Makiko Watanabe

A hearing-impaired woman with dreams of becoming a professional boxer due to the pandemic is threatened closure of her boxing club and the illness of its ageing president, who has been her biggest supporter, push her to the limit.

Based on a true story - a true love story of a man and his wife who are at the mercy of fate, but wish to be reunited for 11 years. With thoughts of his wife and his fellows, Yamamoto Hatao never gave up hoping that he'd return home despite hopeless circumstances.

A story about how Kuboshima Seiichiro overcomes various difficulties to open Mugonkan, an art museum in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture, featuring artworks by students before they were sent to fight in WWII.

Tamio Akanishi works at a public office in Yokohama. He is going through one of the worst periods of his life, having been left by his fiancée. One day, his boss tells him to take care of a big, white dog, abandoned by its previous owner. Tamio begins to live with the dog, who doesn't bark and only makes a sound that sounds like "haw", and thus he names it Haw. While living together, the connection between the two deepens.

The super unconventional lawyer is back! Our new friends are comic book girls! And the biggest enemy of all! The strongest lawyer who manipulates the prosecution behind the scenes sets out to prove the devil... Take on a case that is 100% impossible to prove!

Tourists, foreigners and outcasts converge on the streets of Osaka in this sprawling ensemble drama by Japan-based, Malaysia-born filmmaker Lim Kah Wai. His eighth feature explores the lesser-known aspects of the Asian melting pot city through the eyes and experiences of a dozen characters who struggle to find their place in society: among them a Nepali refugee with dreams of opening a restaurant, a Burmese student struggling to make ends meet while working two jobs, and a Taiwanese sex tourist who travels to meet his favorite adult video actress.

Baffling serial killings unfold in which the victims are tied up and left to starve. Tone was just released from prison after finishing his sentence for another crime, and he surfaces as a suspect but detective Tomashiro can't nail down conclusive proof.

Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.

3 women are happy and busy raising their boys named Yu. Due to some little thing, their lives fall apart. Their anger and anxiety unconsciously head towards their sons Yu.

Masashi is a photographer. He has his parents and an older brother Yukihiro. Through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Masashi begins to take staged photos of his family.

An omnibus film consisting of 4 short films and a documentary related to COVID-19.

Hinako comes across the novel “Tamaran Hill” and immediately starts reading it with delight, as “tamaran” (intolerable) happens to be her father’s favorite swear word. She soon imagines herself inside the book’s story, which also deals with someone intrigued with that particular word, and even meets the real-life author Senji Kuroi there.

A film director wanders the world alone after breaking up with her boyfriend, finally gaining inner peace.

In her search for answers, 17-year-old Haru sets out on a long journey across the country to the town where, in 2011, the devastating tsunami swept away her brother and parents. This road trip takes the young woman, who is still haunted by her loss, from Hiroshima to Tokyo and Fukushima and all the way to Ōtsuchi, where her family home once stood. On the way she encounters other people, other stories, other lives and other losses. Landscapes and faces. The journey ends in the middle of a garden in full bloom among the scarred surroundings of her coastal hometown.. In it stands a telephone box which, even though it is no longer connected, is used to speak to those who cannot be reached any other way.

Atomu (Shuhei Nomura) was raised by his mother in a poor environment. He is now a young adult, but he stutters and has timid personality. To support himself, Atomu works part-time for a used junk collecting company. Atomu finds inspiration in rap music and his life changes.

A young female founder runs in to societal barriers during her drive to create startup projects, in a Japanese society that hasn't traditionally accepted entrepreneurs . She finds herself, and maturity along the way.

Three girls - Miwa, an introvert who's best friend is her turtle, Saori, a rich girl from a celebrity family, and Koyuzu, a member of a revenge agency - wind up in a complex rivalry with one another.

In 37 Seconds, 23-year-old comic book artist Yuma, physically disabled due to profound cerebral palsy and emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overly protective mother, forges her own unusual path to sexual awakening and independence while at the same time discovering love and forgiveness.

Hisashi Tanaka is a medical student in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. He does volunteer work and gets to know Yasuaki Kano at the hospital. Yasuaki Kano has suffered from muscular dystrophy since he was 12-years-old. Yasuaki Kano has his eccentric ways like running out of the hospital and saying that he wants to eat a banana late at night. Hisashi Tanaka thinks Yasuaki Kano is a lovely person. Yasuaki Kano develops a crush on rookie volunteer Misaki Ando. He asks Hisashi Tanaka to write a love letter for him, but Misaki Ando is Hisashi Tanaka’s girlfriend.

