Kenichi Yajima

Acting

Kenichi Yajima

Born

1956-03-01 (70)

Place of birth

Gifu, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

Known for

AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo poster
7.5

Detective Ukyo Sugishita confronts crime on the basis of his own convictions. He has a partner that works for him in the Special Task Unit. For the first 7 seasons, Ukyo’s first partner is Kaoru Kameyama. He is a good-natured, hot-tempered, straightforward and somewhat scattered detective. Beginning in Season 8, Takeru Kanbe replaces Kameyama. Contrary to his predecessor, Takeru is a lanky, cool, conceited and confident detective. From Season 11 to Season 13, Ukyo’s partner is a young detective Toru Kai. Toru is a son of Deputy Director-General of The National Police Agency. But he became a detective by his own effort. And starting with Season 14, Ukyo’s current partner is Wataru Kaburagi, an elite bureaucrat who came to the Metropolitan Police Department on temporary assignment. As the first partner without any career of a police officer, he will face challenging cases together with Ukyo.

AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo

2002

Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon poster
7.5

Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation which is planned to be done by the head of a hospital who hasn’t performed an operation for a very long time. This causes Michiko to incur odium at the hospital, however, everyone becomes frozen when Michiko points out the outdated skills of the director. She also holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. Tanaka plays a rookie surgeon, Uchida an anesthetist, Kishibe the head of the placement service, and Ito the head of the surgical department of this institution.

Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon

2012

Absolute Zero poster
7.8

Izumi Sakuragi is a new police sergeant with the Special Investigations Office, which was set up within the Metropolitan Police in November last year. The new investigation team uses DNA analysis and the latest in forensics science to investigate cold cases as well as cases suspected to involve missing persons.

Absolute Zero

2010

Emergency Room 24 Hours poster
7.4

Dr. Shindo seems cold, but is a competent surgeon. He is also an ER doctor capable of accurate decisions and treatment, who always tries to see things from the patient’s side. Although once retired from his profession, he one day discovers someone in need of help, who he treats and rushes to the Kohoku Medical University Emergency Center. This incident encourages him to once again work as an ER doctor. Confrontation erupts between female doctor Tamaki, and Shindo, now a just-arrived ER doctor. While this human drama depicts the relationships among doctors and nurses, it appeals emotionally to viewers on the subject of life.

Emergency Room 24 Hours

1999

Mampuku poster
9.0

Based on true story of the wife of Ando Momofuku, the businessman who founded Nissin Food Products Co. Ltd. and the inventor of instant ramen, the 99th Asadora follows the life of Tachibana Fukuko, a young woman who tries to survive tough times in Osaka with her husband from before WWII to the rapid economic development era. Together they overcome various setbacks before they succeed in creating instant noodles. (Source: MDL)

Mampuku

2018

Furuhata Ninzaburo poster
8.8

Furuhata 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

Film credits

2020s · 7 titles

Fukushima 50 poster
6.5

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Fukushima 50

2020

Samurai Fury poster
8.0

Set in war-torn 15th century Kyoto, on the eve of the Onin War, the movie centers on a band of outlaws led by Hyoe, a scoundrel whose lethal sword skills place him at the tip of the spear in a deadly uprising against the corrupt Shogunate and its army, led by former friend-turned-archrival Doken.

Samurai Fury

2025

The Specials poster
6.0

Former assassin Daiya has long left the criminal world, but he decides to take up a mission to kill a rival gang boss for a huge payday. The catch: To kill his target at a talent show, he must go undercover and perform in a pop dance group.

The Specials

2026

Last of the Wolves poster
7.1

After Shogo Ogami’s death in Hiroshima, Detective Shuichi Hioka successfully implemented Shogo Ogami’s plan, which was to control the yakuza to prevent further gang wars and save innocent people from getting harmed. Shuichi Hioka manages the criminal organizations, but, due to one evil person who gets released from prison, the situation drastically changes.

Last of the Wolves

2021

Kubi poster
6.9

Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears.

Kubi

2023

The Lines That Define Me poster
7.3

Sousuke Aoyama is a college student who suffers painfully from the loss of his parents in a traffic accident. He meets Kozan Shinoda, a suibokuga (India-ink painting) artist, at an exhibition. Kozan becomes interested in Sousuke and surprisingly accepts him as his disciple. However, Kozan's niece is dismissive of Sousuke and declares to compete with Sousuke for the "Kozan Award." Although Sousuke seemed uninterested in painting at first, he gradually becomes drawn to it by each stroke he draws...

The Lines That Define Me

2022

Sun Expo poster
7.5

A family drama is born that depicts the youth of the heroine, who dreamed of working at an expo with the desire to connect with people all over the world, and her family, with a heartwarming touch.

Sun Expo

2024

2010s · 19 titles

Shin Godzilla poster
7.2

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Shin Godzilla

2016

Manhunt poster
5.6

Accused of a murder he didn't commit, a prosecutor sets out on a mission to clear his name.

