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The Izaihō was a spiritual event that occurred once every 12 years on Kudaka Island of Okinawa. This documentary captures the final Izaihō of 1978.

An attempt to let one's identity emerge by piercing fragments of 8mm film shot over some 20 years. The filmmaker's muttering and breathing reverberate over a series of visual images that invoke the primitive pleasure of an image coming into focus. This is a tribute to the culture of 8mm film, which is nearing its end, and a personal film directed with an approach that sets it apart from other films.

A documentary following the lives of people in Mishima, a small island off the coast of Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

"Tokito" chronicles the 540-day journey of maverick Michelin-starred Chef Yoshinori Ishii as his team transforms a historic Japanese restaurant into an innovative auberge dining experience in Tokyo.

A biographical film of Pulitzer Prize war photographer, K. Sawada.

Things Left Behind explores the transformative power of 'Hiroshima,' the first major international art exhibit devoted to the atomic bomb. The exhibition, at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Canada, featured 48 large-format color photographic prints of clothing once worn by those who perished in the atomic bomb, taken by renowned Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako. Ishiuchi brought the garments--still colorful and fashionable nearly seven decades later--out of permanent storage at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial archive and photographed them in the light, to trace the spirits of those who once wore them. The photographs, exhibited without any identifying caption, mutely solicited viewers to imagine or divulge a narrative, and unlocked a wealth of secrets and memories from those who encountered them.

An extended interview with the four American sailors who deserted in protest against the war in Vietnam in 1967. Filmed in Japan, the interviews reveal much about how they reached their decision to desert.

A look at the creation of “evangelion: Another Impact.”

GlobalGirl Media Network Presents: The Amasan or Sea Women of Shirahama, Japan have been diving together for decades. Through their dying art, these women have formed a tightly knit bond, as well as a business co-operative, providing economic security for their husbands and families.

Becky's Music Story features all her released music videos and a documentary that includes live footage and her tv program Becky Music Life.

Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic, this documentary chronicles the journey of Michelin-star chef Toba Shusaku and his unwavering ambitions to spread happiness during challenging times. As the driving force behind the "sio" restaurant chain, Chef Toba envisions building a culinary empire with the potential to endure for a century, offering delectable cuisine and happiness to all. Yet, this ambition carries a heavy price: As his enterprise swiftly expands, tensions arise among his staff, and the estrangement from his family gradually exacts its toll.

A showcase of four different Japanese metal bands for the Wizard's Convention concert series in Japan, including Boris, Church of Misery, Eternal Elysium and Greenmachine.

A daughter parts on a journey to retrace the steps of her father, who has gone to choose the place of his own death. Mixing interviews with her mother, her older half- brother, her aunt and the person who found the body, she follows the second half of her father's life ---a live previously unknown to her--- up until his death. As the film shi from snowbound Northern Japan to tropical Palau, the image of her father as one human being among others is revealed amongst the landscape.

A documentary about the band Buck-Tick's history from 1992 to 2001, released on the fourth disc of boxset.

A suicidal Japanese girl gets a lesson in Taiwanese history from the spirit of former Chinese leader Lee Teng-hui.

Featurette included with "Juzo Itami: The Man with 13 Faces" about the creation of the Itami Juzo Museum in Matsuyama, Ehime.

During World War II, Unit 731 secretly developed and used biological weapons in Manchuria. Due to the destruction of evidence and the silence of its members, its full activities have remained largely hidden. Newly uncovered audio from the Khabarovsk Trials reveals that core members justified their research as serving national interests, while using Chinese and Soviet detainees as human test subjects. Archival materials further show that many scientists were involved, reflecting close ties between academia and the military. Based on extensive evidence, this work explores how Unit 731 was formed and how medical researchers became complicit.

In April 2000, I started photographing Koichi Ebitsuka's works. Mr. Ebitsuka was a teacher at Tama Art University, and he happened to be appointed concurrently to the second department of art, where I work, and we became close. He was born in 1951, so he is 16 years younger than me. I wanted to think about and experience the "contemporary art" that I hadn't been to. And he, being selfish, visited his atelier and was shown around his works on an island in the Seto Inland Sea. For me, the year 2000 was a year of Ebitsuka-san's sculptures.

After seven years, singer Irma Osno returns to her hometown of Ayacucho in the Andes.

Documentary film about the discrimination against zainichi, directed by Yoshihiko Okamoto.

