Ryo Kase

An eight-hour fiction shot for a total of twenty-seven weeks, over a period of fourteen months, in a village population forty-seven in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is a geographic description of the work and non-work of a farmer. A portrait, over five seasons, of a family, of a terrain, of a soundscape, and of duration itself. A film-as-adaptive-landscape. A georgic in five books.

War photographer W. Eugene Smith travels back to Japan where he documents the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in coastal communities.

A young Japanese woman named Yoko finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.

Suzuki Koichi, a 30-something hikikomori shut-in, allows his mother to dotingly tend to his needs. When she discovers that Koichi has killed himself, the shock is so great she loses consciousness and her memory of that day.

A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after performing at a Japanese businessman's lavish birthday party. Unexpected bonds are forged in the standoff that ensues.

In 1974, Morikazu is 94-years-old and his wife Hideko is 76-years-old. They live at a house in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The garden at their home is full of trees, plants and insects. Morikazu paints pictures of the creatures in his garden and also observes them. This has been his daily routine for more than 30 years. Morikazu and Hideko entertain visitors every day including a photographer and the couple living next door.

The time spent between professional Shogi player Kiriyama and his three stories helps to heal his wounds. As he prepares to secure another win in an upcoming tournament, the father who left the three sisters appears and disturbs the peace.

Rei Kiriyama is a 17-years-old shogi (Japanese chess) player. He debuted as a professional shogi player when he was in middle school. He lives by himself in Tokyo, because his parents and younger sister died in an traffic accident when he was little. One day, Rei Kiriyama meets three sisters who are his neighbors. The three sisters are Akari Kawamoto, Hinata Kawamoto and Momo Kawamoto. This is his first meeting with someone outside of the shogi world in many years. Having meals with the Kawamoto family brings warm feelings to Rei Kiriyama. As Rei Kiriyama continues his shogi career, his interactions with his neighbors allows him to grow as a shogi player and as a person.

Two Jesuit priests travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.

While a gang of high school girls randomly beats lone men at night, the photo of a young woman who has been declared missing is used to design a template which is painted on each wall of a small suburban town.

A compelling human drama about the growing social problems and public responsibilities regarding the welfare and ethical treatment of neglected dogs and cats at animal shelters. The story is told through the eyes of tormented vets who are relentless in their efforts to change the system to serve these animals with dignity.

A biopic of seminal 20th century artist Leonard Foujita, a contemporary of Picasso and Modigliani, who was famous for mixing up European and Japanese styles.

A story that revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother's home and the arrival of their 13-year-old half sister.

Country bumpkin Haruko only ever wanted to become a maiko, an apprentice geisha. Initially rebuffed for lack of references, Haruko's strong accent intrigues a linguistics professor, who undertakes to coach her.

Kwon returns to Seoul from a restorative stay in the mountains. She is given a packet of letters left by Mori, who has come back from Japan to propose to her. Kwon drops and scatters the letters, all of which are undated. When she reads them, she has to make sense of the chronology.

Minori Oyamada, a put-upon editor at a travel-guide publishing company, is asked by an old friend to plan her forthcoming wedding party in Hawaii. After persuading her boss that it will be a work trip, Minori departs for Hawaii with the intention to find and marry a rich man. But when Minori arrives, she encounters three different men who complicate her original goal...

A major advertising festival is held each year to determine the best television commercial in the world. A rookie ad man at a big advertising company named Otan is selected as a judge on the festival jury. Meanwhile, a coworker also named Ota (although the Japanese characters are slightly different) poses as his wife so that he can attend an open party which is held nightly. Knowing that he’ll get fired if his company doesn’t win the Grand Prix, he’s forced to resort to a variety of desperate tactics.

Mysteries are revealed like the words "Simple Plan," "Third Secret of Fatima" and also the mysterious white man which are all mentioned in the movie "SPEC: Heaven".

