Best movies like Tora-san, the Expert

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older. She's of an age when she must choose: to seek marriage (difficult given her tarnished occupation), to be a kept woman, or to borrow money to buy a bar of her own. Each route has dangers, including investors demanding a return on their loans. Keiko has a quiet dignity that attracts men, but are they what they seem? Does she actually have choices?

A lonely, chain-smoking office lady in Tokyo falls for her teacher when she decides to take English lessons. When her teacher disappears, she sets out on a journey to find him.

Among the strategies that fail in Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch the Roadrunner: glue on the road, a giant rubber band, an outboard motor in a wash tub, and dressing in drag as a female Roadrunner.

An unofficial sequel to Streets of Fire, this movie follows an older, grizzled and despondent Cody as he clashes with killers while trying to reconnect with his first love who may hold his redemption.

When her only relative, her elder brother is accused of robbing and murdering an old woman loan-shark, pretty, young Kiriko travels from her home in Kyushu to Tokyo to get Japan's top lawyer to defend her brother. Unfortunately her naive idealism is shattered when the lawyer refuses to take the case based on her insufficient funds. What follows is a long determined revenge plot that sees the heroine become a Tokyo bar hostess and worse to punish the lawyer. The plot thickens with another murder mystery and a sleuthing reporter.

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

Three teenage boys in small-town Southern Ontario are thrilled when Luke Cooper, a mysterious American fugitive with a gunshot wound in his leg, decides to crash their secret hideout. Luke tells them that he's a cop on the run from corrupt colleagues, and swears them to silence. As he recuperates, he becomes their buddy and confidante. By the time the boys realize Luke is not who he pretends to be, they're in way over their heads

Thornton Wilder's tale of a matchmaker who desires the man she's supposed to be pairing with another woman.

Aspiring to be admitted to a good university and to become a lawyer, Tasiro Yuusuke, a tenth-grader from Kyushu, enrolls in a prestigious high school in Tokyo. Plans are made for him to live in his uncle's house, part of which is rented out while his uncle is abroad on business. A realtor's mistakes leaves Tasiro sharing the house with Kei Yamaba, the most beautiful girl in the school, who is also his classmate. There is the risk that their unexpected 'co-habitation' will be discovered by the school authorities.

During a motocross practice, Keisuke Jin is ambushed by two Myth Cyborgs created by a secret organization that's attempting to control Japan, G.O.D. (Government of Darkness). He transforms into Kamen Rider X, but little does he know that his battle is recorded and analyzed by King Dark, G.O.D.'s commander, to create a super cyborg. Other G.O.D. cyborgs are attacking all over Tokyo and in the middle of the crisis, the original four Riders return to Japan from different countries around the world. The five Riders unite to lead a counter attack against G.O.D.

Kanzo Hattori, an apprentice Ninja, leaves his home town of Iga for his final training. He must go to the city of Edo (Tokyo), and the first person he meets shall be his master, whom he must protect with his life, whilst upholding the ninja code. Also while in Edo, Hattori must find out why their rivals, the Koga Ninjas, are flourishing while the Iga Ninjas are dying out. Hattori's master is Kenichi, a 9 year old boy. Kenichi is an introvert and not very popular boy, so he never plays with the other children from school. Kenichi also has a secret crush on a young lady called Midori, yet he's too shy to speak to her. Though as he watches Hattori trying his best, he too begins to try. Meanwhile, people are being found unconscious, their bodies completely unmarked. All the victims have a tattoo (the Koga Ninja crest) and are found with a throwing knife lying close by.

While enjoying the flower gardens, Sailor Moon (Usagi) and friends encounter an old childhood friend of Mamoru's: an alien! He's come back to give Mamoru a special flower, but doesn't like Usagi and the rest of the planet's inhabitants. Sailor Moon must defend the earth from the evil Kisenian Flower he's brought back... before the evil vines and blossoms overrun the planet!

The unfortunate Sumiko is sent from place to place: to live with her alcoholic uncle, then sold to the circus, then adopted by a wealthy family, and finally sent to a Christian orphanage.

Miho Nakamichi, an orphan adopted by Haruko, dreams to star in a musical. One day, Haruko promised Miho that she could go on a journey to find her real father, "Daddy-Long-Legs", who sends a bouquet of flowers every birthday, once she can wear a special pair of pointe shoes. The day finally arrives and Miho's small adventure begins.

Aoi studies photography at a school in Tokyo. She undergoes a heart transplant operation and goes to the island of Okinawa to recover. Her uncle lives on the island. There, she holds a camera and walks along the island. Aoi hears the sound of a trumpet. She looks up and sees a young man playing the trumpet. His name is Zio.

Riko, who will begin university in Tokyo in spring, journeys there from Hiroshima in February with her father to find a place for her to live. On their travels, they meet various colorful characters. The father remembers his late wife, and raising his daughter alone. Their fun time together is tinged with the knowledge that it is about to end. Rakugo performer Kyotaro Yanagiya appears in his first leading film role, and rising star Anna Ishii plays the sensitive Riko. The eccentric supporting cast includes Romi Park, Akihiro Kakuta, Keiko Yanagawa, Kei Ishibashi, LaSalle Ishii, and Momiji Yamamura.

