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A documentary about some disabled children go on a trip to a deserted island in Okinawa.

Promotional film for the 50th anniversary of Tokyo Dento showing the power of electricity

A documentary about the people of Hirono, a city located 20 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the whole town was forced to evacuate. In 2019, 80% of the population at the time of the earthquake is back in town.

Tracing the Future follows In the Wake exhibition artist Naoya Hatakeyama as he photographs the devastated landscape of his hometown of Rikuzentakada after 3/11. Hatakeyama, who represented Japan in the 2001 Venice Biennale and is renowned for meticulous photographs that explore the relationship between humankind and nature, suffered enormous losses on 3/11: his family home was washed away in the tsunami and his mother lost her life. Tracing the Future delves into the artist’s deeply personal response to the disaster and explores his four-year-long mission of documenting the place of his upbringing.

16mm film directed by Nobutaka Yamamura.

Documentary style short of Japanese performance artists questioning employees of a dating service.

Memories, death, funeral. Recorded in summer 1992-1994.

An Educational film made for Japanese children about Railways. At the time, Japan was suffering from a shortage of Oil and their railways were incredibly important.

A documentary capturing life in Asuka village in Japan's Nara prefecture, specifically through an examination of the Asuka Village National Health Insurance Clinic's connection to the village.

A record of the stories of patients suffering from Minamata disease, 30 years after its discovery

Despite its name, this is an official live recording of the album Boris at Last: -Feedbacker- on October 16th 2004 at Skylight, New York.

This series of three films were shot four months, four years and six years respectively after the tsunami in the region of Tohoku, in order to observe the changes in the landscape and how humans tries to resist the forces of nature. But despite all their efforts, they are helpless against the radioactivity that continues to plague the area.

Venetia Stanley-Smith is an English woman who lives in a 100 year-old farm house in the village of Ohara, Kyoto. Her eco-friendly lifestyle is a harmonious blend of English tradition and the Japanese seasons. Thanks to her appearance on the TV program At Home with Venetia in Kyoto, Venetia’s hand-crafted lifestyle that she shares with her Ohara family and friends has captured the hearts of audiences around the world. Venetia’s Garden presents a new chapter in Venetia’s story. Be enchanted by Venetia’s wisdom for peaceful living in this feature-length documentary, which is a feast for the senses.

Naomi Kawase observes people in the city of Shibuya with curiosity and openness, drawing parallels between life and filmmaking and discovering her abilities as a filmmaker.

Kotobuki-cho is a section of Yokohama whose residents consist of about 4500 single men, 300 women and 180 children. The day laborers living there have no secure social standing, but they do have one thing: pride in their daily work routine.

Japan has a recidivism rate of 50%. The staff at a magazine called CHANGE want to lower that by rehabilitating former prisoners. This forms the basis of FUNAHASHI Atsushi’s ensemble docudrama, which tells the story from both the perspectives of the editorial team and ex-cons.

After his Tokyo farewell ceremony, Yamamoto's ashes were sent to Kyoto on March 9. Many friends and citizens gathered at his home in Uji. On the 15th a worker-farmer funeral was held at the Sanjo YMCA. Prokino's Kyoto Branch shot these five days of activities. The long line of cars is filled with taxis, whose drivers deeply admired Yamamoto. The Watanabe in the title refers to the head of the Communist Party of Japan. Watanabe was returning to Japan from Taiwan when he was stopped by authorities. He committed suicide in their custody. Yamamoto and Watanabe were mourned together.

The only surviving film produced by Showa Kinema, the first company of pioneering sound-film producer Yoshizo Minagawa, records a speech by conservative Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka, who served from from 1927 to 1929, when he resigned after a dispute with the Emperor. The film features Tanaka standing in front of black drapes, talking directly into the camera as he presents his position on issues ranging from the economy to diplomacy and foreign policy. The identity of the cameraman is unknown, as is the exact date of shooting, but the film passed state censorship on February 6th, 1928, shortly before elections for the House of Representatives, the lower house of Japan’s Diet. As a historical record, the film is important since it not only constitutes Japan's earliest surviving sound film, but also provides a record of concerns central to Japanese politics in the late 1920s.

Kyogo Furuhashi has taken Celtic by storm since joining the club in the summer of 2021. He has scored 26 goals so far in the 2022-2023 season as the Hoops chase a domestic treble. The Japan international was recently followed by a documentary crew in his homeland during the first half of the season. During the film, fans heard from the player about life in Scotland, recieved an insight into his friendship with team-mate Jota and also witnessed the vivid motivations, scoring, and growth after disappointment in missing out on the squad for the World Cup in Qatar.

