Kappei Matsumoto

The story centers on an elderly hibakusha, whose husband was one of 80,000 human beings killed in the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, caring for her four grandchildren over the summer. She learns of a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies.

The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical reporter follows the case for years, but the basic question remains unanswered: was the victim killed by members of the burgeoning Communist movement in Japan, or was the death stage-managed by the authorities in hopes of discrediting the Communists?

Samonji, a reporter, receives a message on his answering machine from his friend Takada that says "stop it... zero plan! February." Learning that Takada is dead, Samonji begins an investigation. He and his younger sister Fumiko investigate major events happening in February but cannot find anything relevant. Meanwhile, Kanzaki, a doctor who works at a clinic on a remote island, is working on a plan to extort two billion yen.

UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.

Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.

Kumokiri Nizaemon, a former samurai warrior, has abandoned his class to become the leader of a gang of thieves. He leads his outlaws in an attempt to rob the castle of his former clan.

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard.

A beautifully told story of a woman hardened by marriage to a man she doesn't love, after giving herself to another. She dedicates herself to her work, designing and creating plaited cords for kimono.

In the second film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

Two Jesuit priests encounter persecution when they travel to Japan in the 17th century to spread Christianity and search for their mentor.

Gengobe Satsuma, an exiled samurai cast out as an Asano clan retainer is given a second chance to join his brothers in arms to become the 48th Ronin against the Shogunate. His faithful servant gathers the 100 ryo required for his acceptance. Gengobe is also in love with a greedy geisha named Koman. About to be sold to another man, Gengobe learns that for him to keep her, her debt is exactly 100 ryo.

Suspense film based on Ryuji Hori's non-fiction book about the kidnapping and murder of 4-year-old Yoshinobu Murakoshi in 1963.

Natsuko, a Tokyo bar proprietress, and Yuki, a Kyoto Ryokan owner, vie for the affections of an advertising professional.

Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.

Based on true events surrounding a Korean student who had entered Japan unlawfully and escaped illegal alien internment.

Japanese drama film.

Helping her mother manage a nightclub, young Emiko quickly realizes how difficult life is.

In turbulent 16th-century Japan, the leaders of a minor fief have their child taken from them as a political hostage. His mother and his clan endure years of tribulations until he can return.

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Two people disappeared, engineers of the company Yamato Matsui and Koyama. The two worked overtime, and it is proven that they consumed alcohol together. According to the sushi restaurant employee who delivered the order around 9 p.m., the two were arguing loudly. Traces of blood were found at the scene, and it looks like a murder occurred. The Investigative Department begins an investigation… The 24nd work from the popular series "Keishicho Monogatari", which documents the activities of the First Investigation Division of the Capital Police Department.

A burnt corpse of a man was found in Okutama. As a result of the investigation, it turns out that the criminal strangled the victim with a bandage, smashed his face with an oil canister and burned the body, trying to hide the identity of the victim. But the investigation establishes that the victim is a former criminal named Hisashi Sayama. According to the daughter-in-law of the Sayama, a man named Kitamura got him a job, so he left home with a copy of the family register. Trying to find the killer, the First Investigation Department is investigating all over the country, including Akita, Yokkaichi and Okinawa.

G-men challenge a jewelry smuggling ring. The chase starts in Kyushu and continues to Kobe to Yokohama.

Journalist Kuroki is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in an arms trade was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan.

1962 Japanese movie

Fukasaku and Chiba are back in a sequel filmed with the same cast and released just two weeks after the first film. This time the storyline is set in a small seaside town and the film favours detective and watadori film influences over westerns. Like its predecessor, the film runs barely over one hour and never drags. It’s a little less goofy, but doesn’t have as beautiful landscapes the first movie had. Not an especially good film, but for fans of Fukasaku and Chiba it’s an entertaining if flawed 60 minutes.

Detectives of the First Investigation Division of the Capital Police Department are investigating the murder of a 15-year-old girl, whose strangled corpse was found in the bay of the Tama River. As usual, the film runs only one hour and doesn’t depart too far from the usual formula; however, it greatly benefits from frequent outdoor locations that were missing from the previous film. It also touches far more serious topics, such as child abuse and mental insanity. 16th work from the popular series "Keishicho Monogatari", which documents the activities of the First Investigation Division of the Capital Police Department.

Clumsy invaders from Neptune are thwarted by hero Space Chief and a nondescript group of microshort-wearing Japanese kids.

