Hirofumi Arai

Juzo Murasaki (Shun Oguri) is a young man traumatized by his experience of bullying at school. He returns to his hometown and takes a job on a building site with his old nemesis Toru Akai (Hirofumi Arai). But Juzo's trauma has created a monster; he harbors a second personality, Neighbor No. 13 (Shido Nakamura), a vicious, brutal and disfigured character intent on exacting a painful revenge on his bully. (asianwiki.com)

Another addition to the already well-populated Japanese high school genre movie. Instead of aiming for bloody carnage or ghost stories, instead it's much more of a character-driven movie, examining the dynamics of adolescent boys' power disaffection and their struggles to prove themselves as the toughest/strongest/meanest/hardest/scariest in the school. (Mandiapple.com)

A wild - at times bloody - story about a guy from the North Korean community in Japan, who tries to find out what his roots are and where he belongs to. Sugihara speaks Japanese, he looks like an ordinary Japanese punk and has Japanese friends - but he is different... (IMDB Comments)

Based on a novel by one of Japan's greatest writers, Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Mild-mannered and earnest Minoru helps out with the family business, a gas station in Yamanashi prefecture. His younger brother Takeshi works as a photographer in Tokyo. However, their worlds are turned upside down by an apparent murder on a suspension bridge that holds many memories for the both of them. (Yahoo! Movies)

The story of Tsuneo, a college student who meets a young girl named Josee with Cerebral Palsy. Despite their differences, the two develop a close relationship. But will the gap between them prove to be too wide to bridge (asiacue.com)

In 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody... (imdb)

Wise and deliciously witty, Ryosuke Hashiguchi's film chronicles eight years of a marriage: the easy-going husband becomes a courtroom artist, while his high-strung wife nearly has a breakdown. (sensasian.com)

Traveling blind masseurs Tokuichi and Fukuichi are on the go from season to season, offering their services at hot spring mountain resorts and spas. Though unable to see, Tokuichi is extremely sensitive, able to deduce intimate details about people from sounds, scents, and touch. Arriving at his latest inn, Tokuichi takes an interest in two mysterious clients - Tokyo beauty Michiho who slowly steals his heart, and Omura, also from Tokyo, who is accompanied by his bored, mischievous nephew.. (http://community.livejournal.com/smapxsmap/246363.html)

A collection of short films, each by a different Japanese director.

A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death. (imdb)

Seeking an honorable end, poverty-stricken samurai Hanshiro(Ebizo Ichikawa) requests to commit hara-kiri in the courtyard of feudal lord Kageyu's estate.Trying to dismiss Hanshiro's wish to save face, Kageyu(Koji Yakusho) recounts the tragic story of a similar plea years ago from young ronin Motome(Eita). But the arrogant lord is unaware of vengeful Hanshiro's bond to Motome. The film is a remake of the 1962 feature directed by Masaki Kobayashi based on the novel by Yasuhiko Takiguchi. (ropeofsilicon.com)

Rou returns to the rural seminary farm where he studied as a boy and was molested by priests. Rou has recently had a history of violence, and he brings this anger to the seminary, triggering a series of atrocities within the seemingly peaceful retreat -- indeed, much of Whispering consists of sequences of sexual perversion that allow Omori to comment on the cycle of abuse and how the distortion of sexuality and spirituality can create hell on earth. (mubi.com)

"Kenta to Jun to Kayo-chan no Kuni" tells the story of two men, Kenta & Jun, who grew up as almost brothers at a children's facility. Kenta & Jun now works as part of a demolition crew but become fed up with their jobs. The friends then decide to take a road trip up north to visit Kenta's brother at the Abashiri prison. (Asian Media Wiki)

Based on a well-known Japanese legend, the story concerns the sage-masseur Oguri (Tatsuya Nakamura), who is summoned by ailing King Daio (Kiyohiko Shibukawa). Despite receiving superlative treatment, the king is insulted by Oguri's casual attitude toward death, so he poisons the healer. In the afterlife, Oguri chooses to come back to this world--as an infant.

"Box" Hakamada Jiken Inochi Towa is a movie that constructs without judging, observes without complain, tells a long story without claiming anything. This is a story about judging, and about the true statement that "when you judge someone, you are under judgment as well". (imdb)

Moteki is the story of a 31 year-old virgin Yukiyo Fujimoto, a young fellow with no money, no aspirations and no girlfriend. Leaving his temp job, he decides to finally get a life and lands a job as a writer for an Internet news site. But love continues to elude him. At the nadir of his loneliness and social isolation, comes the arrival of his "Moteki" - a period of sexual magnetism and romantic irreversibility.