Manhunt

2017

Flying Colors poster
7.5

A high school girl, Sayaka Kudō was the bottom of the class. After a year, she improved her deviation value from 30 to 70, then passed Keio University that is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan.

Flying Colors

2015

The Emperor in August poster
6.7

In July 1945, during the end of World War II, Japan is forced to accept the Potsdam Declaration. A cabinet meeting has continued through days and nights, but a decision cannot be made. The U.S. drops atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. General Korechika Anami is torn over making the proper decision and the Emperor of Japan worries about his people. Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki leads the cabinet meeting, while Chief Secretary Hisatsune Sakomizu can't do anything, but watch the meeting. At this time, Major Kenji Hatanaka and other young commissioned officers, who are against Japan surrendering, move to occupy the palace and a radio broadcasting station. The radio station is set to broadcast Emperor Hirohito reading out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.

The Emperor in August

2015

Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen poster
6.2

Ryuzo and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.

Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen

2015

Killing for the Prosecution poster
6.3

Young public prosecutor Keiichiro Okino is assigned to the department of the Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office that deals with violent cases, where he will work with Takeshi Mogami, whom he admires. When a money lender is killed and it is suspected that someone from Mogami’s past is the perpetrator, the team prepares to do his best in order to prove the alleged criminal’s guilt.

Killing for the Prosecution

2018

Recall poster
7.0

A woman was killed by a truck wheel, which flew off while the vehicle was in motion. As the freight company which owns the truck becomes the target of the public and the media’s wrath, Tokuro Akamatsu, the president of the freight company, realizes that a structural defect within the truck itself may have been to blame. A conspiracy of the wheel manufacturer's attempts to cover up a defective product is uncovered.

Recall

2018

The Blood of Wolves poster
7.2

Set in 1988 in Hiroshima, Japan, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. A rumor exists that Detective Shogo Ogami has ties with the yakuza. He is partnered with Detective Shuichi Hioka and they investigate a missing person case involving a financial company employee. Conflicts between opposing yakuza groups become more serious.

The Blood of Wolves

2018

My Friend "A" poster
7.1

Masuda, an aspiring journalist, plans to write an article in order to expose his co-worker Suzuki, who is a psychopathic murderer according to Masuda.

My Friend "A"

2018

Sword of Desperation poster
6.9

A talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzaemon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife's niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi's develops his unique "bird-catching" sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya.

Sword of Desperation

2010

Reminiscence poster
6.8

A detective in Toyama is forced to confront his painful past when he takes on a murder case involving his two estranged childhood friends.

Reminiscence

2017

A Lone Scalpel poster
7.7

Dr Toma, a skilled surgeon, starts work at a regional hospital in Japan. After performing an operation to remove a patient’s liver cancer, something that normally would not be done at this hospital, he quickly gains a very good reputation amongst the town’s people. Some of his colleagues become so jealous they are resentful and waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to crucify him. Soon they get their chance as Dr Toma considers performing a controversial operation…

A Lone Scalpel

2010

Detective in the Bar poster
7.3

A friend of the detective has been is murdered. During the investigation, he comes across a source which tells him that his friend was murdered for involvement with the dark side of the political world. On top of that, a woman approaches the detective with a request.

Detective in the Bar

2013

Shikei Kijun poster
NR

Do criteria exist for the death penalty? Yusuke Mito, a law faculty lecturer who did not become a lawyer even though he passed the bar exam, the famous lawyer Kojiro Otomo who advocates the abolition of the death penalty, and the public prosecutor Mariko Nagase studied law together. Each have their own thoughts about the death penalty. One day, Otomo’s wife is murdered by someone. Shinzo Sabae who is resentful of a lawsuit that Otomo had been in charge of, is arrested as a suspect. Otomo reverses the stance he had had until now and seeks the death penalty against Sabae. This prompts Mito to make the decision to become a lawyer and stand in the court. However, the first case Mito takes charge of is the defence of Sabae, who murdered the wife of his good friend, Otomo…

Shikei Kijun

2011

Kaibutsu poster
NR

Detective Takeo Kosai is about to be demoted. He then plans to entrap Akira Dojima without his partner Detective Emi Ishikawa's knowledge. Akira Dojima kidnapped and killed a girl 15 years ago

Kaibutsu

2013

A Duel Tale poster
8.0

Nakadai Tatsuya, Japan’s greatest living actor, gives the performance of a lifetime as Shoji Sanosuke, and elderly samurai forced to pick up his sword to protect those he loves in this adaptation of a Fujisawa Shuhei novel. As a ”Heya-zumi” (essentially a freeloader living off his family) Sanosuke has one last chance to help his grandniece escape from the cruel samurai of an arranged marriage. Nakadai proves he ”still has it,” when fate forces him into a deadly duel. This award winning samurai drama from the pen of noted author Fujisawa Shuhei is a tribute to one of the greatest actors to ever grace the silver screen!

