Kaoru Yachigusa (八千草 薫, Yachigusa Kaoru, January 6, 1931 – October 24, 2019) was a Japanese actress from Osaka Prefecture. From 1947 to 1957, she was a member of the Takarazuka Revue. After leaving the revue, she was active in film, television, and narration. She has gotten some Japanese awards and honours such as; Medal with Purple Ribbon (1997), Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2003), and Mainichi Film Awards: Tanaka Kinuyo Prize (2004) Yachigusa died on October 24, 2019, at a Tokyo hospital from pancreatic cancer, aged 88.
41-year-old Shizuru (Takako Tokiwa) lives with her mother and grandmother in a mountain village in Gifu Prefecture. Shizuru's grandmother is gentle, but is also partially disabled. Shizuru and her mother takes care of her grandmother. Meanwhile, Shizuru's mother ignores her and often restricts what she can do. Consequently, Shizuru has little freedom and endures a monotonous life....
The story chronicles the life of Ii Naosuke....
This story is about four men who work in a confectionary. Tachibana Keiichiro (Shiina Kippei) is the owner; Ono Yusuke (Fujiki Naohito) is the superb baker that has a mysterious and mesmerizing aura; Kobayakawa Chikage (Abe Hiroshi) is the waiter and close bodyguard of Tachibana; and last but not least is Kanda Eiji (Takizawa Hideaki), the ex-boxer who loves cake so much that he becomes a waiter at 'Antique'. This is a refreshing, yet heartfelt comedy about the 4 very unique personalities that w...
Young Mabel West is the daughter of mystery writer Raymond West, who wants her to lead a normal life. Rebelling against this, Mabel wants to be a great detective, and sets out for London to become assistant to none other than Hercule Poirot, the great Belgian detective who resides there. She finally wins the reluctant approval of her father, and embarks on an exciting life of mystery and suspense - his only demand being that she occasionally spend some time with her great-aunt, Jane Marple, in t...
When their mother falls ill, two sisters are faced not only with her extended care, but with the romances that spring from this change in situation. The younger sister, a married woman with children, falls for the man who found her mother in the park that day. The older sister is the president of her own company. She deals with both a man who (accidently?) assaulted her on the train and the doctor charged with her mother's care. The former keeps appearing in her life, always sad looking. He may ...
What happens with two children commit two different muders in order to protect each other? Does salvation exist for them? In order to walk beneath the sun once more, Ryouji and Yukiho find themselves in a twisted web from which neither can escape without abandoning the other. Having no one but each other, this drama follows the events the follow that fateful day… 14 years ago....
The 41st NHK Taiga Drama is Toshiie to Matsu. During the turbulent Warring States Era, one man's life and career intertwined with the three great generals of Japanese history-Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. With political savvy and the support of his fiercely loyal wife, Maeda Toshiie rose to second in power in the shogunate and built up a fiefdom that encompassed Echizen, Noto and Kaga....
Set in an old prestigious ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant) in a small town in the center of Tokyo, a young itamae (cook for Japanese dishes) struggles his life, love and work while the long-lasted ryotei and the beloved old town face the change to survive the time. This heartwarming drama shows the intimate relationship of the community that has been lost nowadays, asks what the most important things in your life is, and tells how difficult it is to make a decision. The story is told in the fo...
Ordinary salaryman Hamasaki Mitsuo works for a company which installs vending machines. He complains about his marriage life while at the dentist office. Mitsuo isn't happy at all with his marriage with his wife, Hoshino Yuka, who has the complete opposite personality from him. He doesn't know if he loves Yuka or not. At this time, Mitsuo meets Kono Akari, his ex-girlfriend from his university days, who is now married to Uehara Ryo....
What if the one you love were destined to lose his eyesight in three months? What would you like him to see last? If you were him, what would you want to see last? Shiki Tomokawa is a new pediatrician who is enjoying her life. She falls in love with Shunsuke, a cameraman, who is destined to lose his eyesight in a couple of months. How will Shiki react when she finds out Shunsuke's destiny? "To the One I Love" takes place in two contrasting cities?in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, and in the pea...
Sachiko is the 17-year old daughter of radiotherapist Professor Oshima. After exposure to radiation in the hospital, she develops leukemia. As if that was not enough trouble for one lifetime, discovers that Oshima is not her real father, and that her boyfriend is really her half brother....
Follows the story of love, friendship and growth of six young men and women who move from countryside to the big city of Tokyo, each with their own dreams and aspirations. Among them is Sugihara Oto and Soda Ren. After her mother died, Oto was raised by adoptive parents in Hokkaido. Although she has given up on having any high hopes or big dreams for her future, she still remains positive and faces life with optimistic attitude. One day, she finds out the fact that her adoptive parents are plann...
