
Acting
Kai Ato
Born — Died
1946-11-14 — 2015-11-15
Place of birth
Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
74 titles
Known for
7.5Detective 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
7.8Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and actors as the main characters. While horror and supernatural themes are predominant, a variety of genres like comedy and drama are also produced. Most episodes, however, have a bad ending.
Tales of the Bizarre
1990
7.4Dr. 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
9.3After participating to a previous show where they have to bet or be challenged to any kind of competitions, the losing members of the Gaki no Tsukai are selected to spend 24 hours in a setting which they have no knowledge of the theme nor the course of the events. They are exposed to various absurd and crazy situations nonstop for 24 hours and must refrain from laughing. If they do so, hang-men appear and hit the rule breakers with a weapon (the weapon varies every year).
Gaki no Tsukai No Laughing Batsu Game
2003
8.3Princess 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
7.8A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.
Kagemusha
1980
Film credits
2000s · 6 titles
6.7In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?
20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End
2008
5.6When photographer Ishida first sees Sada, the wife of a new acquaintance, his photo shoot with Sada turns quickly into a steamy affair of mind-blowing proportions
Johnen: Love of Sada
2008
6.3Based on an autobiography by Hiroshi Tamura, the film follows story of the author's experience of homelessness when this father suddenly decides to abandon his family. Hiroshi and his older siblings do all what they can to withstand the trouble they encounter along their way.
The Homeless Student
2008
6.0A pair of hard-boiled Tokyo cops are investigating a gruesome murder: after killing the victim, the murderer cut his skull open and cooked his brain in a stew. As they try to track down the killer, they discover that, quite literally, everybody is a suspect. Will they bring the terror to an end, or will they become part of it themselves?
Another Heaven
2000
5.7When a good student named Kamiyama gets placed in a high school filled with disobedient kids, he steps up to the plate and takes a position of leadership. Urging the young slackers and rebels to clean up their act, Kamiyama is in store for a lot of resistance.
Cromartie High School: The Movie
2005
NRA non-prolific writer, Takayama Osamu and his wife, Yoshiko, though not blessed with children, live happily together. They should have had peaceful twilight years, but instead, Yoshiko suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, and Osamu also falls ill. Yoshiko, who cannot cope with daily life any longer, goes into a care home, and Osamu is admitted to a hospital, resulting in them living their remaining lives separately. One day, after some time, the couple who have kept battling their illnesses, manage to meet each other. Osamu breathes his last breath on the following day. People around Yoshiko find it difficult to inform her, but she seems to sense Osamu's death.
Perhaps He Is
2005
1990s · 3 titles
4.4Shoko and Mutsuki get married to satisfy their worried parents, but she is well past the age at which a ‘good’ Japanese woman should marry, and he is in love with a young male college student.
Twinkle
1992
7.5Set in decadent, chaotic Hong Kong and Tokyo, the film tells the story of a young woman caught up in a mysterious turn of events. A young tour guide, 23-year-old Mamiko who's had her heart set on Paris, finds herself swept off to booming Hong Kong where she is thrown into the midst of a high-profile burglary case.
Hong Kong Paradise
1990
NRThe TV movie follows a detective with a burning sense of justice who risks his life to pursue a corruption case involving the prime minister's office.
Keijitachi no Natsu
1999
1980s · 33 titles
7.8A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.
Kagemusha
1980
6.2A detective goes out of his way to crack the case of a serial killer who specialises in murdering police officers.
Station
1981
5.6Set in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, where the brutal warden of Kabato Prison terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory.
Fireflies in the North
1984
3.7A woman faces betrayal, which tests her love.
Night Train
1987
8.2Mike is a penguin soldier who returns home after being injured during combat. Estranged from his family and friends, he leaves his hometown and starts to roam adrift through the country.
Penguin's Memory: A Tale of Happiness
1985
10.0A valet at a fancy nightclub hatches a plot to punish those responsible for his father's death.
The Street of Desire
1984
6.6A lower-middle-class policeman lives decadently, chasing cheap beer and girls at the same time he's running from loan sharks and his personal expectations.
The Mosquito on the Tenth Floor
1983
5.8A Nietzschean journalist who covered the Vietnam War, Lebanese Civil War and other conflicts becomes mentally unstable and goes on a spree of robbery and murder.
The Beast to Die
1980
6.0Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune.
Capone Cries a Lot
1985
8.0Anthology film. "What's Wrong with Eating?" Numayama Kazuki is always complaining about his wife's, Atsugi Shizuka, body shape. Because of that Shizuka tries her best to restrict her diet and please Kazuki. "It's So Far Away!" Karuma Sae is an office lady who works in the city center but lives with her family in a house far away from her work. Because she is always rushing to catch the last train, she can never enjoy a decent date with her boyfriend, Oishi Mamoru. Her father is also always interfering in her life, so she can't appreciate the city life and isn't happy. "Get Ready to Drive!" Masuko is a new taxi driver in Tokyo who is very stressed from dealing with the behavior of some passengers. One night he drives a very beautiful drunk hostess home. "What Is English?" Kosaka Shigeru, a businessman, was transferred to a Chicago branch factory. He tried hard to learn English, practicing day and night, but couldn't improve as much as he expected.
Bakayaro! I'm Plenty Mad
1988
4.0A rich retired middle-aged man is seduced by young bar dancer and she moves into his mansion. He enjoys his newfound girlfriend when her sexy mother shows up. The mother and daughter both proceed to seduce him to exhaustion. But when some relatives of the man show up with their plans for the property the mother and daughter must find a way to fight back.
Indecent Family: Mother & Daughter
1982
7.0When a young soldier is killed while trying to prevent his younger sister, Kaoru, from being sold into a life of prostitution, his commander, Col. Miyagi, tries to honor his dying wish to rescue his sister. Upon finding Kaoru at a party working as a geisha and later rescuing her from committing suicide, Col. Miyagi allows her to move in with him. Over time, the two grow close, but in spite of Kaoru's growing feelings for him, Col. Miyagi is unable to bring himself to return her love. On the night of his deployment to war, Col. Miyagi finally admits his feelings for Kaoru, but will they ever be able to enjoy a peaceful life together now that a very violent and bloody military revolt is under way...
The Revolt
1980
NRA pair of black-robed thieves who robbed many wealthy merchants in Edo one after another. One of them is a young woman who is called "Aoi no Kozo" because she always takes off her skin to show the tattoo on her back. The target of the robbers was the Kogi, and in particular, the big stores that were under the control of Hotta Bizen. Itami Hanzo, a Doshin known as "Kamisori Hanzo" discovers when he tracks down the Aoi no Kozo! What is the truth?!
Hanzo: The Razor
1984
6.8The story revolves around Ogino, who is in the last year of his medical studies. Between lectures, exams, on field training, his commitment as a pro-reformist militant and his girlfriend, Ogino is starting to wonder if he's really cut out to be a doctor.
Disciples of Hippocrates
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
4.8Based on the popular comic, “Shonan Bakusozoku” illustrates the lives of high school bike fanatics.
Bomber Bikers of Shonan
1987
8.3A police procedural surrounding murder at a bookstore and the private lives of the cops trying to solve the case.
Lonely Heart
1981
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Yakyuukyou no Uta
1985
7.6A star tennis player takes revenge on the blackmailers out to ruin his athletic career.
The Hidden Trail of the Beasts
1981
9.0Don Matsugoro and his son Don Jr fight against a disgustingly reach family who tries to take over a kid's playground called Children Land.
Don Matsugoro's Big Adventure
1987
NRA yakuza family goes into show business.
A Madcap Corporation
1983
NRMomoko Watanabe—a student who, upon visiting a shrine in order to wish good luck on a friend of hers, witnesses a murder in the forest...and she knows the culprit! Unfortunately, she doesn't have it in her to tell anybody about it, and to make matters worse, said aforementioned friend gets accused of the murder.
Sotsugyou -GRADUATION-
1985
8.2Ichijoji is a street punk who stumbles across Mari and her cat. Mari and Ichijoji immediately fall in love but are chased by both yakuza and corrupt cops.
The Shinjuku Love Story
1987
6.6A student travels back to Kobe for the summer. Once there, he meets his friend Rat, hangs on the usual place, listening to the Beach Boys and meets a mysterious twin girl.
