Movie Drama
This drama of middle-class life in postwar Japan tells the story lower-middle-class workers in the city of Kawasaki, and their troubles and travails.
Japan Japan
Keiji Sada Yoshiko Kuga Hideko Takamine Akira Ishihama Minoru Ôki Toshiko Kobayashi Masami Taura Kumeko Urabe Chieko Nakakita Eiko Miyoshi Shinichi Himori Ryôhei Uchida Kaoru Nobe Kazuko Okada Jô Mitsumura Mari Tanahashi Jun Tanizaki Teruko Ninomiya Tsuneko Sasaki Fumio Tooyama Yoichi Osugi Kayoko Terada Masahiko Inoue Keiji Tsuchida Hisashi Taki Yoshino Tani Kayoko Muramatsu Tami Yamamoto Toshio Shimamura
Similiar movies
Godzilla Minus One
In postwar Japan, a new terror rises. Will the devastated people be able to survive... let alone fight back?
History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess
A documentary film showcasing life in postwar Japan as seen through the eyes of a bar hostess.
Ley Lines
The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike's works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.
Hole in the Sky
The film tells the story of a Drive-In worker and a young tramp who has been left alone by her boyfriend somewhere in Hokkaido. Things seem to work out at the beginning but as time goes by the newly formed relationship between the tramp and the Drive-In worker starts to show the workers harmful will of possession, which finally leads to the somehow sad but also optimistically interpretable ending.
Women of the Night
Fusako, a drug dealer's young mistress in postwar Japan, loses her tenuous grasp on life upon learning about her lover's affair.
Mio on the Shore
Mio is 20 years old. Having lost her parents early, she and her grandmother run a traditional inn in Nagano. However, her grandmother gets sick. Mio moves to Tokyo and lives with her father’s best friend, Kyosuke. He runs a public bath. She begins to work at the public bath, but it is scheduled to be demolished to make way for redevelopment.
An Inn at Osaka
An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life. Notable for its exquisite framing and cinematography, An Inn at Osaka allows its complicated plotlines to disappear behind the minutiae of penury and humiliation that Mito and others suffer during the post-war economic and social reconstruction.
Cinderella Ecstasy
A woman named Reiko stumbles into a shoe store and is given a pair of red shoes that the owner tells her bring good luck. Just before, he refused to sell those same shoes to another woman named Sheila, who is a "Rock Queen" and hangs out with her buddies Kiss and Bowie in their rock den when she's not fronting her band. The shoes soon work their magic as Reiko meets and falls for a motorcycle racer but Sheila is still after the shoes herself and eventually kidnaps Reiko's man...
The Geisha House
Set in the late 1950s, when geisha culture was threatened by moral crusades, it tells the story of Omocha (Miyamoto Maki), a young girl who sees the geisha life as a way to lift her poverty-stricken family from their hand-to-mouth existence. Through her eyes, we see the protocols and complex financial relationships which dictate the running of the geisha house. Fukasaku's film is a work of great delicacy with moments of hypnotic beauty, and his tender direction, often touched with a sense of wonder, fills the screen with lovingly constructed scenes. At its heart is the poignant situation of the women who must sacrifice their normal relationships to live an ambiguous life in which they are a key part of society while being kept, for the most part, on its periphery, like perpetual mistresses.
Traveling Sandwich
Ito Marika stars as the lead in this 2022 SP that tells the story of a group of friends, who run a food wagon serving sandwiches made with local produce, and their interactions with a farming family that they meet in Takasaki City in the Gunma Prefecture. TV Tokyo has teamed up with Takasaki City, Gunma in order to showcase a series of programs and dramas that are part of its efforts towards creating programs aimed at regional development in Japan. This will be its third production, following “Hatake Sono Manma Restaurant” in 2020 and “Nouka no Mikata” in 2021.
NOISE
In 2008, an indiscriminate killing which shocked the whole world was carried out in the street of Akihabara. Director Yûsaku Matsumoto was inspired by the Akihabira killing to look at random acts of violence occurring in Japanese society and exploring the aftermath of one such occurrence, and the building-up to another one. By following several people—perpetrators, victims and family of both alike, he tells a human story about inhumane acts.