A Duel Tale

2015

A Samurai Chronicle poster
7.1

A retired samurai must redeem himself for a crime that he committed earlier in his life.

A Samurai Chronicle

2014

300 Million poster
5.5

Katagiri, a highly ambitious young detective, teams up with older detective Takiguchi, who is about to retire, to investigate a murder that took place by Sumida River. Katagiri is annoyed by Takiguchi's pushiness, but is surprised to hear that the victim was a suspect in the 300 million yen robbery.

300 Million

2010

Kenji no Honkai poster
NR

Prosecutor Sakata of the Yonesaki District Public Prosecutors Office and his colleague Shoji are pulled into assisting the Tokyo Office’s Special Investigation Department to investigate influential Diet lawmaker Okouchi and Masumoto of a technical skills foundation. The two men are believed to be involved in a bribery case. But a key witness in this scandal commits suicide, and the next person believed to hold the key to the case, the foundation’s accountant, has disappeared.

Kenji no Honkai

2016

2000s · 22 titles

One Million Yen Girl poster
7.2

A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.

One Million Yen Girl

2008

I Just Didn't Do It poster
7.4

A young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.

I Just Didn't Do It

2007

The Clone Returns Home poster
5.9

Kohei Takahara, an astronaut who dies in the line of duty, is legally resurrected as a clone: however, contrary to the scientists' expectations, he reverts to his childhood memories when his twin brother drowned sacrificing his life for Kohei. Kohei's clone discovers the body of his former self mistakenly believing that it is his deceased twin. Reliving his tragic past, he sets off carrying his corpse body to the beautiful hometown where he lived with his now dead mother.

The Clone Returns Home

2008

Onmyoji poster
6.3

During a dark time in the Heian period, when evil forces threaten the kingdom, the emperor relies on the onmyōji to keep the supernatural forces in line. But as political events become highly charged, friction within the order leads to betrayal. Now, Seimei, a talented member of the clan, must face down his master, Dōson, in the hopes of restoring peace to the kingdom.

Onmyoji

2001

The Choice of Hercules poster
7.2

When radicals from Japan's Red Army took a woman hostage in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano in 1972, Officer Atsuyuki Sassa was put in charge of diffusing the situation. But the task had its challenges. Upon arriving in mountainous Nagano, Sassa had to compete with freezing winter temperatures, conflicting opinions between the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the Nagano Prefectural Police, as well as public opinion to gain entrance to the lodge that held the single woman captive.

The Choice of Hercules

2002

Inugami poster
5.2

Akira, a teacher from Tokyo, has just arrived in a small rural town to begin his new job. Soon after arriving, he meets, and begins to fall for, Miki, a papermaker and part of a large and unusual family. When he learns of an ancient legend that the family carries the curse of the Inugami, or Dog God, he brushes it off as silly superstition. After a series of mysterious deaths, however, the townspeople begin to grow restless, and Akira must confront the truth about Miki and her family.

Inugami

2001

Akechi Mitsuhide: The Man God Hated poster
NR

The famed leader Oda Nobunaga had two right-hand men who contributed to unifying the nation. One was Akechi Mitsuhide and the other Kinoshita Tokichiro, both rivals of each other for higher promotions. Eventually Mitsuhide was recognized for his work and was given a castle. However, Nobunaga's ambition to conquer the nation did not allow Mitsuhide to live happily in his territory. That is when an idea flashed across Mitsuhide's mind… Akechi Mitsuhide, the man who was considered to be the most intelligent general of the warring states era. What was the truth about him, Oda Nobunaga's best general and murderer?

Akechi Mitsuhide: The Man God Hated

2007

Japan Sinks poster
5.6

In the aftermath of a major earthquake, scientists predict that Japan will sink into the sea. As further disasters follow, politicians plead with other countries to take refugees, while scientists struggle to save Japan itself.

Japan Sinks

2006

Strawberry Shortcakes poster
5.6

Follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives.

Strawberry Shortcakes

2006

Negotiator poster
7.0

In this movie, Japan's top negotiator confronts a formidable foe threatening Tokyo's subways. As high-stakes tension brews, Mashita must outsmart an adversary with a personal vendetta, testing his skills like never before.

Negotiator

2005

Black Kiss poster
5.5

Asuka is an aspiring model who moves to Tokyo to pursue her career. She moves into a small apartment with a friend of a friend, Kasumi. A bizarre murder occurs in the hotel across the street. The body was mutilated and repositioned into a lurid work of art. After this, a string of murders start happening all around the two girls, as if some crazed serial killer was following them. At the scene of each crime, the perpetrator leaves a black lip print, and is subsequently dubbed "The Black Kiss."

Black Kiss

2004

Part-Time Detective 2 poster
8.0

The housewife and part-time private detective Noriko Yamada plays her old tricks again, uncovering mysterious corruption cases. But this time she will solve it adopting the style of "Beatrix Kiddo" from Kill Bill.

