Yoshirō Aramaki

Born into a poor farming family, Yukie left home with her only son Ryokichi, leaving her grandfather Heisaku behind, to search for her husband Ryohei, who had run away. Ryohei was working in a coal mine in Hokkaido, but he was already living with a woman named Otami, who was pregnant with his child. With no time to wallow in despair, Yukie resolved to work single-handedly to support Ryokichi, but no matter how hard she worked, she could not provide for him adequately. Yet, thinking of Ryokichi’s future, she could not bring herself to die, so she took a job as a barmaid at Yamagataya, living on the premises.

Open details →

Prosecutor Ishigami, who had stepped forward to protect the citizens from the Murata family, the town’s power brokers, found himself assigned to a case involving Kenichi Tagami, a relative of the Muratas, who had resorted to extortion to save his sister, Ayako. While sympathizing with Kenichi’s concern for his sister, Ishigami steeled his resolve to tackle the case head-on in order to root out the town’s power brokers.

Open details →

Tomotaka Tasaka's A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt. The mother dies and the boy is forced to quit work when his father insults the store owner. Later the boy goes to Tokyo, but only to continue his hardships. First he is forced to do a maid's job at a boarding house and later is used by an old woman to steal at funerals. Finally he is rescued by the teacher, whom he meets in Tokyo.

Open details →

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, a five-man reconnaissance unit is dispatched to scout enemy positions in a volatile territory. After a sudden and intense firefight, the group is separated, leaving the survivors to wait in agonizing suspense at their outpost.

Open details →

Open details →

Tetsuo Nomoto, a young college graduate tries to find a decent job by himself. Later on, he will marry his girlfriend, Machiko, whom he hides the fact that he has no job. Hardships come quickly, which forces Machiko to find a job in a bar.

Open details →

Japanese silent film from 1928.

Open details →