FILMOGRAPHY JAPAN
The videos contained in the list are produced in Japan or are about Japan, it includes culture, history, arts, literature, politics, etc. For further information on a title please use our online catalog or feel free to contact Cindy Badilla-Melendez, the Media Resources Librarian or call (651) 962-5464.
The features films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
DOCUMENTARIES
Buddhism: BQ4090 .B83 2004 DVD
Benefiting from having the charismatic 14th Dalai Lama as its most visible spokesperson, Buddhism is enjoying a surge of popularity, drawing an increasing number of spiritual seekers from the West as well as from the East. In this program, Hans King enters the world of the Buddha, beginning with the holy site of the Tree of Enlightenment, in India, and ending at a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan, to offer an overview of the many branches of and traditions in Buddhism today.
Bunraku: Masters of Japanese Puppet Theater: PN1978.J3 B8 2004 DVD
Presents the story of Bunraku through two of its greatest masters, puppeteer Tamao Yoshida and chanter Sumitayu Takemoto. Cameras go backstage to capture the immense preparations and grueling rehearsals for their rendition of the masterpiece Shinju Ten no Amijima.
The Culture of Commerce: HC79.C3 C8 1994
Explores the systemic differences between the individualistic capitalism of America and Britain and the communitarian capitalism of Japan and Germany.
Enola Gay: UG1242.B6 E5 2005 DVD
Enola Gay: Get a look inside the bomber that helped bring WWII to a stop, development of the atomic bomb, and the aftermath. Hiroshima: Fifty years after America dropped the first atomic bomb, this documentary looks at the events leading up to its use in the light of new information about a hidden agenda. Did top military officials order the attack despite knowing that Japan was willing to surrender? Did a political motivation drive Truman to defy his closest advisors? These and other questions are investigated.
Food Distribution in Japan: HF1416.6.J3 F6 1992
Discusses the factors that affect food distribution in Japan.
The Genius That Was China: DS706 .G46 1990 v.3
Volume three describes the relationship between Japan and China during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Fog of War: E840.4 .F64 2004 DVD
The story of American politics and military policies as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, under President Kennedy and President Johnson, Robert S. McNamara. McNamara is a controversial and influential political figure. He offers a candid journey through some of the most seminal events in contemporary American history. He offers insights into the 1945 fire bombing of Tokyo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the effects of the Vietnam War.
Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire: DS871 .J37 2004 DVD
Explores the period between the 16th and 19th centuries in Japan by examining the lives of shoguns, samurais, geishas, and the very few westerners allowed into Japan . Japan was then a world unto itself, closed to outsiders, and ruled by shoguns with absolute control. During this period, Japan transitioned from chaos and violence to a land of ritual refinement and peace.
Japan: The Changing Tradition: DS821 .J37 1990 no.15-24
Considers modern Japanese history from the first contacts with the West in the 1500's, tracing the emergence of the nation from isolation to its present day position as a leading economic power.
Japan, the Living Tradition: DS821 .J37 1990 no.1-10
10 volumes: Examines the evolution of Japan's traditional culture and the history of the pre-modern era preceding the western contacts of the 1850's. Utilizes studio production and location footage by the University of Mid-America, supplemented by archival footage supplied principally by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).
Japan Past and Present: DS835 .J37 1989 pt.1-5
A five part series that explores Japan's history and civilization from the 7th century to the present.
The Japanese Businessman the Fighting Spirit Within the Group Ethic: HC461.5.A2 J3 1989
The Japanese businessman is the secret of Japan's success. Here is his life through interviews with three generations of businessmen.
Japanese: Language and People: PL535.5 .J37 1993 v.1-3
A comprehensive beginners' course on the language and culture of Japan for English speaking students. The text provides an introduction to the written language. Each program, based on a sociocultural theme, includes film shot on location in Japan.
Kazuo Ishiguro: PR6059.S5 Z4 1996
Mr. Ishiguro read from his fourth novel, The unconsoled' on October 19, 1995.
Kokoro, the Heart Within: DS821 .K64 1998 v.1-5
Volume 1 is an overview of the traditions and cultural aspects of Japan, exploring Japanese values and motivations. It also presents the facts of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima factually and graphically, with intercuts of contemporary reminders of the effects of the bombing.
