Jane Sloan Media Librarian jsloan@rci.rutgers.edu August 2006

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Media Collections:
Feature Films Japan

This guide is a browsing aid to selected titles in the video/DVD collections at Rutgers Libraries. The most up-to-date, accurate, and complete information regarding the libraries' holdings is available only through IRIS, our online catalog.

After life a film by Kore-eda Hirokazu 1998

In Kore-eda's thought-provoking vision; the newly deceased find themselves in a way station somewhere between Heaven and Earth. With the help of dedicated caseworkers, each soul is given three days to choose one cherished memory for their life that they will relive for eternity. As the film reveals, recognizing happiness and finding a life's worth of meaning in a single event is no simple task.

1 videocassette (118 mins.) :

MEDIA 2-5184

Akahige Red Beard 199

In 19th-century Japan an ambitious medical intern begins work in a clinic whose impoverished conditions initially disgust him. Under the guidance of the clinic director he develops compassion and maturity, learning to cherish the lives of his destitute patients.

2 videocassettes (179 min.)

MEDIA 2-7050, 2-7051

Akira Kurosawa's dreams 1991

Explores the costs of war, the perils of nuclear power and especially humankind's need to harmonize with nature.

1 videocassette (120 min.) :

DANA 507

Bad boys 199

The film follows a young man who drifts into petty crime, is arrested, imprisoned, reformed and released.

1 videocassette (90 min.) :

DANA 508

The bad sleep well 1998

A grieving son seeks revenge for his father's murder as he infiltrates the corrupt construction company that was responsible for his father's death. He marries his boss's daughter, but he falls in love with her and his plans for revenge fall apart.

1 videocassette (151 min.)

MEDIA 2-7293

The Ballad of Narayama 1988

"The story of a loving son in an impoverished region who must follow the cruel custom of abandoming his mother to the mountain gods as she turns seventy."--Container.

1 videocassette (129 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2650

Banshun Late spring 1994

A widowed father forces his adult daughter to begin her own life by fooling her into believing he will remarry.

1 videocassette (108 min.) :

DANA 506

The Battle of China 1985

Depicts Japanese aggression against China during World War II and describes Japan's plans for world conquest. Recalls Chinese development of the compass, printing, astronomy, gunpower, and porcelain.

1 videocassette (67 min.) :

MEDIA 2-113

Biruma no tategoto Ba ma co` = The Burmese harp 1994?

Following the actions of a young Japanese officer separated from his battalion at the close of the Pacific War in Burma, the film shows one man's journey from the comforts of companionship in adversity to a solitary confrontation with, and the eventual grasp of, mass death in the name of patriotism.

1 videocassette (116 min.) :

MEDIA 2-6050

Café Lumière 2005

Yoko, a freelance writer, becomes pregnant and chooses, against tradition and her parents' wishes, to raise the baby alone. In her loneliness and confusion, Yoko befriends the owner of a second-hand bookstore, who silently falls in love with her as she contemplates the choice she has made.

1 videodisc (104 min.)

MEDIA 10-561

Cowboy bebop the movie 2003

A terrorist explosion releases a deadly virus on the masses, and it's up the bounty-hunting Bebop crew to catch the cold-blooded culprit.

1 videodisc (115 min.)

MEDIA 10-601

Dersu Uzala Dersou Ouzala 1994

An enthralling tale of an eccentric Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by a Soviet surveying crew. At first perceived a naive and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery.

1 videocassette (140 min.) :

MEDIA 2-6008

Dodes 'Ka-den 1986

The story concerns a group of Tokyo slum dwellers who huddle together on the desolate fringes of the city. Some are drunk; some physically handicapped. All have been cheated by life. They survive on illusion and imagination.

1 videocassette (VHS) (140 min.) :

MEDIA 2-342

Dora heita 1999

The new magistrate cleans up a corrupt town in his own comic samurai way.

1 videodisc (111 min.)

MEDIA 10-402

Dr. Akagi Kanzo sensei 1999

Set on a small Japanese island near the end of World War II, this is the story of a doctor's obsession to retain his decency and stamp out a deadly disease.

1 videocassette (130 min.)