Part-Time Detective 2

2004

The Code poster
6.2

For 60 years, the group of detectives known as "Detective Office 5" has raised the bar for detective work. The agents of Detective Office 5 are a group of stellar detectives lead by the genius code breaker Detective 507. When an unknown client enlists 507 to crack his most difficult programming code yet, the detective embarks for Shanghai where he crosses paths with a sniper, an informant, the head of the Blue-Dragon Mafia, and beautiful singer on the run, Meilan. As 507 stumbles deeper into a twisted quagmire of intrigue he discovers the sad truth behind the mystery.

The Code

2009

Detective Office 5 poster
NR

In a small nook of Kawasaki Private investigator 591 and adultry specialist investigator 522 embark on separate investigations that leads them both to the same beautifician.

Detective Office 5

2005

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

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

Climber's High poster
6.2

On August 12, 1985, a jumbo jet crashes, causing 520 fatalities, making the accident the biggest single-plane accident in the world. The local press reporters are tossed about by the waves of facts and rumors. While overwhelmed by the magnitude of the accident, Yuuki, in charge of this crash report at a local newspaper, faces a string of decision-making moments. What are news and a reporter? How should a man do his work and survive in a corporate hierarchy? What do family and friends mean to him? An intriguing story, which keeps the audience on the edge of tension and reality.

Climber's High

2008

Star Reformer poster
7.5

Satoshi Nomura, a top-level bureaucrat of a prefecture government, has passion for his career. One day, he is hired by the fixed-term personnel exchange training between public and private businesses. This personnel exchange training is part of some big prefecture project. This project is very big, so success of this personnel exchange training will probably determine his career. Nomura goes to a supermarket called "Mantendo".

Star Reformer

2006

Music of Remembrance -Gb- poster
NR

A boy who suffers from impaired hearing and a young girl pianist try to solve the mysterious connection between a series of murders and the boy's entangled memories.

Music of Remembrance -Gb-

2002

Kanikôsen poster
6.2

On board at the boat Kanikosen, where fish and crabs preserves, forced workers to work under miserable conditions, with minimum wages. Some can not cope with conditions and even death from malnutrition, and is also the supervisor of the more vicious variety. Shinjo, one of the employees, trying to convince the others that they will get good luck and fortune in his next life, and persuades them because they commit suicide to get there faster. It ends, however, in a single major failure. Rather than flee Shinjo being picked up by a Russian ship. Once there, he is overwhelmed by the social conditions that are completely different from those he has just left and decided therefore to return to Kanikosen to save their employees.

Kanikôsen

2009

The Files of Young Kindaichi: The Legendary Vampire Murders poster
4.0

Miyuki receives an invitation from her friend Hikune Youhei to the themed inn called "Ruins", located in a virtual ghost town haunted by the legend of a vampire. However, what Kindaichi had originally dismissed as spooky rumours with no basis became horribly real when their fellow guests staying at the inn are found dead one by one, with their bodies drained of blood and wounds in their necks that resembled vampire bites

The Files of Young Kindaichi: The Legendary Vampire Murders

2005

Keizoku: Unsolved Mysteries - Beautiful Dreamer poster
6.6

Graduating at the top of her class, elite detective candidate Jun Shibata is transferred to the section that handles cases deemed "unsolvable" by the department. Her partner, though a well-respected and experienced detective, has grown complacent after unsuccesfully pursuing these cases that many consider an exercise in futility. With her upper class breeding, her colleagues don't expect much from her either, but she suprises them all with her motivation and astounding powers of deduction. Well-constructed mysteries and colorful characters abound in this stylish and edgy police drama.

Keizoku: Unsolved Mysteries - Beautiful Dreamer

2000

1990s · 12 titles

Fireworks poster
7.7

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With those close to him suffering their own tribulations, Nishi's methods become increasingly extreme.

Fireworks

1997

Sonatine poster
7.5

Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.

Sonatine

1993

Gemini poster
6.6

When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.

Gemini

1999

Jubaku: Spellbound poster
6.2

When a major bank is caught paying off a corporate extortionist, the media and prosecutors begin to dig, breaking open a money-and-favours scandal that threatens to rock the entire structure of business and government to its core. While the bank's top executives continue to vacillate, a quartet of middle-management reformers, led by straight-arrow Kitano (Koji Yakusho), decide to stage a boardroom coup and install a new, clean management team. With the aid of a hotshot news anchor (Mayumi Wakamura) and a hard-nosed prosecutor (Kenichi Endo), heads begin to roll.

Jubaku: Spellbound

1999

Tuff Part IV - Harvest of Blood poster
NR

Jiro's only target is a mysterious assassin. Faced with an enemy whose true identity is unknown, Yuki decides to become a decoy herself. The assassin relentlessly pursues Yuki, and Jiro also pursues the assassin. Killing after killing, they end up at the destination, where an unexpected person is waiting for them.

