Yuriko Hirooka

Acting

Yuriko Hirooka

Born

1965-05-31 (61)

Place of birth

Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

64 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

Solitary Gourmet poster
8.9

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

Solitary Gourmet

2012

Yell poster
8.3

NHK's 102nd morning drama depicts the life of a famous composer. Koyama Yuichi with his wife Oto. They meet each other through music and overcome hardships together. Yuichi composes songs that became "Yells" for people all over Japan in the Showa Era (1926-1989) in which radical changes were going on. 

Yell

2020

Half Blue Sky poster
7.8

Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit.

Half Blue Sky

2018

Princess Go poster
8.3

Princess Go was the youngest of the most famous three sisters in Japanese history, who each led a remarkable life in an age of turmoil and civil war. Go loses her parents in the war, marries three times, and feuds with her own sister in competing for power. Go's husband becomes the second Tokugawa Shogun and she ensures her prominence as she gives birth to a son who later becomes the third Shogun and a daughter, a wife of the Emperor. The drama describes the age of the civil war through the eyes of Princess Go, who plays a significant part in establishing the age of peace that lasts over 200 years in Japan.

Princess Go

2011

A Town Without Seasons poster
8.0

It follows a group of people who are still living in temporary housing 12 years after a natural disaster called "Nani" destroyed their town.

A Town Without Seasons

2023

Film credits

2020s · 6 titles

A Girl Named Ann poster
7.6

A drug-addicted girl from an abusive family finds hope through kind people but her grim reality strikes back just as she sees a glimmer of light.

A Girl Named Ann

2024

Mom, Is That You?! poster
6.1

Akio, an HR worker, visits his transformed mother Fukue in Tokyo. Baffled by her new lively self, he encounters a friendly neighbor. Through these interactions, Akio gains new perspectives, noticing overlooked aspects of life.

Mom, Is That You?!

2023

It's a Flickering Life poster
6.4

The story centers on a man who loves movies, having once worked at movie studio in pursuit of his dreams, surrounded by great directors and famous actors. In this tale of love and friendship spanning a lifetime, the "god of cinema" that Go has worshipped since he was young will transcend time, and work a miracle in the lives of one family.

It's a Flickering Life

2021

Yes, I Can't Swim poster
6.1

Yuji Takanashi is a university philosophy professor who can't swim. Making awkward justifications to himself about the relationship between water and people, still he decides on the spur of the moment to enroll in a swimming class. There he encounters the teacher Shizuka Usuhara, who ignores his last-minute hesitation and enrolls him.

Yes, I Can't Swim

2022

Hamlet Q1 poster
NR

Three years after “Julius Caesar,” director Shintaro Mori and actress Yoko Yoshida reunite for a production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet Q1,” the original version, with a new translation by Kazuko Matsuo. This condensed version, about half the length of the F1 version, focuses on a more streamlined narrative. Mori, praised for his 2021 “Julius Caesar,” directs this tale of justice and revenge within the Danish royal family. Yoshida, who won the 56th Kinokuniya Theatre Award for her role in “Julius Caesar,” portrays Hamlet with depth. The cast includes Ito Mari, Makishima Teru, Otsuru Saku, Hirooka Yuriko, and Yoshida Eiji, offering a fresh take on “Hamlet Q1.”

Hamlet Q1

2024

AI Love You poster
NR

In the near future, the development of AI has made it possible to determine human compatibility with high probability. A young couple goes to the in-laws to meet them before being wed. As if in opposition to the efficiency-oriented world, the couple had been dating without having their compatibility score determined by an AI app. What will happen when the inlaws find out about this?

AI Love You

2023

2010s · 15 titles

What a Wonderful Family! poster
7.3

A husband and wife have been married for 50 years. For her birthday, the husband asks the wife what she wants for her birthday present. She replies that she wants a divorce. The wife's divorce announcement sends the entire family into chaos.

What a Wonderful Family!

2016

Let Me Eat Your Pancreas poster
7.0

A dying girl meets a nonchalant boy who found out her secret. She decided to fulfill her bucket list with none-other-than the boy who couldn't care less about the world.

Let Me Eat Your Pancreas

2017

What a Wonderful Family! 2 poster
7.0

Several years after Shuzo settled his wife’s birthday-surprise divorce proposal (What a Wonderful Family, 40th), the Hirata family faces new problems. Ignoring his family’s worry that he is too old to drive, Shuzo takes his old schoolmate for a spin after carousing. Soon, a new disturbance arises for the Hirata family. Veteran director Yamada Yoji continues his comedy about the “perfect“ Japanese family turned upside down in chaos, laughters and understanding. This time, with an additional taste of death.

