producer from Tokyo, pays a visit to her town and the tree they shared time under some twenty years back after a TV commercial shoot. His remembrances of her, the tree, and the long unrequited love stir both of their hearts to fumbling action as they re-discover the love between them.

Translucent Tree

2004

Kindachi Kosuke: The Queen Bee poster
6.0

The movie is part of the Kindaichi TV movie series. Kindaichi is played by actor Goro Inagaki. The character's grandfather began with the written word. Kousuke Kindaichi started life in the novels of Seishi Yokomizo, written and set in post-war Japan. Inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Kindaichi is still very much a unique character, giving the Japanese their very own literary hero-detective. Young Hajime Kindaichi is a young man with bad dandruff and worse dress-sense (decades before Columbo), who wears a trademark, scruffy sunhat. He also happens to be better than the police at deductive reasoning. Having gained publicity for solving a high-profile murder case, the detectives allow him to work with them again. This story is slimmer than the twisty plots of Inugami and Village, but is graced by the presence of Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Great Yokai War) in the title role.

Kindachi Kosuke: The Queen Bee

2006

University of Laughs poster
7.2

In pre-war Japan, a government censor tries to make the writer for a theater troupe alter his comedic script. As they work with and against each other, the script ends up developing in unexpected ways.

University of Laughs

2004

Tokyo Rendezvous poster
5.4

A salaryman debates selling his grandfather's land to pay off his father's debt.

Tokyo Rendezvous

2008

1980s · 6 titles

1970s · 16 titles

Belladonna of Sadness poster
7.4

An evil feudal lord rapes a village girl on her wedding night and proceeds to ruin her and her husband's lives. After she's eventually banished from her village, the girl makes a pact with the devil to gain magical ability and take revenge.

Belladonna of Sadness

1973

Silence poster
7.2

In 17th-century Japan, two Portuguese Jesuit priests seek their mentor, who is rumoured to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.

Silence

1971

Bitterness of Youth poster
6.8

A footballing law student tutors an undergraduate, developing into a romance that soon enough goes awry.

Bitterness of Youth

1974

Sweet Revenge poster
6.8

Masao 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

Japan's Don poster
7.2

A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.

Japan's Don

1977

Main Line to Terror poster
6.2

Akiyama is an intern, disgusted with the noise pollution caused by the bullet trains and the heart attacks that noise has been causing in older hospital patients, plots to disrupt and, in ten days, destroy a unit of the operation. He warns the Japan National Railway, that, if nothing is done to reduce the noise, he will derail a bullet train. Takigawa is the police detective sent to stop him.

Main Line to Terror

1975

Woman Gambling Expert: Stakes of a Game of Chance poster
NR

16th in the 17 film Daiei "Woman Gambler" series

Woman Gambling Expert: Stakes of a Game of Chance

1970

White Love poster
6.5

Kobasashi was learning Spanish so that she could go to Spain to look for her father who had left the family. She fell in love with her language teacher Ken. Finally she found her father in Madrid and she also met Ken's ex-girl friend Taeko there. Ken came to Madrid and learned of their meeting. He wanted her to help to look for Taeko. Ken was caught in between the past and the present.

White Love

1979

Take Me Away! poster
8.0

Kyoko met Tetsu during her trip to San Francisco. Soon they fell in love but getting married was not in his mind. They were to meet again back in Tokyo but Tetsu didn't turn up. She went to look for him in San Francisco but all she found was him with his new girlfriend. Kyoko went back to Tokyo and eventually married a big corporate CEO.

Take Me Away!

1978

The Night Clinic poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Night Clinic

1971

Ame no meguri ai poster
NR

Japanese drama film.

Ame no meguri ai

1977

Doterai Man poster
8.5

Business is a game! A theatrical version of the TV drama that became a social phenomenon starring Teruhiko Saigo. Set in a wholesaler town in Osaka, it depicts the activities of the main character Takezo Yamashita who repels adversity with a man's stubbornness and guts.

Doterai Man

1975

Kanto Street Peddlers: Shallow Clan Honor poster
NR

The fifth and final chapter of the Kanto Street Peddlers series! Will the battle in Asakusa be enough for a complete victory?

Kanto Street Peddlers: Shallow Clan Honor

1971

Mysterious Thirteen Nights: Chapter 12 - The Mystery of the Ever-Changing Tamamushi Mansion! poster
NR

Twelfth film of "Mysterious Thirteen Nights" series.

Mysterious Thirteen Nights: Chapter 12 - The Mystery of the Ever-Changing Tamamushi Mansion!

1971

Aspiration poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Aspiration

1977

Just for You poster
10.0

Yumi Ishikawa (Mari Atsumi) is nineteen and a popular geisha. Orphaned when a child, Yumi she was raised by Shizuko, the madame of a geisha house. Yumi is impulsive, out-going. And although she cannot claim to be good at Japanese dancing or playing musical instruments so necessary to a geisha, she is a whizz at go-go and will dance the hula at parties. But before becoming a full-fledged geisha, Yumi must go through the ceremony of the "mizuage", when a budding geisha surrenders her virginity to an experienced man who makes her a woman. Takida, a rich money-lender, is chosen for Yumi's mizuage but she offers herself first to Keiichi (Ryo Tamura), who she really loves although she knows that his world and hers are too far apart for a successful marriage.

