Movies: Koichi Sato

Scene one: March 11th, 2011. An earthquake and a tsunami strike the East coast of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. A man and five other brave power plant workers are sent to fasten a bolt to prevent radiation leaks. Scene two: 2013....

A salaryman faces a major life change as his firm undergoes financial difficulties. To add to his troubles, a man claiming to be his long-estranged father shows up at his house requesting shelter. One of the best of Somai's seriocomic studies of the ...

Botchan (Kazunari Ninomiya) has sense of strong justice and does not lie. He is offered a teaching job at a middle in a small village far away from his hometown of Tokyo. Botchan accepts the position and begins to work as a math teacher. The assistan...

Former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place betwee...

Shintaro, an Assistant Bank Division Chief at the Financial Services Agency, had been working like a dog for 33 years. But just five years before he is due for retirement, his boss framed him for accepting bribes. Shintaro was forced to retire immedi...

This is a story about the youth of a university student who, by chance, aims to compete in the Montreal Olympics in a single scull (a single-seater boat). Every night he stays up all night playing mahjong and drinking. Masao lives his life aimlessly,...

Takeharu Samejima is a reticent photographer who runs a deserted photo studio. Taiichi Igarashi, a talented photographer captivated by his photos, gives up his brilliant career to become his apprentice. Taiichi, who has even avoided communication wit...

Soutaro Nagare is an assistant at a commercial film production company. However, one day at the studio, he punches a cameraman and gets fired. Taking this as an opportunity, Soutaro decided to become a director, and with a book about commercial films...

Heartwarming human drama about a former tap dancer who trades in his tap shoes to woo a figure skating instructor. But by a twist of fate, he finds himself coaching a local ice hockey team of hapless youths and leading them to a championship...

Itto, a former detective serving time for murder, learns that his sister has been murdered by someone. He escapes from prison to take revenge on the culprit. Filming support: Chuo Alps Kanko, Toho Airways, Royal Hotel Kawaguchiko. Support: Ishii Spo...

On the first day of opening, a small Italian restaurant is set on fire, killing three customers, and the unidentified survivor, who was injured and taken to hospital, somehow escapes. Detective Tono and his team, who are renowned for their interrogat...

An omnibus featuring the work of three different filmmakers....

High school boy Machida is a loner who is not particularly good at his studies or extracurricular activities. He does seem to have his heart in the right place however. When he is injured at school instead of the school nurse at the infirmary a schoo...

Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu"....

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Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu....

Winner of the 1992 Galaxy Award Encouragement Prize and the 1992 Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Award Excellence Prize. Winner of the 10th ATP Award '93 Grand Prix. Winner of the 10th ATP Award '93 Excellence Prize. Selected as one of the ...

In pre-WWII Vancouver, second-generation Japanese immigrants had it tough. Daily, they faced discrimination, hatred and injustice at the hands of their Caucasian counterparts. But one thing made their lives worth living: baseball. They may be the und...

The "wheels of mystery" begin to move when a man working at a small shipyard meets a female student who seems to get upset at the sight of him. While they eventually get closer and end up dating, they need to take a step forward as their pasts come i...

Takeshi Hashimoto, on the brink of turning 30, struggles with insomnia. He finds himself repeatedly dreaming the same dream. Despite seeming to have a successful career and personal life, Takeshi feels stifled and stuck in his current existence. When...