
21 Oct 2014

A Visit to Hokusai
A look at the work of Japanese woodblock printing artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).
A look at the obsessive urban male Japanese society.
A documentary that explores the life styles of various otakus in Japan. Various interviews are given to selected otakus who express how interesting it is to be an otaku as oppose to not being one at all. Along with various shots of various Japanese city landscapes and the inside of an average otaku home from rooms filled with videos, models, and the latest in technology.

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21 Oct 2014

A look at the work of Japanese woodblock printing artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).
17 Jan 2015
A (her)story told through the very people involved in the women’s liberation movement beginning in Japan in the 1970s.

14 Jan 2017

A savage journey into the heart of underground Tokyo rock and roll, a look at the people who make it thrive, and stories of their dedication to keeping DIY culture alive.

01 May 2006

Documentary about the photo session for the photobook "Castella", filmed in Portugal.

21 Sep 2015

A short documentary visiting some of Rashômon’s key locations, featuring interviews with former staff from the Daiei-Kyoto Studios.

01 Jan 1998

A filmmaker plays with diary-docu and fiction as his camera joins his ventures into a phone dating club. Bored to death, hormones running, and desperately wanting to talk to someone his own age (preferably a girl), he walks into a local phone dating club. Can he hook up with someone? Borrowing the form of a diary-movie, the director unfurls an unpredictable and imaginative look into his own persona. 8mm experimental film by Murakami Kenji, the film that made his name.

08 Nov 2019

This documentary follows the legendary Japanese photographer as he continues to find new ways of seeing the visual assault of Tokyo’s streets and reminisces about his life and work.

23 Jan 2006

Dear Pyongyang is a documentary film by Zainichi Korean director Yang Yong-hi (Korean: 양영희, Hanja: 梁英姬) about her own family. It was shot in Osaka Japan (Yang's hometown) and Pyongyang, North Korea, In the 1970s, Yang's father, an ardent communist and leader of the pro-North movement in Japan, sent his three sons from Japan to North Korea under a repatriation campaign sponsored by ethnic activist organisation and de facto North Korean embassy Chongryon; as the only daughter, Yang herself remained in Japan. However, as the economic situation in the North deteriorated, the brothers became increasingly dependent for survival on the care packages sent by their parents. The film shows Yang's visits to her brothers in Pyongyang, as well as conversations with her father about his ideological faith and his regrets over breaking up his family.

14 Mar 2022

Violinist and songwriter Kishi Bashi travels on a musical journey to understand WWII era Japanese Incarceration, assimilation, and what it means to be a minority in America today.

30 Aug 2018

Why do 600 inhabitants of the small southern Spanish town of Coria del Río bear the surname "Japón"? It is the legacy of an unusual expedition that took place 400 years ago: In October 1613, the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga boarded the galleon "San Juan Bautista" on behalf of the ruler Date Masamune in Sendai, Japan. In addition to merchants, warriors and Spanish sailors, the Spanish Franciscan monk Luis Sotelo, who spoke fluent Japanese, also embarked. The legation wanted to obtain permission from the Spanish King Philip III and Pope Paul V to open a new sea route to India alongside the spice route; in return, Christian missionaries were to be sent to Japan. When he set off, Hasekura Tsunenaga had no idea that the journey would take seven years. Who was this Japanese samurai? What is known about his motives and what is known about the actual background to the expedition?

11 Jul 2015

An independent crowd-funded documentary that celebrates the sixty-year legacy of the world's greatest monster, Godzilla. Filmed on location in Tokyo to document kaiju-related events, locations and to interview cast, crew and fans of the Godzilla series about their passion and experiences with the King of the Monsters.

01 Jan 2008

Before World War II, Ikego village was an idyllic agriculture community. The Imperial Navy took over the village and the hills to build the largest ammunition preserve in Asia. When Japan lost, these facilities were taken over by the US Navy, and are now housing for the American soldiers.

07 Aug 2015

An Irish doctor survived the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki and was given a Samurai sword for the lives he saved. 70 years later his family searches for the origin of their father's sword.

22 Sep 2009

No overview found

01 Dec 1991

In 1971, author and film scholar Donald Richie published a poetic travelogue about his explorations of the islands of Japan’s Inland Sea, recording his search for traces of a traditional way of life as well as his own journey of self-discovery. Twenty years later, filmmaker Lucille Carra undertook a parallel trip inspired by Richie’s by-then-classic book, capturing images of hushed beauty and meeting people who still carried on the fading customs that Richie had observed. Interspersed with surprising detours—a visit to a Frank Sinatra-loving monk, a leper colony, an ersatz temple of plywood and plaster—and woven together by Richie’s narration as well as a score by celebrated composer Toru Takemitsu, The Inland Sea is an eye-opening voyage and a profound meditation on what it means to be a foreigner.

16 Oct 2020

Takeshi Kitano is an international icon. We know the actor, the multi-award-winning filmmaker, but many ignore his double personality: the crazy TV star, the street kid from Tokyo close to the Yakuza, and the political satirist who blasted taboos! Can we dream of a better guide to introduce us to the cultural history of Japan?

01 Mar 1972

Kazuo Hara follows the lives and activities of Yokota Hiroshi and Yokozuka Koichi, members of an activist group made up of people with cerebral palsy.

01 Feb 2013

As described by Oliver Sykes, "The most offensive, vulgar, awkward, retarded band DVD of all time. But also the funniest and the best."

25 Apr 1930

A springtime Traveltalk visit to Japan.

01 Sep 2025

Founded in Tokyo in the aftermath of WWII, Naito Auto Engineering is a three-generation family business, renown for restoring high-value classic cars with artistry and precision. Masao Naito, with his bold vision and rebellious spirit, took his father's local mechanic shop and turned it into a first-class company, whose services are coveted by top auto collectors the world over. For over 40 years, Masao has ruled the family business with an iron fist. Now, with his retirement on the horizon, cracks are beginning to show. Do the younger Naitos have what it takes to keep the family together, and carry the business forward?