
Acting
Tatsuo Yamada
Born — Died
1956-01-10 — 2009-07-26
Place of birth
Toyama, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
66 titles
Known for
7.3Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.
The Woman of S.R.I.
1999
7.9Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Departures
2008
7.0Continuation of the popular series of films about the assassins in Edo. This show marks the return of the jidaigeki series "Hissatsu Shigotonin," which has had several seasons between the 1970s and the 1990s. The franchise came back in 2007 with a one-shot special, but this is its first full season since 1992. Makoto Fujita returns as the protagonist Nakamura Mondo, one of the "shigotonin," a team of hired assassins.
Mission To Kill
2009
5.0Sky 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
6.2Ai is a call girl that makes good money for what she does but there’s always at risk no matter how good the money is.
Door II: Tokyo Diary
1991
6.0In the sequel to 1990's classic Neo Chinpira, Junko (Sho Aikawa) attempts to take out Kazama and then goes on the run. However, he quickly begins to feel homesick, and returns home to find that almost everything has changed. Noriko is now a bar mama with a lavish lifestyle, Yumeko is nowhere to be found, and his boss (Toru Minegishi) seems to have sinister plans involving Junko and his uncle (Jo Shishido).
Neo Chinpira 2: Zoom Goes the Bullet
1991
Film credits
2000s · 29 titles
7.9Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Departures
2008
9.0Three tales that center around sex and citizens of Tokyo: A repressed woman embraces her sexuality, ("Birthday"), an unexpected reunion disrupts a sex worker's routine ("Night Lovers"), and a sex blogger discovers connection in the depths of loneliness ("Girl's Life").
Tokyo Noir
2004
7.4Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
When the Last Sword Is Drawn
2003
5.6In 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
6.9Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.
The Motive
2004
6.2A group of terrorists has taken hold of the largest dam in Japan. They also capture the workers as hostages, and demanded $5 billion yen from the government with a 24 hour deadline in exchange for the lives of the hostages. To make things more complicated, there was a snowstorm and no one can get in or out near the area. Fortunately, the terrorists did not capture Togashi, the dam controller, and he is the only person who can rescue those hostages from the terrorists...
Whiteout
2000
6.9Minako (TANAKA Yuko), begins her day running up and down the hills of her hometown delivering milk door to door. When that's done, she heads to her day job as a supermarket cashier. Minako is 50 and single. In one of the houses to which she delivers milk is a man with whom she has secretly been in love since high school. The man, Keita (KISHIBE Ittoku), lives with his wife Yoko, who is terminally ill. Caring for her at home, he works in the children's affairs section of the local municipal office. Though he insists that he wants nothing more than an "ordinary" existence, his life is in turmoil below the surface. The director uses a variety of narrative devises to portray the loneliness, isolation, and hope of these people who have seemingly allowed their goals and dreams to slip away, whilst keeping them agonizingly close to hand.
The Milkwoman
2005
6.0Sakiko, works independently at a travel agent in Tokyo. She was raised by her mother, Tatsuko, is hospitalized, Sakiko returns to her hometown Tokushima on Shikoku. The town is famous for its annual Awa Dance Festival. She is told by doctor, Terasawa Daisuke, that her mother has terminal cancer.
Bizan
2007
7.6The lives of a young cop, a sanitation worker and a brooding pharmacist violently intersect on a bus that's hijacked by a suicidal political flunky, then cross paths again months later.
Scrap Heaven
2005
6.6After his parent's divorce, Kazuo Saito moves with his mother from Onomichi and must leave his girlfriend behind. At his new school, Kazuo is surprised to reunite with his childhood friend Kazumi.
Switching – Goodbye Me
2007
5.3Adapted from the successful play, the film takes place in 19th-century Japan, where a war between demons and their slayers is fought. Izumo, a kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past, meets and falls in love with Tsubaki. However, something is not right, as mysterious marks appear on her body as time progresses. At the same time, it is announced that Ashura, the queen of all demons, will be resurrected and bring destruction to the universe.
Ashura
2005
6.7Onchi was exiled to posts around Asia and Africa due to his work as head of a labor union for National Air Line. He is ordered to return to head office after ten years, and continues to struggle. When a National Air Line plane is involved in the worst air disaster in Japanese history, he is assigned to console and provide restitution to the families of the victims.
The Unbroken
2009
7.0Kotaro and Kuroe marry almost immediately in a Christian ceremony and move into an apartment. Life is completely joyous until, one day, Kuroe falls ill.
Chloe
2001
NRYakuza Girl Boss film.
