Choichiro Kawarazaki

The story centers on an elderly hibakusha, who lost her husband in the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, caring for her four grandchildren over the summer. She learns of a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies. American film star Richard Gere appears as Suzujiro's son Clark.

The tragic story of Gonza, a handsome ladies man, set in the Tokagawa Period, a time in which appearences are very important... (imdb)

The Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island to drill a well to provide water for the sugar mill. He is assisted on the island by Kametaro, from the inbred Futori family. Nekichi Futori is chained in a pit that he has to dig, in order to appease the gods for breaking island customs... (imdb)

Based on a novel by Kafu Nagai, this movie uses a short story of the same name, and at the same time infused it with real diary entries of Kafu's as well, making it seem like an amalgamation of his life and that pre-war story. Some however, have claimed that it's solely based on the novel, and the director Kaneto Shindo had changed the protagonist to the author himself. (imdb)

Starving Christian peasants, oppressed by landowners and samurai alike, rise up, led by a teenage boy called Shiro, against the Shogunate. (American Cinematheque)

IF YOU WERE YOUNG: RAGE, follows five hopeful youths who arrive in Tokyo with dreams of a brighter future. What they encounter, instead, is a troubled society that seems intent on destroying them. Fukasaku's film is a startling expose condemning the class and social hypocrisies that plague many postwar nations. (Yahoo! Movies)

A minister unofficially asks a samurai to lead a squad of assassins to eliminate an annoying Lord. Director Eiichi Kudo plays with the absurdity of the feudal system; where loyalty and honor are used to enslave men; where samurais are only tools of the political game. (asiatorrents.com)

Bushido, a.k.a. "The Way of the Warrior" is the chivalrous code of the samurai that has influenced the Japanese way-of-life for centuries. This epic film spans several generations of a typical samurai family, and illustrates the intricate system of loyalty, honor and sacrifice which bound the samurai in ages past, and which, in many ways, persists to this very day. (amazon)

The literal translation of the Japanese title is "The Great Killing" and, as you might guess, it delivers in spades. Director Eiichi Kudo (THIRTEEN ASSASSINS) helmed this stark samurai allegory of the radical student movement in early sixties Japan and captures this feeling perfectly without sledgehammer proselytizing. A reform activist (Kotaro Satomi) is pulled into a violent fray when an acquaintance hunted by government troops hides in his house. (AvZ)

The Sun Goddess responsible for the founding of Japan is seen as conniving woman Himiko, who rules a small portion of the Japanese islands in the third century through her influence over several powerful men. When she is killed for reasons of political expediency, the film zooms back to reveal her mourners as figures in modern-day Japan. (allmovie.com)

All of the Tora-san movies had the same basic plot with some minor variations. Kuruma Torajirō (or Tora-san), a traveling salesman whose sole possessions include only the contents of a small suitcase, the clothes on his back and some pocket money, wanders from town to town peddling his wares. He yearns to return to his home in Shibamata, Katsushika, Tokyo.

This is a classic early Japanese Ninja movie. The Iga ninjas are a dying breed as Toyotomis rule allows Japan to experience some peace. Juzo, an Iga ninja who had vowed revenge for the death of his family, is hired by a rich weapons merchant to assassinate Toyotomi, restarting his quest for blood. In his way are rival ninja, and his once best friend who has decided to become a government vassal. The main plot centers around the conflicts that confront Juzo... (imdb)

An old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death. (imdb)

"Fightin' Tatsu the Rickshaw Man" (...) injects a lighter note into a yakuza tale as fiercely free-spirited Tatsu (Ryohei Uchida) arrives in Osaka in 1898 from Edo with the first rubber-wheeled rickshaw the city has ever seen. Far from happy about his arrival is the Nishikawa yakuza clan, which has a lock on the rickshaw business emanating from the busy main train station (...) (articles.latimes.com)

Osaka in the early 1600s, aftermath of the historical Battle of Sekigahara; a group of orphan children are wandering through the battlefield scavenging for armour when they encounter a young boy named Sasuke with magical powers he says came from a meteor that crashed onto the Earth. (imdb)

During the winter in Toyama in 1962, Tatsuo Mizushima is fretting about his feelings for his classmate Eiko Tsujisawa while agonizing about his upcoming high school examinations. When he was little, he and Eiko had heard that in April of a year when the winter has been very harsh, any couple finding fireflies together needs to get married. However, his family's situation does not allow Tatsuo to continue his worrying about such things for very much longer... (letterboxd)

Six siblings are quarreling over who will take Grandma and get her money, when the black sheep of the family returns home. (worldcat.org)

The great Okawa Hashizo plays a double role in this thrilling tale of intrigue and corruption within the capital city of Edo. When Moriya Shuma, an injured Edo officer is rescued by a vassal whose appears to be his exact double, he swears to sweep out all the criminals from the city. Directed by one of Japan's most revered filmmakers, Nakagawa Nobuo, this story is filled with twists and turns, and loaded with surprises. Plenty of realistic swordplay highlights this exciting motion picture. (imdb)

Period piece about a young man who, because of his hard life alone in the world, has become a yakuza. When he hears that his mother may be living in Edo (Tokyo), he travels there, intent on finding her and leaving the swordsman's life behind. But a team of rival gangsters is hot on his heels. (themoviedb)

After leaving high school, Michio Yamada (Norio Nagayama in the real life incidents) becomes involved in the shudan shushoku, a post-war Japanese government work program which involves taking almost an entire high school graduating class from the countryside to Tokyo to work for a fruit company. Some terrible things happened to his family in the past and that explains why Michio came later to have perpetrated so many killings. (imdb)

A soldier deserts his position and travels to a small town on the Sea of Japan to start over. When a young maid falls for him, he talks her into sleeping with an older man for money. The woman is told by a Geisha that she gave up her virginity cheaply. The resort town begins to feel the influence of the modern world as the sabre-rattling that preceded World War II begins to change their lives forever.

A man meets a girl in the city. He falls in love with the chick. She claims she has fallen head over heels for him. She moves in with him. Returning home one day there is a man in their room. The man is lying down. He tells them he is an insurance salesman and he has stomachache. He has made himself at home. The three become room-mates. (imdb)

A headstrong young man seeks to join the Shinsengumi, but while his determination impresses his superiors, questions begin to arise as to his true identity and intentions.

Based on the life of Japanese serial killer and thief Kiyotaka Katsuta.