Movies: Chōichirō Kawarasaki

In this gritty tale of gamblers battling in the samurai era, Okawa Hashizo gives perhaps his greatest performance as a gambler returning to his home town. Swearing allegiance to his fiancée’s father, a decent boss, he had taken to the road after a ga...

Two semi-slackers with an ultra-intimate friendship work, slack and drink in a freezing Hokkaido town....

Comedy of an entertainment agent and strip-teasers....

Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of the life of the characters. Shinsuke's father dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue...

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongful...

The struggles of the Golden Peacock Clan continue as they seek to reclaim their home and prevent the evil Gondaiyu from taking their most prized treasures....

After the death of her mother a young woman wants to meet her real father...

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the ...

In this tale of bravery and honor among the roving gamblers of old Japan, the heroic Jirocho, Boss of the Tokaido is called upon to help a young yakuza named Eijiro after he runs afoul of the new samurai officials who have taken over his hometown. Ex...

Fictionalized account of 20-year-old Noriko Tsuji, a real-life victim of a severe birth defect which afflicted 8,000 Japanese, children whose mothers took the sedative thalidomide during pregnancy. Tsuji has stunted flipper-like arms amputated at the...

Adventures of famous yakuza boss Jirocho and his disciples who settle in Kofu....

A Tokugawa Daimyo rebels against an his lord after the battle of Sekigahara. Samurai Matabei, a famous spear fighter and warrior, is a vassal of lord Honjo. One of Honjo's most trusted under-lords is Sanzaemon. He has designs on Matabei's fief, and h...

While trying to search for her missing father, Atsuko Moriya (Noriko Watanabe) meets a group of outcasts that help her. Having only an encrypted disk in her possession and while being chased by unknown people, Atsuko tries to solve the mystery of her...

Movie adaptation of the 1959 ninja novel. With war against Korea looming on the horizon, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the 'Taiko' becomes the target of an assassination attempt to be carried out by the Iga Clan of ninja spies. Master spy Juzo Tsuzura (Ryutar...

When Kanbe Nagakichi has his turf taken over by Ano-Toku, the father-in-law of his sworn brother Kira Nikichi sets in motion one of the most violent gang battles in Japanese history. Forced by the situation to choose between family and yakuza honor, ...

Let's Go, Grandma! plays like an exuberant, goofy update to Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story. Kinuyo Tanaka plays the titular Grandma, who, after selling her Hokkaido property, is apparently flush with cash but newly homeless. Her grown children take turns...

Hiromi Go plays a high school student who need's a role model in his life badly. He's raised by his older sister played by Keiko Matsuzaka who is a hostess at a night club. She meets a man who becomes her boy friend. He races in a off road car rally ...

Romance story about the first female manager of the Nihon University Phoenix...

Set at the end of the feudal period. A woman spends most of her early life in prison, incarcerated by political opponents of her father. When she is released at the age of 44, the power struggles of her clan continue to disturb her life and the man w...

A story of an orphan boy who wanted the love of parents so badly, another orphan sincerely pitied him to the point he gives his secret birthright as an illegitimate son to a Shogun as a "gift of hope" to the sad boy. As the orphan boy grew up, his lo...