Don Woman
2001
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Eau de Vie
2003
7.0The suicide of a female teacher 15 years ago was actually a murder. A new investigation team, spearheaded by Mizorogi, is formed based on new information turned in to the police. Obsessed about cracking cases right up till the statute of limitation, Mizoguchi has a bitter thought about a 300 million yen case that has reached the statute of limitation... When he goes to investigate the male high school student(s) whom the woman had taught and other persons related to the deceased, he sees an unexpected connection with another case...
Lupin's News
2008
NRA taxi driver becomes involved in the world of the mafia & their wars.
Semi: Nakanai Semi
2003
6.5Based on a novel "The Battle Of The Yanagawa-Gumi" by Koichi Iiboshi, it tells the story of criminal Jiro Yanagawa. Released from prison, Jiro joins the notorious Yoshimizu Yakuza family as a member. Not long after however, he sets out to form his own Yakuza clan in Osaka. This sparks a bloody territory war with the Devils Dragons.
Yakuza Wolves: The Yanagawa Gang
2002
NRAiko and Meri are best friends. But they are to be apart in the next spring, because Aiko is going to Tokyo to attend the university there. In their home town, they meet various people. A bus driver looking for his runway daughter. A young man who can not decide what he should do about his job and marriage. A middle-aged housewife who doesn't see the meaning of their marriage life anymore..
Throws Out My Hometown
2006
NRA Yakuza war breaks out to control the Tohoku region.
Conflict of Aomori
2002
5.0It is the second work of the Oita trilogy of Obayashi . Following " Nigori Snow ", Ise Masazo draws a song written by composers and songwriter "Farewell of 22 years old " as a motif and draws a story of love that spans two generations of mother and daughter.
Song of Goodbye
2007
NRIt's 'Don Woman 3'... Are you ready to see?
Don Woman 3
2002
5.0Seven young Tokyoites get scammed into working as hosts for "Dog Days" bar. Will they be able to overcome their individual differences and keep the club open?
Waters
2006
6.0In order to earn legal Shinogi, Sunagawa was trying to start a unified legal business with a one-yen coin with the support of members of the Diet. However, the skirmish between Shimizu-gumi and Masago-kai, the main organization of the Ichienkai, intensified, and the plan began to be hindered. Jin, who has a good face in the two groups, enters arbitration, but the conflict continues to intensify as the leader of the Shimizu group is shot by the Masagokai and the Hitman of the Shimizu group. Yoshiro, who was investigating both the Masagokai and Shimizu-gumi, notices that there is a strategy of Mizuho-gumi, the director of the Ichienkai, in the shadow.
Jingi 30: In-law Cemetery
2002
6.8When a young man is sent to a prison workhouse for a crime he did not commit his friend on the outside must find evidence to clear his name.
Sabu
2002
4.8Momotaro and Hidemaro are 1st-years at Otokojuku, a private boys school where true men are made. Momotaro, proficient in academics and martial arts becomes good friends with Hidemaro an underachieving weakling. Omito Date, former student leader, plans his revenge against his former school. Now leader of an evil army from rival Kanto Gogakuren school he fully intends on taking over Otokojuku.
Be a Man!! Samurai School
2008
6.5The Kanto 1-yen coin party has a fierce internal conflict! In the Kochi-gumi, the confrontation between the young head Sakuta and the son-in-law of the group leader, Kunitomo, had surfaced. Meanwhile, at that time, Okiyama, a man armed with a pistol and dynamite, rushed into Kamibayashi Trading. He takes the hostage and demands that he bring Jin. Okiyama's lover was killed by a yakuza a week ago, and the culprit is Jin ?!
Jingi 31: Boryokudan Re-armed
2002
NRIt's 'Don Woman 2'... you already knew!
Don Woman 2
2001
NRMisaki is a popular bar hostess whose policy is to 'live on presents'. She is haughty and wants nothing but the most expensive and exclusive. One night, she finds a rabbit and takes it home, setting off the story of an unimaginable tragedy. It is an 'animal panic horror' film with a new edge presenting an allegory of the worst in the modern materialistic world. This is the first full-length feature film for Yuichi Kanemaru, who has worked as assistant director to Kaneto Shindo, Yasuo Furuhata and Takashi Miike. And Tomoko Tabata's dynamic performance in her first horror movie is a definite highlight.
Cursed Songs: Chi-Manako
2008
1990s · 17 titles
6.2Ai is a call girl that makes good money for what she does but there’s always at risk no matter how good the money is.
Door II: Tokyo Diary
1991
6.0In the sequel to 1990's classic Neo Chinpira, Junko (Sho Aikawa) attempts to take out Kazama and then goes on the run. However, he quickly begins to feel homesick, and returns home to find that almost everything has changed. Noriko is now a bar mama with a lavish lifestyle, Yumeko is nowhere to be found, and his boss (Toru Minegishi) seems to have sinister plans involving Junko and his uncle (Jo Shishido).