What a Wonderful Family! 2

2017

A Story of Yonosuke poster
7.1

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

A Story of Yonosuke

2013

Ghost Theater poster
6.1

Sara, a young actress, is able to land the leading role in big theater play, but soon learns that somebody or something is trying to end the production at all cost, which puts Sara in deadly danger.

Ghost Theater

2015

Nagasaki: Memories of My Son poster
6.9

Nobuko works in Nagasaki, Japan as a midwife. Her son died 3 years earlier from the atomic bomb. On August 9, 1948, her son appears in front of her again. Since that time, Koji appears in front of her and they reminiscence about pleasant times. These happy, but bizarre moments seem eternal.

Nagasaki: Memories of My Son

2015

Wood Job! poster
7.4

After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he is sent to Kamusari Village for a year of work experience - where he becomes assimilated with the beauty of nature and the warm-hearted people of the village.

Wood Job!

2014

Hard-Core poster
6.2

The life story of a treasure hunter who lives in the countryside of Gunma in Japan. He is pure and kind, but has no communication skills and has a mind of his own. His sole friend is his co-worker. This man has never had sex. The friends find a robot one day. The robot wants to stay with the men. A bond is formed. The men resolve to change their lives.

Hard-Core

2018

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

Tales of the Bizarre: 2019 Rain Special poster
5.0

An omnibus special featuring five stories: a piano student who plays a mysterious sonata, a mother searching for her missing son in a forest, a police officer battling cyborg monsters, a woman who grows a strange human head from a mysterious seed, and a high school girl forced to train for a samurai duel using vegetables as weapons.

Tales of the Bizarre: 2019 Rain Special

2019

Tax Inspector Madogiwa Taro: Case File 31 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tax Inspector Madogiwa Taro: Case File 31

2016

必殺仕事人2013 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

必殺仕事人2013

2013

Shiratori Reiko: The Movie poster
NR

Japanese TV drama Shiratori Reiko, which is based on the original Shiratori Reiko de Gozaimasu! shōjo manga by Yumiko Suzuki, will be receiving a feature length theatrical film in June of 2016.

Shiratori Reiko: The Movie

2016

Black Dahlia poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Black Dahlia

2018

No artwork available
NR

2013 movie.

The World Within a 3-Km Radius

2013

2000s · 11 titles

Audition poster
7.1

Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.

Audition

2000

Isola: Multiple Personality Girl poster
5.1

When a woman, able to read the thoughts of others, comes to help survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, she encounters a girl with Multiple Personality Disorder whose dangerous 13th personality, Isola, must be stopped

Isola: Multiple Personality Girl

2000

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

Brass Knuckle Boys poster
6.5

A record company office worker named Kanna discovers a punk rock band called Shonen Meriken Sakku 'Brass Knuckle Boys' through the internet and subsequently decides to represent them on behalf of her company. What Kanna did not know was that the Brass Knuckle Boys consists of all middle aged men.

Brass Knuckle Boys

2009

Ghost Train poster
4.9

On her way to school, high school girl Nana sees a train accident. Then Nana and her friend Kanae start to come across various bizarre phenomena, including red fingerprints and a female spirit who 'lives' on the station platform. One day, Nana's younger sister is lost, and the only possibility seems to be that she had been taken by these spirits. The missing tracks. The predictions that a mysterious woman makes.

Ghost Train

2006

The Whispered City poster
9.0

Director 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

Kitaro poster
5.5

Kitaro is a half human, half creature who keeps an eye on the human society to save them from the evil attacks from another world. He finds that a magical ball that controls all powers had been brought into the human world, and stops it from falling into the wrong hands.

Kitaro

2007

Perfect Education 4: Secret Basement poster
3.8

A shy, nerdy man, Takeru finds a schoolgirl hooker Lily is unconscious in a Tokyo park, so he decides to bring her home and lock her up in a secret basement. Although Lily is afraid of him, in fact, Takeru didn't do anything to hurt her. After Lily begins to uncover a shocking episode

Perfect Education 4: Secret Basement

2003

By Player poster
8.5

The film is a series of vignettes from Taiji Tonoyama's life and film clips, interspersed with a dialogue to camera by Nobuko Otowa, addressing the camera as if she is addressing Tonoyama himself, recollecting events in his life. The film focuses on Tonoyama's alcohol dependence and his various sexual relationships, as well as his film work with Shindo.

