Masatoshi Nagase

In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a...

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...

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...

When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country....

A Japanese tourist, Tokio, meets a 15-year-old Hong Kong girl and her grandmother left behind in Hong Kong while their family emigrates to Canada.

A violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.

Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his...

The story of a photographer who becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman who lives in the apartment opposite his.

O-Shin is a young brothel worker who, one night, helps a young samurai escape from his pursuers. Against the warnings of her fellow workers,...

Traumatic incidents, conflicts, and bloody quarrels awaiting the Wago family members who return home to bury their parents.

Hidenori is a Japanese-Korean man with no sense of belonging, destination or education. He drifts around and meanders through life until a death...

A Japanese businessman travels to Iceland and has a series of misadventures while venturing to a remote area to perform a traditional burial ritual...

Keisuke, an aspiring samurai-movie actor lands a major role in a new film, but must contend with a director who has nothing but scorn for him, but...

One day, an angel materializes before Kato's eyes. While the angel seems like an average girl with a passion for gin and lime, she sports a pair of...

Private detective Mike takes on an assignment to return a girl, who is set to marry into a prestigious family, from a mysterious commune in the...

To pay off his loan shark, failed actor Ryōsuke Kinuta is forced to smuggle dead bodies – and one live elite assassin – in the middle of...

Maiku Hama is a private detective working in Yokohama. Hama comes to the aid of a Taiwanese waiter named Yang and agrees to track down his missing...

Broke, with his vintage Nash convertible repossessed, private eye Mike Hama is reduced to combing the mean streets of the Yokohama waterfront on a...

When a hooded stranger appears in private eye 'Mike' Hama's office with the cryptic challenge "I want you to look for me," Hama is drawn into a...

Kotaro and Kuroe marry almost immediately in a Christian ceremony and move into an apartment. Life is completely joyous until, one day, Kuroe falls...

Three high-school students tangle with indulgent yakuza and lackadaisical police as they set out in search of the class bully, who has been kidnapped.

In Kagoshima, in the final days of World War II, an offer of marriage comes to Etsuko Kamiya, who lives with her brother and his wife. The offer...

A droll and formalistic comic drama about the various relationships among, and odd obsessions of, the residents of a Tokyo apartment block.

The Yakuza has two investments in Thailand. One is a factory polluting the environment in Pattaya. The other is smuggling heroin with Thai partners...

Set towards the end of World War II, Nomura (Masatoshi Nagase) is a writer who is in despair. A woman works in bar and is a former prostitute. Many...

Kyogokudo is a used book seller who doubles as an onmyouji, or Heian style occultist. His friend Sekiguchi brings him the story of a woman who has...

Miyako works as a call girl, living with her close friend Sakiko. After encountering a client, Shintani, with whom Miyako experiences sexual pleasure...

A Taiwanese high school baseball team travels to Japan in 1931 to compete in a national tournament.

Maeda decides to have an operation to cure his color-blindness, but he becomes afraid that after the operation, his world is not going to be the same.

An assassin fends off numerous attacks from her comrades, who are trying to move up in rank by killing off the competition.

The story follows the teacher and students of the Ryubetsu Handicapped High School.

Tetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college-educated brother,...

The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the...

Yuri and Takumi are brother and sister who faced unusually harsh treatment by their father. An act of brutality keeps them extremely close together...

Three short films with the theme of death and dead ends in common.

A story about a hitman named Hayamada who carries a distinctive red gun.

Rieko Saibara is a cartoonist and mother of a 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl. When she has a difficult time, she throws away her problems with...

Based on a novel by Bo Nishimura, the film is about an extramarital affair between the wife of an estate agent and a 22 year old man.

When a woman whose job is to professionally date men disappears suddenly, a TV crew who wanted to film a documentary about women like her begin...

The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Tokyo). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is...

When a promising young boxer is crippled in a car accident, he falls into a life of dissipation and depression. No boxing ring or martial arts club...

Anna Tsuchiya blasts back in time playing an oiran, a top-notched geisha of the Edo period’s Yoshiwara District, navigating brothel politics...

Through philosophical and science themed imagination, Emile questions everything from his teenage years to adult life.

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...

Set at the edge of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, with its beautiful scenic views, the film revolves around two women from...

"Atlanta Boogie" centers around a mock track meet between the "normal" and "good" citizens of Yokohama and those they want to expel from the...

Recently appointed dean at a film school, Kimuro Hajime develops a special concern for one of his students, Daisuke. The brash, headstrong young man...

