Half-Life in Fukushima
In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese farmer ekes out a solitary existence within the radiation red zone.
After the disaster of March 2011, the Japanese authorities decided to build a gigantic 15 meter high, 500 kilometer long, anti-tsunami wall, separating the land and the ocean. But what is the environmental and human impact of this wall? The population is divided on their opinion: should they cut the island off from the sea or stay vulnerable to tsunamis? Is there another way?
In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Japanese farmer ekes out a solitary existence within the radiation red zone.
Nagaremono zukan is a documentary video, release from V&R Planning (AV). "Flower Picture Book" is the second work in the bicycle trilogy after Yumika. A very private sexual movie with Tomoko Matsunashi, right after Hirano broke up with Yumika. The violence of the camera is clearly increasing. If Yumika was the light, Nagaremono zukan is the shadow. There are two version of Nagaremono zukan, the censored one and the original hardcore one, with additional scenes, better quality and longer runtime.
October 1945. A young Japanese boy in the devastated city of Nagasaki, two months after the atomic bomb, carries on his back the lifeless body of his younger brother. An American military photographer, Joe O'Donnell, took a picture of the boy standing stoically near a cremation pit. No one knows the subject's name, but the photo has become an iconic image of the human tragedy of nuclear war. This documentary follows the continuing efforts to deepen understanding of the photograph, while exploring the fate of thousands of atomic-bomb orphans and their struggles to survive the aftermath of World War II.
Through the lives of professionals working at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, the film portrays how Tsukiji has been the center of fish culinary culture and helped Japanese food culture to flourish as we know it today.
Hidden in the wooded mountains on the west coast of Japan lies the small Zen monastery Antaiji. A young woman sets off to immerse herself through autumn, winter and spring in the adventures of monastic life. The young woman is Sabine Timoteo from Switzerland. The abbot of the monastery is Muho Noelke, born in Berlin. An interplay between the philosophy of the Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki and the surprises brought forth by everyday life.
Inspired by the student revolutions of 1968, two women in Germany and Japan set out to plot world revolution as leaders of the Baader Meinhof Group and the Japanese Red Army. What were they fighting for and what have we learned?
A renowned old hotel near Nagoya Station has been in the red for four consecutive fiscal terms. When the old management stepped down, Akio Shibata, who has long been in the board of the labor union, is appointed its new general manager. Shibata's method for reviving the hotel consists of neither the laying off of the staff nor the introduction of performance-based system. He wants everyone to take part in the making of new management plans and for all employees to lodge together and engage in heated discussions about their management dreams all night. Yes, his management ideal is to "have the happiest employees in Japan" working in their hotel. He throws birthday parties for employees and has company cafeteria remodeled. All these changes bring about yet another change in the mind of everyone.
Re-examines the dramatic events of Boxing Day 2004, and investigates the new science of Tsunami forecasting.
The story of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, known as the Tokyo Trial, which, just after the Second World War, was established in Japan as a special jurisdiction in 1946 (it was closed in 1948) to judge the war crimes of the Japanese leaders; and how and why officials in Washington prevented Emperor Hirohito to be seen sat on the bench.
The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free divers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate the hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The shocking discoveries were only the tip of the iceberg.
A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.
Thirty years ago, idol Okada Yukiko jumped off the Sun Music agency building in a desperate attempt to take her own life. Unfortunately, she was successful. Outside of Japan, not much is known about Yukko, aside from her music and her death. In this documentary series, we will document her short life in its entirety, beginning from her birth and ending with her legacy beyond death.
Launched in 2011 as a sister group to girl band behemoth AKB48, the Osaka-based NMB48 has become a musical force itself. With a string of No.1 hit singles and albums, not to mention sell-out performances, NMB48 continues Japan’s pop-music phenomena. Director Funahashi Atsushi, whose documentary work has previously chronicled such harrowing events as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, pulls back the curtain on the life and struggles of the band members and the workings of the idol-making industry.
A fictionalised documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644–1694), the spiritual father of haiku poetry. A monk, portraying the poet, journeys through Japan, following Bashô's journal and writing many of his haikus. A ruminant, poetic, Zen Buddhist observation of nature – a return to the lost paradise of unspoilt nature.
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.
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.
A documentary tracing the development of Shinto to the present day. Explores ancient ritual sites that are still used today, as well as major shrines and great works of Shinto religious art.
A documentary exploring the rigorous training and meditation practices found at the Shōgen-ji, a Zen Buddhist monastery of the Rinzai school in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
Short documentary about the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
A journey back through Dacia Maraini's and her trips around the world with her close friends cinema director Pier Paolo Pasolini and opera singer Maria Callas. An in-depth story of this fascinating woman's life. Maraini's memories come alive through personal photographs taken on the road as well as her own Super 8 films shot almost thirty years ago.