With a contagious sense of abandon, three young adults’ lives become intimately entangled over the course of a long summer in Hakodate, Hokkaido.

Wakana is a 17-year-old high school student who loves to cook. She enjoys peaceful days with her family and friends, but sometimes she senses delicate changes among people around her. Wakana meets office worker Mizuho through social media where she can talk about her worries, but Mizuho turns out to be a person Wakana never expected to be.

An ex-journalist Masuda whose article caused a scandalous fatality now works at a small factory. He learns that his colleague Suzuki is a former convict who killed some children back in middle school. Trying to get back his old job, Masuda secretly starts to write a piece on Suzuki while befriending him. The more he learns about his colleague, however, the more Masuda remembers his younger self, a boy who triggered his classmate's suicide.

Based on a 2016 novel by Mana Sakura, “The Lowlife” shows the stories of three women who work in Japan’s adult video industry.

Miyuki Asakawa tells her colleague Etsuko Yamagiwa that she has a ghost in her home. When Etsuko goes to Miyuki's home, there is only Miyuki's father there. Etsuko becomes worried about Miyuki's state of mind, and she takes Miyuki to the psychiatric hospital where her husband, Tatsuo, works. There, Miyuki receives a diagnosis that she lacks the concept of "family." Later, Etsuko tells Tatsuo that she is not comfortable with Dr. Jirō Makabe. Tatsuo introduced her to Dr. Makabe earlier at the hospital. Etsuko has a feeling of unease about her husband working with Dr. Makabe. One day, Etsuko hears Dr. Makabe state "I came to Earth to invade."

In the closing days of World War II, Japanese-American Hiromi, a girl age 16, encounters an American deserter, Bob, and a Japanese soldier, Iwabuchi, living together in a cave on a small island in Okinawa. The two men are deserters from their armies; yet both vow never to harm another human being again. Hiromi looks after the deserters until another soldier appears and the peace of the cave is shattered. It leads to the death of three of them and a fascinating mystery that isn't solved until the present day.

Hazuki and Aoi are classmates but their relationship outside class is fraught, and outside school non-existent. But when both girls are drawn to helping an elderly woman, they're forced to interact, confronting their differences and similarities as well as their deepest secrets.

Schoolteacher Yohei is married to Miyoko. For the first time in 25 years they begin to live by themselves when their son marries and moves out. Then Yohei discovers that all’s not well in his marriage.

Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple...

This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.

In the summer of 1963, flats of modern construction begin to be built in the slums where vagrants and women of the night gather. The city hall's plan is to house the slum dwellers in cultural housing, complete with gas and running water. Kenji, a construction worker, and Yumiko, a waitress at a late-night rest house, meet in the slum, but only at dusk. One day, a Korean worker falls from scaffolding at an apartment building site and dies. The site supervisor and city hall workers bury the corpse in the concrete foundations of the apartment building...

A failed director is trying to get his next movie off the ground, while dealing with his cranky brother and his estranged wife.

The intertwined love story of four young people on Christmas night.

Nana is 19 and lives in a corner of Tokyo. Her birth mother and Marin, a girl the same age who she loves, were the only people she could trust. Nana confronts them in her yearning for love, but the world does not give it to her. With her whole life ahead of her, Nana struggles, suffers, and begins a search for the true meaning of love.

On the Japanese island of Amami, despite lacking parental guidance, Kaito and his girlfriend Kyoko try to find their place in the world. While Kaito suffers from the absence of his father, who moved to Tokyo after his birth, Kyoko must come to grips with her mother’s terminal illness.

After failing her university entrance exam, Sakuko is invited by her aunt Mikie to spend summer vacation in a beautiful seaside town. Sakuko gets to know the people of the town, including Takashi, a shy relative of her childhood friend.

"Daijobu 3 Kumi" depicts the interactions between new teacher Shinnosuke Akao, who was born without arms and legs, and the 28 students in his 5th grade class, told from the vantage point of school board member Yusaku Shiraishi

Part-time worker Hazuki lives with her younger sister, high school student Koharu, and their mother Sawa. One day they receive word that their estranged father is on his deathbed, so Sawa asks Hazuki and Koharu to visit him and take one last photo to remember him by.

Banana, Gloves and Whale Shark

Saeko and Yukako live together in a small apartment complex in Tokyo. After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, both live in a state of unease. Saeko, who is in a divorce, is worried that her daughter is exposed to radiation. Yukako is also afraid of radiation and tries to convince her husband to move. The two become friends after Yukako tries to save Saeko after a suicide attempt.

Yoko Sano, picture-book author and essayist, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her most famous work "The Cat Who Lived One Million Times" is still read widely.

