Yôichi Higashi

A third baseman in a high school baseball team has a friend Shinbunbu who is an editor for the school news paper. Third and Shinbunbu embark on a plan to make money by Third becoming a pimp and Shinbunbu a prostitute. (imdb)

Pastoral Japan serves as the backdrop for this delightful film based on the autobiography of children's book illustrator Seizo Tashima and his twin brother, Yukihiko. Set shortly after World War II, the movie chronicles the pair's exploits as 8-year-olds (played by Keigo and Shogo Matsuyama). With an undercurrent of growing pains, the twins do what boys typically do: skinny-dip, go angling and cause mischief as they explore the world around them. (Netflix)

Mariko is living the life of a typical Japanese college student in the 70's, spending far more of her time balancing boyfriends and part-time jobs than on her schoolwork. She finds herself torn between a former boyfriend who's the tough, insensitive-but-sexy, type, and a new acquaintance who's more sensitive to her feelings, but who still acts childishly selfish at times. (imdb)

Natsuko is a woman of 20 who feels entrapped in her long-running relationship with another man--she wants out of a "nowhere" life and into something better.

In 1922, Zenkoku Suiheisha (National Levelers Association) organized and started fighting for burakumin civil rights. Though these rigid categories may have blurred since the 1600s, and despite the Zenkoku's modern successors, the stigma of being a burakumin still remains today. In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the struggle, director Yoichi Higashi spins this tale about two boys who endure a daily torrent of prejudice for their lowly lineage, but grow up to fight for their rights. (Jonathan Crow)

Toma Seikichi, 70, makes his living fishing from a small boat off the coast of Okinawa. He and his 12-year-old grandson Akira live in a small, tree-lined village in the northern part of the island which is surrounded by a white-sand beach and plots of pine and flowering bushes. (KG)

War photjournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara (Tadanobu Asano) married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda (Hiromi Nagasaku) and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. (KG)

Tamako is a 13-year-old girl in her first year at high school. Her grandfather (Kenzo) returns home from prison and proceeds to deal with her school bullies. As Tamako starts to gain respect for her grandfather the pair find themselves being summoned by the local Yakuza leader. (imdb)

Straight to video erotic drama starring Asami

Love Letter illustrates a retrograde societal schema in which the recluse woman exists only through her man. Thus the dramatic turning point equates a flirtation of the abandoned lover with a betrayal of a man who does not bother with such considerations. The film portrait attempts to show the boredom and idleness of a cloistered and dependent woman.

Sayoko has moved away from the city centre and into the suburbs. She gets her hair done at a beauty salon. When she replies to a courtesy follow-up e-mail from the stylist things take an unexpected turn involving her visiting the home of the stylist, her husband and the barber's girlfriend. (imdb)

The story of the rise and fall of a young courtesan. (imdb)

Based on the book by Keiko Ochiai, "The Rape" details the struggles and determination of a young woman who is attacked and raped on her way home from her lover's and shows how she comes to terms with the crime and the perpetrator in life and in court.