Keiko Aizawa a vengeance-crazed vixen sets out on a journey to avenge the death of her older sister.

As a tunnel construction project threatens the natural order of one of Japan's last untouched regions, an old man and his granddaughter Haruna's humble lifestyle begins to influence the outlook of a man from Tokyo.

The year is 1945, months prior to Japan's ultimate defeat in WW2, and military lieutenant Sugawa is sent on a critical mission to deliver micro-fiche war plans to Tokyo from his base in Malaysia. But while flying over Chinese waters his plane is shot down and he is taken aboard a ship bound for Shanghai to deliver its merchandise - a ship filled with Female Slaves kidnapped from Japan. Will he abandon the women to pursue his main objective? Or will he fight foes, spies and pirates to save these women against all odds?

Yukiko's fiance learns her mother runs a geisha house and ends their engagement. She despises what her mother does until one of her clients shows interest and starts to woo her.

In 1870's Tokyo, Den steals to support the daughter of her first marriage and her consumptive second husband. She falls in love with a young policeman, but is coerced into becoming the mistress of and procurer for a vice boss.

In her search for answers, 17-year-old Haru sets out on a long journey across the country to the town where, in 2011, the devastating tsunami swept away her brother and parents. This road trip takes the young woman, who is still haunted by her loss, from Hiroshima to Tokyo and Fukushima and all the way to Ōtsuchi, where her family home once stood. On the way she encounters other people, other stories, other lives and other losses. Landscapes and faces. The journey ends in the middle of a garden in full bloom among the scarred surroundings of her coastal hometown.. In it stands a telephone box which, even though it is no longer connected, is used to speak to those who cannot be reached any other way.

Nat Silver has been engaged 7 times already. This time, his 8th, he's really going to get married. But a visitor shows up, Shirley's old boyfriend. With a gun ! He'll kill himself unless he can have Shirley back, and Nat graciously gives in. According to Nat's mother, his Uncle Shya was unlucky at love but lucky as a matchmaker, and Nat is just like Shya. Nat tells his family he's going to Italy. But he remains in New York and sets himself up with a new name and new business, Nat Gold, Advisor in Human Relations...

[Period covered: 1582-1594]. As the film opens, the warlod Nobunaga Oda rides to Iga Ayanokuni shrine. He is asked if he thinks he has destroyed all the ninja who opposed him and answers that he suspects that there may be more. A servant brings water and tests it first. The paige dies and we hear gunshots as two ninja flee the scene. His suspicions confirmed, Nobunaga oversees the execution of captured ninja and decides that, in the future, he needs a much crueler method of execution. The daimyo Hideyoshi comes to visit.

An adventure of the soul. JOSEPH is a young, painfully shy writer in the waterlands of South Carolina. After robbing a rural juke joint with two lower-class buddies and joy-riding up the coast to Myrtle Beach, his journey becomes a quest for strength and courage.

Near the end of the 20th century on Tokyo's Chuo train line, just before Hong Kong's return to Chinese control, masses of people go on a rampage, and love runs wild.

As Japan is preparing to host the Olympics, a gang member wanting to go to America is sought after by the police after helping his friend conduct a robbery.

Set in decadent, chaotic Hong Kong and Tokyo, the film tells the story of a young woman caught up in a mysterious turn of events. A young tour guide, 23-year-old Mamiko who's had her heart set on Paris, finds herself swept off to booming Hong Kong where she is thrown into the midst of a high-profile burglary case.

The third installment of the "Night front line" series. An erotic entertainment action in which two young men come to Tokyo and meet face-to-face with a nocturnal organization that controls women with sex and violence.

Ryu (Akira Kobayashi) sets foot on the Yokohama port with a suitcase filled with 300 thousand dollars. He was sent by a jewelry company in Hong Kong to retrieve a certain diamond that was stolen from them. The "Himalayan Star" is worth couple hundred million yen and unbeknown to Ryu, it now lays in the hands of Aizu (Jo Shishido), the infamous ”Pirate of the Tokyo Bay."

Two young Japanese men travel about 1,500 km from the Utah desert to Reno, Nevada by hitchhiking

This surrealistic comedy follows the life of Haruo Maekawa, a young man who makes a living catching squid. Haruo is obsessed with catching a legendary giant squid rumored to live in Tokyo Bay. Haruo's uncle Takashi, fallen on hard times, comes to stay with his nephew until he can get back on his feet. Uncle Takashi is addicted to energy drinks, and seduces any woman in sight, including Haruo's girlfriend Rika. While praying at a Shintō shrine, Uncle Takashi is bitten in the scrotum by a poisonous snake and dies. The uncle is destined to spend the afterlife in Hell unless his nephew and girlfriend can rescue him from the King of Hell.