Just for You

1970

1960s · 24 titles

Happiness of Us Alone poster
9.0

The story is of two people. One is deaf, the other deaf and mute. They marry after meeting at a school reunion, and the film follows their trials and tribulations ... and joys.

Happiness of Us Alone

1961

Art of Assassination poster
7.0

A beautiful hostess of a small restaurant moonlights as a well-trained assassin tasked with taking the life of a wealthy businessman...

Art of Assassination

1969

Memoir of Japanese Assassinations poster
7.5

This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.

Memoir of Japanese Assassinations

1969

Goké, Body Snatcher from Hell poster
5.8

The survivors of a plane crash in a remote area are attacked by blob-like alien creatures that turn their victims into blood-thirsty vampires.

Goké, Body Snatcher from Hell

1968

Little Snack poster
10.0

Two young adults (Nana Ozaki and Hiroshi Fujioka) meet at a Snack Bar where the youth hang out and bands like The Village Singers and Purple Shadows play, and soon they fall in love, but a shadow and a secret hangs over them.

Little Snack

1968

Killer's Mission poster
6.8

Ichibei is assigned by Shogun Tokugawa to prevent the sale of a Dutch ships-load of rifles to the hostile Shogun Satsuma. On his mission he meets a cowardly Ronin who becomes his assistant, as well as a female spy and a female warrior...

Killer's Mission

1969

Young Challengers poster
8.0

A story depicting the challenges faced by today's youth in working to build a better tomorrow, based on the theme of Toshiba's progress as one of Japan's leading manufacturers of electronic and electric goods.

Young Challengers

1968

The Young Eagles of the Kamikaze poster
7.7

The film is dedicated to the souls of flight school graduates killed in World War II. Young boys dream about becoming pilots and apply to flight schools. However, the flight schools have extremely demanding, harsh training, and once they finally become pilots, they must become suicide bombers and give their lives for their homeland.

The Young Eagles of the Kamikaze

1968

The Spy poster
10.0

Based on true events surrounding a Korean student who had entered Japan unlawfully and escaped illegal alien internment.

The Spy

1965

A Woman's Life poster
7.5

Based on Kaoru Morimoto oft performed 1945 play, a starring vehicle for famed actress Machiko Kyo as Kei an abused orphaned girl that eventually finds sanctuary with a wealthy family that trades goods with China and becomes a successful businesswoman. Masumura dilutes the originally intended pro-Japan propaganda elements for a more anti-war approach.

A Woman's Life

1962

Classmates poster
6.5

A story of young students trained to become Kamikaze pilots in World War II.

Classmates

1967

Rebellion of Japan poster
8.0

Suzuko, a woman in her twenties who has a brother with political problems (due to communist reprisals), lives for over five years in a love affair with Tate who's a young lieutenant in the Army, ultimately becoming a right-wing fundamentalist revolutionary. She marries another man, one totally dedicated to the rigorous practices of Noh theatre, in an arranged marriage, but the bond that connects her with Tate is too strong.

Rebellion of Japan

1967

Modae poster
7.0

This unique melodrama depicts the anguish of a new wife whose husband confesses to her his infertility on their wedding night. The virgin wife, who spends her days in a state of unfulfillment, is gradually attracted to a young playboy, but she is unable to cross the line. One day, her husband proposes to have a child through artificial insemination.

Modae

1964

Daring Girls poster
8.0

Two sisters involved in rival underworld sex trade factions compete against each other in this tale of elaborate sex antics, yakuza crime, and bloody revenge.

Daring Girls

1969

The Desperate poster
7.0

A noir drama depicting the downfall of a veteran detective who hates evil and falls into its depths. Ace detective Sugai pursues Chiyo, the mistress of a man who was arrested for extortion, and takes advantage of her weakness. However, as his colleague Tokumochi and others regard him with suspicion, he is tormented by remorse.

The Desperate

1964

The Debt of Blood poster
NR

1967 Nikkatsu film.

The Debt of Blood

1967

The Black Gambler: The Gambling Syndicate poster
7.0

Place your bets! Japan's greatest gambler, Koji Himuro (Akira Kobayashi), faces off against an international cabal of gamblers with only his wits and his incredibly skilled left hand against every conceivable way to cheat someone in a game.

The Black Gambler: The Gambling Syndicate

1965

The Gambling Monk poster
NR

One summer day, the chief monk of the Hojuin Temple dies. Harumichi rushes back to town hearing about his brother's death and requests for a grand funeral. He had been unwilling to take over the family business and had chosen a life as a middle school teacher far away from home, but considering the circumstances, he changes his mind. As the new chief of Hojuin, Harumichi scrambles around day after day for donations. He has kept strictly to the straight and narrow, until he passes a bicycle race track where the sounds of cheering fans induce him into a new way of life...