MEDIA 2-7205

Dragon Drive: vol. 1: Amazing transformation 2004

Contents: The sleeping dragon -- Promised dive -- Revenge -- Shocking awakeningReiji Ozora is no longer another junior high loser after he meets Chibi, a dragon living in a virtual world called D-Zone, who helps him battle against other players with their dragons.

1 videodisc (100 min.)

DANA 216

Early summer 1988

The story of Noriko, a young woman who refuses to give up her job to get married because of her age.

1 videocassette (135 min.) :

MEDIA 2-906

Equinox flower Higanbana 1992

In this comedy of reconciliation between parent and child, a successful Tokyo businessman is sympathetic and encouraging when his friends' children choose not to follow the traditional Japanese marriage arrangement. However, when his own daughter gets engaged without consulting him, he refuses to attend the wedding.

1 videocassette (118 min.) :

DANA 516

The Family game 1988

Pokes fun at contemporary Japanese ideals, portraying a middle-class family as it battles against the Japanese educational system.

1 videocassette (107 min.) :

MEDIA 2-908

Fires on the plain 1987

In the most powerful of all Japanese anti-war films, acts of cannibalism bring home the terrifying brutality of war. Japanese troops are in retreat in the Philippines. Supplies run out and discipline crumbles.

1 videocassette (VHS) (105 min.) :

MEDIA 2-330

Floating weeds Ukigusa 1988

Tells the story of an aging actor who returns with his troupe to a provincial town. There he is reunited with his former lover and with his illegitimate son, who believes the actor is his uncle. The actor's desire to be with his long-lost family enrages his present mistress, who spins an elaborate web of deceit that leads to heartbreak for them all.

1 videocassette (119 min.) :

DANA 278

Fruits basket: A great transformation? 2003

The Sohma family is cursed. When a member of the family is embraced by a person of the opposite gender, they transform into an animal of the Chinese Zodiak. The Sohma family has kept this curse private for generations, but when a young girl stumbles upon their secret, life at the Sohma house changes forever.

1 videodisc (143 min.)

DANA 218

Gate of Hell 1994

A twelfth-century Japanese married noblewoman prefers death to dishonor when she is claimed as a prize of war by a soldier.

1 videocassette (86 min.)

MEDIA 2-7048

Gion no shimai Sisters of Gion 1997

This story of two geisha sister illuminates the plight of women in Japan.

1 videocassette (66 min.)

MEDIA 2-7117

Gohatto Taboo 2002

Set in 1865 Kyoto, the story centers on a samurai militia unit that fiercely defends the Shogunate. Desperately in need of new recruits, the unit enlists 18-year-old Kano, a fearless warrior whose mesmerizing good looks immediately intrigue his fellow students, superiors and even his captain.

1 videodisc (100 min.) :

MEDIA 10-175

Hachigatsu no kyoshikyoku Rhapsody in August / Shochiku presents a film by Akira Kurosawa ; a Kurosawa Production presented by Feature Film Enterprise 2 ; producer, Hisao Kurosawa ; written and directed by Akira Kurosawa 1998

A visit from her grandchildren and the discovery of a half-American relative cause an elderly woman to relive her memories of the atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki.

1 videocassette (100 min.)

MEDIA 2-7142

Hana-bi Fireworks 1998

In this gangster film combining cool violence and powerful emotions a hard-boiled ex-cop, haunted by a troubled past and pushed to the edge by the shooting of his partner, confronts his demons in a ruthless quest for justice and redemption.

1 videodisc (103 min.) :

MEDIA 10-167

I was born, but-- 1999

A young father's promotion brings his family to his boss's neighborhood in the suburbs. But it is less rewarding to his sons who are bullied by neighborhood ruffians and feel humiliated by their father's public submission to his boss.

1 videocassette (89 min.)

MEDIA 2-7412

The Idiot 1992

Dostoyevsky's tale of madness and jealousy set in postwar Japan.

1 videocassette (166 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 515 2-3691

Ikiru 1985

Tells the powerful story of a dying man's triumph. Told he has only a short time to live, a bureaucrat at first reacts with a drunken spree, only to realize that only through unselfishness can he redeem his otherwise wasted life.