The drama is set in an retirement home named "Yasuragi no Sato La Strada" where only those who had worked in the TV entertainment industry such as actors, writers, musicians and artists are allowed to live at. Kikumura Sakae, who used to be a popular scriptwriter, lives among the former stars and the problems they face are presented in a humorous manner....
One day, a middle-aged man, Fujimoto Makoto, is standing on a train platform, about to jump in front of a train. Nakashiro Kana and Tasaki Shota both happen to be on the same platform, and sensing what is about to happen, they quickly pull him back to safety. There's a reason why Kana and Shota realized Makoto's intentions, they both have the kind of emotional scars that can't be put into words. Even after so much pain, through a series of e-mails, they've become attracted to one another and slo...
Sakurai Taro’s parents died young. His grandmother, Akiko, has been making great effort to protect her struggling candy store, Sakuraya, in the old part of Tokyo, but it's not easy. Taro eats candy with regular customers such as chilhood friend Saegusa Hiroki who aspires to be a scriptwriter, and talk nonsense, like in their youth. However, they realize this unfettered, comfortable existence will end some day with the passage of time. Then Taro’s ex-classmate, Kimura Reiko, comes back home with ...
Musashi Miyamoto left his village and ended up fighting in the battle of Sekigahara with his friend Matahachi, but Musashi Miyamoto lost Matahachi. He goes back to the village to inform Matahachi's family about what happened. At the village, he is persecuted by people there. Musashi Miyamoto becomes worn down physically and mentally. At this time, Soho Takuan appears in front of Musashi Miyamoto. He then rebuilds his life with his sword. Musashi begins to travel for warrior training. He meets ma...
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The drama depicts the crisis of a couple in the midst of a malaise, the anguish of their children as they grow into adulthood, the disintegration of their family, and finally the collapse of their house due to water damage....
The 59th NHK Asadora Drama is Yanchakure. Location includes Osaka. In Osaka, "yanchakure" is a bit of an old word which is used to describe tomboyish or mischievous young girls. Mizushima Nagisa happens to be such a girl, that, no matter how well-intentioned her motives nor how hard she tries, Nagisa just seems to end up failing. In fact, she has failed at different things in her life so many times that she has come to see it as a source of personal strength, her philosophy being one of, "It's n...
A milestone in Japanese teen drama, representing the 1970s. It questions the meaning of life, worries, and joys....
35 year old Umezawa Isamu works for a major trading firm and is a single dad to his only son, Hiroshi, a 6th-grader who hates to study but loves to play baseball. Ever since his wife divorced him on a whim 5 years ago, his days have been a constant struggle to keep up with work and household chores. One day, Isamu sets out on the task of finding his son a prep school for junior high entrance exams, but he becomes desperate when finding that most schools have already closed off applications. It i...
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Kuniko Mukōda's masterpiece, a poignant and subtle portrait of the jealousy and suspicion that secretly swirl behind seemingly peaceful family relationships....
"Big Money!" is a human drama with a suspense twist about a young man who learns the tricks of the trade about stock exchange from a well-experienced investor. The backdrop of this story is the elaborate world of banking and the stock market....
The president of a large food production company combines gourmet eating and gambling into an underground eating contest, or "Food Fight," in the basement of his company. After growing up in an orphanage, Mitsuru Ihara starts working as a custodian at the large food producer. The pleasant, kind Ihara often visits his former home, pretending to be an important business man, not the blue-collar cleaner that he really is. He also has a bigger secret, which is, he is the reigning champion of the und...
Saionji Hajime is the perfect butler and he works for a madame who is elegant. The madame is full of curiosity and has a pure personality. Hajime began to work for the madame before her husband died and they share a deep level of trust. One day, they face murder case. The madame holds doubts about the murder case. Hajime uses his great reasoning powers in an attempt to solve the mystery....
Set in the Ryukyu Kingdom during the latter days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a woman takes the guise of a Eunuch to pass a government examination. She eventually becomes a government official still in the disguise of a man....
Shukichi, the owner of a shirt shop in Tsukuda, Tokyo, is a stubborn craftsman devoted to his work. Through clumsy in his expressions of affection, the mini-series depicts the sincerity, pride and pathos of a man who has supported his family to the best of his ability by devoting himself to his work. One day, his wife and son explode their daily frustrations with Shukichi and leave home......
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior....
