Keiko Takeshita

Gakko tells a simple heartwarming story of a group of students and their teacher, in one of the public night schools in Japan providing them education at the Junior High level. With night schools, you know that the students are working adults, and the narrative takes its time to dwell on the characters' backgrounds, and their interactions with the teacher, how he helped them in their times of need, or simply being the beacon of hope for them. (imdb)

Tora-san, the näive and romantic peddler, returns once more to his home in Hokkaido where, as usual, he falls in love with a lovely young lady. The girl this time is Rinko Ueno, who has come home in an attempt to repair her relationship with her gruff veterinarian father, Junkichi 'Jun' Ueno. Tora-san gets caught up in the entanglements not only between Rinko and her father but between Dr. Ueno and Etsuko, a restauranteur with amorous plans for the ornery veterinarian. (imdb)

In the year 2772, a young cadet is sent to capture a mystical universal Phoenix, which possesses the power to rejuvenate the drained Earth. (imdb)

An aspiring writer tries to find a way to escape his life in a small village.

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty. (imdb)

Following in his father's footsteps, anime director Goro Miyazaki sets his story of young love and student protest against the period of Japanese modernization and revitalization ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. With charm and tragedy, Miyazaki takes a nostalgic look back at a time when the preservation of the past clashed with progress for the future. (tiff.net)

A look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II. (imdb)

When his travels bring him to Western Japan, Tora-san decides to pay his respects to the late Hyoichiro Suwa, his sister's father-in-law. He gets drunk with the priest at the temple, falling in love with the priest's daughter in the process. When the priest is too hung-over to deliver a eulogy the next morning, Tora-san takes his place, with great success. Tora-san's sister and his brother-in-law's family show up for Hyoichiro Suwa's memorial service, and an argument breaks out over his estate.

During his wandering throughout Japan, Tora-san meets a suicidal man. He travels with the man to Vienna, but winds up homesick for Japan.

A prince falls in love with a princess cursed to change into a swan by day, but their love is threatened by the sorcerer who keeps her imprisoned. (imdb)

Hi no Tori is a collection of stories that all have something in common. The Phoenix, whose blood is believed to give an eternal life to one who drinks it. Therefore many seek to kill it, but as the Phoenix of the tale, it's reborn from the ashes. Stories take place in future and the past, where humans fight with each other as always, and everyone is afraid to die. But still, every story teaches a lesson: Life is beginning of an eternity, an never-ending cycle. (myanimelist.net)

UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them. (imdb)

Japanese coming of age youth film. (themoviedb)

The mega-corporate Daedalus Group is under attack by a small group of activists known as the Ghost of Icarus. While taking care of some of the victims of the bombing, Black Jack encounters Dr. Kiriko, also known as Death Incarnate, who just like him, asks his patients huge sums of money but instead of saving them, he offers them a painless death.

Kyoshiro rescues Shizu who was being abused by her husband, even since she had been violated by the man posing as Ieyoshi. He then learned that Ieyoshi had been acting oddly ever since returning from Kyoto six months ago. Sir Fumiya's investigation of the O'oku (Shogun's harem in Edo Castle) uncovered the plot and reported that Sir Higo-no-Kami had been controlling the fraud. That's when Kyoshiro heads to Kyoto to find clues... (themoviedb)

Sakai Nobunari an Elder in 'Honmaru'and Mizuno Tadakuni an Elder in 'Nishinomaru' have been at odds behind the scenes over the marriage of Tokugawa Ieyoshi, heir to the Shogunate. Kyoshiro, who has come back in Edo after 3 years is involved in it against his will. It's because he gets to know Lady Mihoyo who is a spy for Sakai and looks exactly like his late mother. As she couldn't complete her mission she has nowhere to go. Kyoshiro shelters her from both parties that seek her life. (themoviedb