Discover Movies

This rare silent black & white and color Super-8 footage was shot with the camera of actor Kei Sato (Hachi in the film) during the production of Onibaba

A documentary film that includes footage of past Olympics held in different countries with an particular emphasis on the activities and successes of Japanese athletes and how they are currently (circa 1963) improving themselves.

This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.

This documentary examines the plight of Korean veterans who were conscripted into the Japanese imperial army during World War II and later left destitute in postwar Japan. Many, disabled by their service, are denied compensation because of their Korean nationality. Filmed for Japanese television, the work confronts public apathy and exposes the unresolved moral responsibility Japan bears toward those who fought in its name.

A group of youths try to create works they think suitable for filling up the "hollowness" of life. For example, by hiring an orchestra and having its members count the stars in the sky from dusk to dawn, they create a new kind of music. Ms. Yoko Ono, the leader of the group, who calls herself a one-time musician, poet, and painter, explains the motives of their eccentric conduct.

Nagisa Oshima's documentary details the rise of Chairman Mao during the revolution and shows the Communist Party's struggle and cultural upheaval. Made in 1969 for NTV station, this TV documentary also questions Mao's dictator tendency during the cultural revolution.

Documentary about the relationships between mothers and their children.

Akio Jissoji's documentary on the production of Ultra Q. Interview with series creator Eiji Tsuburaya.

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, and the filmmakers begin an investigative documentary into the reasons behind and attempt at tracking him down.

The second of two concerts, where the boys have grey suits, was video taped by Nippon Television. The two shows were edited together and broadcast during The Beatles Recital, From Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, which was screened on NTV Channel 4 on 1 July from 9pm.

The Weavers of Nishijin captures the process of traditional textile manufacture in Nishijin.

Japanese documentary from 1964 directed by Noriaki Tsuchimoto. The film focuses on the taxi drivers of Tokyo in the year before the Tokyo Olympics and the difficulties they face: construction obstructing traffic, poor working conditions, numerous accidents, and bad pay. It becomes a critique of a changing and modernizing urban Japan.

An independently produced documentary about growing up as a blind youth in 1960's Japan. It focuses on a group of elementary level students being taught by Mr. Kawai at the Zoshigaya Branch of Tokyo Educational University. Filmed over 12 years, the documentary tracks these student's lives up through their young adulthood. It follows the journey of one student in particular, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, a young boy who eventually learns a passion for music and wants to become a recording artist. Expanded from director Hideo Hamada's documentary short "But We Can Gaze!"

Tokyo Olympiad director Kon Ichikawa documents the 50th anniversary of the Koshien games.

Japanese "mondo" film.

Documentary on the city of Kyoto, Japan. Topics include the Ryoanji Temple stone garden, a geisha residence, the Katsura Imperial Villa, and the Gion Festival.

Anma (The Masseurs) is a representative and historical work by the creator of Butoh dance, Tatsumi Hijikata in his early period in the 1960s. The film is realized not only as a dance document but also as a Cine-Dance, a term made by Iimura, that is meant to be a choreography of film. The filmmaker "performed" with a camera on the stage in front of the audience. With the main performers: Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, the film has the highlights such as Butohs of a soldier by Hijikata & a mad woman by Ohno. There is a story of the mad woman, first outcast and ignored, at the end joins to the community through her dance. Inserted descriptions of Anma (The Masseurs) are made for the film by the filmmaker, but were not in the original Butoh. The film, the only document taken of the performance, must be seen for the understanding of Hijikata Butoh and the foundation of Butoh.

A documentary covering the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. It consists primarily of footage edited from the documentary TOKYO OLYMPIAD, directed by Kon Ichikawa.

A Day in TOKYO in 1968, Nostalgic bygone era. Planned by Japan National Tourism Organization. Produced by Koga Production. This film was produced to explain Tokyo for foreign tourists.

A college graduate falls in love with a woman during a business trip in Hokkaido

Constructed as an experimental montage of still photographs, "Diary of Yunbogi" reflects on poverty and historical responsibility through the imagined diary of a six-year-old Korean boy living in a South Korean slum. Drawing on photographs taken during Ōshima’s 1965 research trip to Korea, the film juxtaposes the child’s daily struggle to care for his siblings with the director’s own reflections on Japanese–Korean relations.

A short documentary by Hiroshi Teshigahara about his father, the sculptor Sofu Teshigahara, preparing an exhibition.

Captures the optimistic attitude and entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of the Vietnamese people, who remain positive despite ever-present reminders of the horrors of the Vietnam War.

Originally commissioned to record urban redevelopment in Osaka’s Kamagasaki district, Hideo Arai transcends reportage to capture a haunting portrait of displacement during Japan’s economic miracle. With a dissonant score by experimental composers Toshi Ichiyanagi and Yuji Takahashi, the film juxtaposes the brutal reality of shantytown "barracks" against the state's modernization projects. Slum remains a visceral critique of social erasure and a vital, observational work of Japanese documentary film.

While extracting and polishing their blocks of stone, stonecutters used to say “the stone is coming to life". This paradox provided Matsumoto with the best metaphor for what making a film is all about. In his opinion, filmmakers work images in the same way that stonecutters work stones.

Auto-racing crews prepare for the Indy car race near Fuji in this Japanese documentary. Award-winning director Hiroshi Teshigahara compares the celebrated event with the enthusiasm of the youth of the time to the sport. Narration is provided by Shoichi Ozawa and compliments a well-crafted feature that will only appeal to die-hard auto-racing fans.