Hear the Wind Sing
1981
3.5Based on the comic book series of the same name by Yûsuke Aoyagi.
The First Catch
1980
5.2A bizarre medical exam of a nude woman by several doctors and scientists reveals that their latest subject has committed suicide before giving birth to one of the mutant creatures they had placed within her body. So, an investigative crew of scientists (along with a large human mutant cyclops creature) heads out to the city streets to obtain a new donor/victim in the form of a young girl. Gore and Z-Grade mayhem ensue.
Cyclops
1987
5.3Two high school girls get mixed up in murder while investigating the disappearance of a classmate.
Summer Secrets
1982
7.0Shinza is known for his stubborn personality and continues to hold a low-ranking position as a magistrate, despite his colleague Kato becoming the deputy chief retainer. His daughter has feelings for Hachiro, one of her father's subordinates, but she is afraid to express her emotions because of Shinza's intimidating presence. One day, Shinza gets involved in a violent incident within the castle.
The Eccentric Shinza
1987
8.0Detective Nishina Sosuke, the director of the Metropolitan Police Department's Investigation Division 1, is suddenly attacked by a trio of men at his apartment at midnight. When he regains consciousness, the corpse of a foreigner shot with his pistol lies in front of him. Nishina, with the help of his friend and newspaper reporter Mineshima, who believes in his innocence and vows to cooperate, pursues the incident and reveals a conspiracy related with 5,000 kilograms of gold that disappeared at the end of the WW2.
Fossilized Wilderness
1982
10.0Shohei Taguchi is a salaryman who works for a securities company and loves women like no other. One day, he plans to use the cash borrowed from the gangsters and snatch to repay his debt . However, Sayoko Mukai, who said that she used the money of the company for gambling , took over the money. Shohei and Sayoko plan a robbery and steal cash from the gallery, but another man steals it.
Stay or go?
1988
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
10.0Comedy film.
Golf Before Dawn
1987
6.4Detective Seiji Otaki is determined to find the psychopathic killer of a young woman who was ostensibly a student but in reality a high-priced prostitute. Even though he has been taken off the case for beating up a suspect, he refuses to let it go and recruits his mistress to act as a decoy for the killer. Her involvement turns out to be a fatal mistake, and when her husband gets out of prison, Detective Otaki is in worse trouble than ever.
The Dropout
1982
1970s · 17 titles
6.2A tough prosecutor is falsely accused of theft and goes on the run to clear his name. He is assisted by the beautiful daughter of a rich man.
Manhunt
1976
7.5A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Lady Snowblood
1973
7.1After being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
1972
7.2Expelled from her group for losing her virginity, blind travelling musician Orin endures a life of hardship, abuse, and poverty while wandering the countryside, finding brief companionship with an army deserter, and struggling against a society that marginalises her.
Ballad of Orin
1977
6.6When a lone traveller stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.
Demon Pond
1979
5.8Junko Miyashita plays a mysterious hitchhiker picked up by a brute of a construction worker named Kenzo who takes her back to his run-down and cramped apartment in a not so good part of town. Claiming that she is running away from an abusive husband, she shacks up with him. In a futile attempt to escape the bleak working class surroundings, the pair engage in an obsessive erotic relationship.
The Woman with Red Hair
1979
6.5Though his parents help him run the family business, Jun still feels persecuted by their love; when they bar him from meeting with his girlfriend, tensions increase.
The Youth Killer
1976
7.5The second movie of Tôru Murakawa's "Game" trilogy. After making a sensational hit, a hitman has gone into hiding for five years. When he comes back he bumps into two women that he has spared five years ago. Two rival yakuza bosses hire Narumi to kill the other. Will Narumi's sense of chivalry entrap him again?
The Killing Game
1978
6.3The first movie of Tôru Murakawa’s “Game” trilogy, in which an assassin hired to recover a kidnap victim becomes embroiled in a vicious power struggle between two large corporations over a sizable government defence contract.
The Most Dangerous Game
1978
7.3Elite college graduates commit perfect financial crimes though loopholes in the law during the 1950s.
Dead Angle
1979
5.4Tateo, young and neurotic, wishes to leave the village his mother has raised him in.