Tora-san's nephew Mitsuo is exchanging letters with Izumi, a former classmate whose parents divorced and took her out of Tokyo.

Andy and Maggie, a young Irish couple, travel to England as the result of an unplanned pregnancy, where Maggie will face the biggest decision of her life.

A matchmaker looks to unite a young woman from a wealthy Tokyo family with the humble owner of an auto garage.

Tora-san returns to his family home to learn that his brother-in-law cannot go to Mitsuo's (Tora-san's nephew) athletic event. Tora-san volunteers to take his place, but gets into an argument with his brother-in-law's boss and returns to the road. He meets a young woman in Niigata who, unbeknownst to him, is a popular enka singer.

Set in the near future around Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinji got out from a youth detention center. Barikan suffers from stuttering and extreme shyness. These two men meet in a boxing gym. Shinji and Barikan become friends and pursue boxing under a hopeless situation.

In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.

A married woman lets her lover take naked pictures of her. The photos end up in possession of a man who starts blackmailing the couple.

Keiko Suzuki is a lonely waitress in Tokyo. Her father passes away of cancer and she becomes obsessed with the passage of time. And so, three weeks before her 22nd birthday, she decides to record this period of time in the most accurate way possible, regardless of how lonely or banal this record ends up being.

Amidst the swirl of Tokyo's seamy nightlife of designer drugs, casual sex, and American slang, Zhou turns 30. It's a spiritual crisis for this Chinese immigrant who quotes Confucius, this Lothario and con artist who fences stolen goods. He falls for Kyōko, a seemingly shy provincial woman looking for the man who jilted her sister. As their relationship plays out, Hanawa intercuts stories of Kazuo, a hyperkinetic artist who loves the trendy Yōko (Kazuo bores her, and she pursues the indifferent Zhou), and Ali, a Pakistani Muslim who, broke and forlorn, stands outside a convenience store, love-struck by a clerk because she looked into his eyes (she thought he was shop-lifting)

Two executive assistants scheme to get their bosses to date during the holidays, and in the process fall in love themselves.

A matchmaker sets out to have a rich woman marry the not-so-rich boy she loves, and tries to persuade a poverty-stricken nobleman to marry the commoner he loves.

In 1995, a mental hospital is erected near the Japanese Ministry of Finance, located adjacent to the grave of Taira no Masakado. A young male nurse by the name of Jin’ya Yanase is obsessed with the legend of Taira no Masakado and more importantly, the spirit of his evil subordinate Yasunori Kato. Slowly, he becomes possessed by Kato's spirit, who wants to use him as a new host to revive in the modern world. Keiko Tatsumiya (the heroine of the original story), is an old woman living homeless on the streets of Tokyo. When she senses the presence of Yasunori Kato, she must regain her resolve to face the demon-god and vanquish his spirit once and for all.

Keisuke and Shizuko grew up by the Kitakami river and came to fall in love before they knew it. Eighteen years ago, Shizuko was left an orphan and was taken in by Keisuke's parents, who had raised her as their own child. At the riverside when the cherry blossoms are falling, Keisuke, now enrolled in university, promises Shizuko that he will tell his parents about them at the start of the summer vacation. He then sets off for Tokyo...

BLOOD END is one of the great unknown films from Japan's golden era of the late 1960's. Starring NAKADAI Tatsuya in one of his best roles, this is the story of the Mito Tengu Group who attempted to overthrow the Shogunate at the beginning of the Bakumatsu Period. Their political aspirations led to countless assassinations, as well as senseless killing of innocent people who got in their way. Sentaro (NAKADAI), a farmer who's been severely beaten for his outspoken defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine is befriended by one of the group's leaders, KADA Gentaro (KATO Go) and joins up. This is the masterpiece of director YAMAMOTO Satsuo (who is best known for the first film in the NINJA, BAND OF ASSASSINS series) the erstwhile 'Leftist' director, who used his films to make his political points. Stunning fight choreography, and ultra-violence make this one of the bloodiest films of that era. A powerful film Rare classic!

A made for TV movie that would be loosely remade as Magnitude 7.9 or DEATHQUAKE

1962 Japanese movie

Takako (Mei Kurokawa) is a beautiful woman in her 30's and she works as a designer. Takako has only had relationships with married men. She decides to change herself with the help of her manga artist friend Keiko (Asami Usuda). Takako signs up at a matchmaking site. Soon. Takako meets two men and she takes an interest in the two men. Meanwhile, Takako has an argument with her friend Keiko. (Asianwiki)

A few years ago, when Tomomi (Hiroko Akune) was on the way home from school, she saw her friend Keiko (Misaki Mori) about to be raped by a man. Tomomi hit the man in the head with a stone and saved Keiko. In the present, Keiko, has buried her past, sells her body in Tokyo. One day, Keiko is contacted by Tomomi. They haven't spoken since their high school graduation. They meet and Keiko lets Tomomi stay at her apartment. Soon, the bizarre lives of the two women begins, with Tomomi also selling her body.