By Player

2000

Shadow of the Wraith poster
5.6

Two brothers are plunged into the realm of psychic horror, one tormented by a stalker, and the other involved with a girl whose home is the site of eerie occurrences.

Shadow of the Wraith

2001

The Armchair Detective and the Family of Flutists poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Armchair Detective and the Family of Flutists

2003

1990s · 13 titles

The Key poster
5.0

Ikuko is a mature, reserved Kyoto woman married for many years to a respectable, now-middle-aged man. The only problem in their relationship has been that her husband is dissatisfied with her lack of passion during lovemaking. All this changes after they meet the young Mr. Kimura

The Key

1997

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

Begging for Love poster
7.0

During a quest to find a Taiwanese father's grave, disturbing memories of child abuse are aroused.

Begging for Love

1998

Haunted School poster
6.3

A young girl wanders into a wing of her elementary school that has been abandoned for years and is rumored to be haunted. When she doesn't come back, a group of her classmates go looking for her, only to find that they, too, are trapped inside. They must somehow find their way to safety, and quickly, because the rumors of ghosts are turning out to be true.

Haunted School

1995

The Exam poster
8.0

Togashi, an enthusiastic marathon runner and his wife are occupied with their daughter Mayumi's grade school entrance examinations, but he becomes jobless when his company folds. To regain his confidence Togashi decides to join the marathon that is taking place on the very day of his daughter's examination and the all important interview.

The Exam

1999

Will to Live poster
6.4

It is based on the story of The Ballad of Narayama updated to the present day, with the substitution of putting a parent into an old people's home for the abandonment of the original. The film won the Golden St. George and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival.

Will to Live

1999

The Brutal Insanity of Love poster
3.9

A policewoman investigates the apparent suicide of a college coed. The prime suspects include the girl's professor, who may have been having an affair with her, and the professor's wife, who frequents lesbian bars. Gruesome axe murders and mutilations ensue, leading Yokoyama to a shocking discovery.

The Brutal Insanity of Love

1993

Maria's Stomach poster
10.0

A carnivorous monster lives on the island of Sipang. A group of office ladies band together to fight it.

Maria's Stomach

1990

The Tokyo Siblings poster
5.0

Living in an old Tokyo district, Kenichi works at a second-hand bookshop to support his sister, Yoko, a high school student. When Yoko graduates, she starts work at a photo shop. By the time, Kenichi's girlfriend has decided to marry someone else as she is tired of waiting for him. When Yoko starts dating Kenichi's best friend, Makoto , he is strangely resentful, but when Makoto is involved in a fatal accident, brother and sister resume their routine life.

The Tokyo Siblings

1995

I'm not Afraid of the Hospital. The Reason I got Sick 2! poster
NR

DTV sequel to The Reason I got SIck, but this time it's a standalone instead of an anthology.

I'm not Afraid of the Hospital. The Reason I got Sick 2!

1994

Nekketsu After School Club 3 poster
NR

1990 Original Video.

Nekketsu After School Club 3

1990

Nekketsu After School Club 2 poster
NR

1990 Original Video film.

Nekketsu After School Club 2

1990

Nekketsu After School Club 1 poster
NR

1990 original video.

Nekketsu After School Club 1

1990

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

Solitary Gourmet poster
8.9

Centered around typical Japanese food, a solitary salesman travelling through the country for business purposes, eats at its various establishments and experiences the various delicacies of Japanese cuisine.

Solitary Gourmet

2012

Yell poster
8.3

NHK's 102nd morning drama depicts the life of a famous composer. Koyama Yuichi with his wife Oto. They meet each other through music and overcome hardships together. Yuichi composes songs that became "Yells" for people all over Japan in the Showa Era (1926-1989) in which radical changes were going on. 

Yell

2020

Half Blue Sky poster
7.8

Suzume is a girl born to a family running a small restaurant in Gifu Prefecture. She loses her hearing in one ear from a disease. Encouraged by her loving parents and childhood friend, she lives through an eventful life with a tenacious spirit.

Half Blue Sky

2018

Princess Go poster
8.3

Princess Go was the youngest of the most famous three sisters in Japanese history, who each led a remarkable life in an age of turmoil and civil war. Go loses her parents in the war, marries three times, and feuds with her own sister in competing for power. Go's husband becomes the second Tokugawa Shogun and she ensures her prominence as she gives birth to a son who later becomes the third Shogun and a daughter, a wife of the Emperor. The drama describes the age of the civil war through the eyes of Princess Go, who plays a significant part in establishing the age of peace that lasts over 200 years in Japan.