A chronicle of the eight-year battle against the construction of the Matsubara dam at Ogunimachi Shimouke, Asogun, district of Kumamoto. Tomoyuki Murahara constructs the “beehive fortress,” the point of reference for the protest movement opposing the decision to expropriate land.

WW2 newsreel documentary film

A sex-documentary focusing on the women of Japan, with particular emphasis on participants in the country's night-life. The film is a series of scenes visiting a variety of women such as female wrestlers, strippers, and geisha. Nuns and sea divers are also shown, along with scenes of transvestism and drug addiction.

Documentary against buraku discrimination

A galvanising documentary about the organised resistance of a group of students barricaded at the Takasaki City University of Economics. The university student struggles at the end of the 1960s in Japan were the culmination of over a decade of protests, social dissent and political unrest. All this gave energy to the student movement, which displayed original and sustained forms of organisation and resistance against the government and which would spread to universities all over the country. Together with the filmmakers of the recently formed collective Jieiso, Ogawa Shinsuke joined a group of students barricading themselves inside the Takasaki City University of Economics. Shot over the course of a year, this film documents the nature of the political discussion and organisation as well as the fierce debates going on among the students and their violent struggles with the authorities. Credit: ICA London

Cameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.

"Orgy Party" A secret apartment in Kansai. Everyone is naked, and while some drink alcohol calmly, five women and seven men intertwine silently or loudly. "Sexual Perverts" A perverted man is chained and whipped. A man and woman, dressed as dogs, drink a woman's urine and indulge in abnormal sex. "Vagabond Gathering" A group of vagabonds suddenly gather at Hanazono Shrine while under police surveillance. The group of vagabonds dance, sing, and light fires in a frenzy. "Bizarre Ritual" Men try to express the pain of childbirth by getting on a gynecological examination table, spreading their legs, screaming, and writhing in agony. "Kansai Striptease" Miyako Masumi, a popular figure in the Kansai nude scene, works as a nude model for magazines and chats with other strippers backstage. "Summer Night Park" Summer night parks are a paradise for couples. As the excitement builds with kissing and petting, they tumble onto the grass. They are oblivious to the sounds and sights around them.

Documentary on Chua Swee­-Lin, a Malaysian exchange student who was threatened with deportation over his protest against the separation and inde­pendence of Singapore.

This is a documentary centered on traditional Japanese patterns. To capture the unique sensibility of the Japanese people, the film features 170 kimono fabrics from the Muromachi to Edo periods, along with over 1,000 family crests that have been passed down through generations. These elements are presented using avant-garde visual techniques. Viewed from a modern perspective, the film transforms the exceptional patterns created by the Japanese in the past into a completely new illustrated scroll. The entire documentary contains no narration, relying solely on visuals and music to convey its message.

This documentary records a South Vietnamese Marine battalion conducting village-to-village search-and-destroy missions during the Vietnam War. Originally produced in three parts by Japanese television producer Junichi Ushiyama, the footage documents interactions with villagers and includes scenes of interrogations and executions that provoked official controversy.

Documentary filmed by young directors in Japan that was shaken by the US-Japan security pact struggles and student disputes. An illusionary image comes back to life for the first time in 34 years. (Produced in 1968 but unreleased until 2002).

A document of Tatsumi Hijikata's Butoh dance with Kazuo Ohno as the guest dancer shot in Hijikata's early period when he was emerging as the originator of Butoh. All of the male dancers are dressed up with evening suits and move gracefully, yet an intruder breaks up the whole scene abruptly. The film is worth seeing, even if just to see a memorable gay duet of Hijikata and Ohno. Overexposed, washed out images are sandwiched among normal ones.

This documentary follows and records interviews with an actress in an underground theater troupe and others around her.

Documentary about Japanese pearl fishers.

The secret of the Himalayas

Cameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.

A promotional movie that was shown to Kirin Brewery factory visitors at the time. Japanese history and family memories intertwine with a musical interlude that introduces song-by-song the industrial brewing process by a cute "Beer Spirit".

In 1968, Ogawa decided to form Ogawa Productions and locate it at the newly announced construction site of Narita International Airport in a district called Sanrizuka. Ogawa chose to locate his company in the most radical of the villages, Heta. Some farmers immediately sold their land; others vehemently protested and drew the support of social movements across the country. Together they clashed with riot police sent in to protect surveyors, who were plotting out the airport. Summer in Sanrizuka is a messy film – its chaos communicating the passions and actions on the ground.

A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.

FIlm directed by famous actress Mochizuki Yuko as part of the protest movement that was going on against the closure of several coal mines in Kyushu, in this case Chikubo coal mine.

Nobuko Shibuya's Japanese volleyball documentary

This was a sponsored documentary film by director Kazuo Kuroki of Japan. This highly artistic film focused entirely on Japanese marathon runner Kenji Kimihara. Kimihara finished eighth in the 1964 Olympic marathon with a time of 2:19:49. He had previously won the Japanese trials in 2:17:11 on April 12th of that year. He competed in a total of three Olympic marathons in all (finishing 2nd in 1968, and 5th in 1972) and he won 9 of 18 marathons prior to the Mexico City Games, including the Boston Marathon in 1966. Kimihara’s personal best was 2:13:25.

Ogawa Shinsuke’s directorical debut traces the struggle of four students who lead the opposition against the Ministry of Education’s proposed revision to the university correspondence school systems in 1966.

This film takes us into the microscopic world of the plankton that mass in the oceans. Their bodies ultimately turn to marine snow and accumulate on the ocean floor where, across vast time spans, they transform into crude oil.

An experimental film edited from footage of the Japanese countryside.

A fascinating glimpse of the Tokyo Paralympics Games of 1964 and the pioneering athletes who participated in them.