After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers. While Otsu waits, Akemi also seeks him, expressing her desires directly. Meanwhile, Takezo is observed by Sasaki Kojiro, a brilliant young fighter, confident he can dethrone Tak...
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers a...
The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death....
A naively honorable samurai comes to the bitter realization that his devotion to moral samurai principles makes him an oddity among his peers, and a very vulnerable oddity in consequence. He takes the blame for the misdeeds of others, with the understanding that he will be exiled for one year and restored to the clan's good graces after the political situation dies down. As betrayal begins to heap upon betrayal, he realizes he'll have to live out his life as a master-less ronin, if not hunted do...
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The story follows Mamoru Masaki, a resort developer, and Koai, a career woman at a rival company. The appearance of Masaki, who does not live in work and in love, gradually loosens up....
The president learns that the company's biggest stockholder is also a friend of his singing teacher and spies on his movements....
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune....
Kyoko and her mother Yuki returned to their hometown of Fukui. Yuki runs a dressmaker's store in the city, and Kyoko has taken a job as a nurse at a prefectural hospital. The film depicts the daughter's attempt to grow from adolescence to adulthood in a family of one mother and one daughter, and her emotional exchange with her mother against the backdrop of the harsh natural environment....
A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan....
Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, The Great Passage. In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems....
Haru is a rather cool fifth-grade elementary school student who shares the same tastes as her mother’s younger sister Yuko (Kaho) and can tell Yuko what she really feels. On the first day of the summer vacation, Haru is kidnapped. The culprit is her free-spirited father Takashi who disappeared from home two months ago....
1958 Japanese movie...
A biographical drama depicting the life full of love and suffering of the writer and poet Kenji Miyazawa, who celebrated his 100th birthday in 1996....
When the man who seduced the famous painter Otoko as a teenager--and then wrote a bestselling novel about it--reappears in her life, her pupil--and lesbian lover--hatches a plot to destroy the man and his family....
When Tora-san returns to visit his family, he is surprised to find an arrogant professor occupying his room. The professor and Tora-san become rivals for the affection of Chiyo....
A librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into 'The Human Vapour'. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police. He soon becomes Tokyo's most wanted criminal. Can he be stopped before he kills again?...
High school student Ayumi is trained by his grandmother to act as a "tsunagu," an intermediary for people who want to reach the dead....
Living in a house that has lost its man to the war a year earlier are the widow and her child. Four of the dead man's friends gather to have an anniversary wake. Some time following the ceremony one of the attendees marries the widow. Soon another friend of the deceased and his family also make the house their home when they move to town. Everyone's life is changed quite a bit. When the newer husband sustains an injury to his leg and loses his job it leads to the wife having to work. By the time...
The story of Takuro Yazawa, a day trader who claims he can earn hundreds of millions of yen in one day, and those around him as they attempt to cope with the death of his son and somehow find a way to benefit spiritually from the experience....
Osamu Ino is a great doctor who is beloved in his rural village. His knowledge and dedication make an equally strong impression on his reluctant medical intern, Keisuke Soma. But, Soma and the villagers reconsider their opinion when they learn about a shameful incident from Dr. Ino's past. Now the once-respected doctor must account for his past actions....
A new third-class president wins an appointment thanks to his marriage with the former president's daughter....
Utaemon Ichikawa plays the role of Hikoshiro Navate, who has a strong sense of justice and opposes power and tyranny with his will and spirit....
The actor Koheiji is terribly in love with the wife of his best friend, the playwright Takuro; to get her, he would even kill Takuro....
The movie revolves around Mitsuba, who studies traditional art of rakugo. Rakugo is a form of comical story telling, sometimes referred to as sit-down comedy. Even though Mitsuba is mediocre at best, he ends up teaching three students....
Shizuru Tamai (Takako Tokiwa) lives in a small mountain town in rural Japan with her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother is partially unable to move, and Shizuru has to care for her with her mother, who tries to keep Shizuru shackled at every opportunity. Shizuru’s days are filled with endless monotony. She works as a receptionist at her former classmate’s hospital, and one day goes to buy picture books for the waiting room. It’s then that she recalls a book from her childhood ‘The Pierrot...
Yamashita Takako works in the food section of a department store. She pays frequent visits to a reputable local Chinese restaurant about opening an in-store branch. The owner of the restaurant, Wang Qingkuo from Shanghai, who does all the cooking by himself, gives Takako the brush-off. One day, however, Wang collapses due to overwork, and is left with partial paralysis. Hearing the rumor of the restaurant’s closure, Takako resigns from the department store and becomes an apprentice to Wang....
In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events....
