Inoue Yasushi

Yasushi Inoue (May 6, 1907 – January 29, 1991) was a Japanese writer of poetry, essays, short fiction, and novels. Born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido in 1907, Inoue was raised in Shizuoka Prefecture. Inoue studied at both Kyushu University and Kyoto University. He balanced his studies with a career as college…

Suzuki Noribumi

Suzuki Noribumi, also known as Suzuki Norifumi, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the Torakku Yaro series. Suzuki was born in 1933 in Shizuoka. He dropped out of Ritsumeikan University's Department of Economics, and subsequently joined Toei's Kyoto Studio as an assistant…

Bando Kotaro

Bando Kotaro was a Kabuki actor and film actor in the early Showa period, born in Renjakucho, Kanda-ku, Tokyo. His real name is Honma Kentaro. At the age of five, he became a disciple of Sawamura Sojuro the seventh generation, and at the age of eight, he moved to the apprenticeship of Bando Mitsugoro…

Onoe Matsunosuke

Onoe Matsunosuke was a Japanese actor. He was initially an actor with an itinerant kabuki troupe. In his autobiography, he claimed that he had made his stage debut as early as 1880, in a performance given by the Tamizo Onoe company. Fascinated by the stage, he left his home by the age of 14 to travel…

Umemura Yoko

Umemura Yoko, born Suzuki Hanako (鈴木花子) in Nihonbashi Kakegawa, Tokyo, Japan, was a Japanese actress. She made her stage debut in 1910 at the Hongoza Theatre (本郷座) while in elementary school. In 1922, she joined the Shochiku Kamata Studio (松竹蒲田撮影所) and debuted in film in…

Abe Kusuo

Kusuo Abe was born on July 24, 1910 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan as Ishitaro Ito. He was an actor and cinematographer, known for Ikiru (1952), Miyamoto Musashi (1961) and Miyamoto Musashi IV: Duel at Ichijyo-ji Temple (1964). He died on November 2, 1965 in Kyoto, Japan.

Ito Daisuke

Ito Daisuke was a Japanese film director and screenwriter born in Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture. He is one of the famous directors who laid the foundation for historical films, and is also called the "father of historical films". After graduating from junior high school, he gave up going to school…

Bando Tsumasaburo

Bando Tsumasaburo was a Japanese Kabuki actor and movie actor born in Hashimoto-cho, Kanda-ku, Tokyo. His brother, sister, and mother died one after another, and his father failed in business and went bankrupt. In 1916 he graduated from Jinjo Elementary School High School. In 1920, when the Shochiku…

Toba Yonosuke

Toba Yonosuke, born Toba Teruo (鳥羽輝雄) in Tokyo, Japan, was a Japanese actor. He initially trained at the Tokyo Free Theatre acting school starting in 1922. He dropped out of Okura Higher Commercial School during his third year and joined Ikawa Hachiro's "Kokusei Theatre" in 1923. By 1926, he…

Gino M. Santos

Gino M. Santos is a Filipino film director and producer. He graduated with a digital filmmaking degree from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in 2012. To further hone his craft, he enrolled in filmmaking workshops at Asia Pacific Film Institute, The Marilou Diaz-Abaya film institute, and The New…

The First Timers

A foreign university student tries to fit in in Kyoto by reading books to the blind and finds himself falling in love.

The Evil Spirits of the Imperial City

10.0

The capital city of Heian (now known as Kyoto) was troubled by civil unrest. Worrying of what is in store for his kingdom, the emperor holds an "Onmyo festival" to learn of the city's fortune. Inside the shrine within…

Aoi Kuchizuke

A female college student studying at a university in Kyoto from a hot spring area in Hokuriku goes to Kyoto with her high school classmates. . (Source: Japanese = db.eiren.org || Translation = MyDramaList) ~~ Adapted…

The Dead Dance

A video installation that Takashi Ito exhibited in January 2009 in Kyoto. (Letterboxd)

Hello, Nice to Meet You. Let's Get Divorced.

6.7

Yuki Rio, heir to a historic Kyoto family, enters a loveless arranged marriage at 16 with Takamine Masatomo, a wealthy IT CEO. For ten years, their relationship revolves around annual payments, with no interaction…

Closed Note

7.1

Kae Horii (Erika Sawajiri) moves into her new flat in an undisclosed area of Kyoto. While unpacking her belongings, she discovers a hidden compartment behind a inconspicuous mirror. In that compartment, Kae finds a…

Isekai Izakaya "Nobu"

7.6

"Nobu" is a bar located on a not-so-busy street in Kyoto. The front entrance of the bar is connected to the alternate world of "Aiteria,” which is like medieval Europe. People from Aiteria visit the bar Nobu. Nobuyuki…

River

7.5

The one-hundred-year-old Fujiya Inn stands in the quiet region of Kyoto. Mikoto is standing at the back of the building in front of the Kibune river when she is called back to work. But two minutes later, she finds…

Fist of Legend

7.8

Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in Kyoto, who braves the insults and abuse of his Japanese fellow students for his local love Mitsuko Yamada, daughter of the director, returns in 1937 to his native Shangai,…