1 videocassette (134 min.) :

MEDIA 2-345

The Island Hodaka no shima 1981

The quiet tenor of life for the only family inhabiting a tiny island is eventually broken by illness and death.

1 videocassette (96 min.) :

DANA 514

Kagemusha The shadow warrior 1990

1 videocassette (160 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 344 2-2259

Kaze no tani no Naushika Nausicaä of the valley of the wind 2005

Nausicaä is the princess of a rural valley that lives at peace on the edge of a deadly fungal wasteland, until a ship carrying a weapon from a bygone industrial age crashes nearby. When warriors from a far country come to retrieve the artifact, their invasion draws Nausicaä and her people into a sprawling political conflict. Set 1,000 years after a global war that nearly destroyed all life on Earth.

2 videodiscs (117 min.)

MEDIA 10-600

Kurutta kajitsu Crazed fruit 2005

Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking. A portrayal of post-war sexual revolution among Japan's young and privileged.

1 videodisc (86 min.)

MEDIA 10-599

Kwaidan 2000

Contents: The black hair -- The woman of the snow -- Hoichi, the earless -- In a cup of tea Performer Note: Michiyo Aratama, Tatsuya Nakadai, Katsuo Nakamura, Kanemon Nakamura Added Title: Black hair Added Title: Woman of the snow Added Title: Hoichi, the earless Added Title: In a cup of tea The Classic collection: Classic collection (Chicago, Ill.)Four tales of the supernatural adapted from the works of Lafcadio Hearn.

1 videocassette (161 min.)

MEDIA 2-7007

L'empire des sens In the realm of the senses 2006

Based on one of Japan's most notorious scandals, this erotic masterpiece is the story of an ex-prostitute who becomes involved in an obsessive love affair with the master of the household where she is employed as a servant.

1 videodisc (104 min.)

MEDIA 10-622

The Lower depths Donzoko 1989

The story of a group of social outcasts living together in a filthy rooming house, some trying to escape, some attempting to adjust, and others hoping to maintain their illusions.

1 videocassette (ca. 125 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-1569 2-1569

Maboroshi no hikari Maborosi 1998

Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years before, a young mother struggles to come to terms with her husband's apparent suicide. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her new husband's home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There, with time, she finds love, understanding, happiness and a sense of peace.

1 videocassette (110 min.)

MEDIA 2-7292

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1999

British army officer is sentenced to a Japanese P.O.W. camp where he engages in a private war of wills with the camp's commander and a belligerent sergeant. Despite the gruesome setting he comes to understand and respect the special Japanese code of honor.

1 videocassette (ca. 122 min.) :

MEDIA 2-6207

Moon child 2004

Part futuristic science fiction and part John Woo style gunplay. Mood Child is a gothic vampire horror film from Japan. Director Takahisa Zeze brings a deliciously stylized vision to this tale of doomed friends whose gangster lifestyle becomes corrupted.

1 videodisc (119 min.)

MEDIA 10-614

Nanami, first love 1998

A troubled young man seeks emotional fulfillment with a sensuous nude model and prostitute. His disturbing encounter with the nightmarish porno world leads him into additional psycho-sexual problems and eventually to violence.

1 videocassette (104 min.)

MEDIA 2-7203

Nihon no yoru to kiri 2003

Two generations of student movement activists confront each other on their attitudes toward the Japan-United States Security Treaty at a friend's wedding ceremony.

1 videodisc (107 min.)

MEDIA 10-610

No regrets in my youth 198

An epic drama of feminists self-discovery set against the unlikely backdrop of militarist Japanese society. An idealistic young woman moves in with one of her father's students, a rebel who is executed as a spy. Renouncing society, she takes his ashes to the farming village of his parents, and remains there, working the land.

1 videocassette (ca. 110 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2661

Nora Inu Stray dog 1998

Detective story about young police detective Murakami whose revolver is stolen. Murakami's superiors team him up with Sato, a veteran on the force, and they make the exhausting rounds through black market Tokyo. Evidence soon emerges confirming Murakami's worst fear: his gun is in the hands of a killer.

1 videocassette (122 min.)