A radio DJ, Mai starts a new program called, "Love Letters from the Drawer" to assist people who need an extra push to send out their simple yet very important message for their loved ones. The show was inspired by her own experience after reading a letter from her father after he died. Through her radio show, various characters come to light as everyone awaits for a miracle to happen. A miracle which can occur only by them expressing their true feelings... The movie is full of emotions and mus...
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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....
Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form....
An account of the life and work of legendary Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune (1920-97), the most prominent actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema....
A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl....
Japanese-Italian adaptation of Puccini's opera....
Comedy about three soldiers, two female reporters, six prostitutes, and the wife of an officer, all stranded on a South Seas island at the end of World War II....
[Period covered: 1637-1651] This is one of the most complicated plots of any of the Shinobi no Mono films! This film tells the story of Saizo’s son, Kirigakure Saisuke, who after seeing his father die at the Battle Of Shimabara, grows up to be an expert ninja. Before he dies, “Mist” Saizo tells his children Saisuke, and Yuri that they are not really brother and sister. She, in fact, is the daughter of the late lord Sanada Yukimura, and must be saved from the shogun’s forces. In the chess match ...
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It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and ...
Depicts the life of best-selling Japanese poet Toyo Shibata. Toyo Shibata first began writing poems at the age of 92 and published her first collection of poems "Kujikenaide" (″Don't lose heart″) in 2009, which sold over 1.5 million copies....
Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed....
Two sisters, Kyoko and Hisako, run a restaurant in Kyoto. But an incident with the latter's fiancé puts their relationship, and the future of their cuisine in jeopardy......
Period romantic drama....
The mythical adventures of the legendary Chinese trickster Monkey, who must outwit a variety of wily demons who stand in the way of him and his fellow Buddhist travelers. Though portrayed as a literal, if rather anthropomorphized, monkey in the original legends, this film substitutes the spindly comic actor Norihei Miki, sans makeup....
Ryou is a girl isolated by everyone else in her class, she doesn't even have a cell phone because no one would call her anyway. One day, she suddenly starts hearing voices of Shinya, who lives in a different prefecture....
In 150 years, twice marked by total destruction —a terrible earthquake in 1923 and incendiary bombings in 1945— followed by a spectacular rebirth, Tokyo, the old city of Edo, has become the largest and most futuristic capital in the world in a transformation process fueled by the exceptional resilience of its inhabitants, and nourished by a unique phenomenon of cultural hybridization....
A sequel to "The Pierrot Prays to the Moon", which won the "Gold Medal Prize" at the Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards. A beautiful village in the mountains. Mayu is a wife, a mother and a daughter-in-law. While taking care of her husband and son, she is faced with despair every day as she visits her mother-in-law with a long-term illness. Amidst all this, she meets a man from Tokyo by coincidence and falls in love with him. A secret and illicit love where they understood ea...
An elderly woman sets out to see in person a painting by a famous artist.She believes she was the inspiration for the painting....
A rare grouping of the three Tamura brothers, Masakazu, Takahiro, and Ryu highlight this exciting tale of a series of attempts on the life of Shogun Yoshimune. The Owari have longed for the post of shogun, and are willing to do anything, including murder, in order to achieve their goal. Directed by master filmmaker Inoue Akira, this action packed movie, based on a manga by Koike Kazuo who created the Baby Cart (Lone Wolf) series, is loaded with splendid swordplay and an intelligent story line. I...
Second film of Makino's Nihon Kyokakuden series set in Osaka's harbor. The series also known as "The Domain" Each a stand alone film in it's own, none are connected other than starring the famous Ken Takakura as the main Character. This story begins with Ken Takakura's character coming to Osaka after his brother's death. Another exciting yakuza story with superb yakuza action!!...
During the Warring States era of early 17th century Japan, teenage princess Sen is besieged with other members of her family in Osaka Castle, by a rival force led by her grandfather....
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1953 jidaigeki directed by Nobuo Nakagawa of Jigoku and Ghost of Yotsuya fame....
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The four Takezawa sisters discover that their father has an illegitimate child so they hire a private detective to investigate....
After the war-time government orders the disbanding of the Big-Six baseball league, the teams of Waseda and Keio universities play one final game before they are drafted into the armed forces and face the hardships of military service....
1953 Hiroshi Inagaki movie....
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A group of kids find interest in birdwatching....
In this movie, Japan's top negotiator confronts a formidable foe threatening Tokyo's subways. As high-stakes tension brews, Mashita must outsmart an adversary with a personal vendetta, testing his skills like never before....
1958 Japanese movie...
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