Yoshihiro Katō
Also Known As: Kato Zenpaku, Yoshihiro Kato
Biography: Zenpaku Kato, also known by his birth name and former stage name Yoshihiro Kato, was a Japanese actor born on October 7, 1958, in Akita Prefecture. He was affiliated with the SAI Production agency. He stood at a height of 174 cm and enjoyed music appreciation as a hobby. His special skill was illustration, and his favorite color was blue. He graduated from Akita Prefectural Yuri Technical High School. Kato made his debut in the stage play "Shitaya Mannencho Monogatari," directed by Yukio Ninagawa. He was known for portraying eccentric antagonistic roles, such as a strict physical education teacher in the 1983 film "Kazoku Geemu" (Family Game), who methodically decides students' desired high schools for exams. He also played the role of Mr. Sugimoto, a department head who bullies subordinates through workplace harassment and power dynamics in the 1992 TV drama "Ai to Iu Na no Moto ni" (Under the Name of Love). Throughout his career, Kato was recognized for his distinctive performances in various mediums, including film, television, and stage. However, on April 27, 2007, at the age of 48, he tragically took his own life through hanging in a park located in Shibuya, Tokyo. His passing was mourned by fellow actors, including Toshi Kazawa, Yoji Tanaka, and Mako Maekawa, who expressed their condolences. (Translated from WIkipedia Japan "加藤善博")
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Akita Prefecture, Japan
Adult: No
Birthday: October 07, 1958
Age: 66 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: April 27, 2007
Popularity:
Known For:
The Files of Young Kindaichi: Snow Yaksha Legend Murder Case
Overview: Hajime Kindaichi is working a part time job as an assistant to a TV station for the filming of a shock show. They have invited celebrities in Segori Village and are planning to scare them by playing pranks on them such as fake deaths. However, a threatening letter arrives and soon, a real murder occurs broadcasted in front of everyone.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1995-12-30
Popularity:
Tampopo
Overview: In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1985-11-23
Popularity:
The Funeral
Overview: When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1984-11-17
Popularity:
Tales of a Golden Geisha
Overview: The film stars two of Itami's regular actors, Nobuko Miyamoto as a geisha who brings luck to the men with whom she sleeps, and Masahiko Tsugawa as her unfaithful, sometimes partner. As well as showing her relationships with the man she loves and the men who employ her, it satirizes corruption and the influence of money in Japanese politics.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-06-02
Popularity:
Drop Out: Supple Female Leopard
Overview: A story about a female hitman, Lisa Yajima, who carries out an assassination at the command of an organization, gets involved in an organization's plot.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1992-02-21
Popularity:
Hole in the Pants 5: I Found a Glittering Star!
Overview: 5th installment of the Pantsu no ana video series released by BOMB magazine
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-12-08
Popularity:
Deaths in Tokimeki
Overview: Deaths in Tokimeki tells the story of a nondescript hitman, in a remote country villa, waiting to carry out a job: the assassination of the leader of a religious cult.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1984-02-18
Popularity:
Let's Go to the Hospital
Overview: When a hard-driving copywriter (Hiroyuki Sanada) discovers his comely wife (Keiko Saito) is involved in a scintillating game of strip rock-paper-scissors with some guy clad only in a pair of boxer shorts and Mickey Mouse ears, he is less than happy. When the stranger tries to make a run for it, a fight ensues between the two men, and they accidentally tumble down several flights of a concrete stairwell. One hurried ambulance ride later, the copywriter finds himself in a private teaching hospital equipped with the latest gleaming gizmos. Meanwhile, a young internist (Hiroko Yakushimaru) girds herself for her first emergency room case -- the battered copywriter. After giving a curt bow and a nervous "Good Evening," she accidentally jams a syringe into his bloody wound. Soon the absurdity of their situation, along with their medical misery, binds the two men and their blundering nurse together.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-04-07
Popularity:
The Glorious Asuka Gang!
Overview: In the year 199X, on the dark, shady streets of New Kabuki Town, the free-for-all between gangs of young delinquents and a corrupt police force is further complicated by the appearance of a mysterious girl named Asuka.
Genres: Action Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-08-13
Popularity:
A Homance
Overview: A homeless man suffering from memory loss is unbeatable in a fight. He becomes involved with the Yakuza. It is based on a manga by Carib Marley.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1986-10-10
Popularity:
Roppongi Banana Boys
Overview: A stylish light comedy about the “Banana boys”— two boys who were born and raised in Roppongi who are still growing up. It is based on the light novel of the same name written by Takashi Kitajima
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1989-08-12
Popularity:
The Last Dance
Overview: A successful Japanese movie director in his sixties becomes increasingly ill while working on his latest film. Though his family, friends, and doctor try to keep the secret of his terminal cancer from him, Buhei gradually comes to realize the truth of his condition, leading him on a journey of despair, anger, and – ultimately – acceptance.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1993-05-29
Popularity:
Hawaiian Dream
Overview: Tatsuhiko and Shofumi are hoodlums living in downtown Hawaii, having flown out of Japan and entered the country illegally for a reason. The two make a living by trafficking pakalolo – marijuana – under the pretext of selling tea leaves, but they are in a foreign land where they don't speak the language well. When they get busted by the chief of police, they're forced to make a deal and and help get a local crime boss masquerading as a benevolent celebrity arrested.