Tuff Part IV - Harvest of Blood

1991

Tuff Part I - Origin poster
7.0

Jiro, a freelancer working at a delivery pizza shop, witnesses the brilliant killing techniques of professional assassin Nejime at a gangster's office where he makes deliveries. Jiro rescues the wounded Nejime and volunteers to become his apprentice. From that day on, Jiro learns the art of killing in a dog eats dog world.

Tuff Part I - Origin

1990

XX: Graceful Beautiful Beast poster
8.0

The story of Shien brought up as a killing machine in a nunnery. Can she flee from the clutches of the underground organization?

XX: Graceful Beautiful Beast

1997

Kamikaze Taxi poster
6.2

A young foot soldier in the yakuza seeks revenge when his prostitute girlfriend dies after a session with a high-ranking Japanese politician with a taste for torture. He sets out on a 'kamikaze' mission to kill his bosses and the politician; along the way, he acquires the aid of a taxi driver who has recently returned to Japan after living in South America for several decades and is struggling to cope with poverty and the prejudices of native-born Japanese.

Kamikaze Taxi

1995

No artwork available
7.0

A biographical film of war photographer, Taizo Ichinose.

One Step on a Mine, It's All Over

1999

Wild Life poster
8.0

An ex-boxer working for a game parlor owner gets caught up in a complex blackmail operation he doesn't understand. Before long he's caught between two yakuza bosses and a mysterious thief who motivation is unknown. Add in the boss' daughter who has a crush on him and watch him struggle to make sense of it all and come out alive.

Wild Life

1997

Tuff Part III - Business Killing poster
NR

Jiro has avenged the murder of his mentor and stands alone as an assassin. He finds a new agent and makes a contract with him. However, the ghost of someone whom he once killed, appears...

Tuff Part III - Business Killing

1991

Tuff Part V - Killing Anthology poster
9.0

Downtown Los Angeles. It is a shadowy town filled with drug addicts, homeless people, and others who have lost their homes. Jiro, tired of his killing spree, is also addicted to drugs and drifts through his days like a corpse. Jiro's foggy mind begins to flash with blood-soaked reminiscences...

Tuff Part V - Killing Anthology

1992

Series credits

AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo poster
7.5

Detective Ukyo Sugishita confronts crime on the basis of his own convictions. He has a partner that works for him in the Special Task Unit. For the first 7 seasons, Ukyo’s first partner is Kaoru Kameyama. He is a good-natured, hot-tempered, straightforward and somewhat scattered detective. Beginning in Season 8, Takeru Kanbe replaces Kameyama. Contrary to his predecessor, Takeru is a lanky, cool, conceited and confident detective. From Season 11 to Season 13, Ukyo’s partner is a young detective Toru Kai. Toru is a son of Deputy Director-General of The National Police Agency. But he became a detective by his own effort. And starting with Season 14, Ukyo’s current partner is Wataru Kaburagi, an elite bureaucrat who came to the Metropolitan Police Department on temporary assignment. As the first partner without any career of a police officer, he will face challenging cases together with Ukyo.

AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo

2002

Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon poster
7.5

Daimon Michiko is a 37-year-old freelance surgeon who is part of a questionable “doctor placement service” that has her wander from hospital to hospital. The harsh environment at the hospitals led many doctors to retire from their positions, forcing hospitals to make use of said program to fill the empty spots at least temporary. However, Michiko doesn’t look like a doctor at all with her flashy clothes and eccentric attitude. In the first episode she raises objections to a certain operation which is planned to be done by the head of a hospital who hasn’t performed an operation for a very long time. This causes Michiko to incur odium at the hospital, however, everyone becomes frozen when Michiko points out the outdated skills of the director. She also holds a scrupulous compliance when it comes to her working hours, never does any unnecessary chores that don’t require a medical license, and couldn’t care less about the power struggles within the hospitals. Nobody knows how she acquired such a top-level skill that allows her to claim exorbitant sums as reward, but her private life is an even greater mystery to everyone around her. Tanaka plays a rookie surgeon, Uchida an anesthetist, Kishibe the head of the placement service, and Ito the head of the surgical department of this institution.

Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon

2012

Absolute Zero poster
7.8

Izumi Sakuragi is a new police sergeant with the Special Investigations Office, which was set up within the Metropolitan Police in November last year. The new investigation team uses DNA analysis and the latest in forensics science to investigate cold cases as well as cases suspected to involve missing persons.

Absolute Zero

2010

Emergency Room 24 Hours poster
7.4

Dr. Shindo seems cold, but is a competent surgeon. He is also an ER doctor capable of accurate decisions and treatment, who always tries to see things from the patient’s side. Although once retired from his profession, he one day discovers someone in need of help, who he treats and rushes to the Kohoku Medical University Emergency Center. This incident encourages him to once again work as an ER doctor. Confrontation erupts between female doctor Tamaki, and Shindo, now a just-arrived ER doctor. While this human drama depicts the relationships among doctors and nurses, it appeals emotionally to viewers on the subject of life.