Preparation for the Festival
1975
5.3A bad cop is engaged in a violent chase to catch a yakuza boss. In his absence his wife runs away with another man, who turns out to be the very same man that her husband is hunting. Once he discovers this, he loses his nerve and turns in his badge. But the chase turns into a personal vendetta where the ex-cop plans to wipe out the entire gang.
Outlaw Cop
1976
6.7In feudal Japan, women are vulnerable, in need of protection, and capable of deception. Jokichi of Mikogami, a drifter, has not yet fully revenged the death of his wife and son. He searches for Kunisada Chuji, who in turn has hired the knife-throwing Windmill Kobunji to kill him. Kobunji and Jokichi meet in the winter, near Sasago Pass, when both have rescued women: Jokichi has saved the lute-playing Oyae whose clan and whose lover want her dead; Kobunji has rescued Oharu, a well-born woman married to an innkeeper. Is this rescue a whim or something deeper? And why does Jokichi become the consumptive Kobunji's protector? What ultimately will Jokichi do about Oyae?
Slaughter in the Snow
1973
6.4At a seaside city somewhere in the Tohoku area, the corpses of Nozomi, daughter of an affluent family, and Yamazaki, son of an engineer at the local nuclear power-plant, are found tied-to on a beach, as if they intended to commit double suicide. Nogami, a reporter, begins to investigate.
Lost Love
1978
6.2A plot to steal money from gangsters leads to trouble...
No Grave for Us
1979
4.6A policewoman is attacked, handcuffed and raped while on night patrol. Rather than report the incident, she decides to find and punish the rapist herself.
Attacked!!
1978
6.7Can a sinful man change and find peace? It's unlikely in gang-plagued Japan. Jokichi of Mikogami, a drifter (and hired sword), goes straight after protecting a woman in distress: they marry, have a son, and Jokichi pursues his father's craft. After three years, the gangs he embarrassed when he saved his wife find the family and leave Jokichi in grief, vowing revenge. To parry his terrible swift sword, rival gangs join forces, hiring a prostitute to pose as a woman needing help and breaking the code of honor to double cross the drifter. He finds unlikely allies: a thief who aids him for fun and a one-eyed swordsman who may be Jokichi's equal in skill and honor.
The Trail of Blood
1972
Series credits
7.5Detective 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
7.8Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and actors as the main characters. While horror and supernatural themes are predominant, a variety of genres like comedy and drama are also produced. Most episodes, however, have a bad ending.
Tales of the Bizarre
1990
7.4Dr. 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
9.3After participating to a previous show where they have to bet or be challenged to any kind of competitions, the losing members of the Gaki no Tsukai are selected to spend 24 hours in a setting which they have no knowledge of the theme nor the course of the events. They are exposed to various absurd and crazy situations nonstop for 24 hours and must refrain from laughing. If they do so, hang-men appear and hit the rule breakers with a weapon (the weapon varies every year).
Gaki no Tsukai No Laughing Batsu Game
2003
8.3Princess 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
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tanaka Express 3
2007
Set in a general hospital in Tokyo, this drama depicts a woman and a nurse who are about to retire from active duty and continue to work day and night at the "scene of life."
At the Scene of Life
1992
No synopsis available yet.
Shizukanaru Don
1994
7.0A 13-episode series where Maki Yoko plays the lead role in stand alone episodes. She plays a wife, a hostess, a student. Not only does each episode have a different story, but the styles vary widely from comedy to gangster drama.
Weekly Yoko Maki
2008
NRBased on Kazuo Koike's extensive manga (over 110 volumes), this Edo-period drama follows an unlikely pair of law enforcement officers. One is a serious, skilled investigator, while the other is a witty, unconventional problem-solver, creating a dynamic partnership. The series also features the charmingly unorthodox detective Suruyoshi in a notable period drama debut. A memorable and catchy soundtrack complements the engaging stories brought to life by a large and talented cast.
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
6.3The drama depicts an ordinary high school student growing up by becoming a yakuza head.
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun
1982
Suspense Drama Series
Kyoto Josei Kisha Series
1988
NRThe special drama depicts the sad and joyful life of a single-minded izakaya owner in a small yakitori restaurant.
Izakaya Chōji
1992
No synopsis available yet.
Watashi no Aozura
2000