Laid-back baby boomer Yuichi (Ryo Iwamatsu) is a middle-aged manga artist and singer-songwriter when he isn't at his salaryman day job or watching out for his elderly mother. Suffering from increasing dementia since her husband's death, Mitsue (Harue Akagi) is a constant source of comic energy or annoyance for Yuichi, and he and his son must soon decide if they should put her in a home for the elderly. Jumping back in time, we see how Mitsue (played by Kiwako Harada) tracked the tumult of the latter half of the 20th century, being raised as one of 10 brothers and sisters, surviving the war, and having to push her alcoholic husband (Ryo Kase) along in life. "Pecoross" is directed by the oldest active film director in Japan, Azuma Morisaki, who creates an emotionally complex work that is only the more profound and life-affirming for its cartoonish portrayal.

Mysteries are revealed like the words "Simple Plan," "Third Secret of Fatima" and also the mysterious white man which are all mentioned in the movie "SPEC: Heaven".

High school student Saya Toma lost her parents and younger brother in an airplane accident. Detective Akio Kondo came and told her "your family has a high possibility that they were killed by people who have spec." That was the first time she heard of "spec". 6 years later, Saya Toma, who has never forgotten what the Detective said, decides to become a detective. She returns to Japan after receiving training by the FBI in the United States. Saya Toma is assigned to work unsolved cases in the Public Security Bureau. Meanwhile, because of Satoshi Chii's scheme, Juichi Ninomae considers Saya Toma his parents' enemy and tries to push her to the edge. Satoshi Chii's scheme has also caused Saya Toma and Juichi Ninomae to forget that they are brother and sister. The siblings are headed to a life-staking fight. A girl named Maho Ueno becomes involved in their fight. To protect Maho Ueno, Saya Toma uses "spec".

Keisuke Kinoshita sits easily alongside Ozu, Kurosawa and Naruse as one of Japan’s most respected legends of cinema. Made to commemorate the centenary of Kinoshita’s birth, this biographical drama chronicles formative hardships and personal encounters to provide a rare glimpse into the life of one of Japan’s most acclaimed screen directors. Includes archival footage from 49 of the films he produced during his career at Shochiku.

The murder of a young girl leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The body of Emili is found by four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother, Asako, is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim not to remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do penance for their silence.

Hitoshi Nagano, who works at an electronics store, picks up a cellphone left behind by a customer and goes about a scam. He calls the person's mother and pretends to be her son. He then gets the mother to transfer money to his bank account. Soon, Hitoshi gets a lot more than he bargained for.

An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.

As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.

Saya Toma is a female detective with an IQ of 201. Takeru Sebumi is a career detective with a distinguished background. They work on cases by postulating the "SPEC" of the unknown criminals and then deduce the criminal's unknown "SPEC" to make arrests. A mystery occurs when bodies are found on a cruiser in the ocean. Saya Toma and Ryo Kase of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department are brought in to solve the case.

Set one year after the fight between detectives Saya Toma, Takeru Sebumi, and Satoshi Chii. More confrontations ensues between the detectives at the Unidentified Crimes Unit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Takeru Sebumi returns after taking a break due to his eye problems. Kenzo Ichiyanagi is appointed section chief, while Kotaro Nonomura is demoted. New member Shu Kikkawa joins the team.

In Tokyo, actress Touko leaves the filming set of her latest project and comes across three people by random chance: she gives a ride to a man named Nagano, whom she has never met before; at a small theater, runs into Kikuchi, a former screenwriter; lastly, meets Yasuko at the zoo.

Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.

24-year-old OL Chie Ikeshita's (Yuriko Yoshitaka) motto is to try various things to enjoy life. Chie spends her time accordingly to her motto. Chie Ikeshita then starts to date 5 different men and adjusts herself to the different situations. Up to this point, Chie never thought about marriage. She changes her thought after her friend Toshiko Hamaguchi (Anne Watanabe) gets married. Chie takes the advise of Toshiko and decides to marry one of the 5 men. She must now whittle down her choice to one man.

