Kiyoshi Atsumi
Also Known As: Yasuo Tadokoro, 寅さん, Киёси Ацуми
Biography: Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美 清 Atsumi Kiyoshi), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄 Tadokoro Yasuo, 10 March 1928 in Tokyo – 4 August 1996 in Tokyo), was a Japanese film actor. He started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show theater in Asakusa. After two years of fighting pulmonary tuberculosis, he made his debut on TV in 1956 and on film in 1957. His vivid performance of a lovable, innocent man in a film “Dear Mr. Emperor” (Haikei Tenno-Heika-Sama) in 1963 established his reputation as an actor. Later he became the star of the highly popular Tora-san series of films, from the original Otoko wa Tsurai yo (translated in English as 'It's Tough being a Man') in 1969 to the 48th film released in 1995, the year before his death. The enduring success of the series made him synonymous with the Tora-san character, and many Japanese regarded his death as the death of Tora-san, not the death of Yasuo Tadokoro or Kiyoshi Atsumi.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan
Birthday: March 10, 1928
Deathday: August 04, 1996
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
The Yellow Handkerchief
Overview: The story is about a convict released from prison for an old murder who is thinking about returning to his ex-wife and his former life. If she puts a yellow handkerchief on the window, it would mean that she wants him back at home.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-09-30
Popularity:
In Broad Daylight
Overview: After his company goes bankrupt, Katsuji Watanabe resorts to pickpocketing again with his old swindler buddies. However, one by one, his friends start getting caught. Katsuji decides to play a high stakes game of robbing the proceeds of a department store.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-10-26
Popularity:
Aitsu bakari ga naze moteru
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-11-18
Popularity:
Neon taiheiki
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-04-13
Popularity:
Okashina yatsu
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-11-01
Popularity:
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Overview: In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Genres: War History Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-01-26
Popularity:
The Man Without a Map
Overview: A private detective is hired to find a missing man by his wife. While his search is unsuccessful, the detective's own life begins to resemble the man for whom he is searching.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-06-01
Popularity:
Escape from Hell
Overview: This suspense drama set in the mid 1700's depicts the plan of the Tokugawa rulers to send a number of homeless men to a remote island Sado to perform forced labor. Living conditions on the island are terrible and the men soon become rebellious. Based on a short story by Seichō Matsumoto.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-01-27
Popularity:
Tora-san's Cherished Mother
Overview: Kuruma Torajiro is discovered looking around Kyoto for someone special to him.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-11-14
Popularity:
Tora-san Loves an Artist
Overview: Tora-San returns to Shibamata just before his family leaves on a trip for Kyushu. Later, he encounters an old school chum and begins to have feeling for his artist sister.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1973-12-25
Popularity:
Tora-san's Sunrise and Sunset
Overview: Tora-san arrives in Shibamata on Mitsuo's first day of school only to find that on his account, Mitsuo was embarrassed. After a fight with his family, he goes to a bar to drink, then brings home a surly old man with a sad story, whose identity will surprise everyone. Later, Tora meets Botan, a geisha.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-07-23
Popularity:
Tora-san's Grand Scheme
Overview: After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he owes them, but the plan hits a snag. Also, a pretty kindergarten teacher rents a room at Toraya.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-02-26
Popularity:
Home from the Sea
Overview: On a beautiful island in Seto Inner Sea, Seichi and Minko make their living by transporting rocks to construction sites by boat. They cherish the deepest affection for this piece of land they call home, and the simple life they lead. But rapid industrial growth makes it all but impossible to continue their chosen living style, and they are forced to leave their beloved hometown in search of a brighter future. But their hometown lingers on their hearts, and they dream of a time when they may once again return.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-10-28
Popularity:
A Class to Remember
Overview: A cantankerous but loveable high school teacher teaches a night school in a poor neighborhood for adult students on the fringes of Japanese society.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1993-11-06
Popularity:
Tora-san's Forget Me Not
Overview: On the road again, Torajiro meets a kindred spirit in Lily, a lounge singer.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1973-01-04
Popularity:
Ottamage ningyo monogatari
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-15
Popularity:
Tora-san Goes Religious?
