Movies: Yuko Tanaka

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 encounter...

Based on an autobiography by Hiroshi Tamura, the film follows story of the author's experience of homelessness when this father suddenly decides to abandon his family. Hiroshi and his older siblings do all what they can to withstand the trouble they ...

Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became ...

Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses....

In the early days of the Showa era in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture a newborn baby is abandoned with a doll under the eaves of a merchant house along the pilgrimage route in Shikoku. It seems to be a pilgrim struggling to make a living. This baby girl ...

Stuck in a fishing village in Hokkaido, Tadao's grand-daughter Haru is desperate to visit Tokyo, a trip Tadao is reluctant to make....

...

Daikichi is a 70-year-old man and lives on a small island. Since his wife died, he has lived with his cat Tama. Daikichi was born and raised on the small island and enjoys relaxing days with his childhood friends including Iwao and his cat Tama. Dai...

Young Kinu Yamabe is drawn to low-born Onimaru, who is vital and charismatic, but viewed by his father as a demon. After her first period, Kinu suffers the fate of any women born near the Sacred Mountain: she must leave the Mountain and serve as a pr...

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...

Hibi tells about mother who does pottery and lives rather simple life, growing her children up. She does remarkable job in pottery, finding a new way to make natural pottery in her own tunnel kiln. Then, her son gets leukemia. And entire family has t...

When a broadcasting company takes away its financial support from a symphony orchestra, some of the members refuse to admit defeat. The first violinist returns to his home and manages to get the orchestra back together for a grandiose performance, sa...

A young man fails his company entrance exams and leaves home to work at a run-down cinema in Tokushima, whose owner lives to bring entertaining films to the residents of his small town....

Tora-san gets into an argument with his uncle and sets out on the road again. In Kyushu he meets a young woman named Keiko and the shy zoologist Saburō, and attempts to play matchmaker between the two when they all return to Tokyo....

The story of a teacher who comes to a village on the Inland Sea and the relationship that develops between her and her 12 pupils....

An eerie statue of the Kannon shedding tears in an old Western-style house. Fifty years of the strange lives of the mothers and daughters who protect the statue of the Kannon....

In the 39th year of Meiji, a Yucheng, who had lived in poverty since childhood, lived in a house near the ramp in order to become a concubine of usury...

Yasutake Shingo works as a newspaper reporter but his life is stiffled and lifeless. That changes one day when he meets the irrepressible Matsunaga Chie by accident. Just as their relationship is blossoming however, Chie tells Shingo that she has bre...

Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune....

Young Wakana is the daughter of a husband and wife comedy act, who have worked together for 20 years without any big success. Wakana’s parents quarrel constantly, and her mother often threatens to leave. When one day her father disappears, Wakana set...