Neo Chinpira 2: Zoom Goes the Bullet
1991
6.5Junko pretends to be a yakuza and gets more than he bargained for when he is tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member. If he turns the task down, he will face the consequences for betrayal.
Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet
1990
6.3The continuing adventures of Matsuzaki, a racing tipster for a sports paper. Matsuzaki befriends a mysterious old track bettor named Tokudaiji. The man turns out to be a well-connected millionaire and invites Matsuzaki to his home.
The Wicked Reporter 2: The Rebirth of Horserace Betting
1994
6.6Ambitious Yakuza Kenji befriends harmonica-playing bartender Chuji, who moonlights as a part-time drug-dealer for the opposing gang. Their friendship is threatened by Kenji's plans for advancement, as well as by his bodyguards' growing jealousy of Chuji.
Blues Harp
1998
NRJin, who has killed is worried about his younger brother Jiro and has returned to the world as a ghost!
Can you collect it? 2
1993
3.9A 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
NRYukiko Miki, the only daughter of the Yamako-gumi, a yakuza group in Kansai, begs her father to let her start a company, and with three henchmen who also act as bodyguards, she establishes "Gokiburi Shoji" (Cockroach Trading). Their business involves committing crimes such as bank robberies to make money, and Ryotaro Anzai, who approaches her without knowing she's the daughter of a yakuza, also joins the company. Initially, they plan to rob an armored car, but a father and son duo steal 500 million yen from them. Next, they plan to rig a boat race, but by chance, Ryotaro spots the man who stole the money. Changing their plans, they devise various schemes to get 500 million yen back from the father and son duo.
Cockroach Trading Company's Hilarious Tale: The Five Hundred Million Yen Blues of Love
1991
7.7Tokyo Blood is an omnibus film of 4 short stories featuring various characters entrapped in Tokyo landscapes.
Tokyo Blood
1993
NRA full-scale drama that visualizes a feature-length novel by Koichi Iiboshi from "Battle Without Honor and Justice." It depicts a shocking rivalry set in Shinjuku, the largest entertainment district in Asia, such as robbery, kidnapping, theft, and the murder of a blue dragon sword. Show Aikawa enthusiastically plays a lone wolf gangster. Co-starring Hitoshi Ozawa and others.
New Gokudo Legend: Three Dragons
1999
NRA lone wolf yakuza vs detective. It was supposed to be an undercover investigation into the Yakuza organization… A drama of friendship and betrayal between men living in different worlds.
Heisei Zankeiden: Blood Blade Dos Barks!
1998
After serving ten years due to a drug-induced assassination of a rival gang boss, Tachibana enters a world that's nothing like it was when he went in. Once a respected and feared Yakuza mastermind, he now must try and adapt within the confines of the new generations vision of honor. As he still garners a somewhat decent amount of respect he just tries to get by. Hooking up with a prostitute he's been in passing by with he begins to feel some sense of comfort. Upon stumbling across her being beaten down by her pimp, Tachibana can't just sit by and do nothing. So he commences in putting down an old school Yakuza ass whipping, thus beginning a showdown with the 'now' boss, Sato.
Another Lonely Hitman
1995
NRKono Takeshi has given up work as an electrician to run a gift-shop business with his partner/mistress Rieko, who's a couple of years older than him. When the company faces bankruptcy Kono wants to quit, but Rieko strings him along with the promise of a large cash investment, the proceeds of a real-estate deal. Her actual plan to raise the money is to kidnap a young woman and demand a ransom for her release. The trouble is, it never occurs to her to keep the victim alive before trying to extort the cash. And when things start to go wrong, Rieko responds by murdering another girl and attempting another ransom scam..
The Drive
1992
9.0When a woman whose job is to professionally date men disappears suddenly, a TV crew who wanted to film a documentary about women like her begin searching for her. Coincidentally, a salary-man who saw the disappeared woman and wants to meet her again is found and joins the crew. Together they follow the clues. She has an amulet, which looks like a small bag, which she always hangs from her neck. It contains a piece of the Berlin wall.
BeRLiN
1995
7.0Based on the manga by Satosumi Takaguchi, adapted by Midori Kogane and Hidehiro Ito, and directed by Rokuro Mochizuki, this anti-hero story follows a fallen boxer turned extortionist. Takasu Goro, once forced out of boxing by a fixed match, now runs a front as a private detective while blackmailing targets ranging from students to yakuza bosses. Feared for his ruthless methods, he’s known as “the dirty one”. His intellectually disabled sister Keiko befriends a man named Osho at her favorite riverside spot. When a yakuza executive is killed, Goro tries to extort the boss for 100 million yen—triggering Keiko’s kidnapping.
The Dirty One
1995
NRUltimate Gun Action!
Gun Breath A Perfect Night to Die
1998
NRThere is a man, who always win a mahjong game... His name is Ryu the Caller.