Overview: Tora-san visits brother-in-law Hiroshi's hometown to attend a memorial service for his late father. When the local temple priest becomes intoxicated, Tora-san wearing the priest's robe delivers the memorial speech, much to his family's surprise. Thinking he's found his true calling, Tora-san decides to join the order, and falls for the priest's divorced daughter.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1983-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san, His Tender Love
Overview: Traveling salesman Kuruma Torajirō falls in love with an inn manager as New Year's approaches.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-01-15
Popularity:
Onna yajikita-tatchi ryokō
Overview: 1963 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-07-13
Popularity:
Tora-san's Shattered Romance
Overview: Torajiro becomes homesick during his travels after watching a television report about his hometown and meeting a young woman that reminds him of his sister Sakura. Meanwhile, a new tenant moves into Toraya restaurant.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-01-15
Popularity:
Tora-san's Dream of Spring
Overview: Tora-san's opinions about Americans get challenged when another wandering peddler Michael Jordan stops by Shibamata.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1979-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san's Runaway
Overview: After an encounter with a dying yakuza's son and at his sister Sakura's urging, Torajiro attempts to change his vagrant lifestyle and become an honest worker with a steady job.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-08-26
Popularity:
Tora-san, the Good Samaritan
Overview: After a quarrel with his mother, Torajiro sets off to find a bride.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-04-28
Popularity:
Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza
Overview: Tokijiro has the unfortunate duty according to the code of the gamblers to join in the fighting when afforded a night’s stay and meals at the home of a town boss. Though he dislikes killing, the strength of his swordsmanship will be tested time and time again in the bloody tale.
Genres: Action Adventure History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-04-01
Popularity:
Tora-san's Dear Old Home
Overview: While Sakura and Hiroshi struggle to save funds to build a house, Torajiro befriends three young women on vacation during his travels.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-08-05
Popularity:
Tora-san's Forbidden Love
Overview: Tora-san spends several days at the home of a hard-working salaryman ("salaried worker"), who abruptly disappears. When the man's wife asks Tora-san to help find him, he falls in love with her, and secretly hopes the husband will not be found.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1984-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san's Love Call
Overview: Taking a message from Hiroshi's father to heart, Torajiro attempts to give up his wandering ways.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-12-29
Popularity:
Tora-san's Dream-Come-True
Overview: When Tora-san returns to visit his family, he is surprised to find an arrogant professor occupying his room. The professor and Tora-san become rivals for the affection of Chiyo.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-12-29
Popularity:
Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again
Overview: Tora-san visits Hokkaido and is reunited with Lily. Now divorced, she plans to resume her singing career and renews her unusual relationship with Tora-san.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1975-08-19
Popularity:
Tora-san's Lovesick
Overview: After Torajiro's latest attempt to find a bride goes awry, he starts traveling again and runs into Utako (last seen in Tora-san's Dear Old Home), now a widow.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-08-10
Popularity:
Children on the Island
Overview: The story of a teacher who comes to a village on the Inland Sea and the relationship that develops between her and her 12 pupils.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-07-11
Popularity:
Tora-san's Lullaby
Overview: After Hiroshi is injured in a workplace accident, Torajiro gives Sakura the money he has saved and leaves to work as a traveling salesman once again. During his travels, Torajiro meets a father who shares a drink with him. In the morning, Torajiro is shocked to learn that the man has left his baby behind and a note asking Tora to take care of the child.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san, the Intellectual
Overview: Tora-san is inspired to pursue an education after a visit to the grave of a woman he met years ago. When he returns to Shibamata with the intent to study, he falls for Toraya's new tenant instead.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1975-12-27
Popularity:
Tora-san's Pure Love
Overview: When Tora-san's infatuation with his nephew's school teacher causes family turmoil, he leaves on his travels again. When he returns, he falls in love with the teacher's mother.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-12-25
Popularity:
Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies
Overview: Director Ogata discovers a new female star in Koharu Tanaka, who works selling candy at a studio theater and she is given a part as a bit player. After the studio's top leading lady is embroiled in a scandal, Koharu is suddenly thrust into the limelight when she replaces her in a film and gains instant fame and fortune. But the going is not always easy, and she soon seeks help from unexpected quarters.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1986-08-02