The bittersweet events in the lives of people in Hakodate, a regional city connected by a streetcar network. A laid-off man and his younger sister go up a mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. Meanwhile, Haruo has inherited his family's gas business, but things aren't going well in his new endeavor and he becomes increasingly frustrated.

Blessed with several large rivers, interconnected streams and springs, Japan's ancient capital, Kyoto, anoints the land with a bountiful source of water. In this tranquil setting, three women join the flow of a small community with the subtle presence of a spring breeze. Setsuko , the proprietor of a whiskey-only bar; Takako, the owner of a coffee shop along the waterway; Hatsumi, a maker of tofu so delicious it seems to spring forth from the clear water. Under their subtle influence, other townspeople gradually begin their own streams too: Yamanoha, a local worker for a furniture workshop; Otome, the owner of a neighborhood public bath; Jin, a young man who assists him at the bath; Makoto, a wayfarer about the town. Among their daily lives, there is Poplar, a small child with a perpetually friendly smile.

Four short films based on ghost stories written by award winning modern Japanese writers.

When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.

Ginko's younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.

A story of 6 days with 5 people gathered around a small sparkling pool at Chiang Mai in Thailand. 4 years ago, Kyoko started to live in Thailand and has been working in a Guest house outside in Chiang Mai, leaving her mother and her daughter Sayo, in Japan. Just before the graduation of University, Sayo sets foot on Thailand to visit her mother with mixed feelings. However, emotional experiences with the people living there changes such feelings toward her mother.

On the outset, the Okunos seem like a normal happy family with father Tadashi and his two bright sons, genetics researcher Izumi and artsy Haru. When a series of arson attacks strike the neighborhood, clues left at the crime scenes seem to be somehow related to the Okunos. Izumi and Haru try to get to the bottom of mystery, slowly unveiling a tragic family secret that has come back to haunt them.

A woman finds out her father is not her real one after her mother falls into a coma while searching for a mythical creature. She decides to meet her real father who happens to be an off-beat antique shopkeeper.

A salaryman debates selling his grandfather's land to pay off his father's debt.

There once was a hospital where patients and even doctors & nurses were all weird. Above all, Onuki, a patient who built up his company all by himself from scratch, is a super cranky old man. One day, he meets up a girl called Paco, who cannot retain memory beyond one day due to a car accident. She is reading the same picture book everyday. Onuki starts bonding with Paco after some incident, and begins to doubt his way of living. He starts wanting to do something for Paco with his remaining life, and comes up with a brilliant idea. This pleases Paco, but their fate is?

Asako, a comic book artist in her early forties, is devastated by the death of her precious cat, Saba, which kept her company for over 15 years, as her assistant Naomi watches on with concern. Naomi is a young woman in her early twenties, who has her set of worries about love and future. Then one day, Asako meets a new cat, Gu Gu, which brings new joy and vitality to her life. What is more, she finds potential for love in a man named Seiji. Like Asako, Naomi, too, embarks on a new life plan.

The anthology film R246 Story centers around the major Japanese highway Route 246. Originating in Chiyoda Ward's Miyakezaka district, the 122.7 kilometers long Route 246 passes through Japanese trendsetting areas such as Aoyama, Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya, on its way to Numazu City in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

Youngsters called Kildren, who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a war as entertainment, organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full.

Kanao, a courtroom portrait artist, observes crimes, scandals and the decline of Japanese values without passing judgement. As he and his wife endure the tragedy of their first child’s death, hope slowly unfolds and their love story flickers to life once again.

In the mountain hot springs of Izu, Japan, a love triangle is waiting to happen. It is the late 1930s when the paths of a stunning woman fleeing Tokyo, a handsome bachelor and a blind masseur cross.

