Shinobu Ôtake

A railway stationmaster at a dying end-of-the-line village in Hokkaido is haunted by memories of his dead wife and daughter. When the railroad line is scheduled to be closed, he is offered a job at a hotel, but he is emotionally unable to part with his career as a railroader. His life takes a turn when he meets a young woman with an interest in trains who resembles his daughter.

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)

A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young girl who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera (imdb)

Young and handsome Ryunosuke Kusunoki is a new arrival in a Hokkaido village, to which his government official father, Mr. Kusonoki, has been sent to acquire land to push through a new airport. Mr. Kusunoki must persuade the resistant farm community to do his bidding. Ryunosuke has his own problems trying to fit in at his new school. (Yahoo! Movies)

Five women snatch one billion yen in jewellery from the yakuza, while construction manager Toyama burns for revenge against the mobsters who raped and caused the death of his wife. Before long, the yakuza and Toyama arrive at the women's hideout... (AsianMediaWiki)

A thriller set in contemporary Japan. (imdb)

A widow who has raised her autistic son decides to return to school.

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)

Jiro is a man who can do anything for you for a price. Part odd jobs man and part private eye he takes on tasks as simple as clearing out storage lockers to tracking down lost items. That's what he's asked to do by a beautiful young woman (Hiroko Satô) who shows up at his warehouse living space one afternoon. This young woman asks Jiro to help her track down a lost Rolex watch that she says was accidentally thrown out of a helicopter while she was scattering the ashes of her late father.

Towards the end of the war, one hundred middle-aged soldiers were sent to the frontline according to lots drawn by their superior officer. On the night of the lottery, a soldier, expecting to be killed in action, leaves a postcard from his wife with Keita Matsuyama. The card tells, "It is the festival today, but the air feels empty without your presence." The soldier asks Keita to let his wife know that he had read the postcard. (mubi.com)

Based on a manga which is in turn based on the writer's real life, "My Darling is a Foreigner" tells the quirky story of a Japanese woman and an American man as they enter into a relationship and eventually marry. Saori (Mao Inoue) is a manga artist. She meets language geek Tony (Jonathan Sherr), who has arrived in Japan after falling in love with the language. As the couple become closer, Saori is inundated with strange questions about the language from Tony. (asianwiki.com)

The year is 1575 in feudal Japan. Oda Nobunaga's (Kippei Shiina) forces defeat Takeda Katsuyori, when Nagashino Castle was besieged during the Battle of Nagashino. The next year Oda Nobunada decides to build a lavish new castle symbolizing his unification of various factions. The castle named Azuchi Castle will be built near water and high enough to be seen from the capital city of Kyoto. (asianwiki)

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

Tora-san plays at matchmaker, trying to arrange a romance between Ryōsuke and Sachiko. His advice proves disastrous and Tora-san instead falls in love with Ryōsuke's sister.

A young girl meets the Spirits of the Twelve Months when she is sent out during a winter snowstorm to collect galanthus, a flower that blooms in April. (imdb)

A meek agent at the Showa Life Insurance company receives a phone call from a customer who says that she's planning to commit suicide and wants to know if her policy will pay out. Concerned about her safety, the agent visits her house only to find that her young son has hanged himself. As he investigates further, more and more people connected with this family start having "accidents," and if he's not careful, he might be next. (imdb)

Yuna lives on a remote island in Okinawa, 360 kilometres from the mainland. There is no high school on the island, which means that every teenager must leave in the spring of the year they turn 15 to attend school on the mainland. It is Yuna's turn to leave this year, and as leader of her school's traditional musical group, she is preparing to sing the customary farewell song expressing gratitude to the island and her family. (japanesefilmfestival.net)

Four women try to cope with the fact that their father, though in his 70's, has taken a lover, despite continuing to live together with their mother. In the meantime the sisters have to deal with their own relationships as well.

Dramatic story of one man trying to make a difference. (imdb)

A mother and her daughter discover an unusual way to make money.

Based on The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, a strange flower grants a girl magic powers. (imdb)

The 95-year-old director shot the film in his hometown of Ishiuchi, Hiroshima. The story is based on a teacher he had when he was a child. (letterboxd)

Parents campaign to change the law for families who have suffered from violent crime, after their son is murdered.

A modern adaptation of Narayamabushi-ko, The Ballad of Narayama. (imdb)

A young girl befriends an infant T-rex after her paleontologist father nurtures a lair of lost dinosaur eggs.

The story of a mother and daughter and their lives aboard a boat in a fishing town.

The story is about an extramarital affair between the wife of an estate agent and a 22-year-old man.