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Ojo-san / お嬢さん (‘Young Miss’, 1961)

Obscure Japanese Film #131 Ayako Wakao Kasumi (Ayako Wakao) is a young woman of marriageable age prone to daydreaming who believes that ar...

Martin Dowsing

Story of a Blind Woman /女めくら物語 / Onna mekura monogatari (1965)

Obscure Japanese Film #130 Ayako Wakao This Daiei production stars Ayako Wakao as Tsuruko, an orphan who loses her sight at the age of 16 ...

Martin Dowsing

The Beloved Image/ 顔 / Kao (‘Face’, 1960)

Obscure Japanese Film #129 Machiko Kyo and Ryo Ikebe This Daiei picture opens with young executive Ko (Ryo Ikebe) being seen off at Haneda...

Martin Dowsing

The Time of Reckoning / 不信のとき / Fushin no toki (1968)

Obscure Japanese Film #128 Jiro Tamiya and Ayako Wakao Asai (Jiro Tamiya) is an artist who designs advertising posters for a printing comp...

Martin Dowsing

A Town Not on the Map / 地図のない町 / Chizu no mai machi (aka ‘The Jungle Block’, 1960)

Obscure Japanese Film #127 Yoko Minamida Ryoji Hayama   Shinsuke (Ryoji Hayama) is a young doctor who has had to resign from his post at a...

Martin Dowsing

Furin / 不倫 (1965)

Obscure Japanese Film #126 Ayako Wakao   Saburi (Keizo Kawasaki) is a writer who has just won the Newcomer of the Year Award for…

Martin Dowsing

Bonds of Love / 愛のきずな / Ai no kizuna (1969)

Obscure Japanese Film #125   Mari Sono and Makoto Fujita Suzuki (Makoto Fujita) is a low-level manager at a travel agency who drives a mod...

Martin Dowsing

Konki / 婚期 / 'Marriageable Age' (1961)

Obscure Japanese Film #124 Ayako Wakao   Takuo (Eiji Funakoshi) runs an inn (a family business he has inherited), and lives not just with ...

Martin Dowsing

The Pass – Last Days of the Samurai / 峠 最後のサムライ / Tōge saigo no samurai (2020)

Obscure Japanese Film #123 Koji Yakusho This Shochiku production stars Koji Yakusho, well-known for his leading roles in international hit...

Martin Dowsing

The Horse Boy / 暴れん坊街道 / Abarendo kaido (1957)

Obscure Japanese Film #122 Shuji Sano   Isuzu Yamada Yosaku (Shuji Sano) is a low-ranking samurai employed at Yurugi Castle in Tanba Provi...

Martin Dowsing

Song of the Horse / 馬の詩 / Uma no uta (1971)

Obscure Japanese Film #121   Toshiro Mifu-neigh? Akira Kurosawa’s only work for TV was this documentary co-produced by his own company and ...

Martin Dowsing

The Virgin Witness / 処女が見た / Shojo ga mita (1966)

Obscure Japanese Film #120 Michiyo Yasuda Kazue (Michiyo Yasuda) is an 18-year-old orphan who has been adopted by her uncle and aunt, with...

Martin Dowsing

The Precipice / 氷壁 / Hyoheki (1958)

Obscure Japanese Film #119 Kenji Sugawara When salaryman Uoza (Kenji Sugawara) returns from a mountaineering trip and encounters his frien...

Martin Dowsing

A Dangerous Age / 続十代の性典 / Zoku judai no seiten (1953)

Obscure Japanese Film #118   Ayako Wakao The Japanese title of this film (which translates as ‘Teenage Sex Diary Sequel’) is somewhat misl...

Martin Dowsing

The Third Will / 女系家族 / Nyokei kazoku (1963)

Obscure Japanese Film #117 Ayako Wakao   This Daiei production was an attempt to repeat the success of the company’s 1961 film, A Woman’s ...

Martin Dowsing

Sweet Secret / 甘い秘密 / Amai himitsu (1971)

Obscure Japanese Film #116 Tomomi Sato Eitaro Ozawa Yoko (Tomomi Sato) is a young woman living in Hokkaido who wants to be a writer. She p...

Martin Dowsing

Kimi shinitamo koto nakare / 君死に給うことなかれ (‘Don’t Die Before Your Time’, 1954)

Obscure Japanese Film #115 Yoko Tsukasa 1940. Baggy-suited university professor Wataru (Ryo Ikebe) falls for Kumiko (Yoko Tsukasa), the nurs...

Martin Dowsing

Judai no seiten / 十代の性典 (‘Teenage Sex Book’, 1953)

Obscure Japanese Film #114 Ayako Wakao   When high school student Fusae (Yoko Minamida) is excused from PE one day due to having her perio...

Martin Dowsing

The Human Wall / 人間の壁/ Ningen no kabe (1959)

Obscure Japanese Film #113 Kyoko Kagawa Fumiko (Kyoko Kagawa) is a teacher at an elementary school in Saga Prefecture in the south of Japa...

Martin Dowsing

Summer Storm / 夏の嵐 / Natsu no arashi (1956)

Obscure Japanese Film #112 Masahiko Tsugawa and Mie Kitahara Director Ko Nakahira’s first film following his famous ‘sun tribe’ movie Craz...

Martin Dowsing

The Great Villains / 大悪党 / Dai akuto (1968)

Obscure Japanese Film #111 Mako Midori and Kei Sato   Yoshiko (Mako Midori) is a naïve country girl now living in Tokyo as a student. As she...

Martin Dowsing

The Great Journey / 大いなる旅路 / Oinaru tabiji (1960)

Obscure Japanese Film #110 Rentaro Mikuni and Michiko Hoshi Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, mid-1920s. Kozo Iwami (Rentaro Mikuni) works for the ...

Martin Dowsing

Girls in the Orchard / 花の中の娘たち / Hana no naka no musumetachi (1953)

Obscure Japanese Film #109 Mariko Okada Toho’s first feature film in full colour concerns the Ishii family, who live in the rural area of ...

Martin Dowsing

Break Down That Wall / その壁を砕け / Sono kabe o kudake (1959)

Obscure Japanese Film #108 Izumi Ashikawa and Yuji Odaka in foreground Saburo (Yuji Odaka) is a young Tokyo garage mechanic who has been w...

Martin Dowsing

A Story from Echigo / 越後つついし親不知 / Echigo Tsutsuishi Oyashirazu (1964)

Obscure Japanese Film #107 Rentaro Mikuni and Yoshiko Sakuma In 1930s Japan, Gonsuke (Rentaro Mikuni) is working at a sake brewery in Fushim...

Martin Dowsing

Osho /王将 (‘King of shogi’, 1962)

Obscure Japanese Film #106   Rentaro Mikuni This Toei production stars Rentaro Mikuni as Miyoshi Sakata (1870-1946), an illiterate sandal-...

Martin Dowsing

Shroud of Snow / 雪の喪章 / Yuki no mosho (1967)

Obscure Japanese Film #105 Ayako Wakao The story begins in 1930 in Kanazawa, a city located on the west coast of Japan’s main island…

Martin Dowsing