Volume 2 illustrates the natural beauty of Japan and its natural resources. It illustrates Japanese attitudes towards the ocean and how the ocean is often a central theme in art, literature, song, and worship.
Volume 3 relates a famous and tragic story to illustrate the strict code of honor and duty between and samurai warrior and his lord. Discusses Makato: the concept that sincerity is often more important than the success of an effort. Makato is a vital part of Bushido.
Volume 4 discusses the beginnings of Buddhism and how it came to Japan. Examines Shinto, the indigenous Japanese religion, and explores the use of shrines for worship and examines some of the fundamental values and teachings of Shinto.
Volume 5 explores Chado (tea ceremony), Ikebana (flower arranging), garden design, food preparation, and martial arts. Highlights many social and cultural aspects that are unique to Japan, and discusses stereotypes of the Japanese. Tours some of the national treasures of Japan, such as Mount Fuji and the Tancho cranes.
The Land of the disappearing Buddha: BQ676 .L35 1977 v.9
The program visits Japan to investigate the Japanese experience of Buddhist worship and the complexities of Zen.
The Language of Life. Come Celebrate With Me: PS356 .L36 1995 pt.8
Final segment in an eight-part series with Bill Moyers, this program features poets Lucille Clifton and Japanese author, David Mura who reflect on the cultural legacies they have inherited
Learning in America: LC191.4 .L43 1989 pt.1-4
Examines the current state of American education. Compares schools in the United States and Japan, examines different standards of education in American schools, explores issues surrounding curricula in the classroom, looks at the crisis in teaching, and considers the cost of educational reform.
Living Treasures of Japan: N7355 .L58 1980
Features 9 of Japan's craftsmen and performing artists who have been deemed worthy of protection by the Japanese government in a unique effort to preserve ancient artistic traditions.
The Long Search: BL80.2 .L64 2001 v.8-10 DVD
Describes the basic beliefs and practices of major world religions including v 9. Buddhism : The land of the disappearing Buddha Japan.
Postwar Japan: 40 Years of Change: HC462.9 .P67 1993
Outlines Japan's rise from the ashes of wartime destruction, the results of its policy of promoting economic growth, [and] changes in Japanese society, industry, and everyday life.
Radiation, a Slow Death: a New Generation of Hibakusha: RC93 .R33 2005 DVD
This disturbing documentary illustrates the damage caused by radiation, focusing on the lives of those who have suffered through the harmful effects of nuclear warfare as well as those who live near plants and factories that disperse radiation.
Retail Distribution in Japan: HF1416.6.J3 R4 1992
Discusses strategies U.S. marketers can use to gain market share in Japan.
The Secret Life of Geisha: GT3412 .S43 1999
This documentary peels back the rice-paper curtain for an intimate look at the culture, history, training and private lives of geisha.
Shinjuku Boys: HQ77.2.J3 S5 1996 DVD
This film introduces three annabes who work as hosts at the New Marilyn Club in Tokyo. Annabes are women who live as men and have girlfriends, although they don't usually identify as lesbians. As the film follows them at home and on the job, all three talk frankly to the camera about their gender-bending lives, revealing their views about women, sex, transvestitism and lesbianism. Alternating with these interviews are sequences shot inside the Club, patronized almost exclusively by heterosexual women who have become disappointed with men. This is a documentary about the complexity of female sexuality in Japan today.
Shinto: Nature, Gods, and Man in Japan: BL2220 .S55 1984
Conveys some idea of the religious feeling which infuses the Japanese contemplation of nature and the gods or 'kami' the Japanese detect in landscapes, trees, waterfalls; and which prompts them to build simple Shinto or more complex, Buddhist-influenced shrines marked by a balance between natural and man-made space. Includes many views of the Japanese landscape, forests and woods, some rituals of purification, shrine carpenters, rice festivals and Shinto priests and Japanese people at their worship. The following shrines are depicted: Ise Grand Shrine, Izumo Grand Shrine, Kasuga Grand Shrine, Kitano Temmangu, Kumano Hyatama, Kumano Nachi, Munakata Shrine, Nishna Shinmei and Omiwa Shrine. The cinematography is gorgeous; the mood contemplative.
Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness: D804.66.S84 S8 2005 DVD
This documentary tells the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, consul to Lithuania during World War II. Sugihara defied Tokyo authorities and wrote transit visas that allowed hundreds of Jewish families to flee Europe through Russia to Japan and other countries. Includes home movies, photographs, film footage, and interviews with Holocaust survivors who owe their lives to Chiune Sugihara.
Time of Fear: D769.8.A6 T5 2005 DVD
In World War II, more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into relocation camps across the US. This film traces the lives of the 16,000 people who were sent to two camps in southeast Arkansas.
Victory in the Pacific: D767 .V53 2005 DVD
In this provocative, thorough examination of the final months of the war, American Experience looks at the escalation of bloodletting from the vantage point of both the Japanese and the Americans.
FEATURE FILMS
After Life: PN1997 .W36 2000 DVD
In Koreeda's thought-provoking vision, the newly deceased find themselves in a way station somewhere between Heaven and Earth. With the help of dedicated caseworkers, each soul is given three days to choose one cherished memory for their life that they will relive for eternity. As the film reveals, recognizing happiness and finding a life's worth of meaning in a single event is no simple task.
Akibiyori: PL838.A93 A3 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
A still-beautiful widow has a daughter who is sufficiently past the favored age for marriage to be in danger of becoming an old maid according to the norms of Japanese culture. Three mature men, friends of the family, get together to discuss the widow and her problem daughter. Despite the fact that they each would like to marry the mother, they agree that one of them should make the sacrifice of marrying the daughter. They discuss their marriage idea with the mother, not the daughter (as is customary). Somehow, the girl hears of it, and is infuriated. She has said all along that though she wants to get married someday, she wants to remain single for some time longer. Now she is angry enough to threaten to accept the family friend's suit simply out of spite.
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams: PN1997 .Y86 2003 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Eight episodes exploring many aspects of humankind and man's need to harmonize with nature. Based on Akira Kurosawa's actual dreams. The first section centers on a young boy, who witnesses a forest wedding procession of fox spirits in spite of his mother's warning. The second section concerns the same boy who converses with peach-tree spirits after the trees have been cruelly cut down. This is followed by a party of mountain climbers struggling to make it back to base camp in the midst of a terrible blizzard. The fourth dream deals with a man who encounters ghosts of Japan's militaristic past in a forlorn tunnel. In the following dream, the same man ventures into a Van Gogh painting called "The Crows" and meets the artist himself. The sixth and seventh dreams venture into nightmare territory, one deals with a nuclear meltdown that threatens Japan while the other concerns post-nuclear mutants. In the final dream, Kurosawa meets a 103-year-old man in a utopian rural village.
The Bird People in China: PL861.H4968 B5 2004 DVD
Workaholic Tokyo salaryman Wada (Masashiro Motoki) ventures into deepest, darkest China to investigate a massive deposit of high-quality jade. Tailing him is Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), a snarling yakuza hell-bent on getting Wada's company to repay its debts. Led by their unflappable guide, Shun (Mako), the two go through rural villages and striking landscapes, quickly leaving behind all signs of the 20th century. As the trail grows narrower and more remote and as they brave gales, bugs, and floods, the long simmering tension between Wada and Ujiie bursts into full-scale contempt. One night, after Shun gets blind drunk, he hits his head and loses his memory. Now completely lost, the trio stumbles upon a hill tribe, whose children are adorned with wings made from bamboo and paper. Their teacher, a blue-eyed woman named Yan (Li Li Wang), tells them that she is teaching them to fly. Wada quickly becomes obsessed with this curious local. After she tells him that she has a book on human-powered flight and that her grandfather was a downed British airman, he almost believes that she can teach her students to soar. Soon Wada feels purged from the evils of city life while Ujiie decides to dedicate his life to protecting the village.
Cafe Lumiere: PN1997 .K64 2005 DVD
Yoko, a freelance writer, becomes pregnant and chooses, against tradition and her parents' wishes, to raise the baby alone. In her loneliness and confusion, Yoko befriends the owner of a second-hand bookstore, who silently falls in love with her as she contemplates the choice she has made.
Crazed Fruit: PL853.S4 K8 2005 DVD
Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking. A portrayal of post-war sexual revolution among Japan's young and privileged.