Hard-boiled Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano returns with the sequel to his 2010 yakuza thriller. (tiff.net)

Top model Lilico undergoes multiple cosmetic surgeries to her entire body. She's looked upon as an icon for beauty. As her multiple surgeries begins to take its toll, Lilico makes the lives of those around her miserable as she tries to deal with career and personal problems. (AsianWiki)

A widower sends daily reminders to the petty criminal who killed his wife in a traffic accident that on the anniversary of her death, he will kill him. (imdb)

The body of a child is found near the house of a seemingly ordinary couple: Shunsuke and Kanako Ozaki. The baby's mother is arrested as the prime suspect, but it doesn't take long for the police to consider Shunsuke a person of interest. (japansociety.org)

Ichiko lives the life of a hikikomori (shut-in) at her parents' home. However, when her sister gets a divorce and moves back home, Ichiko decides to move out and live on her own because they don't get along. The only minor happiness in Ichiko's dreary life is working at the 100-yen store where she can catch glimpses of an aging boxer named Yuuji practicing at a nearby gym. (imdb)

From midnight to 5 AM, people gather at a high-end apartment in Roppongi to engage in promiscuous sexual activity. Story depicts the process of the men and women who meet for the first time there to have loveless sex. (imdb)

Moritaka Mashiro, a junior high student, forgets his notebook in class. His classmate Akito Takagi, notes Mashiro's drawings in it and asks him to become a manga artist to his stories. (imdb)

A timid young woman who lives with her domineering mother accepts an Adult Video scout's offer to "become somebody else" by performing in porn videos. As she rises in popularity, the boundaries between her two lives begin to disintegrate. (imdb)

A smart high school student falls in love with her new handsome English teacher after she begins to receive one-on-one tutoring from him. (imdb)

Based on the true story "Aka Medaka" (Red Medaka) by Danshun Tatekawa (published April, 2008 by Fusosha Publishing). (asianwiki)

News about the disappearance of panties is covered every day." Kyosuke (Ryohei Suzuki) still wears Aiko Completo (Fumika Shimizu) panties to battle evil. Meanwhile, Aiko has mixed emotions and decide to get her panties back from Kyosuke. Kyosuke suffers from the loss of Aiko completo panties and disappears. The biggest enemy yet appears in front of Kyosuke... (imdb)

A group of friends from high school days reunite for once more time before one of them are going to die from cancer. (imdb)

During the Edo period, a gifted swordsman was exiled from his clan when he questioned the misconduct of his leader. Years after, his dying wife wish was for him to go back to his clan. (themoviedb)

Shoji Segawa was a quiet and inconspicuous boy, but, for the first time, he is recognized by people after winning the National Middle School Shogi Tournament. At the age of 26, his dream of becoming a professional shogi player collapses due to an age restriction. After he quits playing shogi, he becomes desperate. With the support of his peers, including Yuya Suzuki, and his love of shogi, Shoji Segawa begins to play shogi again. A miracle happens to him. (themoviedb)

In the not distant future Japan has again experienced a nuclear incident and is gradually becoming uninhabitable. The entire population has to evacuate before being deluged by radiation poisoning. To achieve this a ticketing system has been implemented. Not prioritized is an immigrant to Japan whose closest friend to begin with in the dying country is not even alive. (imdb)

A young man has graduated from college and already secured a job. With his free days fast dwindling he opts to put his available time to good use by bicycling around Japan. The trip is interrupted when he crashes his bicycle into a lorry only to be taken to a local establishment for on-site treatment. Told from the vantage point of an older man's memory, the journey recalls the meeting, the locals, their relationships and environment.

A woman who's had a hard life is convicted of arson-murder and is sentenced to hang. Her childhood friends cannot believe she'd do this and rally round but, while imprisoned on Death Row, she refuses all aid. Why? Series tells her life story alternating between "now" and past incidents related to her childhood and school friends going right from childhood innocence to "today". (Personal synopsis)

A man is trying to flee from his past, and he ends up in an underworld filled with strange characters. He finds a job skewering meat in a dirty old room in a shabby old house filled with prostitutes, gangsters and a weird old tattoo master. He clearly doesn't fit in to this new world, and the inhabitants of it immediately despise him.

A big secret is intertwined with 5 murders that occur at different times & locations. Firstly a shooting at an apartment. When senior officer Kizaki (Takahashi Issei), rushes over upon hearing gunshots, his senior Omura (Murakami Jun) is already there. Suspects are narrowed down through legwork & forensics, but Kizaki feels that there is more. Before long, a girl (Kaho) with some sort of connection to the case emerges. This is only ep1, from there it gets ever more complicated (DramaWiki & me)

Ryota Tsuboi is a producer for a CM production company. His wife Sae is a food stylist. She is also enthusiastic about her daughter Moe's education and her work. Ryota goes to Nagano to see his father. There he has a strange meeting. (imdb)