Popularity:
Tora-san Meets His Lordship
Overview: Tora-san befriends the descendant of a feudal lord. The man asks Tora to locate his deceased son's wife who resides somewhere in Tokyo.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-08-06
Popularity:
田舎刑事 時間よ、とまれ
Overview: A family murder case that occurred in Hita City, Oita Prefecture. A murderer whose statute of limitations is about to expire is shown on TV, and detective Kiyoshi Atsumi heads to Tokyo, but... The upstart Keiju Kobayashi, his old friend Etsuko Ichihara, and Atsumi. The postwar experiences of three people who were tossed about by the war overlap. The screenplay by Satoru Hayasaka, the music by Kousuke Kanno, and above all, the performances of Atsumi and Ichihara make this a masterpiece in the history of TV dramas. A two-hour version was later created as an art festival award-winning work.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-07-02
Popularity:
Tora-san Plays Cupid
Overview: Tora-san becomes friends with Toraya's newest tenant, a pachinko-playing electrician that goes by the nickname Watt. Tora attempts to match Watt with a young waitress.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-12-24
Popularity:
Tōkyō sanosa musume
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-09-16
Popularity:
It's Tough Being a Man (Television Drama DVD Edit Edition)
Overview: This is the DVD version of the TV show, which consists of a single video that plays the first and last episodes of the tv show bridged by an edit recapping the major events of the lost middle episodes.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-10-03
Popularity:
August without Emperor
Overview: Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1978-09-23
Popularity:
Tora-san, My Uncle
Overview: Tora-san's nephew Mitsuo is exchanging letters with Izumi, a former classmate whose parents divorced and took her out of Tokyo.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1989-12-27
Popularity:
Tora-san Makes Excuses
Overview: Tora-san Makes Excuses is a 1992 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Kumiko Goto as his love interest or "Madonna".
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1992-12-26
Popularity:
The Song of the Bwana Toshi
Overview: Traveling to Africa in a cultural exchange program, a young Japanese engineer discovers a world completely unlike the one he knows. His interaction with the Africans he meets reveals to him that he has been living a lie, and that he is not the man he thought he was.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-07-05
Popularity:
Stage-Struck Tora-san
Overview: Tora-san leaves Shibamata once again after an argument with his family and finds himself at an inn where he meets Tomekichi, a young man who looks up to Tora-san.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1978-08-05
Popularity:
Tora-san's Tropical Fever
Overview: When cabaret singer Lily writes Toraya about her illness, Tora-san rushes to Okinawa to be by her side.
Genres: Comedy Family Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1980-08-02
Popularity:
Jirocho’s Days of Youth: The Youngest Boss in the Tokai Region
Overview: He was married to his lover's butterfly and started a new residence. But good things do not last. In his uncle, Uzaemon in Kawashima, Yoshiji Akaji, Yoshimoto's lender, and Kanehira Akagi, the older brother of the former loan of Mishima, played a challenge. It is said to open the ladies' room to the settlement of Wada island. Although Jiro headed to Shigetsugu for arbitration, he was forced to surrender. In such a case, Jiro became chased by Kinpei and others.
Genres: Drama Crime History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-06-21
Popularity:
Talk of the Town Tora-san
Overview: After a chance encounter with Hiroshi's father on a bus, Tora decides to get serious and reflect on the mortality of man. His plans are derailed when a beautiful lady starts working at Toraya.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1978-12-27
Popularity:
It's Tough Being a Man
Overview: Tora-san, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father's house twenty years before but reconnects with his aunt, uncle and sister Sakura. Tora wreaks some havoc in their lives, like getting drunk and silly at a marriage meeting and ruining Sakura's chance to marry someone, as well as just being a real pain to those around him. There is a sentimental side to him also, and the best way to describe him is that he grows on you.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-08-27
Popularity:
Tora-san, the Matchmaker
Overview: Tora-san helps out a runaway bride.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1979-08-04
Popularity:
Dear Mr. Prime Minister
Overview: Kakumaru (Kiyoshi Atsumi) is an unpopular manzai performer who is too good-natured but has a very bad manners. Moulin, Kakumaru's former partner, gained popularity through her comedy routine with his wife Rouge, and in contrast to Kakumaru, she became a popular talent. Meanwhile, Kakumaru, inspired by his master's death, decides to move to Tokyo and reunites with Mulan. However, Moulin is caught having an affair by Rouge and is in trouble. For now, he introduces Kakumaru to an entertainment company, but instead of performing manzai, Kakumaru is entrusted with the job of firing a boiler. Kakumaru is completely tired and spends his days drinking alcohol, but one day he meets his childhood friend Ayako again...