Haji is an actor on the cusp of turning 40, who has gotten stuck in life. At the invitation of an old friend, he visits his hometown for the first time in ages. On the way Haji has an accident, and wakes up to find himself transported back to high school with his adult body in tact.

A troubled teenager only lives through her camera and the Internet. Fascinated by science, she experiments on various animals, and her own mother, poisoning her with thallium and documenting the results.

Professional killer Ken (Hirofumi Arai) is trying to break away from the yakuza. Taking up work at a local motorcycle shop, he forges a new life under the motherly eye of Yoko (Jun Fubuki), an older woman who owns the shop. However, Ken's dark past isn't letting him go that easily. Akira (Jun Murakami), Ken's ruthless mentor and himself an assassin, has been coming around and pressuring Ken to return to the family. Together with orphaned teenager Tsuyoshi (Niinobu Ryomei), Ken decides to take to the road and settle matters in the only way he knows - by the trigger of his gun. Featuring music by Snake on the Beach, a solo project of legendary singer and guitarist Yusuke Chiba, A Road Stained Crimson takes viewers down the high-octane expressway of bikes, guns and rock 'n' roll.

Kyohei Nagashima (Masaki Okada) has shut away the world. During his high school days he was the target of bullying and experienced horrifying moments. Now as a young adult Kyohei takes a new job. He works for a company that specializes in cleaning out the homes of recently deceased individuals. With his new job Kyohei meets co-worker Yuki (Nana Eikura). Yuki has also experienced a traumatizing event as a teen and has also shut herself away from the world. These two young people form a bond as they go through the homes of the recently departed people. They gradually open up to each other and in the process to the world. Yet, their fragile psyches may or may not be ready for such changes ...

Following the 2011 tsunami, three women reunite in the family home only to rekindle tense, ruinous relationships.

After two teenagers from abusive households befriend each other, their lives take a dark adventure into existentialism, despair, and human frailty.

War photjournalist Yasuyuki Tsukahara married popular manga artist Yuki Sonoda and had children. Because of Yasayuki's drinking problems the couple divorced. Yasuyuki is now coughing up blood, hospitalized, and violent. Even with all of these problems Yasuyuki can't give up drinking alcohol. His family gets tired. Yasuyuki is then hospitalized in an alcoholic ward. There he finds comfort living with other patients and having conversations with doctors. With the help of his family, Yasuyuki recovers mentally and physically, but his body has already paid a heavy toll.

Mika (Marie Ono), a Japanese-American woman, returns to her native Saitama hometown and becomes a therapist for a "nemuriba" ("a place to sleep").

A senseless double murder resonates eight years later in four intertwined stories.

A timid young woman who lives with her domineering mother accepts an Adult Video scout's offer to "become somebody else" by performing in porn videos. As she rises in popularity, the boundaries between her two lives begin to disintegrate.

Natsuki, a sales clerk of a bookstore, and Koji. a high school student. Seemingly nothing in common, they have one thing they can share: books.

Yuto Kobayashi stars as a down-on-his-luck 16-year-old named Ryo Kawai. Ryo grew up fatherless, and has been trying to make a living by working at a local convenience store ever since his mother was hospitalized with a prolonged illness. Unable to support himself on his meager earnings, he has to resort to sneaking money from the cash register and stealing rice balls to get by-a habit which eventually gets him fired. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, his mother dies and he's stuck with a hefty bill for the hospital and funeral expenses. Obviously unable to pay, but determined to send his mother off himself, Ryo steals her corpse and places it in a small rowboat. After the makeshift funeral ceremony, Ryo heads off to Tokyo on a journey to meet his absentee father.

A seemingly "normal" office worker Hiroko has a secret. At home she lives with a prosthetic torso - no head, arms or feet, just body and penis. Hiroko bathes with the torso and she also makes love with the torso at night. Hiroko's secret life is interrupted when her outgoing sister Mina rings her doorbell. Mina is running away from her abusive boyfriend and wants to stay at Hiroko's home

Fate brings a man and woman together in Lyon, France. They fall in love, but time is set to run out on them ...

Ryoko hides herself in a closet after a patron in her restaurant becomes ill from food poisoning & she is held responsible. Her husband and co-owner Daichi attempts to lure her out of the closet. After a violent argument with Daichi, Ryoko seeks out old friend Yuka...

The story of a teenage boy named Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while working as an "up-skirt" photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing – which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian – dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.