Mahjong Hishoden: Ryu the Caller
1995
1980s · 14 titles
5.3Filled with guilt over his forbidden desires, a young man leaves home and his studies. He finds a new smaller place to stay, a low-paying but satisfying job and a girlfriend. Then his mother, unable to fight her forbidden desires, shows up.
Moment of Demon
1985
5.8When Ken, the leader of the once-notorious biker gang of Tokyo, falls in love with a barmaid, he quickly loses his rebellious ideals. The rest of the gang feels betrayed, especially the reputedly troubled kid Jin who revolts against his former friend.
Crazy Thunder Road
1980
7.0A run-in with the police once again puts three former reformatory inmates on the wrong side of the law. Their situation becomes increasingly desperate as events spin out of control, culminating in an audacious hijack at sea...
The Shootout
1982
7.8GASP is a popular alternative band. Conflict arises when the lead singer To-Y is offered a pop idol contract that stipulates he leave the rest of the band behind.
TO-Y
1987
4.9A man catches the eye of an elegant lady at a bar. She relents to his advances. In the morning he throws her out of his apartment. He will soon regret his mistake when she slowly plots revenge.
Gemini Woman
1984
7.8BJ is a relatively unknown blues singer who scraps some bars in Yokohama. He does not earn much with it and to make ends meet he also acts as a private detective.
Yokohama BJ Blues
1981
NROne is a designer and company president, the other an athlete and model. Although on different paths in life and from different backgrounds, in high school these two were once good friends. This movie tells the story of their friendship.
Korekara monogatari - Shonen tachi no buruusu
1988
7.5Hitomi, a former orphan who is trying to leave behind her delinquent ways, one day agrees to tutor a wealthy young boy who has just become an orphan himself…
Leave My Girl Alone
1986
7.0Adapted from Shusaku Endō's novel.
Yojo no jidai
1988
NRThe story of Tamikawa, a professionally and artistically burned out singer, who embarks on a search for a director named Goda. During the journey, the man not only experiences a lot of adventures, but also tries to find himself and answer the question whether he still sees his career in show business.
You Gotta Chance
1985
7.0Released after seven years in prison, an inveterate thug goes from strength to ruthless strength as he makes his way through a succession of dubious jobs, illegal schemes, and brutal romances.
No More God, No More Love
1985
10.0When 22-year-old Ikuko gets fired from her editing internship right before her college graduation instead of getting hired, she turns to her schoolteacher father for advice. Instead, he tells her, "I've decided to become a singer! Sort your own life out!" Confused, Ikuko gets on a boat to the town of Takarazuka, home of the musical industry, to see her classmate Mari. Mari introduces her to an accountant named Yoshie, and together the three of them move into a house they call "The Women's House: Die Fraulein".
The Goodbye Girls
1987
7.2When a gun belonging to a police officer is stolen, it ends up in the hands of a student, who decides to use it on a yakuza who beat him recently. Now the police officer is hot on the student’s trail, and he’s determined to prevent the gun from going off.
Revolver
1988
7.5Yuji decides to run away from home to become an actor. Along the way, he meets Yoshio, an aspiring rock musician and Ami, an idol who, despite her success, is slowly losing popularity. All three of them begin to support each other in fulfilling their dreams of having true fame.
Sukanpin Walk
1984
Series credits
7.3Mariko is a forensic scientist working at the Kyoto PD Crime Lab. Her credo is “science never lies” and she delves into the truth of the case with her colleagues with their specialized skills and knowledge in forensic medicine, physics, chemistry etc. Mariko’s steadfast belief in science makes her stand against conventional institutional ethics of the police department, diehard detectives averse to scientific investigation and sometimes even with her own colleagues, but she stays faithful to her belief in science and continues to pursue the truth.
The Woman of S.R.I.
1999
7.0Continuation of the popular series of films about the assassins in Edo. This show marks the return of the jidaigeki series "Hissatsu Shigotonin," which has had several seasons between the 1970s and the 1990s. The franchise came back in 2007 with a one-shot special, but this is its first full season since 1992. Makoto Fujita returns as the protagonist Nakamura Mondo, one of the "shigotonin," a team of hired assassins.
Mission To Kill
2009
5.0Sky 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
8.0A program that uses a script written by Koki Mitani and is produced by a different cast and crew each time. As the narration at the beginning of the show says: "If you think you can create the same work with the same script, you don't know drama". This is a drama that clearly shows how the atmosphere of a work changes depending on the direction, making it ideal for those who aspire to become directors.
San-ban Tēburu no Kyaku
1996
No synopsis available yet.
悪女A・B
1991
NRThe interactions of two families that have lived next door to each other for generations.
Sayonara Sankaku Mata Kite Shikaku
1982
