Asian Drama

One late night in June 1942, Sakuma Seitaro dangles from the frame of a skylight in an isolation cell in Akita Prison. He forces open the glass window and breaks out of jail. This crime even reaches the ears of Urata Susumu, the chief warden of Kosuge Prison in Tokyo. Urata had been in charge of those sentenced to life in the prison until last year. Although Sakuma is a dangerous person who had also broken out of jail in Aomori, he submits to Urata who is the only person who had treated him kindly in the past. However, three months after escaping from jail, Sakuma shows up at Urata’s house. He has come to complain about the inhumane Akita prison officers. But he is locked up again after Urata notifies the police during an unguarded moment. A year later, Sakuma is sent to Abashiri Prison and Urata is also ordered to transfer as the prison’s chief warden. ~~ Adapted from the novel "Hagoku" (破獄) by Yoshimura Akira

Kenji Amo is a 2nd generation Japanese-American. He was born in America but went to school in Japan. He returned to America to study at UCLA. Now, Kenji Amo works as a reporter for a newspaper in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles.

Charlie Tamiya also studied at UCLA with Kenji Amo. Charlie Tamiya has feelings for Nagiko who works with Kenji Amo at the same newspaper company. Knowing that, Kenji Amo holds complicated feelings. At this time, Nagiko's friend Emi Hatanaka asks Kenji Amo to marry her. He accepts her proposal, but the Pacific War begins. Circumstances surrounding Kenji Amo changes.

Follow up the story of 52 years and covers three editions of 1912 Stockholm Olympics, 1936 Berlin Olympics and 1964 Tokyo Olympics where it features the two lead characters Kanakuri Shisou as the first Japanese man to participate in the Stockholm Olympics' and achieved a world record and Tabata Masaji who was credited with bringing the Olympics to Japan.

Kenji and Aya spend their summer days in a Hotel. While she is doing her own thing, he tries to work on his novel. But then a few strange hotel guest arouse the curiosity of the couple...

Set six months after Naotake (Hidetoshi Nishijima) learned the truth behind his wife's death. Naotake works for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau, but feels worn out. Ryota (Teruyuki Kagawa) quit the police force due to his distrust...

Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat

Ryuzo (Tatsuya Fuji) and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls his 7 men together to reform their society.

In a ruthless battle for power, several yakuza clans vie for the favor of their head family in the Japanese underworld. The rival bosses seek to rise through the ranks by scheming and making allegiances sworn over saké. Long-time yakuza Otomo has seen his kind go from elaborate body tattoos and severed fingertips to becoming important players on the stock market. Theirs is a never-ending struggle to end up on top, or at least survive, in a corrupt world where there are no heroes, but constant betrayal and vengeance.In order to destroy a violent criminal organization, the police release Otomo (Takeshi Kitano) from prison ...

April 4, 1959 in the early morning Detective Fujisawa Rokuro of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was walking his dog along the banks of Tokyo's Musashino district, and found the body of a young woman. Her handbag, an express delivery envelope, and other possession were stil with her, her identity was immediately confirmed as airline stewardess Ikuta Setsuko. Initials her death was considered a suicide due to the visual evidence of a lack of struggle, and the peaceful expression on her face. Upon further examination the cause of her death was determined as suffocation. semen was also found at the scene leading detectives to believe the crime occurred shortly before the body was found.

Fujisawa unable to forget the peaceful expression on Setsuko's face makes a direct appeal to the head of criminal investigations. He is order to work in combination with young detective Ichimura Yoshitaka. Fujisawa is the ace of the MPD, but he tends to go off on his own and that sometimes gets him into trouble. Manager Takaku Ryo takes it upon himself to monitor Fujisawa and Ichimura's behavior.

Eventually it is discovered that a blue Renault with a foreign license plate was seen one the night of the incident near the crime scene. The owner of the blue Renault, a young preist,mis found the be the sender of the express envelope found with the body. The young priest is the prime suspect, but this situation could become an international problem if handled incorrectly. One day while Fujisawa is on a stake out at the Church of Villiers were the young priest preaches a mysterious woman comes and speaks to the Chief Priest. The atmosphere around her seems to repel people.

Based on the novel "Kuroi Fukuin" by Seicho Matsumoto.

Almost defying description, Miike's film opens with found documentary footage about sperm-production in young males and then turns to a graphically violent recreation of the execution in 1865 of the 28-year-old Okada Izo, a low-born samurai who killed in the service of the anti-shogun rebel Hanpeita Takechi. Fast-forward through 15 decades of Japanese history: suddenly Izo's spirit possesses the body of a street-sleeper in an alley of Tokyo's financial district.

The reincarnated assassin goes on a killing rampage through time and space, from the Warring States period to the day after tomorrow, slaughtering everyone from a Buddhist elder to the prime minister ("Beat" Takeshi in one of dozens of star cameos), not forgetting his own mother. Nothing can stop him, because Izo is negation itself: the contradiction spewed up by the "perfect system" that is Japan. Nothing is immune to his attack, except perhaps the godlike emperor (Matsuda Ryuhei) and the maternal goddess of mercy (Momoi Kaori). Standing to one side, watching and commenting in song, is Tomokawa Kazuki, a radical folkie from the 1960s.

The 42nd NHK Taiga Drama is MUSASHI. Many Japanese history buffs are familiar with The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi in the 17th century. Musashi's treatise on strategy and the way to lead instantly became the business executive's bible when the translated version hit the bookstores more than three hundred years later.

In 2003, the story of this legendary swordsman-philosopher-painter comes to life in the NHK Taiga Drama MUSASHI. Based on the famous biography written by Yoshikawa Eiji, this taiga drama boasts a list of stars that reads like a Who's Who of screen and television.

Orphaned before he was ten years old, Musashi (his real name is Takezo, so you'll hear his childhood friends call him by that name) grows up skilled in the martial arts. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he fights on the side of the losing Toyotomi forces, but eludes the enemy as they hunt down the vanquished soldiers. He then spends years wandering the countryside mastering the sword, becoming a stronger samurai. As his fame spreads throughout the nation, men seek him out to test their skills against him--most notably Sasaki Kojiro who faces Musashi in the ultimate Duel at Ganryujima.

Shot in Los Angeles, California, Takeshi Kitano plays Yamamoto, a lone yakuza officer. Defeated in a war with a rival family, his boss killed, he heads to L.A.

As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a powerful force, gradually expanding their turf to an extent that they must confront the Mafia. The Mafia's attacks are ruthless, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return as they are hunted down one by one.

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Kano Sozaburo. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.