MEDIA 2-6430

Odd obsession 1997

Odd obsession deals with aging and the myriad dreads that accompany it.

1 videocassette (96 min.)

MEDIA 2-7148

Osaka elegy Naniwa ereji ; a Janus Film presentation ; director Kenji Mizoguchi 1988?

Ayako lives in Osaka, a city whose men are notorious for their greed and spinelessness. In Osaka, money talks, men whine and the women do the dirty work. Ayako finds the out the hard way.

1 videocassette (71 min.)

MEDIA 2-7289

Princess Mononoke 2000

A young warrior searching for a cure for a deadly curse becomes entangled in a battle between a clan of humans and the forest's animal gods.

1 videodisc (ca. 134 min.)

MEDIA 10-608

Ran 1985

An aging ruler attempts to divide his kingdom among his three sons. They turn against each other and their father, spawning a whirlwind of chaos and leaving the old man insane, the kingdom shattered and the family destroyed.

1 videocassette (160 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2271

Ran 1993

Kurosawa creates his "King Lear" that mixes Japanese history, Shakespeare's plot, and Kurosawa's personal feelings about loyalty. Set in 16th century Japan, an aging ruler, Lord Hidetora, attempts to peacefully divide his kingdom among his three sons. Instead, they turn against each other and betray their father.

1 videocassette (160 min.) :

DANA 276

Ran 1999

An aging ruler attempts to divide his kingdom among his three sons. They turn against each other and their father, spawning a whirlwind of chaos and leaving the old man insane, the kingdom shattered and the family destroyed.

1 videodisc (ca. 162 min.) :

MEDIA 10-1

Rashomon 1986

Four people describe the murder of a nobleman and the rape of his wife with each person's testimony contradicting the other's.

1 videocassette (83 min.) :

MEDIA 2-127

Returner 2004

The year 2084, when humanity is decimated by a ruthless alien force, all hope lies in Millie, as she goes back in time to stop the invasion. Ending up in present-day 2002, she takes on a mysterious mercenary who has a thirst for blood. Through some coercing, Miyamoto unwillingly joins the mission, as they infiltrate the government base that holds a captured alien and its crashed spacecraft. With Mizoguchi and the Triads moving in, seeking some of the alien advanced weaponry, Miyamoto may finally get the vengeance he seeks as Millie gets closer and closer to saving the entire human race.

1 videodisc (116 min.)

MEDIA 10-607

Saikaku ichidai onna Life of Oharu 199

In 17th-century Japan, a samurai's daughter, Oharu, falls in love with a petty noble. Caught together, the man is beheaded and Oharu and her family are exiled. After enduring further misfortunes as a concubine, a courtesan, wife, and prostitute, Oharu becomes a mendicant nun in her old age.

1 videocassette (136 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2670

Sandakan 8 1986

A young woman journalist interviews an old woman about her life as a young prostitute in Borneo where the chief import was Japanese women for prostitution during the early 1900's.

1 videocassette (121 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5108

Sanma no aji An autumn afternoon 1991

"This serenely beautiful film tell the timeless, moving tale of a father giving up his only daughter in marriage.".

1 videocassette (112 min.) :

DANA 505

The Seven samurai 1984

For years, a 16th century Japan farm village has been constantly at the mercy of bandits. Anticipating a raid, the community hires professional warriors for protection.

2 videocassettes (VHS) (197 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-363 cassette 1 2-363A cassette 2

Shall we dance? Shall we dansu? 1996?

Comedy about a middle-aged businessman who secretly yearns to break out of the rigid conformity of his daily life by learning ballroom dancing.

1 videocassette (118 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5185

Shin Heike monogatari 1998

In twelfth century Japan, the Fujiyawa clan confronts the problems of famine, riots, and the growing power of the samurai. A story about Taira Kiyomori.

1 videocassette (110 min.)

MEDIA 2-7147

Spirited away 2003

A young girl gets trapped in a strange new world of spirits, must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and rescue her parents.

1 videocassette (124 min.) :

DANA 1892

Street of shame 198

Set in 1955, the film examines the dreams and problems of the prostitutes living in one Tokyo brothel.

