Keiju Kobayashi

Acting

Keiju Kobayashi

Born — Died

1923-11-23 — 2010-09-16

Place of birth

Gunma, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

69 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Keiju Kobayashi (23 November 1923–16 September 2010) was a Japanese actor. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In a career that spanned 65 years, he appeared in over 250 films, most famously in the "Company President" (Shachō) comedy films made at Toho, where he worked alongside Hisaya Morishige, Daisuke Kato, Norihei Miki, and others. There he helped define the popular image of the postwar salaryman. He also won many awards for his acting, including best actor awards at the Mainichi Film Awards for The Naked General in 1958 (where he played Kiyoshi Yam…

Known for

Whisper of the Heart poster
7.9

Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."

Whisper of the Heart

1995

Karin poster
NR

A young woman Chiaki whose family runs an old miso company in Nagano Prefecture, the only daughter of old traditional family. For generations, they were making soybean paste for living. Now she needs to take over this business and rebuild it. She lives through the hardships of postwar Japan.

Karin

1993

Submersion of Japan poster
NR

In this TV series of the hit 1973 film, Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes shake Japan. Firestorms burn beautiful Japanese cities to the ground. A weather survey group discovers that the Japanese Archipelago is moving towards the Japanese Trench, which if left to continue on its collision course, would bring the whole island of Japan under the sea!

Submersion of Japan

1974

Wind, Clouds, and Rainbow poster
9.0

Kaze to kumo to Niji to deals with the Heian period in Japan. Based on Chōgorō Kaionji`s novels Taira no Masakado and Umi to Kaze to Niji to. The drama was made by Go Kato`s request. The story chronicles the life of Taira no Masakado . The story begins with Masakado′s childhood. Masakado happens to meet Fujiwara no Hidesato, and he thinks that he want to be great Samurai like Hidesato in the future.

Wind, Clouds, and Rainbow

1976

The End of Summer poster
7.5

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

The End of Summer

1961

Godzilla 1985 poster
6.8

Originally released in Japan as "The Return of Godzilla" in 1984, this is the heavily re-edited, re-titled "Godzilla 1985". Adding in new footage of Raymond Burr, this 16th Godzilla film ignores all previous sequels and serves as a direct follow-up to the 1956 "Godzilla King of the Monsters", which also featured scenes with Burr edited into 1954's "Godzilla". This film restores the darker tone of the original, as we witness the nuclear destruction of giant lizard terrorizing Japan.

Godzilla 1985

1985

Film credits

2000s · 2 titles

1990s · 3 titles

1980s · 7 titles

Godzilla 1985 poster
6.8

Originally released in Japan as "The Return of Godzilla" in 1984, this is the heavily re-edited, re-titled "Godzilla 1985". Adding in new footage of Raymond Burr, this 16th Godzilla film ignores all previous sequels and serves as a direct follow-up to the 1956 "Godzilla King of the Monsters", which also featured scenes with Burr edited into 1954's "Godzilla". This film restores the darker tone of the original, as we witness the nuclear destruction of giant lizard terrorizing Japan.

Godzilla 1985

1985

A Taxing Woman poster
6.7

Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.

A Taxing Woman

1987

The Return of Godzilla poster
7.2

After a fishing boat is attacked, the sole surviving crew member realizes it is none other than a resurrected Godzilla. However, efforts to bring the story to light are suppressed by the Japanese government amid growing political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, who are both willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.

The Return of Godzilla

1984

The Imperial Navy poster
6.6

A lavish retelling of the true story of the final voyage and ultimate destruction and sinking of the battleship Yamato, Japan's greatest flagship during the Second World War.

The Imperial Navy

1981

The Gentlemen’s Alliance poster
6.5

Etsuko, a female college student, tries to beat the con artists at their own game after she gets scammed one after another.

The Gentlemen’s Alliance

1986

Tree Without Leaves poster
8.0

Haru, an aging scriptwriter, has isolated himself somewhere in the woods of Nagano to work on his first novel. As the last surviving member of his kin, he intends to chronicle the family he grew up in.