Emergency Room 24 Hours

1999

Mampuku poster
9.0

Based on true story of the wife of Ando Momofuku, the businessman who founded Nissin Food Products Co. Ltd. and the inventor of instant ramen, the 99th Asadora follows the life of Tachibana Fukuko, a young woman who tries to survive tough times in Osaka with her husband from before WWII to the rapid economic development era. Together they overcome various setbacks before they succeed in creating instant noodles. (Source: MDL)

Mampuku

2018

Furuhata Ninzaburo poster
8.8

Furuhata 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

Seven Detectives poster
7.4

Yū Amagi is a slightly eccentric detective who has been assigned to the Twelfth Section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigative Division from the Lost and Found Centre. The Twelfth Section is called the "graveyard of detectives" and ridiculed as the "banishment room where hardened detectives who cannot be fired are sent." Its assembled detectives Kōsuke Samura, Takumi Yamashita, Keita Nagasawa, Tamaki Mizuta, and Masatoshi Katagiri are elite and yet oddballs. Amagi appears fixated with time which seems to have no relation with a case. Raising questions about the timelines of the perpetrator and victim derived from the estimated time of death, time of crime, time of alibi, and time limit, he searches for the meaning of "blank time" which arises from this. He obsesses over the weight of every minute and second of time because of some incident.

Seven Detectives

2015

Cold Case: Door of Truth poster
8.2

Yuri Ishikawa and her team try to crack unresolved cold cases in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Cold Case: Door of Truth

2016

Shomuni poster
7.0

Shomuni, that's the common name given to General Affairs Section 2 of a trading company. Here are six women who have ended up in this department known as "the dump" for office ladies. But Chinatsu Tsuboi (Makiko Esumi) declares that the value of woman is equal to the number of men. With her as the central focus they create a totally new type of office lady drama that does away with those heartless men still caught up in worn-out social ideas and the class system within the company.

Shomuni

1998

Atsuhime poster
9.0

The 47th NHK Taiga Drama is a life story of Princess Atsu, who was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, then called Satsuma, and became the wife of Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. She accedes to the highest rank in Ooku, the inner palace of the Edo castle where women related to the reigning shogun resided. Iesada dies soon after their marriage and Atsuhime assumes the name Tenshoin at the age of 23. She exerts herself for the Tokugawa clan and for the nation during the upheaval in the Meiji Restoration, headed by those from Satsuma.

Atsuhime

2008

DOCTORS: The Ultimate Surgeon poster
7.5

Donoue General Hospital runs into a budget deficit, even though the doctors drive expensive imported cars and live an outlandish lifestyle. Office manager Momoi finds surgeon Kosuke Sagara through a medical website. Kosuke Sagara arrives at the hospital and tells the director of the general hospital to decide on his pay after watching his work. Kosuke Sagara informs the hospital that he had previously quit his job at a university hospital and taken a year sabbatical.

DOCTORS: The Ultimate Surgeon

2011

Trick poster
7.2

Although 23 year old Yamada Naoko is a "super" magician, she is continously fired and constantly hounded by her landlady for the rent being late. After being fired once again, her boss shows her an ad of a physics professor, a non-believer of all things magical, offering money to anyone who can prove to him that magic is real. Desperately needing the money, Naoko accepts the challenge, which is how she comes to meet Professor Ueda. Falling prey to her simple magic tricks, Ueda is impressed, and enlists Naoko to help him uncover the tricks behind a local cult. Their hilarious antics, along with those of police officer Yabe, leads them onto further mysteries, all with tricks needing to be solved in sort of an "X-Files" meets "Scooby-Doo"...

Trick

2000

Detective Office 5: Another Story poster
NR

This anthology-style mystery series is part of the D‑5 PROJECT, centered around Detective Office 5 - a long-running private detective agency in Kawasaki. Each detective is known only by a number rather than a name (e.g., Detective 596, 532), with standalone stories featuring different characters and surreal, quirky cases.

Detective Office 5: Another Story

2005

dele poster
7.7

Freelance programmer Sakagami is paralyzed in the lower half of his body and confined to a wheelchair. He sets up a company called dele.LIFE in partnership with a law firm established by his late father. At the request of clients, Sakagami works together with a freelance jack-of-all-trades Mashiba to delete all unfavorable digital records of their clients left in their computers and smartphones after they die. They are not supposed to see inside the files but when they feel something strange in the client’s death, they cannot help getting involved.

dele

2018

Hello, Detective Hedgehog poster
6.6

Detective Goro Nanase and his colleagues of "Akatsuka Detective Office" are based in Shimo-Akazuka of Itabashi-ku, Tokyo. The detectives take on a string of challenging cases that no one else wants to take on.