The anthology film R246 Story centers around the major Japanese highway Route 246. Originating in Chiyoda Ward's Miyakezaka district, the 122.7...

"Gina K" tells the story of the daughter of a famous stripper, who reveals her family history so she can stand proud as a vocalist. On stage she's...

An American art dealer (Miguel Sandoval), who specializes in southwestern topaz, arrives by train in Liverpool. Similarly, a very proper British art...

The film opens with kidnappers of a corporate executive making an unusual ransom demand: that a wizened executive from another company haul large...

Saki and Toshi were born and raised at the shabby "Drive in Gamo," located on the side of a road. Their father was a yakuza but he was kicked out of...

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...

Masayuki meets Nanami, who is on a journey with a refrigerator named Ullie. Nanami's Iranian friend Amir is helping her haul the refrigerator which...

Commentary: The first work in the "Asian Beat" series, in which young directors from six Asian countries, including Japan, compete to create the same...

Tora-san Makes Excuses is a 1992 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Kumiko...

The story of a girl riding a motorcycle and embarking on a journey to meet her distant father.

Hiroshi is a high school student who dreams of one day writing a children's book. But knowing that dreams need money to become a reality, he works...

Kanjaki, a middle-aged man, goes to a quiet countryside village. He puts his helmet on a shrunken old woman whom he meets by chance in a shop. As...

Set within the fictional city of Mahoro, Keisuke Tada runs a "benriya" - a general problem solver for hire. His assistant is his former high school...

Shunsuke Fujii was a bullied middle school student. He took his own life. A letter left behind referred to his classmate Yu Sanada as a friend....

In a future where World War II never ended, Japan is decimated by nightly bombings. The only building left standing is known as the Media Station, a...

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret....

Akako, a shape-shifting goldfish in the form of a coquettish nymphet clad in diaphanous red dresses, naively plays the role of erotic muse and...

A week in the life of Paterson, a poet bus driver, and his wife Laura, a very creative artist, who live in Paterson, New Jersey, hometown of many...

On what apparently is a parallel world, time flows in a much slower pace than normal. The ocean remains on a solid state of matter as the eccentric...

Kozo Nakase attends meetings for single widowers looking to remarry. He meets Sayoko Takeuchi and eventually marries her. Not longer after their...

1989: 64th and last year of the Showa era. A girl is kidnapped and killed. The unsolved case is called Case 64 ('rokuyon'). 2002: Yoshinobu Mikami,...

1989: 64th and last year of the Showa era. A girl is kidnapped and killed. The unsolved case is called Case 64 ('rokuyon'). 2002: Yoshinobu Mikami,...

A down-on-his luck writer meets a movie producer, who asks him to write a screenplay on the condition that he visit locations for the film. Chaos...

The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.

Six directors picked a favorite song by Japanese punk rock band "The Blue Hearts" and made a short film inspired by the song.

This omnibus film brings together three globally acclaimed directors from Asia with a common theme 'Living Together in Asia' to depict the lives of...

In Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, a school teacher and her would-be-fiancé link up with Chinese guerrilla fighters, forging their own path to...

Centres on Jeanne, a journalist tracking a mysterious rare herb that appears only once every 997 years.

The Mikami family lives within the foot of Mount Iwaki. The Mikami family makes a living by running an apple farm. Eldest daughter Rinko is a middle...

Junoshin Kake is a ronin. To get hired by the Kurokaze Han, he lies and tells them that a religious group is trying to destroy them. He gets hired by...

Ryoko Matsumura is a popular writer in her 50's. She also knows that she has Alzheimer’s. Ryoko Matsumura begins to teach at a university. She...

An experimental drama with the motif of "experimental film". What does it mean to be reproduced on film? Under the theme of fundamental questions, it...

The story of Henri Mitowa, a 93-year old Japanese monk, who wants to make a movie based on his own life.

Set at a movie theater in a small village around 100 years ago. Silent films are play at the movie theater. A young man aspires to become a benshi, a...

Motorcycles, drugs, and gangs terrorize Japan. The man who dreamed of a life of peace has instead been transformed into an angel of death!

Thirty years after aboy's disappearance, a journalist revives interest in the case, which in turn compels the victim's brother to look for this...

Scene one: March 11th, 2011. An earthquake and a tsunami strike the East coast of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. A man and five...

Toichi is a boatman who ferries the villagers to a town on the other side of the river. Besides rowing a boat for the villagers all day long, he...