One day a puppy comes to the house of Akari, who has just turned twelve, and was trying hard to act strong after her mother suddenly fell ill. She immediately falls in love with the puppy and names it "Socks" after the paws which looked like they had white socks on. Akari was together with Socks day and night. However, as Akari grows up, her feelings and interest moves away from Socks. Year by year, their distance grows, which also leads to her physical distance as she moves to a far off city, and must leave Socks behind to a childhood friend.One day Akari remembers the 10 promises that she had made with Socks and her deceased mother...

Based on the short story from the best-selling collection "Poppoya" by Jiro Asada, "The Invitation from Cinema Orion" tells the story of a couple's undying love for the cinema and each other.

An overworked career woman leaves her life in the city for an island vacation only to encounter eccentric local inhabitants.

A young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Yakuza Naoki Sando (Yosuke Natsuki) discovers his daughter Hiroko (Kumi Kaneko) in bed with his adopted son Kohji (Yusuke Iseya). Three years later, Kohji is working the streets as a hustler, still yearning for a way to earn his estranged father's approval to continue his borderline incestuous relationship. Hiroko sees a way back to her brother's arms when Sando's shady colleague Marc Tanner (François Trottier) absconds to Canada with gambling funds destined for the big boss. Presumably with her father's permission, she calls Kohji and tells him to hurry to Montréal, recover the money and kill Tanner.

The bestseller based on Kotaro Isaka, starring Kenji Sakaguchi, directed by Takashi Hara! Muto, who works for a family court, is involved in a bank robbery case with his senior at work, Jinnai. It is released safely, but Muto falls in love at first sight with Miharu, who was held hostage with him. Jinnai predicts Muto that he will meet her again and fall in love, and teaches Miharu's whereabouts. Meanwhile, the day after the incident, Muto was in charge of a boy named Shiro Kihara, who was guided by shoplifting. However, there was something wrong with Shiro's appearance toward his father. Then, Muto learns about Shiro's amazing secret, and the development itself begins suddenly...

Follows the ups and downs of four female friends in Tokyo looking for love and trying to cope with the responsibilities in their lives.

A detective investigates a series of murders. A possible serial killer might be on a rampage, since they all are in the same vicinity and by the same method, but as the evidence points toward the detective as the prime suspect, a ghost in red follows him, and he begins to question his identity. His realization of what seems to have really happened results in something much more sinister and larger in scope, and it leaves his psyche scarred.

Adapted from the popular manga of the same name, director Masahiro Takada's coming of age drama follows five Hama Art College students as they prepare to venture out into the real world on a great voyage of self-discovery.

In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

Two youths meet in adolescence, and about ten years later, reconnect as adults, and though both have changed drastically, their love still remains.

Classmates Shuji and Eri becomes friends, both young people have family problems. When Eri is taken away to Tokyo by her relatives, Shuji becomes increasingly isolated at school and drifts into criminal activity.

Sisters "Manamo" and "Minamo" live separately in Hiroshima and London since the divorce of their parents. The elder sister Manamo lives in Hiroshima with her mother, she is a high school student, but moonlights at a Japanese cabaret-club. After her mother remarries and moves to Yamaguchi Prefecture, Manamo lives by herself in Hiroshima. One day, her younger sister Minamo returns from London to visit Manamo. It is ten years since they have lived together, and they argue every day.

An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.

The lives of a young cop, a sanitation worker and a brooding pharmacist violently intersect on a bus that's hijacked by a suicidal political flunky, then cross paths again months later.

'Female' is comprised of five short films adapted from five novels by female authors. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo Shinohara, Ryuichi Hiroki, Miwa Nishikawa, and Suzuki Matsuo.

Three stories are told, respectively set in Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai. The first two stories are about a Japanese person and a Taiwanese person. The last one is set in Shanghai with a story about a Japanese man and a Chinese woman. Some of the characters can speak Japanese and some of them Mandarin. Each story encompasses an experience of a foreigner, either from Japan ,Taiwan or China, with a native of the opposite country.