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-04-29
Popularity:
Tora-san Confesses
Overview: When Izumi can't stand seeing her mother flirt with other men, she leaves home. She sends a letter to Mitsuo and Mitsuo goes looking for her. But Izumi unexpectedly meets Tora-san.
Genres: Comedy Drama Family
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1991-12-23
Popularity:
Charming Men
Overview: One day, when Goro (Kiyoshi Atsumi) returns to his poor tenement house from a trip on a deep-sea tuna boat, his neighbor's daughter Haruko (Mitsuko Baisho) also returns from the juvenile classification center on the same day. However, at a welcome party held by Goro for Haruko, a drunk friend crashes into Haruko's house with a dump truck and is forced to leave. Goro plans to marry Haruko to a rich man and force her to pay dowry, but...
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-06-13
Popularity:
Our Wonderful Years
Overview: The story of a selfless mother and her family throughout the decades, from th 1920's to the 1960's.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-09-30
Popularity:
Attack Squadron
Overview: Lt. Col. Senda resists the idea of sending Japanese fighter pilots on suicide missions. He believes that what is really necessary for Japan to regain momentum in the war is for the air force to gather its most brilliant pilots into an elite squadron and use the unit to pinpoint attacks on the Americans. Disrespected by the kamikaze pilots who think the "non-suicidal" pilots are afraid, the unit redeems itself by stunning victories. But success leads the military leaders to expect too much of the unit, and new orders portend disaster.
Genres: Action Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-01-03
Popularity:
Express Train
Overview: Atsumi Kiyoshi, famous for his role in Torasan, stars as Aoki Goichi, a veteran train conductor who dedicates himself in providing quality service to his passengers. With his many years of experience, he never fails to find solutions for any troubles that occur along the way. A comedic drama revolving around the lives of those who ride the express train.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-06-03
Popularity:
New Year Trip
Overview: A comedy about a good-natured train conductor Shinsaku helping his old friend Miwako find her missing brother.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-01-03
Popularity:
Traveling in Party
Overview: A comedy about Hikoichi, a mediocre train conductor who falls in love with a beautiful widow Sayuri.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-11-12
Popularity:
The Glamorous Ghost
Overview: Based on the novel by Naoki Prize-nominated author Taro Takeshita, a thriller full of black humor. A jealous husband murders his adulterous wife, then embarks on a crusade to extort all the wealthy men whom she had affairs with.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-10-03
Popularity:
若社長と爆発娘
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-06
Popularity:
Tora-san Goes North
Overview: When his travels take him to rural Hokkaido, Tora-san helps a cantankerous old veterinarian (Mifune) in his relationships with his estranged daughter, and a woman in whom he is secretly interested.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-08-15
Popularity:
Tora-san's Promise
Overview: Tora-san returns to his family's home to attend an elementary school class reunion. After he embarrasses himself by getting drunk and insulting all his ex-classmates, he resumes his travels. In Kyushu he meets an outspoken 18-year-old girl who becomes enamored of Tora-san and follows him around. One of Tora-san's old friends is terminally ill and makes Tora-san promise him to marry his wife once he is gone.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1981-12-28
Popularity:
Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san
Overview: During his travels, Tora-san gets drunk with an old man in Kyoto. Though Tora-san never fully comprehends his importance, the old man is a Living National Treasure ceramist. At his home, Tora-san makes a good impression on the old man's maid, who apparently falls in love with Tora-san.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1982-08-07
Popularity:
Tora-san's Matchmaker
Overview: After failing to find a job, Mitsuo becomes a fisherman on a small island, and develops a crush on a young nurse there. Tora-san, dispatched to bring Mitsuo back home, himself falls in love with an attractive but troubled woman visiting her father.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1993-12-25
Popularity:
Tora-san's Salad-Day Memorial
Overview: In his travels through Japan, Tora-san meets and falls in love with a female doctor, however he is afraid of committing to a relationship.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-12-24
