Movies: Shōwa era 1926 89

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship....

In the midst of an attempt to take over his company, a powerhouse executive is hit with a huge ransom demand when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake....

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with th...

Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her....

Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wi...

Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a musician and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female rel...

Vegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily bas...

The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet and rustic man is tested by a marital crisis....

Before he hit it big, Takeshi Kitano got his start apprenticing with comedy legend Fukami of Asakusa. But as his star rises, his mentor's declines....

Teenage Mutsuko comes to Tokyo for work but ends up at a repair shop. She befriends the owner's family. Neighbors Hiromi, writer Chagawa with admirer Junnosuke strive alongside them in postwar Tokyo's evolution....

Terajima Mikako became a boys volleyball team coach at a junior high school she has been assigned to. As an incentive for the team members who do not show the slightest enthusiasm, she promises to show them her boobs if they win a game....

Set in 1988 in Hiroshima, Japan, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. A rumor exists that Detective Shogo Ogami has ties with the yakuza. He is partnered with Detective Shuichi Hioka and they investigate a missing person case invol...

A young girl named Oshin is sent to work for another family, because of her own family's financial condition. Nevertheless, the young girl lives strongly....

It is the early 1930s and the command of the Japanese Imperial Navy determines to construct the world's biggest and most formidable battleship, Yamato. One of the admirals, Yamamoto Isoroku, disagrees. He recruits the upstart and mathematics' expert ...

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for...

A woman and her daughter are each forced to contend with an increasing pressure to marry, particularly from three men who knew her late husband....

Two different students—a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent—form a friendship through their love of jazz music....

This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms. It paints a vivid portrait of the pre-war lifestyle of the wealthy Makioka family from Osaka, and draws a parallel be...

Set in Shizuoka and Tokyo, Japan in the late 1980's. Takkun is a university student in Shizuoka attempting to find a job. Mayu is a dental hygienist. They meet through a blind date and begin to date, but Takkun finds a job in Tokyo and goes there. Th...

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired...