Yoshiko Tanaka

The story is based on the bestselling autobiography of 25-year-old Rie Saito, who became a number-one hostess in Ginza despite being deaf. "Hitsudan Hostess" was published by Kobunsha this past May, and so far it has sold roughly 115,000 copies. The book depicts the life of Saito, who was born in Aomori and became deaf at the age of 1 due to an illness. She rebelled against her strict parents, and she ran away from home several times as a youth. At a local club, she began taking an interest in "hitsudan" (communicating through writing), which she later made use of when she moved to Tokyo and became a popular hostess at a Ginza club. --Tokyograph

No synopsis available yet.

Taking place thirty years before the events of Ringu, Ringu 0 provides the shocking background story of how the girl on the video became a deadly, vengeful spirit.

Heartwarming human drama about a former tap dancer who trades in his tap shoes to woo a figure skating instructor. But by a twist of fate, he finds himself coaching a local ice hockey team of hapless youths and leading them to a championship

Shinku is a compelling drama that focuses on the strange relationship that develops between two people who find their lives irrevocably changed as a result of a horrible multiple homicide. The first person traumatized is the lone survivor of the terrible family bloodbath, a girl who grows up to be a pretty college student. The second person affected by this heinous crime is the daughter of the murderer, a young girl who ends up becoming a tattooed bartender. A full decade after the crime, the killer is finally going to be executed, and the surviving member of the massacre decides to reach out and befriend the murderer's daughter. A tentative, odd sort of friendship blossoms between these two people, both of whom seem to have little in common personally, and every reason in the world for not wanting to meet. Yet they do, but not without reservations. And really, is this friendship quite what it seems? Or is it all part of some twisted plan for vengeance?

A Japanese Class B war criminal sets out to take full responsibility for the execution of American Airmen.

This is a true story about the "Chichibu Incident," which is said to be the only revolution in Japan.

Surrounded by violence for as long as he can remember, Ryoudo Numata has steeled himself into a tremendously tough man, growing to become the very essence of "manliness" himself in order to live his life in peace. When members of a yakuza clan set on fire to his house to facilitate a real estate transaction, Kumada murders them and gets jailed for it. 15 years later, finally free, he will now have to reconnect with his family who clearly are in disarray due his long absence and face the distrust of his children who know nothing of their father except that he had abandoned them.

In the early morning of January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake struck, and Tadao Furuichi (Hidekazu Akai), who was running a camera store in Kobe City, lost his friends, his house, and his property. Tadao is busy volunteering for the reconstruction of the town, and one day he comes across his own golf bag that survived the earthquake. Feeling a miracle, Tadao decides to challenge the professional golf test before he turns 60.

High school student Asako moves all of her belongings to the refuse area of her apartment complex and stops attending school. Kazuyoshi, a precocious young boy, invites her to join him in an online chatroom venture where she assumes the identity of a married temptress named "Miyabi".

No synopsis available yet.

Three women who share memories of the Hiroshima disaster try to uncover the hidden family ties that may or may not bind them together.

On April 9, 2000, Suzuki Kyoko receives a phone call from the police. She learns that her 19-year-old son and his friend were killed by a drunk driver while walking along a bridge in Zama. Suzuki Kyoko lost her husband to cancer five years earlier and her world crashes down. The drunk driver was given the maximum sentence at the time 5 1/2 years. Suzuki Kyoko then spearheads a movement to increase the penalty for reckless driving. She also enrolls at Waseda University where her son died just a week after his entrance ceremony. Suzuki Kyoko also starts an exhibit to honor the victims of reckless driving.

An art school student and an artist find love but soon must face a painful struggle.

Mothra's dark counterpart, Battra, emerges to eliminate humanity on behalf of the Earth. Two tiny fairies called the Cosmos offer their help by calling Mothra to battle the creature. Unfortunately a meteorite has awoken a hibernating Godzilla as a three way battle for the Earth begins.

A railway stationmaster at a dying end-of-the-line village in Hokkaido is haunted by memories of his dead wife and daughter. When the railroad line is scheduled to be closed, he is offered a job at a hotel, but he is emotionally unable to part with his career as a railroader. His life takes a turn when he meets a young woman with an interest in trains who resembles his daughter.

A retired actress whose husband has recently died visits her summer home. There she has encounters with old friends and acquaintances who bring various stories and news of death and the past

Based on the long running manga of the same name by Sadao Shouji.

Based on the manga by Sadao Jouji which has been running in the magazine Shukan Gendai since 1969.

Watanabe Kazuma's younger brother is brutally murdered by Kawai Matagoro. However, Kazuma's vendetta is denied since the Japanese law in the 17th Century only allowed a samurai to avenge his father or older brother, but not a younger brother. This incident makes his family member Araki Mataemon face his best friend in order to clear path for Kazuma. The tension mounts as they must carry out the vengeance before the murderer Kawai Matagoro reaches the safety of a direct retainer of the Shogun.

No synopsis available yet.

Starring Ken Takakura, this TV special depicts a detective (Akira Hayasaka) who lives in a harsh life with pride and conviction. Minoru Akiba, Chief of the Investigation Division 1 of the Metropolitan Police Department, is a veteran detective who has passed through the shrine in numerous incidents. His wife was killed by a criminal he caught 13 years ago as revenge. There is a report that his former subordinate, Constable Murasawa, was stabbed to death under Akiba... Suzuki Kyoka plays his daughter.

Yoshinori sells plots of land in a cemetery, and is involved in a stale ten-year-old marriage with bored housewife Atsuko. When Atsuko makes a male friend at her leather-working class, Yoshinori has a fit. This is on top of the myriad of odd clients that he must appease.

Based on a story written by actress and author Hideko Takamine. Kimizuru Kawamoto is a popular geisha in Shitaya, Tokyo in 1926. Kimizuru is pregnant with the child of Hiroshi, the son of an large company's president, who tells her to wait for marriage until he returns from Germany in 3 years.

The story of Czech architect Jan Letzel, who designed the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

Fourteen-year old student Ayumi has leukemia and starts losing hair. She becomes depressed but receives overwhelming support from her classmates when they all shave their heads for her.

The story of a bus conductor who dedicates his life to the cherished Japanese symbol.

After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.

Shigematsu Shizuma, who lives with his family in a village near Fukuyama, was in Hiroshima with his wife and niece just after the devastating atomic bombing, a tragedy that cruelly took the lives of thousands of people and forever marked the harsh existence of the survivors.

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.

On the day his mother dies, young gambler Jirocho swears in front of her grave that he'll never gamble again. But, that night, Jirocho heads to a gambling den, where he bets the condolence money for his mother's funeral. No surprise to learn he loses the lot. Not the hard-boiled yakuza story it seems, this is a comedy featuring many new artists who were making a name for themselves at the time.

Based on the comic book series of the same name by Yûsuke Aoyagi.

A remake of the 1953 film of the same name.

The sisters lived near a pond called Koigafuchi, near Edo, and kept a father-and-son cat named Tama and Kaze. The elder sister, Oichi, was discovered by a samurai named Kazuma who rescued her when she had fallen ill, and she was sent to serve him at his mansion in Edo, but this was the beginning of her misfortune.

A wheelchair-bound daughter is told that her mother's death was a murder and asks for an investigation, gradually learning the secret of her own birth.

Chotaro and Nakanishi, a duo of unemployed advertisers, drifted to Isehama, a port town near Yokohama, but a gang was making its presence felt in the town and the shopkeepers in the shopping arcade were troubled by it. Chotaro poses as a journalist and uses his words of wisdom to suggest that pen is mightier than the sword, so they create a mini-comic magazine and launch a campaign to expel the gang.