Women's Police

Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later, she’s a shamed woman confined to living in the shadowy world of sex clubs and street gangs. She returns to the city to live with her uncle, a billiard-hall owner, and after befriending pimp and ne’er-do-well Ryuji (Tsunehiko Watase), she gets a job working at a hostess club in the chic Ginza neighborhood, where the expensive shops and neon lights conceal a dark world of crime and sexual slavery. But when a rival gang attempts to muscle in on the club, Nami becomes enmeshed in a violent struggle that forces her to wield a skilled pool cue to defend her uncle’s business, and eventually a short sword to wreak bloody vengeance upon her enemies.

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 documentary film showcasing life in postwar Japan as seen through the eyes of a bar hostess.

Two car manufacturers spy on each other to try to find out details and prices of a new sports car each is about to launch.

A corrupt businessman blackmails the lovelorn reprobate Atsushi into watching over his suitcase full of embezzled cash while he serves a jail sentence. Rather than wait for the man to retrieve his money, however, Atsushi decides to spend it all in one libidinous rush—fully expecting to be tracked down and killed.

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."

A young yakuza, Yatappe, wanders around the country in search of his long-lost little sister, Oito. While traveling, he rescues a young girl, Osayo, whose father entrusts her to him with his dying wish. To honor his promise to Osayo's deceased father, Yatappe brings her to safety, and from a distance keeps a watchful eye on her well being.

Kagari (Akira Kobayashi), a scout and overseer of Ginza bar hostesses, receives an urgent phone call from Sawako, a hostess at the bar Rie, and rushes to Tokyo International Airport to meet her. When he arrives she is gone. At the bar he learns that Tabuchi, a steady customer, had been quite friendly with Sawako and may know something. Tabuchi claims he knows nothing and Kagari lets the matter drop. Over time Kagari learns from Takijima, a businessman, that Sawako is in a hospital in Yokohama. Takijima explains that he found her in Singapore working as a street girl and brought her back to Japan. Sawako had lost her memory after being subjected to narcotics. Kagari swears to find the person responsible.

Set in a Shinjuku bathhouse brothel, the film uncovers the sexual eccentricities of everyday people. Focusing on three female sex workers, the colorful, unpredictable look into the hidden underbelly of Japanese nightlife is playful but also unafraid to explore the darker sides of the business. The fleeting nature of relationships in such an environment and the consequences of toying with feelings are presented with a melancholy tinge.

Two petty gangsters get ransomed by a group of Yakuza members, fortunately they are rescued by a kindly Kindergarten teacher.

Mega star Akira Kobayashi stars as Jiro in the rambunctious tale of a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy Ginza district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend’s business...

It is difficult to stand out at a Ginza club where every hostess wants to be number one. It is competitive. One of them is a virgin and also just eighteen years old. She wants to become the number one hostess to help pay the bills for her family. She advertises herself as 'virginity for sale.' It is an auction and the prize goes to the highest bidder. She doesn't have hostess skills however. The club's manager was the number one hostess in all of Ginza and helps the younger woman.

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.

A 16-year-old girl works in a factory to pay her late father’s debt. When she makes up her mind to become a hostess, a boy approaches her with kind and gentle manners...(Also occasionally known in English as “Play”)

On the day of college graduation, Mieko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) stood on stage as the valedictorian for the Department of English. During her university years she made sure that she would always come out on top, and she did. With a victorious graduation behind her, she plans out the next chapter of her life: become a successful novelist and go out with a classmate she's been secretly eyeing for the past couple of years.

Hyacinth Bucket (whose name, she insists, is pronounced "Bouquet") is a suburban housewife in the West Midlands. She would be the first to tell you that she is a gracious hostess, a respected citizen, and a well-connected member of high society. If you don't believe that, just ask her best friend Elizabeth, held captive in Hyacinth's kitchen; or the postmen and neighbours who bristle at the sound of her voice; or Richard, her weary and compliant husband. In fact, Hyacinth's reputation could be as perfect as her new lounge set, if not for her senile father's love of running wild in the nip. Oh, and she would prefer it if her brother-in-law was a sharper dresser. And that her husband was more ambitious. And that her sisters were more presentable. And do take your shoes off before you come in the house, dear. Mind that you don't brush against the wallpaper.

Carnation is a Japanese television drama that aired in the Asadora slot on NHK from 3 October 2011 to 31 March 2012. It is the 85th Asadora. It is based on the life of the fashion designer Ayako Koshino in Kishiwada, Osaka. Ayako was the mother of the internationally famous designers Hiroko Koshino, Junko Koshino, and Michiko Koshino.

Sakura is a single 39-year-old woman who works as the assistant manager at a beauty salon. She spends her days making her customers look beautiful but doesn’t pay much attention to her own appearance. All of that changes when she goes to a party and meets Hiroto, a much younger man who is a biker. Will Sakura revel in the attention of the handsome but dangerous Hiroto or notice the constant interest of her hard-talking and hard-drinking salon manager, Rintaro?

Haru and Kanako have been married for four years. They don't have any children, but they both enjoy their job and are happy together. However their lives are suddenly disrupted when Kanako faints from subarachnoid hemorrhage. After the operation, it becomes evident that she has lost some of her memory...her memory of the five years with her husband. She decides to return home to her parents. Her younger brother takes care of her. Meanwhile, Haru's colleague notices that there is something troubling him. Life without his wife makes Haru realize how much his wife means to him and vows to propose to her once again...

42-year-old Utsumi Takayuki works for Second Division of Hinode Advertising's Planning and Sales Department. He was transferred from the General Affairs Department one year ago, but he keeps delivering the worst sales performance. Utsumi is not eloquent, poor at dealing with things and is a pushover too. He always gets reprimanded by his boss Dozono Shoko. His only pleasure is skipping work, going to the public bath in the day on a weekday and gulping a beer down his dry throat after that. Utsumi cannot resist the temptation when he sees a public bath during working hours despite his sense of guilt. On this day too, he calls his company with the excuse that he has urgent business and walks through the door of a public bath in high spirits. When he pays the fee, takes off his suit and enters the bath, the best moment awaits him.

Itsuki Hashima is a light novelist obsessed with little sisters, strictly focusing on them when he writes his stories. Despite his personality, he's surrounded by a tight circle of friends, including a beautiful genius writer who loves him, a big-sisterly college classmate, a fellow male writer, a sadistic tax accountant, his editor, and Chihiro, his perfect younger step-brother who takes care of the housework and cooking. As the story progresses, the underlying conflicts of dreams and goals surface, as each character attempts to achieve their dreams, in their own way.

After an unexpected encounter, perfect Momo meets mediocre Kazama and they fall in love. Watch this romance unfold as they struggle to be together!

After college, Rikuo Uozumi, a boy without much ambition in life, takes on a job at a convenience store. The days pass by uneventfully for Rikuo until he meets his former girlfriend and classmate, but especially thanks to the unusual Haru Nonaka, and her pet raven...

Kirishima Tooru is as vicious a yakuza as they come, to the point where he's earned the nickname "the Demon of Sakuragi." To get him under control, he's suddenly given a new mission straight from the boss—to babysit his daughter!

Hoshino Akari is a single mother who, after losing her husband, struggles to maintain the balance between her dual role of raising her two children while carrying out her duties as a bartender. In her job serving cocktails to troubled customers at BAR 1511, she listens empathetically and solves their troubles with her kind words of advice.

Takako Meguro, a typical office worker known to her friends as Medaka, starts a new career as a night school teacher when her company restructures. At first, she's not so crazy about her new job and gets by with a minimum of effort. But as she continues, she finds out it's quite a challenge after all. Her students range from a high school dropout to a salaried worker, and also include a self-employed fellow, and a cabaret hostess, in short, a motley crew! What's more, half of them are older than her and, to make matters worse, one of them is a elementary school classmate. But a certain turn of events results in Medaka's becoming a really dedicated teacher! Although she's surprised herself at this change of character, her trials are just about to begin.

Luzon Sukezaemon is a merchant who imports vases from the Philippines. The vases are highly valued as tea utensils and he makes a huge profit. This was the first taiga drama to concentrate on the lives of commoners and the reviled merchant class of the Tokugawa period. It documents the rise and fall of the merchant city of Sakai, as seen by its most famous resident, the semilegendary Luzon.

The 7th NHK Asadora. Starring Tadashi Yokouchi in a narrative about an employee of the national railroad living through 50 years of modern history with his wife.

Asai Michiko is a 28-year old housewife. Her husband is 38-year old Yoshio, who works at an advertisement agency. Five years into their marriage, Michiko finds out that Yoshio has been having an affair. Michiko visits the woman and begs her to break up with Yoshio. "Yoshio mentioned that he doesn't see his wife as a woman," she says, bringing Michiko to tears. Nogami Machiko is a 31-year old woman who works at a luxurious nightclub in Ginza. She is told by her lover whose child she bears, "Get an abortion." She too, is brought to tears. Three years later... Since her husband's affair, Michiko, now 31, has put every effort forward to become the adorable wife by studying the latest trends and fashion. Machiko, now 34, is an employed owner of a Ginza nightclub. One day, Okinaka Kazuko moves in across from the Asai family. She is there to take care of the house while her sister and her family are living in Osaka. Alone and lonely, she hopes to become close friends with Michiko. Koyanagi Shingo, Yoshio's client and president of a middle-sized company, takes Shingo to a luxurious Ginza nightclub after dinner. It's Machiko's club. Machiko has had feelings for Yoshio since he started visiting her establishment. When Shingo rises from his seat to leave, Yoshio does the same. But Machiko holds him back. "There's an annoying customer at another table. Can you stay a little longer for me?" After leaving the club, Shingo heads downtown to visit 18-year old Ito Mayumi who sings and plays the guitar. Although Shingo has a wife and a nearly adult-age son, all he can think about is his young lover. After finishing work, Machiko takes a taxi home with Yoshio. Machiko's apartment is just a station away from Yoshio's. In the taxi, Machiko spills coffee on Yoshio's suit. "We should clean this up immediately" she says and invites Yoshio in. Yoshio can't hold back his feelings as Machiko seduces him. Meanwhile, Michiko has reunited with Kondo Kei, a 26-year old calligrapher who was formerly a student of Michiko's father, a master in calligraphy...

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.