Genres: Action Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-08-29
Popularity:
Lost in the Wilderness
Overview: The life and travels of adventurer Naomi Uemura, who disappeared in Alaska in 1984. A member of the first Japanese expedition to reach the summit of Mt Everest in 1970, Uemura also accomplished several "firsts". He was the first man to reach the North Pole solo, climb Denali solo, and float down the Amazon river solo. In the film, Uemura returns to Tokyo after a stint in Siorapaluk in Northern Greenland. In Tokyo, he reconnects with an old friend and, over coffee, shares his life story - from his days as a college dropout to his successful expedition to the top of Everest.
Genres: Adventure History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1986-06-07
Popularity:
Captured Mother and Daughter: She Beast
Overview: After watching her friend fall from a building a depressed high school girl runs away from home. When she is picked up by a nice guy on a phone date she realizes too late that he has plans to use her for his own ends.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-02-28
Popularity:
Love Bites Back
Overview: Yuichi Koga is an upper-class business executive, running his own adult video company, and living a successful life with his wife and daughter. Outwardly, his family seems really happy, but in reality Yuichi enjoys sex with everyone but his wife Chikako. One day, he gets a phone call from a woman named Sanae, an old elementary school classmate of his.
Genres: Drama Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-07-01
Popularity:
Maria's Stomach
Overview: A carnivorous monster lives on the island of Sipang. A group of office ladies band together to fight it.
Genres: Horror Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-07-21
Popularity:
The Gentle 12
Overview: The film opens as a jury is about to acquit a defendant -- a bar hostess who pushed her ex-husband path of an oncoming truck, supposedly in self-defense. Just as everyone seems to be in agreement over the woman's innocence, one juror voices second thoughts.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1991-12-14
Popularity:
Detective Story
Overview: A private detective and a college student find themselves in hot water while investigating the murder of a night club owner.
Genres: Drama Romance Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1983-07-16
Popularity:
Bonds
Overview: Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to escape jail for gunning down his cruel adoptive father. His life begins to unravel when a journalist following him takes an interest in the wife of a boyhood chum, and the wife of another close friend takes an interest in Ise. A couple of murders later, Ise/Haga goes on the run and also sets out for revenge.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1998-06-06
Popularity:
A Taxing Woman
Overview: Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.
Genres: Comedy Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-02-07
Popularity:
A Taxing Woman's Return
Overview: Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath.
Genres: Comedy Mystery Thriller Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-01-15
Popularity:
Main Theme
Overview: A kindergarten teacher meets a novice magician and together they travel to another city to find love.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1984-07-14
Popularity:
Stay or go?
Overview: Shohei Taguchi is a salaryman who works for a securities company and loves women like no other. One day, he plans to use the cash borrowed from the gangsters and snatch to repay his debt . However, Sayoko Mukai, who said that she used the money of the company for gambling , took over the money. Shohei and Sayoko plan a robbery and steal cash from the gallery, but another man steals it.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-08-27
Popularity:
Prisoner/Terrorist
Overview: During a suicide attack on an airport, the hand grenade of 'M', one of three terrorists, malfunctions, leaving him captured. Exposed to maltreatment in prison, he slowly loses his grip on reality as he is forced to confront his ideological convictions.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 2007-02-02
Popularity:
Report on Latent Narcotic Substances in the Brain: Drugless
Overview: A fake documentary disguised as an undercover report on a secret circle that teaches how to freely secrete the brain drug endorphins. At the end of the film, the director (Yoshihiro Kato), who has become a cripple as a result of his undercover work, reconstructs the images in his brain that he sees, and fantastic abstract experimental film-like images appear. It also contained elements of the video drugs that were popular at the time.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1991-04-26
Popularity:
The Family Game
Overview: A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor, played by the prototypical bad boy actor Matsuda Yusaku, proceeds to blow the entire family apart.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1983-05-04
Popularity:
Woman in Witness Protection
Overview: Vain, middle-aged actress Biwako is placed in witness protection while authorities investigate the brutal murder she witnessed. Under the watch of two dedicated cops, Biwako struggles to maintain her career, her public image, and her personal life as she prepares for her new role on the witness stand.
Genres: Drama Comedy Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1997-09-27
Popularity:
Ronin on a Mission
Overview: Mori Kojiro, a member of the Akō Ronin, fails to identify Kira Kozukenosuke before their attack and is publicly banished by Ōishi Kuranosuke. Ōishi later apologizes privately, revealing that Kira has a decoy and assigning Mori a secret mission to kill the real Kira if necessary. Devastated, Mori finds solace with Okame, a local bar owner. After the ronin avenge their master, Mori, believing their mission complete, plans to leave his samurai life for Okame. However, Terazaka Kichiemon reveals that Kira was not killed but fled, and the decapitated man was a decoy. Mori decides to complete his mission and hunt down the real Kira.
Genres: Action History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-09-17
Popularity: