Chizuru Ikewaki

When Mikio Natsuno obtains a residency certificate, he is stunned to find the name of a woman he has never met listed as his wife. Apparently, he has been "married" for six months without knowing it. Who on earth is the stranger who decided to become his wife? After a frantic search, Mikio finally discovers her—an eccentric young woman with a striking personality who simply says, "I thought I could keep myself together if I were at least married," offering no further explanation. And so, their uneven, unpredictable relationship slowly begins to take shape.

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In Meiji-era Matsue, a fallen samurai’s daughter and a lonely foreign teacher connect through ghost stories and an unlikely friendship.

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In 2020, the world is forced into lockdown by the COVID pandemic. As remote work is popularized in order to keep the infection rate under control, a young man employed by a company in Tokyo moves to a country town on the Sanriku Coast in Miyagi Prefecture, where he could enjoy fishing, in search of a new lifestyle. But gradually, we found that there were problems such as "empty houses" in the local area.

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Sarya lives between three worlds: Having fled from Turkey to Japan, her small family tries to maintain their Kurdish traditions. On the other hand, Sarya, who arrived when she was five, feels at home in Japan. But then, the family loses its refugee-status. Life becomes unpredictable and their days in Japan seem numbered. A haunting story about the balancing act of finding your place in the world.

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40-year-old Usui Arata had worked as a salesperson for her dream company but right before her marriage, she is betrayed by her fiancée. Not only is her engagement broken off, she is demoted to work at the logistics warehouse in the name of restructuring. Arata’s future is bleak. She has no dream, savings or boyfriend and wonders whether her life will end just like this? This day is her 40th birthday but no one celebrates it with her. The only thing she receives are e-mails from online shopping sites. On her way to the workplace from the company dormitory on a typical dull morning, Arata notices an elderly woman crouching by the side of the road. There is no one in this corner of the city to help her. It feels as if she is seeing herself 40 years later and she instinctively extends a hand to the woman.

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The 50th film in Tora-san series, using the old footages and newly shot scenes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series. The adult Mitsuo, Tora-san’s nephew, who runs into Izumi, his first love, whom he had once promised to marry. The familiar faces of Kurumaya Cafe, which Tora-san’s family ran in Shibamata, also return. Catching up with old friends, it is always their dearest memories of Tora-san which everyone shares on such occasions…

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Five short stories from five different directors set ten years in Japan's future.

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Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification brings back both pleasant and painful memories.

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Akemi is unable to get over the death of his girlfriend, but a book leads to his encounter with Akane, a woman with a wonderful smile. He gradually falls for Akane, who soothes him with her positive outlook and cheerful disposition, but Akane has a boyfriend who has a limited amount of time left to live.

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In the 1980s, a simple-minded fool named Hideaki meets comedy legend Sanma, changes his name to Jimmy and becomes a comedic superstar.

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In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.

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Ritsu was abandoned by his mother Reiko when he was little, so now he belongs in the lower social strata. One day, Ritsu gets involved in a case and his head is severely injured, so he can die at anytime. Convinced she abandoned him due to poverty, Ritsu attempts to find his mother and be good to her before his death. But when he learns that she is leading a happy life instead, with her pianist son Satoru, he decides to take revenge on his mother. Ritsu then meets Rinka, a girl whom he happened to help in the past, and discovers she is Satoru’s childhood friend.

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A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their blood. The killer undergoes plastic surgery and flees. At three different locations in Japan, a male stranger appears. People suspect that the stranger might be the murderer.

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They were high school classmates, spent their youth together in the school choir and certainly had similar dreams. But one rainy night 20 years later, Furusawa Mizue suddenly shows up at the home of popular scriptwriter Makabe Suzune, with her young son. She has lost her job, money and even the home she lived in. Claiming that Suzune is the only one she can turn to, Mizue beseeches Suzune to let her stay for one night. However, this quickly becomes a promise to stay until she gets employment. Unable to cruelly thrust mother and child away, Suzune’s daily life and work get disrupted. Then, a series of strange incidents start to happen to Suzune’s surroundings. Through this reunion of two classmates who have led completely different lives, all sorts of dormant feelings erupt and memories that they were starting to be forgotten are resurrected. ~~ Based on the novel "Haburashi" by Fumie Kondo.

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A new primary school teacher struggles to deal with his new students and their over-protective parents. When he learns that one of his pupils is being abused, he decides to do something about it.

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Plain, timid and obsessed with jellyfish, Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. Her tepid life as a jobless illustrator comes complete with roommates who harbor diehard hobbies that solidify their status as hopeless social rejects. These wallflowers run a tight, nun-like ship, but their no-men-allowed-not-no-one-not-no-how bubble is unwittingly burst after Tsukimi brings home a rescued sea jelly and a beauty queen... who's actually a guy. When the threat of losing their cozy convent inspires this glamour boy to turn the neurotic entourage into a portrait of success, will Tsukimi take her chance to bloom, or will she end up a hot mess?

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Dr. Ichito works at Honjo Hospital. His longtime friend Dr. Tatsuya Shindo, who comes from Tokyo, begins working at Honjo Hospital. In their university days, Tatsuya was referred to as "the conscience of the medical school". Ichito notices a difference in Tatsuya now, as he leaves work on time. Then, Ichito's senior colleague Dr. Nukita collapses.

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A man has thrown away love and a woman has given up on love. The two souls meet in a brief summer in the northern city of Hakodate.

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An elementary student named Junichi is having trouble returning an eraser he borrowed from his secret crush, Maeda. With the support and encouragement of rookie teacher Anna, Junichi gets over his shyness and starts a band with his classmates.

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Depicts the life of best-selling Japanese poet Toyo Shibata. Toyo Shibata first began writing poems at the age of 92 and published her first collection of poems "Kujikenaide" (″Don't lose heart″) in 2009, which sold over 1.5 million copies.

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Kanna Seto lost her childhood friend Haruta in a car accident when she was a freshman in high school. Carrying the emotional pain from that incident throughout her life, Kanna is still wounded as an adult. Kanna then meets Roku Akazawa, who also carries a painful experience from his past. When Roku was an elementary school student, a girl who was with him got into an accident and died. Because of that incident, Roku carries a heavy sense of guilt. When they meet, time, frozen since that day, begins to tick again.

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Death-row inmate Sudo sends a letter to magazine reporter Fujii. In his letter, he states that a man named Kimura, also known as "teacher," committed numerous murders for insurance money. While checking out the story, based on Sudo's tip, Fuji becomes convinced that the letter is correct. But, a lot of time has passed from the incidents and Sudo's testimony isn't clear. Due to the persistance of Sudo, who is a former yakuza, and Fuji, the police begin to move.

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Film adaptation of an original story from Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Director and Akutagawa Prize winner Yuichi Seirai, directed by Taro Hyugaji, who made the live-action version of Grave of the Fireflies. Depicts the fateful encounter between a daughter whose mother has died and a mother whose daughter has died. Jazz pianist Makoto Ozone makes his debut as a film composer. University student Kiyomi (Kie Kitano) is wracked by guilt after her mother dies of a heart attack the night they have an argument. Meanwhile, Saori (Izumi Inamori) finds out she is pregnant, but her daughter died a year before, and she is terrified of losing another child.

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The murder of a young girl leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The body of Emili is found by four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother, Asako, is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim not to remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do penance for their silence.

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Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, The Great Passage. In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems.

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11 mysteries, 11 actors. Japan's favorite mystery author, the world of Higashino Keigo comes to life on screen through an assortment of short stories.

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The murder of a young girl shocks a small Japanese village, and the victim's mother is distraught when the classmates her daughter was playing with all claim not to remember the identity of the killer. In her anger, she puts a curse on them.

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A three-timing 29 year-old man loses part of his memory after taking a nasty fall at a skating rink. The man, who works as pharmaceutical salesman, then discovers an engagement ring in his briefcase. Later, he comes across three different women who all claim to be his girlfriend. To figure out which of the women he planned to marry, he sets up dates with each of them.

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There is a degree of realism when a professional in the field writes about his vocation and such is the case here. Adopted from a novel written by a doctor and set in Nagano, doctor Kuriharai is overwhelmed by the number and variety of patients he has to see due to a shortage of physicians where he practices. He aspires to work somewhere more convenient, specialize and see more of his wife, but faces a dilemma many other doctors experience.

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Daikichi learns that his recently deceased grandfather has an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mother. The girl's name is Rin and she is just 6 years old. Everybody in Daikichi's family looks at the girl as an embarrassment and wants no part of her. Disgusted by his family's attitude, Daikichi decides to raise Rin by himself, even though he has no experience raising a child and is still single.

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Four renowned Japanese directors each adapt a supernatural short story by Japanese literary masters for the KAIDAN HORROR CLASSICS omnibus series. In his adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's THE ARM, Masayuki Ochiai reveals the inner world of fetishists in an eerily unsettling tale of a man who convinces a woman to let him borrow her arm for a night. Meanwhile, Shinya Tsukamoto explores death and unrequited love in Osamu Dazai's THE WHISTLER, about a woman who spies on her dying sister's secret love life after her own romance is dashed by her father. After VILLAIN, Lee Sang-Il looks at social outcasts once again in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's THE NOSE. The story follows a priest with a hideous nose who kills a young local boy in a moment of blinding anger. Meanwhile, Hirokazu Kore-eda creates a gentler ghost tale with Saisei Muro's THE DAYS AFTER, about a married couple who thinks the young boy who visits their house daily may be the ghost of their dead infant son.

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A talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzaemon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife's niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi's develops his unique "bird-catching" sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya.

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Naoko returns home with her young daughter, where her mother Masako runs the only beauty parlor in town. The local women go there to pass the time lamenting their bad luck with men and laughing over dirty jokes. Unbeknownst to them, Naoko has been secretly seeing her former teacher, Kashima.

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A husband and wife, who have not had sex in three years, both fall into extra-marital affairs.

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Once a promising musician, Hyeon-seok has been living as a commoner after he found the symptom of Meniere’s syndrome. He had to stop playing music because his ears distorted sounds into noise. To run away from reality and depression he heads to Japan. Arriving at Monbetsu, a small city in Hokkaido, Japan, he meets Megumi at the train station, the local travel guide. Staying at ‘Megumi Inn’, they get to share emotions through music, natural sounds and having meals together.

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