The Ditch
Toku, a factory worker gives food to a starving woman, Tsuru, who then follows him home. He shares a shack in a shanty village in Kawasaki with his friend Pin-chan. The two men try to get rid of her but then let her stay when she gives them money. Tsuru tells the people of the village that she lost her job due to a strike, then was robbed of her severance pay, then sold to a brothel in Tsuchiura. She ran away with a friend from Kawasaki. Toku and Pin-chan sell her to a geisha house and spend the money. She is thrown out. The owner demands his money back. Tsuru earns the money to pay their debt by working as a prostitute outside the station. The other prostitutes beat her. She fends them off with a policeman's revolver and is then shot dead by the police.
The Lady of Musashino
Set in post-war Japan, The Lady of Musashino tells the story of Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close, but decide not to consummate their affair. He instead becomes involved with the flirtatious Tomiko, who is also conducting an affair with Michiko's husband. When Michiko finds that her husband has abandoned her, she decides to take her fate into her own hands.
Beauty the Enemy
In a rural district of Tokyo, the owner of a farm is abandoned by his two daughters who are attracted to the life of the big city.
Similiar TV Shows
Hikaru no Go
Hikaru Shindō is just a normal 12-year-old boy, but one day he's rummaging through his grandfather's things to see if he can find something to sell and pulls out an old go board. A ghostly apparition appears out of the board and tells Hikaru his sad story. His name is Fujiwara no Sai, a man who was a go instructor to the emperor of Japan a thousand years ago. However, because of the bad sportsmanship of his opponent during a game, Sai was accused of cheating and banished from the city. With no livelihood or any other reason to live, Sai committed suicide by drowning himself. Now, he haunts a go board, and wants to accomplish the perfect go game, called the "Hand of God" which he hopes to do through Hikaru. If Hikaru will be able to do it or not (or even wants to) will have to be seen.
Robin Hood's Big Adventure
Robin Hood's Big Adventure is an anime adaptation of the classic Robin Hood story consisting of 52 episodes. In this version, Robin and his allies are mostly pre-teens.
Chrome Shelled Regios
The world of tomorrow is an arid wasteland. Humans must live in domed cities to escape the threat of mutant Contaminoid monsters. In this future, mysterious Layfon struggles to keep his violent past hidden from his fellow student soldiers at the military academy. Unfortunately, his former life might be impossible to keep secret – and the truth could tear his team apart.
The Story of One Century
The Story of One Century tells the stories of three women, living in three different Japanese eras: Taisho (1912-1926), Showa (1926-1989) and Heisei (1989-present). The first generation takes place in the 1920s at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake. Togura Aya, coming from a wealthy and influential family, marries against her will to a wealthy man Yokoyama Heikichi, who can help her father tide over his financial difficulties. It seems to be a wrong move, and life goes on meaninglessly for her, until she makes up her mind to follow her heart (Kota Yashiro, a man with a humble background).
Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store
Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store tells the story of part-time convenience store worker Matsukoma, and the new part-time worker, Tomoharu Nii, nicknamed Nietzsche-sensei. Despite Matsukoma’s enthusiastic approach to his job, his teachings are lost on Nietzche-sensei, who, much like his namesake, has a bleaker outlook on things.
Kiznaiver
The anime's setting is a fictional Japanese city named Sugomori City. One day, Noriko Sonosaki tells her classmate Katsuhira Agata, "You have been selected to be a Kiznaiver." The Kizuna System, which allows Katsuhira to share his wounds, connects him to the classmates whose lives and personalities completely differ from his. The Kizuna System is an incomplete system for the implementation of world peace that connects people through wounds. All those who are connected to this system are called Kiznaivers. When one Kiznaiver is wounded, the system divides and transmits the wound among the other Kiznaivers. Sugomori City is built on reclaimed land, but as the years go by, the city's population is decreasing. The story is set in this town where Katsuhira and the others live.