Daremo Shiranai: PN1997 .D37 2005 DVD
Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers and have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, charging her oldest boy to look after the others. And so begins the children's odyssey, a journey nobody knows. A critically-acclaimed and powerful, heartfelt story about four children who are forced to rely on one another after they are abandoned by their mother.
Dark Water: PL861.U92716 H6 2005 DVD
Yoshimi Matsubara fights to gain legal custody of her five year-old daughter Ikuko while the two live together in a dark, sullen and musty apartment building. Already insecure and uncertain about her future with her daughter, Yoshimi is haunted by murky water dripping through the ceiling and walls, and by the almost taunting appearances of a small red bag that once belonged to a girl who had mysteriously disappeared two years prior. Though she desperately struggles to find the strength within herself for Ikuko's sake, her horror intensifies as she comes closer to discovering the connection between these events, and is completely unprepared for the truth that lies ahead.
Dersu Uzala: PN1997 .D477 2000 DVD
Dersu Uzala is the story of an elderly guide and Goldi hunter, who at the turn of the century, agrees to shepherd a Russian explorer and a troop of soldiers through the most treacherous passages of the Far East. The guide has been one with the land almost from birth, and is thus able to save his party from perishing.
Harakiri: PL862.A423 H3 2005
Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.
Higanbana: PL838.A93 H5 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in 1950s Japan. A stubborn businessman disproves of his young daughter's decision to marry, because he had always expected that his daughter would first ask his permission to be wed, and indeed wait until he had chosen her husband for her. The daughter proceeds with her plans on her own volition, as her father's anger and disappointment are forced to recognize the shift away from tradition to modernity.
Hiroshima Mon Amour: PN1997 .H57 2003 DVD
A Japanese architect and a French actress engage in a brief intense affair in Hiroshima in 1959. Both deal with their personal memories of World War II--he by articulating his firsthand experience with nuclear disaster, she by remembering her traumatic affair with a German soldier.
Ichiban Utsukushii Natsu = Firefly Dreams: PN1997 .I24 2004 DVD
Naomi is a normal teenager who loves clubbing with her friends. One day, her mother left the family to be with her new lover. Her shattered father sends Naomi off for the summer to work at his sister's country inn. It quickly becomes apparent that she is not cut out for the service industry and her aunt asks her to tend to the aging neighbor, Mrs. Koide, who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's. Having fond memories of the place, Naomi agrees. Though Mrs. Koide does not remember her, Naomi enjoys her direct manner and the stories from Mrs. Koide's youth.
Ikiru: PN1997.I52 1999 DVD
Kanji Watanabe was the Citizen's Section of the Municipal Office with a record of 30 years'regular attendance without absence. When one day he discovers that he has cancer, he comes to realize the truth of life and determines to build a park for the civilians before he dies.
Kagemusha: PN1997 .K34 2005 DVD
Reconstructing the splendor of feudal Japan and the pageantry or war, Kurosawa creates a soaring historical epic about a peasant impersonating a nobleman in battle. Kagemusha is presented in its original 180 min. uncut Japanese version, not the shortened "international version" presented by 20th Century Fox.'
Kakushi Toride No San Akunin:PN1997 .K36 2001 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in Sixteenth Century Japan. Two peasant farmers, Tahei and Matakishi, have recently escaped the aftermath of a battle. When they encounter General Rokurota Makabe who is secretly transporting Yuki, the princess of a defeated family, and what remains of their wealth to a safe place. Tahei and Matakishi join the group as they travel through enemy territory with the gold, but only to try and steal some of the gold for themselves.
Kikujiro No Natsu: PN1997 .K53 2000 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Lonely nine-year-old Masao leaves Tokyo in search of his mother, whom he has never met. He's accompanied on his journey across the Japanese countryside by the surly, middle-aged crook Kikujiro, who is none too happy being the chaperone. When Kikujiro gambles away all the travel money, the two must rely on their wits and the kindness of strangers.
Kohayagawake no Aki: PN1997 .K63 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Manbei Kohayagawa has a rich life on three different fronts. He is the head of a brewery that is having problems at the moment, the head of a family in which one widowed daughter needs his help in finding a new mate and the other needs him to help her make the right choice in a future spouse. However, Manbei does not care about these setbacks and his solution to his burdens at the moment is to look up his old mistress and resume a relationship with her. His decision has unexpected consequences for himself and his family.
Maboroshi: PN1997 .M33 2000 DVD
Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years before, a beautiful young mother (Makiko Esumi as Yumiko) struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her new husband's home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There, with time, she awakens to find love, understanding, happiness and a sense of peace.
Madadayo: PL818.C5M33 2001 DVD
Set in postwar Japan, the film follows the last two decades in the life of Hyakken Uchida, a free spirited writer and teacher, highlighted by his relationship with his students who venerate him in his old age.
My Neighbor Totoro: PN1997 .M96 2006 DVD
Deep inside a tree trunk, two children discover a fascinating new world inhabited by Totoros, amazing, charming creatures who become their friends.
Nora Inu: PN1997 .N668 2004 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
A bad day gets worse for rookie detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the thief, whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, the cop and the criminal's lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami's own dark side.
Ran: PN1997 .R36 1986
In 16th century Japan, an aging ruler attempts to divide his kingdom among his three sons, who turn against each other and betray their father, triggering events that ultimately shatter the kingdom, destroy the family, and drive their father insane. Based on Shakespeare's King Lear
Ran: PR2819 .A23 2005 DVD
An aging warlord decides to split his kingdom between his three sons, who will live in three separate castles. The two eldest sons are quite happy, but the youngest thinks his father has gone mad, and predicts that it won't be long until the two older brothers are fighting with each other.
RashÅmon: PL801.K8 .R3 2002 DVD
Set in the Middle Ages, the nature of truth and subjective reality are probed in a series of flashbacks from four viewpoints to present the case history of a man's murder and the rape of his wife by a bandit.
Rhapsody in August: PL856 .U735 R4 2003 DVD
The film centers on Kane a grandmother who lives on her traditional farm in the hills near Nagasaki. Her husband and a number of siblings died in the 1945 atomic bombing of the city and memories of that event are never far from her mind. She learns that her elder brother, who went to Hawaii to seek his fortune in pineapples, is on his deathbed and would very much like to see his sister one last time. Her half-American nephew Clark is venturing to Nagasaki to escort her to Hawaii. Though the prospect of meeting a real live American excites Kane's four grandchildren who are staying with her for the summer, she remains ambivalent both about the prospects of going to the States, and about the dark memories Clark's presence dredges up.
Rikyu: PL834.O4 R5 2000 DVD
The story of Sen-no Rikyu, a Buddhist priest, who four centuries ago brought the art of the tea ceremony to perfection. Living in one of the most turbulent moments in Japanese history, Rikyu gained unexpected political influence as the confidant and cultural mentor to the powerful warlord, Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The film illustrates the classic struggle between art and politics and between the impulse to create and the impulse to destroy.
Shichinin no Samurai: PN1997 .S48 2006 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
This epic is about a group of 16th century samurai who are hired to defend a small Japanese village that finds itself annually raided by an army of bandits who steal the meager crops harvested by the peasants. Tired of relinquishing their food supply but woefully inept in combat skills, the villagers decide to hire a band of samurai to protect them. In addition to the primary conflict between the villagers and the bandits, much of the tale revolves around young Katsushiro's coming-of-age, both sexually and emotionally. Kikuchiyo's search for acceptance forms the other major storyline. Indeed, everyone in Seven Samurai is searching for adventure, for experience, for freedom from their oppressors.
Soshun: PN1997 .S675 2007 DVD
In Japanese with English subtitlesA middle-aged office worker in postwar Tokyo is bored with his routine job and marriage. He eventually succumbs to an illicit affair with a co-worker. His wife inevitably discovers his infidelity, but when he accepts a transfer to the country, she follows him to start their life anew.
Spirited Away: PN1997.S69 2003 DVD
A ten-year-old Chihiro riding along during a family outing as her father races through remote country roads. When they come upon a blocked tunnel, her parents decide to have a look around even though Chihiro finds the place very creepy. When they pass through the tunnel, they discover an abandoned amusement park. As Chihiro's bad vibes continue, her parents discover an empty eatery that smells of fresh food. After her mother and father help themselves to some tasty morsels, they turn into giant pigs. Chihiro understandably freaks out and flees. She learns that this very weird place, where all sorts of bizarre gods and monsters reside, is a holiday resort for the supernatural after their exhausting tour of duty in the human world. Soon after befriending a boy named Haku, Chihiro learns the rules of the land: one, she must work, as laziness of any kind is not tolerated; and two, she must take on the new moniker of Sen. If she forgets her real name, Haku tells her, then she will never be permitted to leave.