1 videocassette (ca. 86 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2660

Tampopo Dandelion 1988

A satire about the life of a young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and her quest for the perfect bowl of ramen.

1 videocassette (114 min.) :

MEDIA 2-1874

Tampopo Dandelion 1988

A satire about the life of a young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and her quest for the perfect bowl of ramen.

1 videocassette (114 min.) :

DANA 537

Throne of blood 1985

A samurai lord kills his master and usurps his power in fulfillment of a witch's prophecy.

1 videocassette (93 min.) :

MEDIA 2-376

Tokyo no yado Eine Herberge in Tokyo 199

A poor man struggles to care for his two sons as he roams industrialized Tokyo in search of work. The family befriends a woman and her young daughter. When the daughter becomes seriously ill, Kihachi desperately attempts to help find money for the hospital bills.

1 videocassette (77 min.)

MEDIA 2-7049

Tokyo story 1989

An elderly couple visit their grown-up children in Tokyo, but find themselves a burden to the family. They return home, and the mother dies, leaving the father to face the future alone.

1 videocassette (139 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 518 2-1289

Tsubaki Sanjuro Sanjuro 1999

A skilled but slovenly ronin comes to the aid of a group of naive young warriors fighting their corrupt clan leaders and manages to keep them out of trouble and alive in spite of their high ideals.

1 videodisc (ca. 99 min.) :

MEDIA 10-52

The twilight samurai 2004

Set during the Bakumatsu period (mid 19th century) a low-ranking samurai is forced to choose service over love.

1 videodisc (129 min.)

MEDIA 10-372

Ugetsu 198-

Set in 16th century Japan, this drama centers on two friends who leave their families and go their separate ways search of fulfillment. One seeks wealth in the city and the other wishes to become a samurai warrior.

1 videocassette (96 min.) :

MEDIA 2-185

Ugetsu 1993?

A tale of greed, ambition, and enchantment set in sixteenth century Japan. A potter and his neighbor abandon their wives in order to seek their fortunes from war. Their wives, however, suffer the consquences of their husbands' ambitions.

1 videocassette (94 min.) :

DANA 324

Ukigusa Floating weeds 1988

A traveling troupe of actors visits a small town, and the chief actor renews his contact with a woman who bore him a son years ago. The son thinks his father is dead, and falls in love with one of the actresses, his father's current mistress.

1 videocassette (119 min.)

MEDIA 2-7036, 10-469

Vengeance is mine Fukushu suru wa ware ni ari 199

Story of a murderer and rapist who eludes a nationwide dragnet while brazenly traveling throughout Japan committing crime. Based on police records and the nonfiction work by author Ryuzo Saki on the actual case.

1 videocassette (143 min.)

MEDIA 2-7288

Watashi wa nisai Being two isn't easy 1990

Describes how a young middle-class couple struggles to raise their infant son. Told from the baby's point of view.

1 videocassette (88 min.) :

DANA 534

Yoidore tenshi Drunken angel 1996

The story of a physician who tries to be a healer in a world of hoodlums.

1 videocassette (102 min.) :

DANA 510

Yojimbo The Bodyguard 1983

A wandering Samurai becomes embroiled in a small town's feud.

1 videocassette (111 min.) :

MEDIA 2-150

Yojimbo The bodyguard 1999

In the year 1860, a wandering samurai-for-hire turns the war between two clans fighting for control of a small town to his own advantage. A satire on greed, violence, paranoia and human weakness. Includes theatrical trailer.

1 videodisc (110 min.) :

MEDIA 10-49

Yukiguni Snow country 1996

An artist's search for a holistic vision of life leads him to the snow country, to unpolluted nature and to two women there.

1 videocassette (134 min.) :

DANA 512

Zangiku monogatari The story of the last chrysanthemum 1997

"When Kikunosuke, a mediocre actor from a famous kabuki family, falls in love with a maid, he is cast out. The faithful Otoku supports her husband as he struggles to perfect his art. In the end, she is quite ill, yet willing to leave her husband so that he may take his rightful place at the head of the Kabuki community."--Videocassette container.

1 videocassette (115 min.)

MEDIA 2-7145