Popularity:
Tora-san Plays Daddy
Overview: A playboy-gambler friend of Tora-san’s dies and, abandoned by his mother, his little boy suddenly turns up in Shibamata. Searching for the boy’s mother, Tora-san meets a cosmetics saleslady and the three become a surrogate family, with Tora-san as “daddy”.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-12-26
Popularity:
Marriage Counselor Tora-san
Overview: In Shibamata, Tokyo, Tora-san's family prepares for a wedding. Meanwhile, the traveling Tora-san meets an old acqaintance in Iwate Province. Tora-san refuses to drink with him, afraid that the acquaintance, now settled and married, will again become attracted to Tora-san's wandering existence. Tora-san becomes attracted to a female barber, but must break off their relationship so that she too can live a secure life. She instead gets into an abusive relationship with a motorcyclist.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1984-08-04
Popularity:
Tora-san Takes a Vacation
Overview: Mitsuo goes to Nagoya to visit Izumi, whose father left Izumi’s sad, bar hostess mother for another woman, so together they decide to confront him in Oita. Meanwhile, Izumi’s mother befriends Tora-san and together they travel to Oita to meet them, with Tora-san quickly falling for her en route.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-12-22
Popularity:
Tora-san's Island Encounter
Overview: Tora-san's family's neighbor, Akemi, who had been married in Marriage Counselor Tora-san (1984), runs away from her husband, who is only interested in work. Tora-san follows her to Shikinejima, and attempts to bring her back to her home. In doing so he encounters a school-reunion group who are traveling to meet their elementary school teacher, which is a reference to the film Twenty-Four Eyes by Keisuke Kinoshita. Tora-san joins them and falls in love with the teacher.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1985-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san Goes to Vienna
Overview: During his wandering throughout Japan, Tora-san meets a suicidal man. He travels with the man to Vienna, but winds up homesick for Japan.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1989-08-05
Popularity:
Tora-san, the Expert
Overview: Tora-san gets into an argument with his uncle and sets out on the road again. In Kyushu he meets a young woman named Keiko and the shy zoologist Saburō, and attempts to play matchmaker between the two when they all return to Tokyo.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1982-12-28
Popularity:
Tora-san's Song of Love
Overview: Tora-san returns to his family home to learn that his brother-in-law cannot go to Mitsuo's (Tora-san's nephew) athletic event. Tora-san volunteers to take his place, but gets into an argument with his brother-in-law's boss and returns to the road. He meets a young woman in Niigata who, unbeknownst to him, is a popular enka singer.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1983-08-06
Popularity:
Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy
Overview: During his travels, Tora-san comes across a traditional theater he used to visit, and discovers that one of his old friends has died. Tora-san and his family help the friend's daughter, who becomes romantically involved with an aspiring artist.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1986-12-20
Popularity:
Tora-san's Easy Advice
Overview: Mitsuo, unhappy in his new job as a shoe salesman, is invited to a festival and is introduced to a friend’s sister. Tora-san meanwhile helps an injured housewife on her yearly vacation.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1994-12-23
Popularity:
Tora-san, the Go-Between
Overview: In Nagasaki, Tora-san and an acquaintance help an old woman who has fallen and injured herself. She invites them to her home where the three share a night of eating and drinking. The old woman's health deteriorates and she dies. At her funeral, Tora-san falls in love with the old woman's daughter, but winds up acting as a go-between for her and a young law student.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1985-08-03
Popularity:
Tora-san to the Rescue
Overview: Tora-san works hard to bring together his nephew, Mitsuo, and Mitsuo’s girlfriend who is engaged to someone else.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1995-12-23
Popularity:
Tora-san's Love in Osaka
Overview: When his travels bring him to Osaka, Tora-san falls in love with a local geisha. He helps her to track down her estranged brother, and informs his family that he plans to marry her. His plans are foiled when the geisha informs Tora-san that she is engaged.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1981-08-08
Popularity:
Foster Daddy, Tora!