“Alone Again is Fukushima” is the long-awaited sequel to "Alone in Fukushima" (2015), which followed Naoto Matsumura, a man who remained in the nuclear zone in Fukushima to tend animals. The film has followed Naoto for nearly a decade and portrays how Naoto and the animals survived the residents' return to the town, Tokyo Olympics, and COVID-19. In the course of 10 years, many animals and humans were born and died. But Naoto remained in the town and took care of the animals. He raised chickens and kept bees in order to survive. In 2017, Tomioka became the place where people can come back to live, however most young people didn’t return. There is no end in sight for the nuclear crisis in Fukushima. The contaminated water is overflowing and will be pumped out to the ocean soon. Meanwhile the government is trying to restart the nuclear reactors all over the country. The film will give us a chance to reflect on this situation by looking at how Naoto and animals survive in Fukushima.

An update to the story of Minamata disease, going up to 1976

This video is a short documentary of our first UK tour in October 2023.

In 1994, Minamata disease victims held an exhibition in Tokyo where portraits of the all 1080 people who had died of the disease by that time were displayed.

Shot on high-definition video during the 1998-99 "One Earth" tour of Japan's celebrated Kodo drummers, this illuminating documentary explores the lives and philosophy of the Kodo group, who beat taiko--the signature drums of their art--to express the universal language of Kodo, a word derived from ko (or "heartbeat") and do (a reference to a childlike purity of spirit). "To beat taiko is to face yourself," says leading player Ryutaro Kaneko, expressing Kodo's goal of a complete merging of mind, body, and spirit in the act of drumming. Made up of 42 members (20 of whom actually perform on stage), the Kodo group is seen training (four months each year, with eight months of touring) at Kodo village on the Japanese island of Sado, where the group had its origins in the early 1970s before officially naming itself "Kodo" in 1981.

A documentary about an extraordinary life of Ken Eto. The only Japanese American member of the Chicago mob, Ken survives three shots to the head from assassins sent by his boss. He enters the federal witness protection program and helps the government's efforts to fight the syndicate. He arrest gangsters and corrupt politicians, including former Governor of Illinois, George Ryan. Ken was a second generation Japanese American, who ran away from strict preacher father in California at the age of 14. He was interned in Minidoka, Idaho, and subsequently became a gambler, as well as an owner of bars and restaurants in Chicago. He was a chick magnet and also a ruthless operator who was feared by those who knew him.

Nobuyoshi Kikuchi has devoted his life to books. Over the course of his career, he has designed more than 15,000 book covers. Even in the digital age, he still works with a ruler, scissors, and pencils, creating unique fonts, and being meticulous about the properties of the chosen paper. He enjoys the personal exchange with authors, a good cup of coffee, and a stroll through the flea market. Nanako Hirose presents a fascinating portrait of a seemingly old-fashioned personality – but maybe it is exactly this kind of personality which can give an inspiration to reflect on the really valuable things in life?

A promotional film for the Boy Scouts of Japan directed by Noriaki Yuasa.

Tobishima used to be a prosperous sea transportation hub in the Sea of Japan, but now it is a quiet island with a small and aging population. The only junior high school student in the island will graduate this year, and his school, Tobishima Elementary and Junior High School, will be closed at the end of this school year. This film captures the daily lives of the various people living on Tobishima and follows the activities of those who are struggling to maintain the community and connect the island to the future while facing the harsh reality of the situation.

"Goze" drawn by painter Shinichi Saito. One of the few remaining blind women in the snowy Niigata region, a traveling entertainer who played the shamisen and sang, visited villages and left a record of living on the mercy of others.

The arrival of spring is accompanied by the news of flowers.... Warm spring sunshine and winds push up the cherry blossom front. The small, light red flowers bloom all over Japan, fascinating people all over the country. Enjoy the spectacular view of cherry blossoms in impressive 4K HDR high quality images.

The year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Israel. It marks also the beginning of 60 years of the suffering for the Palestinian people. This tragedy is referred to as the “Nakba,” meaning catastrophe in Arabic. Since 1948 at least 420 Palestinian villages have vanished. The photo journalist Ryuichi Hirokawa has filmed over 1,000 hours of footage and has taken thousands of photographs of the Palestinian people and their vanished villages. This film is a distillation of this footage

Inspired by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," documentary filmmaker Shukichi Koizumi, with the cooperation of Shunichi Wakatsuki, director of Nagano Prefecture's Saku General Hospital, a pioneer in rural medicine, made this documentary film that explores the effects of pesticides on the natural world and the human body. Director Koizumi founded the documentary film production company "Group Gendai" in 1967, the year he made this film, and has since produced and produced numerous documentaries.