Temp Staff Psychic Ataru
21-year-old Ataru Matoba begins work for an event company as a dispatched worker. This is her first real job. She goes to work wearing a knit hat, sunglasses and a long coat. She is happy to have the various work experiences and she works pleasantly. Ataru Matoba also has a special ability. When she makes eye contact with someone, she can see that person's troubles or indelible memory. With her special ability, Ataru Matoba solves troubles of people she works with.
Evil's Wave
In 2014, a series of murders targeting women takes place in Kawasaki City. All the victims have been killed as if they had hanged and these are dubbed the "Hanging Murders" in public. The police investigation runs into difficulties without clues on the murderer. However, Detective Iguchi from the First Investigation Division has his eye on a man whom he suspects to kill for pleasure. This man is Naoya Nogi. He lies about his identity, erases his traces in public, and lives as if he is holding his breath. Nogi is actually Masato Yaginuma, the victim in the sensational Akishima mother and son kidnapping case. He gets his neighbor, Yoshika, involved as he tries to escape the police dragnet but comes to realize some facts. What is his true motive?
This Guy Is the Biggest Mistake in My Life
Sato Yui is a dispatched contract worker at Amagi Pharmaceutical Company. Her pet has died and she feels deep sorrow over its death. One day, she drinks alone at a bar and shouts, with tears running down her face, "Develop medicine to bring back someone to life!" At that time, a man walks towards her. He makes a spiteful remark that there is no such medicine that can bring someone back to life. He also tells her to stop barking and to go home. Yui feels anger within herself and she trips him. She then leaves the bar. Yui is unaware that the man she tripped is Amagi Kyoichi and he is the CEO of Amagi Pharmaceutical Company. The next day, Yui hears at work that the CEO is looking for her. When she gets to his office, she realizes the man she tripped in the bar is the CEO. She thinks that she might get fired, but he suddenly tells her to "Please treat me as a slave."
PIPLE: My Married Life with an AI
After the jolt he gets from a date gone bad with the girl of his dreams, a admired senior colleague, the drab white-collar worker Ken'ichi Tsumiki buys an appealing AI girl-droid "equipped" for sex, takes "her" as his wife, and names her Piple. But for some reason, Piple spurns his advances on their first night together. Visiting Piple's developers, Tsumiki meets the AI researcher Kaede Miyama. She tells Tsumiki that the problem is in the way he set Piple up—something that, sadly, couldn't be changed. But Miyama has an idea, and she makes a surprising suggestion.
Ideal Boyfriend
Onodera Yumeko may look smart on the outside, but at home, she is a complete mess in terms of housework and fashion. Yumeko is particularly clumsy in romance and always dream about her first love in high school who she still thinks is her ideal man. Somehow, Yumeko keeps experiencing trouble one after another. Her boyfriend whom she thought would propose to her ended up breaking up with her, and her junior colleague at work betrayed her. Yumeko becomes heartbroken but she suddenly meets a young man who is the spitting image of her first love and her daily life changes like a roller coaster.
The Real Thing
Kazumichi Tsuji is a bored office worker in questionable relationships with two women at work. One day he meets the intriguing Ukiyo Hayama at a convenience store. However, having her in his life brings nothing but trouble.
Troubles All Aboard!
Despite being famous on social media as the “Angel of HR,” Hitomi Mamoru is unhappy with her job. Upset one evening, she goes out drinking, spending the night with a devilish stranger who changes her life!
2nd House
2nd House tells a story of a low income, white-collar worker named Koichi, who has a really bad relationship with his wife. Koichi doesn't have a strong status in the family and so he wanted to find a '2nd House'. He then meets up with Aki and they developed a strong love for each other.... It is a comedy love story full of joy and laugther for adults of all ages.
Karin
A young woman Chiaki whose family runs an old miso company in Nagano Prefecture, the only daughter of old traditional family. For generations, they were making soybean paste for living. Now she needs to take over this business and rebuild it. She lives through the hardships of postwar Japan.
Utamaro and His Five Women
Utamaro, a great artist, lives to create portraits of beautiful women, and the brothels of Tokyo provide his models. A world of passion swirls around him, as the women in his life vie for lovers. And, occasionally, his art gets him into trouble.