Romeo, A.K.A. Kosuke Matsuyama, is a second-year high school student. A nice, normal, nonviolent type, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a rampaging crowd of Korean boys, outraged by insults perpetrated by several of his idiotic class-mates on two Korean girls. He makes a narrow escape, but soon after, he and his best bud Yoshio are sent by their home-room teacher to invite the Korean students to a friendly soccer game as a way of restoring the peace.

The making of the movie "Nobody Knows" by award-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.

Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

A spell of time in the life of a family in rural Tochigi prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself.

Hoping to catch a girl's attention, high school students Ken and Adama cook up an ambitious plan. They plan a festival that combines film, theater, and rock music, and develop their project into a school road block. This plan however catches the attention of television stations and newspapers, and soon even the cops became involved in this teenage adventure.

When Honey's uncle gets kidnapped by the evil criminal gang known as "Panther Claw," she must use her magical powers of transformation to save him. Meanwhile the same crime group has been responsible for a number of other crime sprees across Tokyo. In the process, Honey teams up with the seemingly cold police woman Natsuko Aki and hot shot journalist Seiji Hayami as well as battle the four "claws" of the Panther Claw gang to save her uncle and the rest of the city.

Yuichiro is a college student whose sister went missing 15 years ago. That traumatic event hangs over him like a pall as he wanders Japan's S&M clubs. But his younger brother claims to be able to sense their sister with his "antenna".

A very energetic, fresh and skilful début in DV from young Tokyo actor and model. Hanging out, clubbing and drugging, a young band of friends get way in over their heads when they inadvertently lose a stash of drugs they're meant to deal to their friends.

Japanese TV movie from 2003

Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the the low pay he receives from his small town clan, he is forced by the love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.

Two friends who work together at a Tokyo laundry are increasingly alienated from everyday life. They become fascinated with a deadly jellyfish.

Record shop clerk and aspiring DJ Tsutomu searches for his masculinity when challenged to a kendo duel.

Kenji has a dull life. He is unmotivated at the office, and unable to break off a lukewarm relationship with his girlfriend. Then, he meets an old classmate from high school, Ryoichi. Ryoichi says he's starting up a clothing brand with a group of friends. One day, Kenji visits their atelier, or workplace, and is fascinated by the sense of freedom that they share. As his relationship with them deepens, Kenji finds it harder and harder to accept the old world he comes from. One day, he punches his boss and quits his job. Now a proper member of Ryoichi's team, it's the start of a new and carefree life for him. However, it is short-lived. The clothes they make do not sell as well as they hoped for. Short on cash, energy, and ideas, the negative feedback loop forces each of them to start struggling in a search for alternative paths.

Godzilla has become a distant memory for Japan when the destruction of a US submarine raises alarms for Admiral Tachibana. His estranged daughter Yuri investigates the legend of the guardian monsters, who must rise to protect Japan against the vengeful spirits within Godzilla that seek to destroy both the nation and its people for the suffering they inflicted in the Pacific conflict.

Tells the life story of Teru Kaneko, who was born and raised in a small coastal town. While working as a clerk in a book shop, Teru starts writing her own verses to get away from the worries of a disgraceful marriage. Under the pseudonym Misuzu, her works arrive to an important editor in Tokyo.

Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.

Naoya and Katsuhiro are boyfriends, new in their relationship. Things are uneven at first—Naoya is open and free while Katsuhiro is cautious and closeted—but nothing compares to the chaos that arrives when Asako, a troubled woman with a history of psychiatric problems, abortions, and casual sex, asks Katsuhiro to conceive a child with her.

Short film directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi as part of the 学校の怪談物の怪スペシャル series centered around the legend of Hanako san.

Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive boyfriend, the mob soldier sent to retrieve the briefcase, another mobster sent to kill them, master voyeur Captain Banana and his new apprentice, The Mister Yellow. Who will end up with the money?