Rintaro (Sometani Shota) returns home for the first time in a while to prepare for and attend his father's funeral. He and his sister are surprised...

Set in a spa town, Akira Takasu (Masatoshi Nagase) is a carver and a mailman. He keeps in touch with poet Penguin (Masataka Kubota). Penguin has a...

An old Chinese woman visits Japan to find her missing daughter whom she adopted in post-WWII China. Her granddaughter and a retired Japanese...

The Yakuza has two investments in Thailand. One is a factory polluting the environment in Pattaya. The other is smuggling heroin with Thai partners...

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa...

A story that reveals the secrets of two women with a very similar face, a club singer with a mysterious charm and a crystal glass craftsman who...

Their parents are dead. They should be sad, but they can't cry. So they form a kick-ass band. This is the story of four 13-year-olds in search of...

Shunsaku was paralyzed from the neck down at the young age of 36 by a spinal injury suffered in a motorcycle accident. A blind woman named Hanae...

When Chihiro was a baby, she suffered from eczema. Her parents tried to find a cure, but nothing worked. Her father's co-worker then gave him some...

An omnibus film that compresses 16 hours into one, offering glimpses of what happens beyond the monotony from 9am to 5pm.

In the time after Naomi’s parents suddenly die, she happens to meet and bond with the popular actor Morinori Tokito who lives in the same...

Mysterious poetic story of long-lasting discord between beautiful sisters unfolds in Malaysia and Japan.

7 years ago, Yoichi died in a traffic accident. His wife Ryoko did not receive compensation from her husband's death. She has since raised her son...

A human drama about the strange fate of the three brothers, played by Masatoshi Nagase, Joe Odagiri, and Nobuaki Kaneko, set in Nagoya.

Three siblings share a home with their parents living a happy life. The oldest one is good-looking guy, which is something of a contrast from his...

Noushin is a single mother who lives by her girl alone and has a peaceful life but when a foreign guy enters their life everything changes for them...

Somewhere on the coast of Taiwan is Hotel Iris, a mouldering seaside establishment run by a cold and thrifty Japanese woman (Nahana) and her lonely...

A former couple remembers their most intimate days, only to part once again. A bittersweet love story inspired by a Jim Jarmusch masterpiece, set in...

Shishikari is a remote island, which is behind the times. The island suffers from a decreasing population and declining industries. Keita Izumi...

In the silent mountains, surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides. A man carrying an urn, Iori Kano, appears in front of Mizuki Takahashi, a...

Diagnosed with dementia, Yuriko's mind quickly begins to fade. Yet, for her son Izumi, memories of the mother feel as vivid as when he lived them....

Taro Magokoro is an unsuccessful actor and lives a mundane life. This year, he turns 30.

Tenmasou is a long-established inn atop a mountain overlooking the sea, in a town called Mitsuse that exists between heaven and earth. The inn is run...

Late 18th century, Tohoku. An outcast girl, Rin lives in a village suffering from famine. She draws strength from Mt. Hayachine, where the spirits of...

Four short films produced without a director

A one part drama/made for TV movie starring Rie Miyazawa

Ami, haunted by recurring apparitions, embarks on a journey from Singapore to Japan in search of her missing mother. Amidst the transforming...

A countryside in 1988. Shun is crazy about fooling around with his best friends. Facing up with their family environment or bullying in school, they...

Tamaki (Miho Nakayama) and Ako (Shizuka Kudo) are two friends living together. Although their personalities differ, they share the same wish - to...

It follows a nameless man who gives up his identity to live with a large cardboard box over his head, encountering a range of characters as he...

In the wake of the social unrest caused by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, two female sumo athletes, Kiku and Tokachi, and an anarchist group called...

Fuji Television film based on the manga of the same name by Hiroshi Aro.

Feeling unhappy with his gun, Jigen is looking for the world’s best gunsmith. He finally finds out that Chiharu, who runs a watch shop, is the...

Based on the comic by Tsuchida Seiki, inspired by the artist's own life experience, this film portrays the loss and regeneration of the life of four...

Ena is a computer graphics artist. Working like a machine, she ultimately suffers from the rare digital disease "01," which leaves a strange mark on...

In a not so distant future where lifespan extension has become a priority following the spread of a mysterious virus, a privileged man looks back...

Mike Hama, Private Detective, is a chain-smoking, wisecracking tough guy with a weakness for the ladies and a soft spot in his heart, especially for...

Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and...

A junior high school teacher marries a much younger woman despite his teenaged daughter’s disapproval. Her step-mother is now the sex idol for...