Miki Odagiri
Also Known As: 富士山君子
Biography: Miki Odagiri (小田切美喜) was known primarily for her important and timeless role as the upbeat office girl in Akira Kurosawa's classic Ikiru opposite Takashi Shimura, whose character is dying of cancer, and Miki, as Toyo Odagiri, inspires him to live... just by being herself: bubbly, spontaneous, and optimistic. Her character is also filled with blunt sarcasm that was extremely rare in movies of the early-1950's. Perhaps Miki and Takashi's most memorable scene is when she's telling him the nicknames she created for their fellow workmates... including his! Sadly, beyond Ikiru, finding the handful of other Japanese movies she appeared in, especially on DVD or Blu Ray, is extremely difficult. But she left an impression in what's considered not only one of the legendary Kurosawa's greatest achievements, but one of the best movies ever made, worldwide.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Sendagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Adult: No
Birthday: June 29, 1930
Age: 94 years old
Gender: Female
Deathday: November 28, 2006
Popularity:
Known For:
Ikiru
Overview: Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-10-09
Popularity:
Striving to Live
Overview: Yasuichiro Isa, who works in the labor section of Sone Mining Tokyo Headquarters, paid a monthly fee for his younger brother, Reiji, who was in trouble because he had a bonus of 10,000 yen more.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-02-25
Popularity:
Zoku jūdai no seiten
Overview: Film directed by Saeki Kozo with Wakao Ayako.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-05-15
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Shiosai
Overview: Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue's affections, Yasuo. Yasuo spreads unpleasant gossip about his rival, and Hatsue's father forbids her to see Shinji. But when the boy saves the passengers on a boat owned by Hatsue's father, his luck in love begins to change.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-09-24
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The Wild Geese
Overview: A young woman, who must support her father as a middle-aged man's mistress, finds herself falling in love with a student closer to her age.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-15
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When a Woman Loves
Overview: Story of a romance between a middle-aged journalist and a young woman.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-09-24
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Boku chin hōrō-ki
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-08-26
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Shinran: Path to Purity
Overview: In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. At that time, one school (Shingon) offered extensive training in complex and very demanding practices which might eventually bring about spiritual purification and realization. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation. Yet another school (Tendai) emphasized complex metaphysics and the study of philosophical systems. Basically, all of them were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation, such as scholars and noblemen. In this historical and biographical drama, this is the situation that the young Shinran (1173-1263) discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-06-02
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Pastoral Symphony
Overview: A priest in Hokkaido adopts a blind orphan girl, and as she grows up he finds himself falling in love with her.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1938-06-11
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Jūdai no seiten
Overview: Film directed by Shima Koji and starring Wakao Ayako
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-02-05
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A Certain Woman
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-03-13
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Policeman's Diary
Overview: Lending money, job hunting for civilians and babysitting. All these things are usually not listed on a policeman's job description. But for the officers of this local police station, it‘s part of their daily routine. One day, patrolman Yoshii (Hisaya Morishige) finds an abandoned baby and a six year old girl standing in front of the station. When he's declined by the welfare office, orphanage and local health clinic to take them in, he decides to take care of them himself.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-02-03
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The Motherless
Overview: Japanese drama film.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-12-04
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Stakeout
Overview: Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-01-15
Popularity:
The Moon Has Risen
Overview: Mokichi is the widowed father of three daughters, with whom he lives on the premises of a temple since the war. All three daughters become involved in some sort of complicated relationships.
Genres: Drama Romance Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-08
Popularity:
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
Popularity:
Pure Emotions of the Sea
Overview: A romantic adventure tale about a young guy working on a whale-hunting vessel and his love for a childhood sweetheart.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-06-28
Popularity:
The Street Without Sun
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-06-24
Popularity:
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ikiru'
Overview: Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Ikiru" (1952).
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 2002-10-25
Popularity:
Tower of Lilies
Overview: A group of Okinawan high school girls are drafted as nurses during the American invasion of the island. As the enemy army advances further, the situation for the girls becomes increasingly desperate as food and shelter run out and the number of injured climbs, leading to the film's tragic finale.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-01-09
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Duel at Sundown
Overview: A remake of High Noon (1952) as a Japanese jidai-geki sword-fighting movie.
Genres: Action Adventure Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-05-24
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Burden of Love
Overview: The female members of the family of the Minister of Health and Welfare, who has just proposed a program of birth control, become pregnant one after the other. - Nikkatsu
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-03-18
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Nikoyon monogatari
Overview: Japanese drama film.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-09-11
Popularity:
続々十代の性典
Overview: Film directed by Eichi Koishi and starring Wakao Ayako
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-22
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Policeman's Diary, Part 2
Overview: From runaway brides to a typhoon, the continued adventures of Ushikata police station.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-11-16
Popularity:
Women's House
Overview: After Shuichiro moved to Tokyo, the Tanno family became completely female, including Mrs. Tanno, Shuichiro's daughter-in-law Manzuko, painter Takashiro Egi, Shizu Kazemaki, Mitsue Nanbu, an intellectual who works in a university laboratory, and an old woman.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-11-23
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Student Double Suicide
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-07-27
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Monthly Salary: 13,000 Yen
Overview: Set in a rubber company in Tokyo, this comedy depicts the sorrows of salarymen in a humorous way, centering on the commotion caused by the passionate salaryman Goro Mutsu, who is transferred from Kyushu.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-11
Popularity: