Movies: Shizue Natsukawa

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue come...

From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances....

Following a yearlong attendance upon his shogun in Edo, samurai Hikokuro makes a long-awaited return to his home and doting wife, Dane. Initially greeted by the effusive welcome of his family, spiteful whispers also reach his ear about an adulterous ...

A young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that underneath her facade of luxury lies great unhappiness....

Hibari Misora plays a singing guide, who is secretly in love, her fortunes turn for the worse when a gangster’s henchman hears her singing and takes a liking to her beautiful voice. The trouble starts when her family borrows money from the gangsters,...

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the ...

A sad and troubled man finds a new job five years after the end of WWII, where he writes love letters for other people....

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The Nakata family, father, mother, son Hideo, and daughters Taeko and Akiko live in the poorer section of modern Tokyo. Their troubles start when the father leaves with another woman, returns after he is rejected, and leaves again with the family's m...

A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal when she's seen with her intense, no-nonsense childhood sweetheart....

1962 Japanese movie...

Nobuo is a hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past....

Anzukko (Little Peach) is the daughter of a successful writer. She turns down each one of her suitors, until she marries a beginning writer named Ryokichi. Their life quickly sinks into despair....

Tokyo, 1890. Through avarice, a series of misunderstandings, and failures of courage, the engagement of Kan-ichi (a student) and Miya (the daughter of Kan-ichi's debtor) is canceled to enable Miya to marry Tomiyama, a wealthy banker's son. In bitter ...

The story of the trials and tribulations of a lighthouse keeper and his wife....

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Based off of the novel, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" and the ballet, "The Nutcracker", Sanrio shows their take on the classic story in a stop-motion animated film....

Directed by Senkichi Taniguchi...

Aiko, a bar hostess, falls for the son of a company president who also keeps a mistress, and whose family disapproves of his relationship with the bar hostess....

A young yakuza, Yatappe, wanders around the country in search of his long-lost little sister, Oito. While traveling, he rescues a young girl, Osayo, whose father entrusts her to him with his dying wish. To honor his promise to Osayo's deceased father...