Overview: After a friend and business colleague dies, Tora-san visits the man's daughter, then takes her to Tokyo so she can study for a night school exam.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1980-12-27
Popularity:
風来忍法帖
Overview: The first of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Genres: Action Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-05-16
Popularity:
風来忍法帖 八方破れ
Overview: The second of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Genres: Action Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-05-08
Popularity:
Green Light to Joy
Overview: Drama about the friendship between a lonely laborer (Atsumi) and a young woman (Hoshi) unable to enter college.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-12-06
Popularity:
The Day the Sun Rose
Overview: Shinkichi, a peasant employed as a cloth-dyer, has a dream: in the midst of the civil war which ravages Japan, he hopes to revive the long-banned custom of the Kyoto Gion Festival, and by doing so, bring together the warring clans and rampaging brigands in peaceful celebration.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-11-23
Popularity:
The Ambitious Youth
Overview: As descendent of famed fishmonger Isshin Tasuke, young feisty Ishii Tasuke uses his talent to flourish his employer’s food business.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-03
Popularity:
Age of Japanese Guerrillas
Overview: Kinta (Nabe Osami) is Japanese by birth, but raised by a Chinese man. He stowsaway to Japan to see his girlfriend Yukiko but gets picked up for vagrancy in Shinjuku and thrown in jail. Helped by a yakuza and a prostitute, he goes on a search for Yukiko but winds up on a journey of sexual discovery.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-08-30
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Tora-san's Tropical Fever Special Version
Overview: Carrying a bag full of samples, Mitsuo makes rounds to shoe stores in remote cities. While staying at budget hotels, his thoughts turn to Tora-san.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1997-11-22
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The Village
Overview: This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and, being that they are farmers and always busy and not rich, question the wisdom and feasibility of such an idea. A spokesperson for the acting troupe Ms. Kono lays out the whole thing and they must decide. You get little slices of rural life in Japan far, at least in sentiment, from Tokyo. The best thing about this film is that it has heart. The acting is good, but it is really about the simple storyline of outing on a show. Films rarely get made with such simplistic plots these days. Enjoy this little slice of what city people call “the simple life”.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-04-12
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A Distant Cry from Spring
Overview: The quiet life of a mother and her young son living on a farm in Hokkaido is changed by the arrival of a man who ignites flames of romance in the heart of the mother and shows her boy the importance of grit and kindness, but then he leaves with the autumn wind.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1980-03-15
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Snow in the South Seas
Overview: Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions.
Genres: Comedy Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-09-29
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The Betrayers Out!
Overview: Shochiku's popular series of gang films, this one has the hero returning from prison bent on revenge. He runs into Chinese hoodlums, blackmailers and gold-smugglers. But he also aids and abets young lovers yet, despite his help, their love ends in tragedy and he tracks down his prey in Kobe.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-01-15
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Sing, Young People
Overview: A story about four best friends and their lives inside and outside college. Then suddenly one of them receives a surprising offer to be a movie star.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-01-06
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A Country Boss
Overview: A country boss gives up his way of life because of his daughter's marriage.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-25
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Village of Eight Gravestones
Overview: The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. Adaptation of novel by Seishi Yokomizo
Genres: Thriller Horror Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-10-29
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How to Make Money
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-02-01
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Downtown Heroes
Overview: The adventures and tribulations of a group of students during the years following the II World War.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-08-06
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Scrap Collectors
Overview: Based on a story by Akiyuki Nosaka.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-11-28
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Good Rascals
Overview: A group of men living a low life in Edo help each other to make the best out of their lives.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-14
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Obon, The Moll Dipper
Overview: Modern comedy, based on the popular manga.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-04-16
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Where Spring Comes Late
Overview: The story is set in 1970 during the time of the first EXPO in Japan. The film’s main figure is a miner who suddenly becomes unemployed because the mine he worked in was shut down. He decides to resettle with his whole family to Hokkaido in northern Japan and start a new life as a farmer.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-10-24
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Gamblers' Luck
