A Japanese secluded playwright

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

Documentary about the making of Juzo Itami's film "Tampopo" (1985).

A colourful study of theatrical life. Two acting troupes vie for the Kyoto market during the Genroku Era. Tojuro, an extremely popular actor, feels the limits to his acting when he sees his rival troupe put on a new type of play featuring its star, Nakamura. He has the famous Chikamatsu write a new play but cannot get used to the character he is to play in it.

A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. An influential publisher notices his honest, bold drawings, and nurtures him despite persecution and betrayal. The film explores the eternal relationship between artist and producer, and describes the emanicipation of a man who refuses to let himself become the plaything of power and money.

Taku Shinjo spins this rural drama about ancient taboos and encroaching modernity. Takamine (Gitan Otsuru) is a big-city workaholic sent to a small remote island to seal a business deal. His predecessor almost managed to convince the island's 17 inhabitants to sell their stake and make way for a resort hotel -- that is, before he died under dubious circumstances. Takamine finds the islanders polite and kind but unwilling to discuss business; instead, they tell him to become an islander. So the city-slicker stuffed shirt loses his tie and starts to help the women plant and the men fish. He soon makes his acquaintance with Takako (Mitsuko Baisho), the widowed daughter of the island's chief. She lives alone with her crazed son who is kept Jane Eyre-style chained to a stake. One moon-lit night, their mutual attraction boils over, resulting in a naked, passionate roll on the beach.

Tokio Takenaka (48) is a scriptwriter who's lost his passion for his work, and whose relationship with his wife Madoka (37) has turned sour. He spends his days lost in a haze. One day, a girl named Yoshimi Yokoyama (21) barges into his office, saying that she's a huge fan of his work and aiming to be a scriptwriter herself. Overcome by her enthusiasm, he agrees to take her in. As they work together, he begins to sense her talent as a writer, and at the same time, comes to feel sexually attracted towards her. Soon he's writing scripts that he's proud of again, and begins to feel fulfilled in both his private and work lives. But it doesn't take long before he learns about her boyfriend and fellow scriptwriter Hideo Tanaka (20). He becomes madly jealous, but.

A story of Japanese writer Kafu Nagai (1879-1959), a man about sixty with a huge reputation of seducer who falls madly in love for a young geisha named Oyuki. Meticulous and smartly dressed, Nagai patiently wrote in his diary his thoughts during many years. A melancholy reflection on the passage of time and a brilliant interpretive exercise.

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

Takuji Kameoka is a 37-year-old bachelor whose occupation is a “miscellaneous actor”. His only interest is drinking. One day he falls in love and his boring life begins to change. The film is based on the book “Actor, Takuji Kameoka” by Akito Inui, a five-time nominee for Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize. Satoko Yokohama, a much-admired up-and-coming newcomer, directs the film and we can immediately tell that she is a special talent, with a unique understanding that flows through to her actors and crew.

The Japanese 18-year old Kiyoshi has been living in the kitchen of his parental home for 2 years. His parents cannot seem to get through to him anymore and they are ashamed of him. To the outside world they pretend that he studies abroad. The only person Kiyoshi communicates to is his little sister. On the internet he has contact with youngsters who have all retreated from society and family life. It is with them that he talks about the things that occupy him most, such as drumming, sex, computer games, films, life and death. When Kiyoshi frightens the dinner guests the family is pushed into crisis.