Maki Miyamoto

Suzume Akamatsu works at a library in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture. She delivers books by riding a bicycle. Through her work, Suzume grows as a person.

Tokyo Family Court judicial research official Akira Yamanobo is in charge of Tetsuo and Ayano Katase's divorce arbitration. Ayano, the wife, who works for a boutique company, insists her husband is involved with another woman. Supported by her employer Kotomi Saegusa, the company president, she demands a divorce as soon as possible. On the other hand, her husband Tetsuo, a trading professional, denies having a relationship with a woman. He says he will not agree to the divorce and does not plan to let his only son Kenta go, so the arbitration continues. According to Akira's investigation, Ayano gave birth to Kenta as a single mother five years ago when she was working as a hospital clerk, making him Tetsuo's stepson. Tetsuo loves Kenta as his own child, so Akira doesn't understand why Ayano is so insistent on getting a divorce. However, Tetsuo's insistence on not giving up custody of his stepson Kenta is also very unusual.

In 1940, Masaaki Takaoka works as a teacher in the agricultural division at a youth training institute. Although Japan’s defeat seems imminent, all of Masaaki’s students are drafted in a futile last-ditch effort. In an attempt to give the young men some hope, he makes everyone promise that they will all meet again under the cherry blossoms upon their safe return. Consumed by sadness over the fate of his students, Masaaki devotes the next 30 years of his life to develop a new species of cherry blossoms that could thrive in any climate in remembrance of his students.

Jun (Miyamoto) is a girl who is rumored to hold the key to the antibody to an infamous evil drug her father created known as Yellow Dragon. She is forced to go on the run from the various mobsters who want to know Yellow Dragon's secrets. To honor a promise he made to her father, former special forces operative Go (Kurata) pledges to protect her and the secrets of her strange birth.

Master swordsman Akiyama Kohei’s simple life in retirement is jarred into violent sword action when he meets an elderly fencing instructor who may be the target of a group of thieves planning a major armed robbery. At the same time dojo master Daijiro saves the life of man who, although skilled in archery has an aversion to killing and a woman artist comes into town where she is in danger of being raped by one of the thieves. From the pen of noted author Ikenami Shotaro, creator of such classics as Bandit Ve. Samurai, Hunter In The Dark, The Last Samurai, and Hissatsu-The Professional Killers! Brilliant storytelling that leads to superb swordsmanship!

Set in the late 1950s, when geisha culture was threatened by moral crusades, it tells the story of Omacha (Miyamoto Maki), a young girl who sees the geisha life as a way to lift her poverty-stricken family from their hand-to-mouth existence. Through her eyes, we see the protocols and complex financial relationships which dictate the running of the geisha house. Fukasaku's film is a work of great delicacy with moments of hypnotic beauty, and his tender direction, often touched with a sense of wonder, fills the screen with lovingly constructed scenes. At its heart is the poignant situation of the women who must sacrifice their normal relationships to live an ambiguous life in which they are a key part of society while being kept, for the most part, on its periphery, like perpetual mistresses.