Overview: A group of ne'er-do-wells live happily in the slums of what is now Tokyo and have a number of adventures: they get drunk and go whoring, revenge themselves on cruel landlords, animate the corpse of a money-lender in order to frighten people. Then they assist at the marriage of a lovely girl and almost kill themselves gambling to provide her with a dowry.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-19
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Tora-san, Wish You Were Here
Overview: The 50th film in Tora-san series, using the old footages and newly shot scenes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series. The adult Mitsuo, Tora-san’s nephew, who runs into Izumi, his first love, whom he had once promised to marry. The familiar faces of Kurumaya Cafe, which Tora-san’s family ran in Shibamata, also return. Catching up with old friends, it is always their dearest memories of Tora-san which everyone shares on such occasions…
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 2019-12-27
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Women Can't Be Beaten
Overview: An uptight young man comes to suspect that his factory worker girlfriend has a secret involving his boorish older brother.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-10-01
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Nippon no obaachan
Overview: Two obaachans become fast friends listening to music in front of a record store. They both boast about their loving sons but in reality, one had just escaped a retirement home and the other was looking for an escape from her son and daughter-in-law. With nowhere to go, the two wander around, befriending a cosmetics salesman and a kind waitress who give them beer. This biting social satire starring two memorable grandmothers, scripted by Yôko Mizuki, picked up on Japan’s aging population problem far ahead of its time.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-03
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A Carpenter and Children
Overview: 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 children making this into a true masterpiece.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-10
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The Honest Fool
Overview: Yasugoro, goes to live in a quiet town where he falls in love with the priest's daughter-in-law. His does not declare his love because she is married, but he goes on a mission to please her, and is blinded. Then her husband dies and she remarries before Yasugoro can confess his love.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-01-15
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Jirocho' s Days of Youth: Whirlwind on the Tokaido
Overview: Adventures of famous yakuza boss Jirocho and his disciples who settle in Kofu.
Genres: Drama Crime History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-03
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My Voiceless Friends
Overview: A man who survived the war carries the will of his comrades in arms, walking across the country visiting the bereaved families.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-04-29
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The Castle of Sand
Overview: Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
Genres: Crime Mystery Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-10-19
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To Your Majesty, The Emperor 2
Overview: Based on Muneta Hiroshi's military novel. The main character, Yamaguchi Zensuke, is a military dog soldier. He joins the army and winds up sent overseas to China as a part of the military dog unit. He's ridiculed by others due to his inability to advance.
Genres: Comedy War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-01-01
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To Your Majesty, The Emperor
Overview: A conscript from a poor background writes the Emperor asking if he can stay in the army when his service is up.
Genres: Comedy War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-04-28
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I'm a Bodyguard
Overview: Kita Ippei (Atsumi Kiyoshi) became a security officer in the Metropolitan Police Department's Security Division after catching a thug who attacked a writer living in the area while working at a police box. His dream is to become a bodyguard (BG) for the Prime Minister, just like his senior, Detective Inspector Takagi (Ryu Chishu). Kita Ippei is very successful in both work and love, getting attacked while guarding a female minister, getting some perks as a BG for a foreign princess, and becoming friends with a woman at his favorite bar.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-05-16
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腰抜け女兵騒動
Overview: 1961 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-26
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Big, Big Fellow
Overview: The golden duo of Yoshitaro Mura and Kiyoshi Atsumi brings you a full-on comedy filled with laughter and melancholy set in Kitakyushu. Matsujiro Minamida (Atsumi) plays an uneducated and uncouth local troublemaker who becomes the talk of the town following an unexpected incident.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-04-26
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Aces Wild
Overview: Keisuke Morita, a man with dark glasses standing on the Shibaura pier, a descendant of an illegitimate descendant left behind in Osaka and a brother of the Otorigumi, returned from South America for the first time in 15 years. When he stepped on the soil of his native land, his first thought was to visit Otanuki Fudo, the guardian deity of the Otorigumi, but the Otorigumi had fallen and Otanuki Fudo was on the verge of eviction for the construction of an expressway. Keisuke and Joji put on the striped suits left to them by their late boss, and set out to rebuild the clan...
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-09
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