Shin'ichirô Sawai

In April 1895, the talented young Rentaro Taki comes to Tokyo from his home in Kyushu to enrol in the prestigious National Academy of Music. Hoping to become a pianist, he meets another student there, Yuki Nakano, who shares the same aspirations. With his elder classmate Suzuki's encouragement, Rentaro practices furiously to perfect his technique, but loses his health in the process.

When she wins a small supporting role in a play, a young actress is disappointed, but fate tempts her with another shot at stardom.

Takanosuke Ushio and Tae Horikawa are unable to forget each other, even though they met and fell in love 20 years ago. They had promised each other that they would build a retreat in Shiguretei, but Ushio was hospitalized after a stroke a few days later, and when his wife, Takako, rushed to the hospital, she discovered their love affair, which in reality had not gone beyond kissing... (imdb)

A university student Hitomi falls in love with a middle-aged man Okawa, who was the lover of her deceased mother. Hitomi's feelings shift back and forth as she is not sure whether it is true love or just a realization of her mother's romantic dream... (imdb)

Four seemingly ordinary men—a hairdresser, a doctor, a chef, and an acrobat—secretly fight injustice as elite agents in Edo-era Japan.