Princess Go

2011

A Town Without Seasons poster
8.0

It follows a group of people who are still living in temporary housing 12 years after a natural disaster called "Nani" destroyed their town.

A Town Without Seasons

2023

Home Sweet Tokyo poster
NR

Englishman Bryan Jenkins was living peacefully with his Japanese wife Itsuki and daughter Alice in London, when his Japanese mother-in-law suddenly passes away, and the family decides to uproot to Tokyo to look after his father-in-law Tsuneo.

Home Sweet Tokyo

2017

Hei no Naka no Biyoushitsu poster
8.7

Haru Komatsubara, a quiet prisoner, working as a hairdresser in a unique prison beauty salon, reflects on guilt, redemption, and second chances as her sentence nears its end.

Hei no Naka no Biyoushitsu

2025

竜馬がゆく poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

竜馬がゆく

2004

The Life of Bangaku poster
NR

Master swordsman Bangaku Ajigawa is a Ronin with an honest heart, and hates deception. With no family or money, he lives by his own rules. Bangaku’s one treasure and reason to live is his master sword, Hekimitsuhira. But because of it, people around him regularly lie and deceive him. This light-hearted samurai drama follows the comedic life of Bengaku. Produced by Eizou Kyoto, this drama is to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Director Kon Ichikawa.

The Life of Bangaku

2002

Ultramarine Area poster
5.0

Kim Jun Hee, a member of the immensely popular five-membered band, Indigo AREA, has suffered setbacks and deep wounds, and now her boyfriend, the vocalist, suddenly announces that he is leaving the band. The story depicts the process of Jun Hee escaping from her narrow world of values, regaining her music, and becoming a strong "human being," while also finding the connections that are essential to survive. A new slice-of-life story of healing and courage.

Ultramarine Area

2021

A Little Princess poster
8.0

Shōkōjo Seira is a 2009 Japanese drama television series based on the children's novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Mirai Shida stars as Seira, the daughter of a rich boss of a mining company. Due to her father's sudden death in a mining accident, Seira has overcomes many ordeals at the Millenius Seminary boarding school because she is unable to pay her school fees. Shōkōjo Seira aired on Saturdays from 7:56pm on the Tokyo Broadcasting System between 17 October 2009 and 19 December 2009.

A Little Princess

2009

Abarenbo Mama poster
NR

22-year old Kawano Ayu was brought up way out in the country. She's a rough-mannered tomboy. When she meets Tetsu, a divorced beautician, the two fall in love and get married. Immediately after their happy new life begins, they are visited by a 5-year old boy, Yuki, who claims to be Tetsu's son. Ayu reluctantly becomes the boy's mother, but has no idea how to raise a child. What's more, at kindergarten, she must confront the elegant mothers of the neighborhood. Ayu's humorous life as a rookie mother begins.

Abarenbo Mama

2007

Kawa no Hotori de poster
6.5

Toshi-chan and BB live in a hut with a blue sheet on the banks of the Tama River. Having lived there for several years, they are familiar with the area. The two of them gather cans across town from 4 am in the morning and sleep at 7 pm in order to save money on electricity at night. While they do not have substantial income, they are not particularly concerned about money. They are carefree each day and take pride in being homeless men who can support themselves. Nao, a young female actress from a small theatre company, visits Toshi-chan and BB one day. She is playing a heroine who has a grand romance with the leader of homeless men in her next performance and asks to interview them. This is the beginning of a long night for the trio…

Kawa no Hotori de

2021

A Town of Blooming Forget-Me-Nots poster
NR

A dedicated nurse and a flower-loving resident doctor grow closer while confronting difficult questions about medicine, aging, and end-of-life care at a regional hospital. Adapted from the collection of short stories "Wasurenagusa no Saku Machi de: Azumino Shinryoki"

A Town of Blooming Forget-Me-Nots

2026

The Story of One Century poster
9.0

The Story of One Century tells the stories of three women, living in three different Japanese eras: Taisho (1912-1926), Showa (1926-1989) and Heisei (1989-present). The first generation takes place in the 1920s at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake. Togura Aya, coming from a wealthy and influential family, marries against her will to a wealthy man Yokoyama Heikichi, who can help her father tide over his financial difficulties. It seems to be a wrong move, and life goes on meaninglessly for her, until she makes up her mind to follow her heart (Kota Yashiro, a man with a humble background).

The Story of One Century

2000