On a quiet spring day in the suburbs, a stray dog found the corpse of a baby. Three days after his death, the blood group of the victim was determined. Detectives Hayashi, Kaneko, Nagata and Yamagata begin their investigation, suspecting the parents of the murdered child. They use a towel, baby diapers and bruises on the baby's body as clues in the investigation. Who killed the baby?

A young woman is attacked by a serial rapist and murderer whom her detective father is investigating. Though she survives, the impact of the event creates increasing discord and agony for her and her loved ones.

A journalist decides to do his own investigation after a series of strange murders are committed during a local election campaign.

Drama which shows the struggle of Fumiko, a female teacher, at work and at home.

Fourth Moonlight Mask theatrical film.

Focuses on the mutual antipathy of two groups of children in an Izu village.

An action-packed, dramatic gangster film.

The 3rd Moonlight Mask movie from the 50s.

A friendly rivalry turns into romance for Yukiko, an elite female detective, and a handsome private eye named Mitamura while both are investigating the missing person's case from a wealthy family.

After discovering a slaughtered corpse, the investigating team of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department began canvassing the area around the crime scene. As a result, they found a wallet with bloodstains that seemed to belong to the victim, a woman's wallet that did not fit the field, earrings, and other valuable materials, which led them on a foot search. The woman's purse had been picked up by a male prostitute on the subway, and from the prostitute's testimony, they were able to identify the pickpocket's face, but the next day, the man was found dead in a road accident, apparently murdered.

Junai Monogatari AKA Story of Pure Love is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately trying to be together despite tortuous circumstances. The film depicts their lives as thieves, menial laborers who can get little pay, society outcasts, and of course, lovers. Junai Monogatari depicts, mostly, their struggles within the Japanese reformatory system and Mitsuko's worsening sickness.

From the pen of Yoshikawa Eiji comes this exciting story. The Naruto Strait separates Tokushima from the islands of Awaji and Honshu. On Tokushima the mad lord dreams of conquest and forges a bloody revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate. A mysterious swordsman named Noriyuki Gennojo has crossed Naruto’s waters to uncover the Awa clan’s secrets. He puts his life on the line after finding a testament of Awa’s secrets, written in blood by a dying man. Joining Noriyuki are a female ninja who loves him, and the beautiful daughter of an enemy who’s sworn to kill him. Awa’s defenders willl stop at nothing to prevent the blood-soaked letter from reaching the shogun.

A notorious abortion doctor fell down from a night train and he was dead. A man who knows the truth of this accident starts to chase a up-and-coming model.

Junpei Kihara, a young president of the University's wrestling club, is nicknamed "Mr. Chop". One day, on the way back from visiting the hospital after being thrown by Nobuyoshi Shinohara during practice and injured, he met Asako, the sister of Arisawa's mother, Katsuko. When they entering a coffee shop run by Asako's best friend Hisako, Hisako misunderstood them as lovers...

Now an old man, Masao returns to his childhood home and begins to recall his upbringing in this abandoned sector of Japan.

One of the earliest Japanese cop films following a mysterious killing on the last train to Mitaka, Tokyo.

After Shuichiro moved to Tokyo, the Tanno family became completely female, including Mrs. Tanno, Shuichiro's daughter-in-law Manzuko, painter Takashiro Egi, Shizu Kazemaki, Mitsue Nanbu, an intellectual who works in a university laboratory, and an old woman.

An adaptation of the Kawabata Yasunari short story.

An attempt is made to suppress a journalist's investigation of collusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses.

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

A woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, just as the party is being disbanded by the government.

A teacher at a Japanese school tries to hide his outcast upbringing.

A lawyer fights doggedly for a more just legal system to rid Japan of its draconian penal system.

This film focuses on Koreans living in Japan. The filmmaker’s humanism comes across in the portrayal of a girl living in a shabby tenement, the warmth of a Korean girl she meets, and the friendliness of this Korean girl’s family.

The corpse of a man is found in the Dobu River in Tokyo, the victim was a man named Genzaburo Sakai, who was engaged in debt collection. The shoe shiner Kinoshita, who was in debt to Sakai, was soon apprehended. During interrogation, Kinoshita said that he was the one who killed Sakai. However, after a while, he admitted that he lied, because he thought that in prison he could eat plenty of rice for free. The investigation established that Sakai was a repatriate from Manchuria, and after returning to Japan, he had a wife, Rie Kawai. The investigation begins the search for Rie... The 23nd work from the popular series "Keishicho Monogatari", which documents the activities of the First Investigation Division of the Capital Police Department.