The Gambling Monk

1963

High School Third Graders poster
NR

In 1963, Funaki Kazuo's debut song of the same name was released and then it was adapted to a movie based on Kenji Tomishima 's novel “Shake to Tomorrow” with the same title, produced by Daiei with this song as a motif. Singer and actor Funaki Kazuo also appears in the movie, which depicts the fun, love and heartbreak in a Japanese school.

High School Third Graders

1963

Flora on the Sand poster
6.3

One evening, at the Marine Tower observatory, cosmetics salesman Ichiro Iki is drawn into conversation with an unfamiliar young lady Akiko. She invites Ichiro back to a hotel where they make love but part without even exchanging names. A week later, they have a second chance encounter at the observatory. This time, Ichiro is the one who pursues her. Back at the hotel, Akiko begs Ichiro to give her sister – Kyoko, a bar hostess – absolute hell. Akiko resents her sister for lecturing on chastity, while wantonly indulging in promiscuous activity. Ichiro takes an interest in Kyoko and sets out towards her bar…

Flora on the Sand

1964

Sweet Seventeen poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Sweet Seventeen

1964

Night Trap poster
NR

A woman's desperate attempt to prove her husband's innocence after he has been sentenced to death for the murder of his mistress. She tracks down four men in the victim's life, one of whom she suspects may be the real murderer, and systematically destroys them. In the end, her obsession becomes madness and she has ruined her own life along with her victims' lives to save her philandering husband.

Night Trap

1967

The Shogun and His Mistresses poster
4.7

Three tales of women that resided in the Shogun's harem (o-oku) during the Edo period.

The Shogun and His Mistresses

1967

Seinen no isu poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

Seinen no isu

1962

Series credits

Key Hunter poster
7.0

Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".

Key Hunter

1968

Edogawa Rampo no bijo shirīzu poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Edogawa Rampo no bijo shirīzu

1977

稲垣吾郎の金田一耕助シリーズ poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

稲垣吾郎の金田一耕助シリーズ

2004

Ponytail Won't Look Back poster
NR

After her family breaks apart and she ends up behind bars, a defiant teen fights her way back into the world through rhythm and rebellion, driven by a dream to start a band and rewrite her life.

Ponytail Won't Look Back

1985

Ryoma ga Yuku poster
NR

The chronicles of Sakamoto Ryoma, a pre-revolutionary who helped shape the face of modern Japan. In order to study swordsmanship, Ryoma heads for Edo where he meets many people who influence his thinking. He becomes close friends with men like Katsu Kaishu and Saigo Takamori and later establishes a naval training school in Kobe. Ryoma's controversial political views make him a target for shogunate assassins but his fervent belief in a classless society helps forge the Choshu-Satsuma alliance which ultimately brings about the Meiji Restoration.

Ryoma ga Yuku

1968

Stepsisters poster
NR

A moving story of intense love, hate, and reconciliation born out of a fateful encounter between the only daughter of a conglomerate leader and a girl from a poor family.

Stepsisters

1985

Akai Kizuna poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Akai Kizuna

1977

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun poster
6.3

The drama depicts an ordinary high school student growing up by becoming a yakuza head.

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

1982

A Younger Man poster
NR

Thirty-something office lady Chikako Yamaguchi falls for a man at her gym - Shun Izaki. She proposes but he rejects her. That same Izaki saw Chikako's mother Hanae at the shop where she works and they fell in love with each other. The attraction of a younger man changes Hanae's perception of herself as a woman. Chikako enjoys seeing her mother blossom, oblivious to the fact that this is due to the man who rejected her. When she learns of Hanae and Izaki's relationship, she sees her mother for the first time as a rival. They are no longer mother and daughter. They are simply two women.

A Younger Man

2003

Blue Singing poster
NR

Tetsuo, the son of a bicycle shop owner, and his sister Hanako rescue Megumi Kuroki and Kiyotaka Sawada from a gang of bikers. As a thank you, they are invited to Kiyotaka's home. The siblings, who fell in love at first sight with Megumi and Kiyotaka, hope this will be the perfect opportunity to be alone together. However, the Sawada family is the home of the president of a major bicycle manufacturer, who brought down Tetsuo's father, Taichi, from his position at the company. Hanako soon develops feelings for Kiyotaka, and Tetsuo, wishing for his sister's happiness, fights against pressure to prevent their arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Kiyotaka's father, Ryuichi, the company president, invites Tetsuo's mother, out to apologize for his past treatment. The two eventually disappear. Tetsuo and Hanako search for their mother but find only Ryuichi, who has been burned beyond recognition and Shizuko is missing. The key to uncovering the truth lies with Taichi's sister, Sumire, but...

Blue Singing

1980

Kyokuhoku Rhapsody poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Kyokuhoku Rhapsody

2013