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43 results
Tokyo Onigiri Girl / 東京おにぎり娘 / Tokyo onigiri musume / (aka ‘Triangle Moods’, 1961)
Obscure Japanese Film #149 Ayako Wakao and Ganjiro Nakamura Ganjiro Nakamura and Murasaki Fujima Mariko (Ayako Wakao) is the daughte...
The Makioka Sisters / 細雪 / Sasameyuki (‘Light Snowfall’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #148 Junko Kano and Fujiko Yamamoto Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel Sasameyuki is widely recognised as a classic of Japa...
The Pit of Death / 怪談おとし穴 / Kaidan otoshiana (aka ‘The Ghostly Trap’, 1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #147 Mikio Narita Kuramoto (Mikio Narita) is an ambitious salaryman working at a company based in a tower block sa...
Shojo yutai / 処女受胎 (‘Immaculate Conception’, 1966)
Obscure Japanese Film #146 Ayako Wakao This Daiei production stars Ayako Wakao as Aiko, a modernist oil painter who has hit a creative w...
Love in the Mountains / わかれ / Wakare (‘Parting’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #145 Haruko Wanibuchi and Isuzu Yamada Teenager Kimiko (Haruko Wanibuchi) helps out at a ryokan (traditional inn) i...
The Tycoon / 傷だらけの山河 / Kizudarake no sanga (1964)
Obscure Japanese Film #144 Ayako Wakao and So Yamamura Having delivered a mega-hit for Daiei studios with Shinobi no mono (1962) and also...
Hot Spring Doctress / 温泉女医 / Onsen joi (1964)
Obscure Japanese Film #143 When a new doctor arrives to replace the old drunk Dr Yabuuchi (Ichiro Sugai) at a hot spring resort in…
While Yet a Wife / 妻の日の愛のかたみに / Tsuma no hi no ai no katamini (1965)
Obscure Japanese Film #141 Ayako Wakao Chieko (Ayako Wakao) and Kitahara (Eiji Funakoshi) are country schoolteachers who get married and a...
The Blue Beast / 青い野獣 / Aoi yaju (1960)
Obscure Japanese Film #140 Tatsuya Nakadai Yasuhiko Kuroki (Tatsuya Nakadai) is an ambitious young man working for a magazine publishing c...
Women and Miso Soup / 女と味噌汁 / Onna to misoshiru (1968)
Obscure Japanese Film #139 Junko Ikeuchi Chikako (Junko Ikeuchi) is a geisha who works under the name of Temari. Such an occupation gives ...
She Came for Love / 女が愛して憎むとき / Onna ga aishite nikumu toki (‘When a Woman Loves and Hates’, 1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #138 Ayako Wakao Toshiko (Ayako Wakao) is the madam of a bar in Osaka who tries to keep her private life private and...
The Invisible Wall / 眼の壁 / Me no kabe (‘Wall of Eyes’, 1958)
Obscure Japanese Film #137 Keiji Sada Masao Oda This Shochiku production stars Keiji Sada as Hagisaki, the deputy head of an accounts de...
Bara no ki ni bara no hana saku / 薔薇の木にバラの花咲く / (‘Roses Bloom on the Rose Bush’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #136 Ayako Wakao Rieko Sumi and Ayako Wakao Reiko (Ayako Wakao) is a senior university student majoring in English w...
A Hole of My Own Making / /自分の穴の中で / Jibun no ana no nakade (1955)
Obscure Japanese Film #134 Rentaro Mikuni, Mie Kitahara and Jukichi Uno Tamiko (Mie Kitahara) is a young woman living at home with her s...
Bury Me Deep / わたしを深く埋めて / Watashi o fukaku umete (1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #133 Jiro Tamiya Nakabe (Jiro Tamiya) is a lawyer returning to Tokyo after a long holiday in Kyushu. In his absenc...
A Rainbow at Every Turn / 虹いくたび / Niji ikutabi / (1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #132 Machiko Kyo and Ayako Wakao Before I begin, I should point out that, although I don’t usually write a synopsis ...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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…
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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...
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...
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-...
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…