A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
In the midst of an attempt to take over his company, a powerhouse executive is hit with a huge ransom demand when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake.
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…
Would-be writer Ryunosuke Chagawa is still living across the street from Norifumi Suzuki and his auto repair shop, though now he shares his home with Junnosuke, an orphan he's taken under his wing at the urging of pretty Hiroi, who continues to manage a nearby tavern. Chagawa dreams of publishing a successful novel and settling down with Hiroi and Junnosuke, but his day job running the candy store keeps him busy, and Hiroi mistakes his tight schedule for a lack of interest in her. Hiroi has also embarked on a secret career as a burlesque dancer, which isn't doing much to improve her opinion of men. At the Suzuki household, seven-year-old Ippei isn't happy to be sharing the house with a guest, his distant cousin Mika who is the same age but far more demanding. Mutsuko, the apprentice female auto mechanic, is still staying with the Suzukis, and she's becomes the object of the affections of Takeo, a downbeat young man who is studying cooking.
Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
It is the early 1930s and the command of the Japanese Imperial Navy determines to construct the world's biggest and most formidable battleship, Yamato. One of the admirals, Yamamoto Isoroku, disagrees. He recruits the upstart and mathematics' expert Tadashi Kai who discovers there are discrepancies between the official cost estimates and the actual figures. They soon find out that they have stumbled upon a conspiracy.
The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.
Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a coworker and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.
A woman and her daughter are each forced to contend with an increasing pressure to marry, particularly from three men who knew her late husband.
Set in 1988 in Hiroshima, Japan, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. A rumor exists that Detective Shogo Ogami has ties with the yakuza. He is partnered with Detective Shuichi Hioka and they investigate a missing person case involving a financial company employee. Conflicts between opposing yakuza groups become more serious.
The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.
A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor, played by the prototypical bad boy actor Matsuda Yusaku, proceeds to blow the entire family apart.
The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet and rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
Terajima Mikako became a boys volleyball team coach at a junior high school she has been assigned to. As an incentive for the team members who do not show the slightest enthusiasm, she promises to show them her boobs if they win a game.
Together with Shimada Akira (Hagiwara Masato), the last appointed governor of Okinawa during the war, Arai Taizo (Murakami Jun), the chief of police of Okinawa Prefecture, goes beyond his duties and strives to protect the lives of the citizens of the prefecture. As the ravages of war intensify, the two, who each carried a heavy cross during the Battle of Okinawa, desperately devote themselves to saving the lives of the Okinawan people, with the belief that "life is precious." A human drama, set in Okinawa at the end of World War II, depicting the preciousness of human life. Directed by Igarashi Sho of One Step on a Mine, It's All Over.
Komari Sano's parents ran a small Tokyo factory that manufactured aircraft parts. With her parents' influence, Komari Sano dreamed of becoming a pilot. During World War II, her older brother died as a kamikaze pilot and her parents died during the bombing of Tokyo. Komari Sano became an orphan and lived with her aunt. Her aunt ran a ryotei (high end traditional restaurant). After the war, all aerial activities were initially banned in Japan. After long negotiations with the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, Sizuo Matsuki, who is the security chief of Civil Aviation Bureau, finally launched Japan's civil aviation. Komari Sano applies for the position of a cabin attendant.
After World War II, their town was a pile of rubble. Gennosuke, the second generation boss of the Kamizu Group was upholding yakuza chivalry by keeping black-market and illegal items out of their open-air market. Taking advantage of the mess, Iwasa and his gang take hold of goods from the US military, black-market and controlled items in order to become the most powerful group in Enko area.
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.