TV documentary directed by Takahisa Zeze, that follows a woman born on a boat on the Ebitori River, at Haneda.

A documentary film looking at the work of Shiko Munakata, a woodblock artist. His prints are based on Buddhist philosophy and are highly original and Oriental in style.

This documentary follows the lives of four elderly Japanese men living in Manila's impoverished districts. Known as "distressed Japanese," they navigate their daily lives with minimal earnings and assistance from others. Despite once having jobs and families in Japan, they find themselves spending their final days in Manila for various reasons. The documentary offers a poignant portrayal of their struggles over seven years.

Five part history of Gaza from 1986 to 2009: 1) Raji Sourani’s Path; 2) Two Intifadas; 3) Rise of Hamas; 4) Blockade; 5) Assault on Gaza

In 1995, Hoko Kanou, a single mother, recruited people to jointly raise her children. About 10 people responded to the offer. Then, they decided the day in charge at the monthly meeting, and started joint childcare "Chinbotsukazoku" at an apartment in Higashinakano in Tokyo. It was Tsuchi Kanou, the director of this film, who was raised there. When he graduated from college, he met people who had raised himself, heard stories, and made films. That is “Chinbotsukazoku the movie”.

Created for the first Japanese exhibition dedicated to video art, Video Communication: Do-It-Yourself-Kit, this work documents protests outside the Chisso Corporation headquarters in central Tokyo. Hazardous byproducts from the company’s chemical plants had caused severe mercury poisoning—and, consequently, a neurological disease—in Minamata’s livestock and inhabitants. Nakaya filmed the sit-in with a handheld video camera and installed a battery-powered television monitor on-site, allowing the demonstrators to watch themselves by playing back the recordings of their actions.

A film exploring the correlation between self and otherness and ancient layers of Japan's history, by following the footsteps of art and literary critic Hariu Ichirō as he walks around Gwangju, South Korea, and speaking in his home in Japan.

In Okinawa, the people of Takae village are convicted by the Japanese government for obstructing traffic in the struggle against the construction of new helipads. Their story embodies U.S. military strategy dating back to the Vietnam War, the blocking of gates to the Futenma base, and their town’s rage against their state.

Ten years after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant following the 3.11 megaquake and megatsunami, the once beautiful ‘satoyama’ landscape is now replaced by haphazardly spreading wilderness. The most conspicuous change may be in the local ecosystem.

Directed by Lucy Walker, Make Haste Slowly: The Kikkoman Creed explores an almost 400-year-old Japanese company, the impact it had on a small farming community in Middle America and the art of naturally brewing soy sauce. Founded by a woman in feudal Japan, Kikkoman has been guided by a family creed handed down for 19 generations.

A self-documentary in which the director turns the camera on his own daughter, who suffers from congenital hip and brain impairments, and observes her life over the course of a year.

Former gangsters, former homeless people, abuse victims, people struggling with the meaning of life... these hurt and lovable "sinners" gather at a Christian church in Kitakyushu that supports the needy. A documentary that intersects the passion play of Christ performed by them, the hardships they went through, and their current stories.

Intense interest in Japan by the West made it a favourite destination for filmmakers from the earliest days of film. This selection of films from 1901 to 1913, newly restored by the BFI National Archive, takes us on a fascinating journey through Meiji Japan.

This documentary delves into the origins of the “soup of life” made by chef and essayist Yoshiko Tatsumi, which she originally created as a nourishing food for her bed-ridden father. Tatsumi, a popular TV personality (Kyo no Ryori) and writer, works with local food producers to ensure the most wholesome ingredients, and shares her wisdom and experience in popular cooking classes held at her home.

Within Japan, there's a place that's like another world: Gion, in Kyoto. When night falls in this historic district, nearly 100 geiko, or traditional entertainers, make their way to teahouses to perform classical arts, such as music and dance, for carefully selected guests. Kimi Ota, 77, is proprietress of a 200-year-old teahouse. Throughout its history, it has always been run by a woman. The proprietress cannot marry, and must have a daughter who can someday take over. Peer behind the curtain into the unique and alluring world of Kyoto's teahouses.

"We make memories in the journey and look for the evaporative emotions in the blurry memories. Facing the illusion of exotic language, GO-RAKU-EN deconstructs the estranged and complicated feelings of lovers and tries to reflect the essence of loneliness. Eventually, the reality of the sound restruct... Wu used images and sounds taken from the trip to create the experimental piece Go-raku-en (後樂園). "It is so simple and pure. ... It's just that when you don't care that much, it's purity," said Wu, who feels that any form of art is an expression of thinking and an extension of liberty and freedom."

ITER is an international attempt to meet humanity's energy needs by harnessing nuclear fusion. We take you within the ITER project to see how close the technology is to becoming a reality.

