Movies: Makiko Watanabe

Mika (Marie Ono), a Japanese-American woman, returns to her native Saitama hometown and becomes a therapist for a "nemuriba" ("a place to sleep")....

...

Nana is 19 and lives in a corner of Tokyo. Her birth mother and Marin, a girl the same age who she loves, were the only people she could trust. Nana confronts them in her yearning for love, but the world does not give it to her. With her whole life a...

Tetsuro is living with his young girlfriend Aki in a pleasant house in Tokyo. They both spend a lot of time at their jobs. However their routine is upset when Tetsuro brings his 8-year-old son Shun to live with them, while his ex-wife recovers from a...

Hazuki and Aoi are classmates but their relationship outside class is fraught, and outside school non-existent. But when both girls are drawn to helping an elderly woman, they're forced to interact, confronting their differences and similarities as w...

Following the 2011 tsunami, three women reunite in the family home only to rekindle tense, ruinous relationships....

Near-future Tokyo. Kou, through the help of his high school best friend, finds a surprising way to express his mounting frustration at the insidious forces of commercialism that are forcing out the neighbors he cares most about. Initially inspired by...

Kohei and Akira are a couple running away together without a destination. They meet a geology researcher namend Shiraki on the way and the three visit a log cabin of a famous geologist Kanbe. With fortune teller Eiko, ex-girlfriend of Kanbe, joining ...

Wakana is a 17-year-old high school student who loves to cook. She enjoys peaceful days with her family and friends, but sometimes she senses delicate changes among people around her. Wakana meets office worker Mizuho through social media where she c...

Mogura, a shut-in former musician, falls in love with a young cellist after seeing her photo in a magazine....

A filmmaker is constantly on the move after recently ending a relationship. As she travels alone between Beijing, Nanjing, Hong Kong and Japan, she observes and engages with her ever-changing environs while seeking an inner calm....

Ryoko hides herself in a closet after a patron in her restaurant becomes ill from food poisoning & she is held responsible. Her husband and co-owner Daichi attempts to lure her out of the closet. After a violent argument with Daichi, Ryoko seeks out ...

Yoko Sano, picture-book author and essayist, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her most famous work "The Cat Who Lived One Million Times" is still read widely....