Tree Without Leaves

1986

Yawara! poster
NR

Yawara Inokuma is a girl who aspires to an ordinary life but due to her innate talent is forced to practice judo by her authoritarian grandfather, Jigorou Inokuma, with the aim of achieving the championship in Japan and the gold medal in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Because of the pressure from her grandfather she has a generally bad attitude about judo, avoiding it as much as she can. However, over time she comes to understand why her grandfather loves judo and appreciates it more.

Yawara!

1989

1970s · 6 titles

Submersion of Japan poster
7.0

A team of geophysicists investigating seismic activity on the seafloor discover that the islands of Japan, after suffering from massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, will be pulled into the ocean, killing millions.

Submersion of Japan

1973

Mount Hakkoda poster
6.6

Two infantry regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army—210 men overall—tackled Mt. Hakkoda in the winter of 1902 to prepare for war with Russia.

Mount Hakkoda

1977

The Battle of Okinawa poster
7.8

The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.

The Battle of Okinawa

1971

The Militarists poster
7.5

The second film in Toho's series on the military history of the Showa era, Hiromichi Horikawa's war drama offers a look at the career of controversial politician Hideki Tojo and the strained relationships between Japan's government, military, and the media.

The Militarists

1970

The Ambitious poster
7.3

The story of Ryoma Sakamoto, considered to be the architect behind the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was considered an outlaw by his own clan, hunted by his government, and was despised by supporters of the Shogun as well as the Loyalists for desiring the opening of Japan to the West in order to learn its technology, in the hopes of one day defeating the West with a modern army and navy.

The Ambitious

1970

Five Gents and a Kuniang poster
9.0

A food company undergoes leadership changes, with younger staff rising to key roles.

Five Gents and a Kuniang

1970

1960s · 23 titles

The End of Summer poster
7.5

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

The End of Summer

1961

Sanjuro poster
7.9

In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Sanjuro

1962

The Storm of the Pacific poster
6.0

Lt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed with pride in his hometown on his return. As Japan racks up victory after victory in the Pacific War, Kitami is caught up in the emotion of the time and fights courageously for the standard of Japanese honor. But his assuredness of his government's righteousness is shaken after the Japanese navy is defeated in the debacle of Midway.

The Storm of the Pacific

1960

Samurai Assassin poster
7.3

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

Samurai Assassin

1965

Chûshingura poster
7.1

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Chûshingura

1962

The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman poster
6.2

An intoxicated man promises two magazine editors that he will write a masterpiece. Once he sobers up, he commits to his promise and writes a story based on his life.

The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman

1963

Japan's Longest Day poster
7.3

A dramatisation of the 24-hour period in which the Japanese government was deadlocked over the decision to accept or reject the Allies' demand for an unconditional surrender following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan's Longest Day

1967

Happiness of Us Alone poster
9.0

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

Happiness of Us Alone

1961

A Wanderer's Notebook poster
7.2

Based on the life and career of novelist Fumiko Hayashi, she bitterly struggles for literary recognition in the first half of the 20th-century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, often humiliating attempts to get published in a male-dominated culture.

A Wanderer's Notebook

1962

Salaryman Idea Book: Concern for Success poster
NR

A beer salesman with a passion for fishmongering stumbles through mishaps, rivalries, and gangster trouble while chasing a big contract, winning the deal through quick thinking—then turns down a promotion to keep working his own way.

Salaryman Idea Book: Concern for Success

1960

The Stranger Within a Woman poster
7.4

Tashiro coincidentally meets his best friend Sugimoto in a bar very close to the apartment in which Sugimoto’s wayward wife is found dead. Although Tashiro is not a suspect in the police investigation, he is racked with guilt and confesses to his wife, Masako. In an effort to further relieve his tortured sense of guilt, he then confesses to Sugimoto. Neither his wife nor his friend can believe that he could have been involved.

The Stranger Within a Woman

1966

Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor poster
6.9

Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.

Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor

1969

Five Gents and Karate Grandpa poster
9.0

"Shacho" comedy about the president of a salt manufacturing company.