Hello, Detective Hedgehog

2017

Sky High poster
5.0

Sky High is a live-action, supernatural Japanese television drama series, starring actress and model, Yumiko Shaku. It aired in Japan, first run, from 2003 to 2004, and was popular enough to spawn the 2003 feature film of the same name. Both are based on the Japanese manga, Skyhigh. Shaku stars as Izuko, the Guardian of the Gate to the afterlife. The basic premise of the television series is somewhat similar in concept to the American series, Ghost Whisperer, in which the protagonist must use her powers to guide the dead on their journey to the afterlife by helping them determine the meaning or circumstance of their death. However, in Izuko's case, no matter how hard she tries, her guidance does not always result in a happy ending.

Sky High

2003

Tokugawa Yoshinobu poster
10.0

The 37th NHK Taiga Drama is Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The series focuses on the life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th and final ruler of the Tokugawa period. Born the seventh son of Lord Nariaki of Mito, Yoshinobu is named shogun when he is just 29 years old. With a wisdom and vision beyond his years, he tries to prolong the life of this 200-year-old dynasty which began with Ieyasu. However, he is unable to forestall the winds of revolution as clans in Choshu, Satsuma and Tosa, with the help of the Imperial Court, clamor for change.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu

1998

Keizoku: Unsolved Cases poster
7.7

Keizoku is a Japanese mystery thriller created first as a TV drama and later as a film. It is about Detective Jun Shibata, who handles unsolved cases with her hardened partner Tōru Mayama. The television series was broadcast in eleven episodes between 8 January and 19 March 1999. A two-hour "special drama" was then broadcast on 24 December 1999. The series has been called "epoch-making" in the police procedural genre on Japanese television.

Keizoku: Unsolved Cases

1999

Forbidden Love poster
7.5

Michi, a 26 year old high school math teacher, tentatively accepts her boyfriend’s proposal of marriage, uncertain of her love for him but feeling pressure from her father and society to do what is expected of her. Hikaru, a 17 year old boy frustrated by his home life with his single mother and having been expelled from many high schools for bad behavior, enters Michi’s class as a new transfer student. As their relationship grows they realize that they both feel that they have lost themselves to the pressures of those around them, and it is this common bond that draws them dangerously close. What follows is a heart-wrenching story of forbidden love where Michi must face society’s judgement for corrupting a minor, abandoning her fiance, and disappointing her parents and co-workers.

Forbidden Love

1999

Kagi no nai Yume wo Miru poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Kagi no nai Yume wo Miru

2013

Rescue: Pride of Orange poster
6.5

Kitajima Daichi has wanted to join the rescue squad and wear the same orange uniform ever since he was saved by them as a child. When the squad calls for young firefighters to join, he and some other men take the challenge to go through the tough training. Together, they live through hard times and joy as they save lives while living on the edge themselves.

Rescue: Pride of Orange

2009

Smiling  Matryoshka poster
6.4

Ichiro Seike is a popular, 43 year old politician. He has gained popularity for his impressive smile and liberal speech and behavior. He is expected to be a future prime minster candidate. He has a secretary, Toshiya Suzuki, who carefully works to guide him to the prime minister position. They look like a perfect match as a politician and his secretary, but Reporter Kanae Michiura feels something is off about the relationship of these two. She begins to investigate their past and notices the mysterious deaths that have followed Ichiro Seike during his rise in politics. Her own father's death, who was also a reporter, is somehow connected to the politician's past.

Smiling Matryoshka

2024

Reset poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Reset

2009

Detective versus Detectives poster
8.3

Kitagawa Keiko plays Sasaki Rena, a detective who risks her life investigating detectives for her dead sister. Beautiful, intelligent, and with a great memory, the talented woman judges situations and chooses the most appropriate course of action. Her brutal past surrounding her sister's death inspires her to learn everything she can about detectives, leading her to visit the Suma Research Company. As the sole member of the Anti-Detective Department responsible for investigating and pursuing unethical detectives, she is a solitary lady detective.

Detective versus Detectives

2015

Jiu: Special Investigation Team poster
7.0

The show is based on the "Jiu" suspense novel series by Honda Tetsuya. Motoko (Kuroki) is a fierce, physically capable investigator with a strong battle instinct, while Misaki (Tabe) is more intellectual, kind-hearted, and naive. The two of them are both working to track down Jiu, the ringleader responsible for a series of brutal crimes.

Jiu: Special Investigation Team

2011

Life poster
7.5

Adapted from Keiko Suenobu's manga "LIFE," this drama delves into the dark side of high school life. The story focuses mainly on bullying, but the manga also touches on subjects such as self-mutilation, suicide, and rape. Kitano Kii stars as Ayumu Shiiba, one of the students bullied by a group of classmates led by Ayumu's former friend, Manami Anzai (Fukuda Saki).