Suicide Club (Suicide Circle): PN1997 .J57 2006 DVD
A wave of suicides begins with the enigmatic mass suicide of 54 high school girls jumping in front of a subway train. When a detective receives a phone call tip that there is a website tracking the suicides before they happen, he sets out to solve the mystery.
Tampopo: PN1997 .T35 1998 DVD
Tampopo follows a young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and Goro, a cowboy hat wearing truck driver, as they attempt to devise the perfect bowl of top ramen.
Tengoku to Jigoku: PS3515.U585 T4 1998 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in postwar Japan. Gondo, a wealthy industrialist, is contacted by a gang of kidnappers, who inform him that they have kidnapped his son. The crooks demand a ransom for the boy's return. However, the amount of the ransom will force Gondo into bankruptcy. As Gondo prepares to pay the ransom, he discovers that his son is safe at home, and that the kidnappers have accidentally taken the son of Gondo's chauffeur. Gondo now has to decide between loosing his business or the death of his chauffeur's son.
The Thin Red Line: PS3560.O49 T4 1999 DVD
World War II battle between the Japanese and the American military forces for control of the strategic island of Guadalcanal.
Throne of Blood: PR2823 .A23 2002 DVD
Adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan. Tells the story of a Samurai lord who kills his master and usurps his power in fulfillment of a witch's prophecy.
Tokyo Boshoku: PN1997 .T65 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Two daughters, Akiko and Takako, grew up under the sole guardianship of their father, Mr. Sugiyama after their mother walked out on the family. This created serious psychological problems for both young women that extended well into adulthood. Akiko now spends all of her free time hanging out at bars and pachinko parlors, looking for her boyfriend, while Takako withdraws from a severely dysfunctional relationship with her alcoholic husband, by whom she has one daughter. In time, Akiko meets a woman who claims to know her as an acquaintance from their childhood neighborhood, and senses that the lady might actually be her mother.
Ugetsu: PL794.8 U34 2005 DVD
In sixteenth century Japan, Genjuro is a potter who longs for wealth and luxury, while Tobei, a farmer, dreams of the glories of the samurai to the point of ignoring his wife. Though a war rages around them, they venture to town to sell their wares. Genjuro becomes bewitched by a beautiful though vengeful ghost, while his wife is murdered by a soldier; Tobei becomes a noted warrior, while his wife descends into prostitution after being raped while searching for her husband.
Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru: PN1997 .W366 2006 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in postwar Japan. Koichi Nishi, the secretary to the president of a housing corporation, is looking for revenge in the murder of his father. As he infiltrates the corrupt construction company that was responsible for his father's death, he marries his boss's daughter, hoping to get closer to those responsible. But once the wedding has passed he begins to fall in love with his wife and his plans for revenge fall apart.
Yoidore Tenshi: PN1997 .Y64 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in and around the swamps and back alleys of postwar Japan. Sanada, an alcoholic doctor, runs a small clinic in the slums of Tokyo. One day a young gangster, Matsunaga, comes to him for help, and Sanada has to pull himself together long enough to save the life of the young man. Sanada diagnoses Matsunaga with tuberculosis, and convinces him to begin treatment. However, when Matsunaga's former boss is released from prison and takes his gang over once again, Matsunaga stops following Sanada's advice and slips back into his old habits.
Yojimbo: PN1997 .Y65 2007 DVD In Japanese with English subtitles
Set in Japan in the year 1860, Sanjuro a wandering samurai turns the war between two clans, fighting for control of a small village, to his own advantage. Neither clan is honorable, but Sanjuro is poor and hungry. So he agrees to work as a bodyguard (Yojimbo) for a silk merchant, only to then pretend to go to work for the other side, in order that the two clans will destroy each other. Imprisoned for his treachery, Sanjuro escapes in time to watch the two warring sides wipe each other out.
Compiled by
Cindy Badilla-Melendez
Media Resources Librarian