Five Gents and Karate Grandpa

1968

The Wiser Age poster
7.2

Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner.

The Wiser Age

1962

Beast Alley poster
7.0

Desperate to escape her grueling life caring for her paralyzed husband, Tamiko murders him and burns down their home to start anew. She is soon entangled in the dark web of an influential, elderly power broker, becoming his mistress and a pawn in his political schemes. As she descends further into a downward spiral of moral decay, Tamiko realizes that the freedom she sought is merely a new form of entrapment.

Beast Alley

1965

Ken poster
7.7

Kokubu, captain of his university's kendo team, is a mystery to those who know him: An ascetic dedicated to a point of obsession with the simplicity and beauty of the sword arts. Kagawa, a promising but arrogant kendo student, is attracted to Kokubu's devout leadership but kept at a distance by his standoffish nature. With the national championships fast approaching, the pair clash as Kokubu drives his students with increasingly rigorous training and Kagawa tests Kokubu's grip on the class.

Ken

1964

Eternity of Love poster
8.0

A Hiromichi Horikawa movie

Eternity of Love

1961

Judge and Jeopardy poster
9.0

It is based on the story "The Lawyer" by attorney Hiroshi Masaki and his account of Japan's "Headless Murder Case" in which a police officer beat a suspect to death during the Pacific War.

Judge and Jeopardy

1968

Raccoon Dog Leader poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Raccoon Dog Leader

1965

The Masterless 47 – Part II poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Masterless 47 – Part II

1961

Black Comedy - Ah, Fool poster
8.0

A timid salaryman is the subject of this black comedy.

Black Comedy - Ah, Fool

1969

Five Gents and a Chinese Merchant poster
7.0

An aging company president pushes a youth-focused corporate fitness campaign but struggles to keep up himself.

Five Gents and a Chinese Merchant

1968

The Lost Alibi poster
5.0

Suspense drama about a married salaryman whose affair with one of his co-workers is compromised when, returning from a clandestine meeting with his lover, he runs into a neighbor who is later accused of murder. Questioned by police about the neighbor, and blackmailed by his lover's neighbor, the salaryman's lies lead him on a path to destruction.

The Lost Alibi

1960

1950s · 19 titles

Sudden Rain poster
6.7

Fumiko and Ryōtarō Namiki's marriage has gone stale, with both constantly arguing over what to do on a day off, or about her cutting out recipes from the newspaper before he finishes reading it. Their animosities are witnessed by Fumiko's niece Ayako, who visits to complain about her own husband's inattentiveness, and their new neighbours, the Imasatos.

Sudden Rain

1956

Repast poster
7.6

In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.

Repast

1951

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Fire Department

1951

All About Marriage poster
10.0

Ultra-perky model likes single freedom but feels ryosai kenbo ("good wife, wise mother") pressure, exemplified by her bored-to-tears sister.

All About Marriage

1958

Husband and Wife poster
6.9

A married couple looking for an apartment move in with the husband's co-worker, a widower. The husband becomes jealous of the widower and his wife.

Husband and Wife

1953

Easy-Going Married Couple poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Easy-Going Married Couple

1956

I Am Being Targeted poster
NR

A thriller of deduction and duels, in which a newspaper reporter bravely takes on a gang in the city’s skyscraper district over a mysterious recording by a diva.

I Am Being Targeted

1950

Clothes of Deception poster
7.0

The story of two sisters in post-war Japan. One is a geisha and the other works for the tourist board.

Clothes of Deception

1951

Here Is a Spring poster
8.2

The story of a group of young people who organise their own travelling symphony orchestra to provide music for people living in remote villages shortly after the war.

Here Is a Spring

1955

The Eagle of the Pacific poster
7.8

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.

The Eagle of the Pacific

1953

Summer Clouds poster
7.7

A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control.

Summer Clouds

1958

Tokyo Sweetheart poster
8.0

Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find happiness in difficult surroundings.

Tokyo Sweetheart

1952

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

In Case of One Woman

1956

A Wife's Heart poster
6.9

A young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop. She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.