Kamagasaki, a town of day laborers. As Osaka prepares to host the 2025 Expo, the camera captures life on the streets and listens closely to the voices of the dead—voices that refuse to fade.

During the Second World War, Japanese film editor Chounosuke Ise made numerous propaganda films in Japanese-occupied Indonesia. Their purpose was to justify Japan’s hegemony in Asia, claiming liberation of these countries from colonialism. Chounosuke Ise’s son, filmmaker Shin-ichi Ise, traces the path taken by his father, who barely spoke about the war or Indonesia, and was seemingly reluctant to discuss what he had done there.

Tsuneko Sasamoto and Takeji Muno are 101-year-old journalists. Sasamoto writes about accomplished people both famous and unknown. Her photographs have always reflected ever-changing times, vividly depicting women during and after WWII. Muno, an extraordinary journalist, resigned from his newspaper job on the day Japan lost the war, out of remorse for writing pro-war articles. He left Tokyo for his hometown and founded "Taimatsu (Torch)" to keep his journalism alive. At 101 Sasamoto claims her life is ongoing. Muno says he’s at the pinnacle of his life. We have a lot to learn from their optimism.

The film follows an abandoned son's search for the mother who left him. Like the final scene of Im Kwon-taek’s Gilsotteum (1986), which evokes the primal power of Korean kinship, this journey is filled with lingering images and sounds. Chronicling his travels through Japan, Portugal, and Spain, the film traces the unbreakable—if unseen—thread of blood that connects a mother and son, and extends through a scattered people.

Marine biological documentary

Making of Nobuhiko Obayashi's TV Program in 1980 called 「いい旅チャレンジ20,000km清水港線・旅の表情』

The Ushiku immigration center near Tokyo mainly holds people seeking refuge in Japan. Using a hidden camera, award-winning filmmaker Thomas Ash interviewed inmates there from late 2019. His film publicly accuses Japan’s uncompromising refugee policy through one of the country's biggest human rights scandals. Ushiku has been making international headlines for years.

A college student, along with her peers in Japan, rally to change the country’s hostile immigration laws that have incarcerated asylum-seekers in deadly detention centers. Meanwhile, over a century since the 1923 massacre of Korean people during a massive earthquake in Imperial Japan, young activists today take on the torch to seek justice under a government that continues to deny this history. A filmmaker documenting these young activists on the ground begins to excavate the underlying history of discrimination that connects the massacre of a hundred years ago and the draconian refugee system in Japan. Through the process of listening to voices from the past and present, the landscapes in Tokyo begin to echo the unfinished business of the nation’s reckoning with its colonial history.

“Pictures at an Election” (the title refers to Mussorgsky’s suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” featuring at the beginning of the film) is a 68 min. documentary that covers the campaigns of those candidates who tried to win one of the five seats in Tokyo during the Upper House election in 2007. It shows Japan’s electoral machinery in full steam and focuses on the question of how Japanese candidates try to appeal to voters. The documentary depicts different strategies and techniques, and presents a lively picture of political culture in Japan.

Documentary about the Japanese rock band THE BACK HORN, directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri.

The first documentary of Japanese band SHISHAMO.

Arakinema KaoRi Iro Injo by Nobuyoshi Araki. A labyrinth of overlapping colors. KaoRi and Araki's dance.

35 Great Hero Sentai All Revealed SP was a televised special commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Super Sentai franchise.

A documentary exploring all fourteen panels of The Battle of Okinawa, painted in the 1980s by husband-and-wife artists Iri and Toshi Maruki. Known for their searing anti-war works such as The Hiroshima Panels and The Nanjing Massacre, the Marukis spent six years in Okinawa gathering testimonies from survivors and visiting former battle sites. Their paintings confront the brutality of ground warfare while honoring the Okinawan belief of nuchi du takara — “life is a treasure.” Directed by Atsunori Kawamura.

Miyazaki artist Komatsu Takahide stumbled upon a painting of a Taiwanese indigenous girl in a local antique shop. He discovered the painter Shiotsuki Toho had made significant contributions to the Taiwanese art scene although remaining unknown in Japan. Toho arrived in Taiwan as an educator under the colonial government in 1921, harboured a deep love for Taiwanese indigenous people and cultures. Komatsu embarked on a journey to trace this century-ago fellow artist, pondering what "freedom" means to an artist.

“Fatherless” is a genuinely eerie docu about a 22-year-old bisexual who goes in search of the father who abandoned him when he was a child. Though the pic was billed at 90 minutes, its actual length was considerably shorter, which may account for some unexplained gaps in recounting the disturbing history of Masaya Muraishi.