The film begins with a number indicating that the number of volunteers for the army increased sharply from 1938 to 1940 (by 35 times) after the National Mobilization Law was promulgated in 1938. It shows scenes of the volunteers in a boot camp such as close-order drill, bayonet drill, and guerrilla training. The boot-camp scenes reveal the frantic urgency of the wartime system in the early days of the Pacific War that literally 'mobilized' all human and material resources. After the volunteers are summoned to boot camp in the morning, they all pay their respects toward the Japan's Ise Grand Shrine across the sea. It once again reminds us of the sorrow of losing one’s own country to invaders. Acquired in 1994.

Documentary following sign-language rock band Bright Eyes

Portrays the life of a grandmother in the mountainous region of Hyogo, Japan while persimmon trees enter their late season. Capturing the grandmother’s tenacious care for traditions, trees and home, the film poetically depicts the tableaux of forgotten rural memory of the post-war; the glimpse of human spirit and persistence appear in the passing of seasons, awaiting the new beginnings.

miniDV diary film by Shirouyasu Suzuki.

Momofuku TV employs CG animation to look back at the history of instant ramen and tell the story of how Momofuku Ando overcame great adversity to achieve inventions of worldwide importance. The program presents the six keywords that drove Momofuku’s creative thinking in a fun and easy to understand way.

Naoshima is a small Japanese island in the Seto inland sea hosting a fascinating contemporary art sponsoring project since the 90s. Urged by a businessman, museums and outdoor installations have grown in number on Naoshima, which was until then only populated by fishermen, farmers and workers, and affected by the post-industrial exodus, a decline in population and its local economy. NAOSHIMA (DREAM ON THE TONGUE) is the exploration of this island, as a place for unexpected exchange between contemporary art, traditions, and everyday life.

Independent documentary depicting the farmers’ life of struggle against the snow in Shinjo City, Yamagata.

ABC Childcare Center offers 24-hour childcare in Okubo, neighboring the Kabukicho nightlife district in Shinjuku. The facility has tried out numerous unique experiments including nutrition education through meals prepared with organic ingredients, treatment for kids with ADHD, and after-school care for kids after they graduate from daycare. The camera also captures the reality of 24-hour childcare centers in Hokkaido, Niigata and Okinawa.

38 years after the Pacific War, 84 victims of a mass suicide ordered by the Japanese military were uncovered in a cave in Yomitan village. This film contains the testimonies of some of the survivors, the story of a sculptor leading bereaved family members in creating a statue of peace, and the resistance of a group of girls against the raising of the Japanese flag at the high school graduation ceremony.

An intensely personal documentary shot and directed by Toshiko Takashi, former director of Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (TILGFF, 1992-93). Visiting a low-income house in Osaka where she spent 10 years of her childhood, Toshiko encounters two familiar women in their 70s. When she returns three years later, she finds the house has been abandoned. Intercut with poetic reflections and intimate moments that Toshiko spends with her lover Sakura, who works as a stripper, the older women's lives and memories intertwine with the younger couple's in Takashi's dream-like visions. - Overview from Japan Society

For some eight years, Kaneko Yu followed Japanese avant-garde director Okuyama Jun'ichi, observed him making and showing his films, and collecting printed materials.

Documentary about Rena Masuyama, painter and political activist

Horror Sigma Project, Humans Kidnapped by Aliens!! It's no longer a matter of not being there! !! World premiere! !! Super clear UFO live-action video and photos! !! Finally get the national top secret document!! A living ET in the US base! Real!

Mr. Pink Discusses the Groper Train series in this short documentary. Produced by Pink Eiga Inc.

new record of the three people who reunited in Yokosuka, feeling the waves of the sea, mountains, wind, and everyone who shared the place.

Junichi Yaoi talks about secret theories about aliens.

Explores the anime-inspired film’s inspirations and behind-the-scenes production.

It's the 2012 election for the governorship of Osaka. This documentary shows us some of the usual routine: well-known professional politicians backed by the influential and established parties, leading their campaigns. But among them we see candidates like eccentric “Mac” Akasaka, who has no chance of winning. Is it possible that we can still learn something about politics from him?