A Wife's Heart

1956

Mr. Pu poster
6.5

A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl.

Mr. Pu

1953

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Story of a Detective's Assistant Sequel

1957

Adolescence Part II poster
10.0

A story of unhappy youths and the perils of lack of sex education.

Adolescence Part II

1953

Holiday in Tokyo poster
9.0

May Kawaguchi is a famous Japanese fashion designer. Returning to Tokyo from her home in New York, she travels incognito with a tour group, in hopes of having a quiet vacation without being noticed. But she is spotted and the press has a field-day with the returning celebrity. Her hopes of rest shattered, she agrees to put on a large-scale fashion show.

Holiday in Tokyo

1958

Mitsurin no mehyō poster
NR

A film filled with eroticism and humor, set in the Northern Alps where a naked woman has appeared, as depicted in the article “Naked Woman Appears in the Jungle,” and featuring a showman and a newspaper reporter.

Mitsurin no mehyō

1950

Series credits

Karin poster
NR

A young woman Chiaki whose family runs an old miso company in Nagano Prefecture, the only daughter of old traditional family. For generations, they were making soybean paste for living. Now she needs to take over this business and rebuild it. She lives through the hardships of postwar Japan.

Karin

1993

Submersion of Japan poster
NR

In this TV series of the hit 1973 film, Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes shake Japan. Firestorms burn beautiful Japanese cities to the ground. A weather survey group discovers that the Japanese Archipelago is moving towards the Japanese Trench, which if left to continue on its collision course, would bring the whole island of Japan under the sea!

Submersion of Japan

1974

Wind, Clouds, and Rainbow poster
9.0

Kaze to kumo to Niji to deals with the Heian period in Japan. Based on Chōgorō Kaionji`s novels Taira no Masakado and Umi to Kaze to Niji to. The drama was made by Go Kato`s request. The story chronicles the life of Taira no Masakado . The story begins with Masakado′s childhood. Masakado happens to meet Fujiwara no Hidesato, and he thinks that he want to be great Samurai like Hidesato in the future.

Wind, Clouds, and Rainbow

1976

Waves of Spring poster
NR

The life and times of trailblazing actress Kawakami Sadayakko (Sada Yacco) from Meiji into Taishō, her marriage to orator-actor Kawakami Otojirō, ties to Fukuzawa Yukichi and magnate Fukuzawa Momosuke, and encounters with statesman Itō Hirobumi.

Waves of Spring

1985

Tuesday Suspense Theater poster
NR

"Tuesday Suspense Theater" was broadcast every Tuesday from 21:00 to 22:54 ( JST ) on the Nippon Television network for 24 years from September 29 , 1981 to September 27, 2005. It was a two-hour drama slot. As a general rule, suspense dramas with one complete episode (very rarely, two parts) were broadcast every week from 21:00 to 22:54 ( JST ). It is a broadcast frame. Some episodes also aired horror, historical dramas, and special effects dramas.

Tuesday Suspense Theater

1981

Pieces of Autumn poster
NR

University student Minoru Niijima is a timid young man who gives up on his girlfriend's older brother after being threatened by him. Minoru's father, Seiichi, is a tired office worker nearing retirement, and his mother, Reiko, is an ordinary housewife who is considerate of her husband and believes her children are well-behaved. Minoru's older brother, Shigeru, works as a bed salesman. He is a nuisance to Minoru, as he is rough and always brags about his work. Minoru's younger sister, Yoko, is a second-year high school student, but to Minoru, she still has the childishness of a middle school student. One day, Minoru is persuaded by his university friend, Karaki, to commit a sexual assault on a train. Unfortunately, the girl he chooses is a female student from a delinquent group, and he ends up being beaten up by the delinquent group. However, the new member of the group who appears before Minoru is his younger sister Yoko.

Pieces of Autumn

1973

Japan Sinks poster
NR

Long-form adaptation of previous year's movie; due to a sudden tectonic shift, the country of Japan starts sinking.

Japan Sinks

1974

松田聖子のはじめての情事 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

松田聖子のはじめての情事

1983

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

弁護士朝日岳之助

1988