Life

2007

Haru and Natsu poster
7.8

As Haru emigrates from Japan with her family to the coffee plantations in Brazil, Natsu is left behind in the care of spiteful relatives. Losing all contact, each must make her own way in an unforgiving world. Hardships abound in the struggle to survive in war-torn Japan and in the face of anti-Japanese sentiment in Brazil, financial ruin, familial pressure, abandonment and lost love. However they also experience the precious joy of survival and success. Now, after 70 years, Haru comes back to Japan to find her estranged sister.

Haru and Natsu

2005

夜王 〜YAOH〜 poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

夜王 〜YAOH〜

2006

Team - Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Special Crime Investigation Headquarter poster
NR

Saku Shingo is a non-career police officer but rose to become a director at an unusually young age. He is one of only 10 directors in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigative Division. Directors are the ones that take command of investigation task forces which are set up when major crimes such as murder and kidnapping take place. An investigation task force gathers some 40 – 100 investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the police precinct concerned and neighbouring precincts. A director is the leader at an investigation scene who manages this hastily assembled group and is required to come up with a solid investigation plan. Aloof and hard to figure out, Saku is a man who carries out his duties dispassionately. But he has a firm sense of justice and sense of mission

Team - Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Special Crime Investigation Headquarter

2014

Cross of Roses poster
7.0

A new kind of melodrama about a man that wants children, but can't have them with his wife; and a single-woman that wants to have a child of her own. It is also about what children mean to both sexes.

Cross of Roses

2002

When a Couple Breaks Up poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

When a Couple Breaks Up

2023

Precious Moments poster
NR

In a red-light district, Nemoto Norio (Shibata Kyohei) is indiscriminately soliciting passersby. "Would you mind taking part in a survey? As a thank you, I'll give you a camera. Take this voucher and come to my office at Shinjuku West Exit later." "No way," replies Yoshikawa Kumiko (Furukawa Yuko). "That would be a problem," replies Saeki Nobuko (Mori Masako). "A camera?" asks Iketani Kaori (Tanaka Yuko), suspicious. The survey is about overseas travel. The three of them gather in a room in Shinjuku. This is how they get to know each other, and they gradually become good friends. Their desire is to find a youth they can be truly proud of. The drama depicts the daily lives of three women of the marriageable age who are desperately trying to make some memories before they get married.

Precious Moments

1981

As Tears Go By poster
10.0

Eguchi Yosuke plays the character of Onishi Katsuo, a 35-year-old carpenter and former college football player who sees life almost in the same balance as a football game (guts and glory along with team spirit). One day he learns that his friend (a college football teammate) was killed when his house burned down. His friend's wife is in a coma and his four kids are now homeless, Eguchi has the children live with him (in his one room apartment) above his bosses home.

As Tears Go By

2000

Nanase, Telepathy Girl's Ballad poster
NR

Hita Nanase, a housekeeper with the psychic ability to read people’s minds, leading her to uncover the secrets of the households where she works.

Nanase, Telepathy Girl's Ballad

2012

To the One I Love poster
8.0

What if the one you love were destined to lose his eyesight in three months? What would you like him to see last? If you were him, what would you want to see last? Shiki Tomokawa is a new pediatrician who is enjoying her life. She falls in love with Shunsuke, a cameraman, who is destined to lose his eyesight in a couple of months. How will Shiki react when she finds out Shunsuke's destiny? "To the One I Love" takes place in two contrasting cities?in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, and in the peaceful city of Nagasaki, and depicts both the joys and sadness of life, and the interaction with family and friends.

To the One I Love

2004

Hokuto: Some Murderer's Conversion poster
7.0

Why did an abused solitary boy become a murderer? A sad but powerful gut-wrenching drama portraying the destiny of humans seeking love, starting up-and-coming actor Yuma Nakayama.

Hokuto: Some Murderer's Conversion

2017

Galapagos poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Galapagos

2023

Keisei Saimin no Otoko poster
NR

A 3-part series of biographical dramas to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the establishment of NHK.

Keisei Saimin no Otoko

2015

Our Textbook poster
7.3

A school is supposed to be the safe place for children, but unfortunately it is not any longer. It has so many problems that even most dedicated teachers would give up eventually. Kohei KAJI (Atsushi ITO) a young passionate teacher who's just started his career at a junior high school, but he is thrown into the chaos and desperation when one of his student dies at school. Tamako TSUMIKI (Miho KANNO) is a cool elite lawyer who seems to have some secret connection with that dead girl. Is that an accident? Or suicide? Together they start investigate what has been going on at the school and they have to face some terrifying facts that show how easily one could fall. This is a controversial theme that questions every one of us if we can change the world.

Our Textbook

2007

Kao poster
6.5

A drama set in a police department depicts how a woman grows and matures as a human being as she suffers from the gap between reality and ideals in an environment where women are looked down upon. Mizuho Hirano, a woman police officer whose work consists of drawing composite sketches of criminal suspects, has the unique ability to look deep into people's hearts.

Kao

2003