Coincidence and the aftermath of violence. A man's middle-school daughter has been murdered. His wife is already deceased. He tells a counselor he wants to live in anonymity, working with his hands. He moves away and gets a job in a factory. The woman who is the mother of the killer wants to apologize to the father, although she knows it would change nothing. He refuses to meet. She moves back to her hometown. She works in the kitchen at an inn where the man now lives. No one speaks. He eats alone. He reads in his apartment. She walks to her home and has a sandwich. She keeps her eyes lowered. He drives to work. Does either want to connect? What bond can they establish?

Sanae is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother and six-year-old sister. She has not recently been able to be open with her fisherman grandfather. Sanae is awoken by the sound of hard rain one night. As she dozes, the rain changes into the flow of the river and she finds herself lying in a fishing boat when she opens her eyes. She hears, from far away, the strains of a harmonica which her grandpa loves... Next morning Sanae is informed that her grandfather has passed away. Frictions are revealed between Sanae and those around her. In her confused state, she runs out of the house leaving for the river where her grandpa's boat is moored...

Kohei and Akira are a couple running away together without a destination. They meet a geology researcher namend Shiraki on the way and the three visit a log cabin of a famous geologist Kanbe. With fortune teller Eiko, ex-girlfriend of Kanbe, joining the party, five people of diverse ages, sexes, statutes, and professions happen to spend a night together in the log cabin deep in the mountains. As the strangers get to know each other and grow closer, each one of their hidden pasts is brought to light. Meanwhile, following a thunderstorm and an earthquake, something even worse is approaching them...

It is a taboo story about love and incest between twins. It's not about sex, it's about the feelings the two have for one another and how society views them.

A caregiver at a small retirement home takes one of her patients for a drive to the country, but the two wind up stranded in a forest where they embark on an exhausting and enlightening two-day journey.

A story of a 16-year old girl who comes to Tokyo aspiring to be an actress.

Sensitive and refined drama in which experiences from the puberty of a female teacher and a piano student reflected in the world of the younger generation they have contact with.

Comedy about a woman who finds a new life after she loses her busband.

When her husband is hospitalized with tuberculosis, Chika has a series of three relationships: with a teacher in her hometown, with a student in Tokyo, and with an aging gangster.

Two children, each abandoned by their families, come together in the wake of the Sarin gas attack in Tokyo. Based on the true events of the deadly gas attacks perpetrated by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult on the Tokyo subway system.

Being a failure as a teacher and a familyman, Shinichi tries to escape everyday live by dressing up as "Zebraman", the superhero. Although the TV series whas canceled after only 6 episodes, this cannot stop him from acting out his escape fantasy in a self made zebra-suit. He get's more then he could ever wish for, when his black-and-white dressed alter-ego seems to be the only thing to stand between absolute (green) evil and a happy ending.

Asaka Ai is a budding starlet waiting for her big break to make it into the limelight. Under the dedicated tutelage of her manager Bando she shuffles from one photo shoot to the next, most often resulting in her image being used on various advertising posters. With the help of a catchy tune, Ai and Bando anticipate she will finally break out of merely poster appearances and into television commercials and from there, real stardom. The song is entitled "If this is a Dream Wake Me" (Yume Nara Samete) and was written by Ai's friend Hiromi just prior to Hiromi jumping headlong off a tall building. But as things started to go well, a stalker shows up knowing anything and everything about Ai...

Another psychodrama, this time revolving around an SM club.

Two young women and a sex date who turns out to be an alright guy. What follows is a classic love triangle, however so skillfully played that most of it comes out rather fresh.

When a woman, able to read the thoughts of others, comes to help survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, she encounters a girl with Multiple Personality Disorder whose dangerous 13th personality, Isola, must be stopped

Tetsuro is living with his young girlfriend Aki in a pleasant house in Tokyo. They both spend a lot of time at their jobs. However their routine is upset when Tetsuro brings his 8 year old son Shun to live with them, while his ex-wife recovers from a car accident.

Tetsuro is living with his young girlfriend Aki in a pleasant house in Tokyo. They both spend a lot of time at their jobs. However their routine is upset when Tetsuro brings his 8 year old son Shun to live with them, while his ex-wife recovers from a car accident.

About an energetic kindergarden student and the people around him

The slow collapse of the relationship between an out-of-work actor and his girlfriend.

Mogura, a shut-in former musician, falls in love with a young cellist after seeing her photo in a magazine.

This Japanese thriller finds a beautiful policewoman becoming entangled in Japan's S&M underground while investigating a gruesome murder. Soon, her investigation has led her to a seductive sadist and his equally appealing masochist victim. Falling prey to her suspects' powerful allure, she struggles to extricate herself from an increasingly torrid affair to solve the mystery she set out to investigate.