Date

Films

December

Wednesday, December 16

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature "Japanese Martial Arts"

When The Rain Lifts

The story takes place during Kyoho Era (1716 - 1763) about the Samurai Ihei and his wife. He is a skillful warrior but his character is clumsy and doesn't suit a Samurai. Because of the heavy rain, a large group of people gathered to take shelter in a cheap inn waiting for the rain to stop. To make the people happy, Ihei gambled and won some money without his wife's knowledge, and he distributed food and drinks to them. As the smiles returned the people's faces, the rain  finally stopped. And when Ihei went outside the inn, he found two young Samurai dueling, so he interfered and did his best to stop them. As this happened the Ruler of the Prefecture Castle was watching them...

Directed by Takashi Koizumi / Production Year: 2000 / Running Time: 92min

November

Wednesday, November 25

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature "70 Years after the end of War – Part Four"

ALWAY - Sunset on Third Street - Part 2

As the film opens, a giant lizard is destroying a working-class neighborhood in Tokyo, upending streetcars and crushing local businesses and shops. But it is only another fantasy from the mind of Chagawa Ryunosuke, the pulp writer who has taken in Junnosuke, the once-abandoned son of a wealthy international businessman. Across the street, mechanic Suzuki Norifumi’s wife, Tomoe, has news for their son, Ippei: Ippei’s cousin Mika will be coming to stay with them while her father works through some financial difficulties. Ippei is not looking forward to having a girl in the house, and especially not one raised in money who looks down on the entire family. Chagawa faces pressure on two fronts: Junnosuke’s father is threatening to take him back, while the love of his life, Hiromi, has disappeared. Meanwhile, Suzuki’s assistant mechanic, Mutsuko, has blossomed into a young woman, and is attracting attention from fellow displaced northerner Takeo, an apprentice chef. Suzuki nervously awaits his regimental reunion, wondering whatever happened to his friend Ushijima, while Chagawa is mocked at his college reunion as a hack writer. Suzuki is overjoyed to find that Ushijima is alive and well, and invites him back to his house for an evening of drinking, during which Ushitori tells him they don’t need to mourn the dead forever. The next day, Suzuki discovers that he had come home alone, drunk. Chagawa finds out that Junnosuke has been using his lunch money to pay the household bills and finds out that Hiromi is working as a stripper under the alias Asaoka Betty; he determines that the way out of his troubles is to take one last shot at the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most famous literary honor.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki / Production Year: 2007 / Running Time: 146min

October

Thursday, October 22

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature "70 Years after the end of War – Part Three"

Barefoot Gen

"Barefoot Gen" is an animated film based on a manga series written by Keiji Nakazawa. While a first grade student in primary school, a boy named GEN survived the Atomic bombing in Hiroshima. He lost his father, sister and brother.

This story reveals not only the tragedy and fear of the atomic bomb victims, but also how GEN survived the desperate times, without a loss of faith in humanity, and without bitterness.

Directed by Mori Masaki / Production Year: 1983 / Running Time: 110min

September

Thursday, September 17

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature "70 Years after the end of War – Part Two"

ALWAY - Sunset on Third Street

The year is 1958. The government had declared in 1955 that the “postwar” period is over and Japan is starting a period of tremendous growth. Tokyo Tower is being built as a symbol of a recovered Japan, and not far from it, in the working-class area called shitamachi, people are trying their best to improve their lives. Hoshino Mutsuko, just graduated from junior high school, arrives in Tokyo with a group of young people from a poor region of northern Japan who have applied for jobs in the booming capital. Mutsuko imagines that Suzuki Auto, which is where she is to work, must be some big car manufacturer, but Mutsuko soon finds out that she is becoming the only employee of a small car repair shop in shitamachi. Mutsuko begins to cry from disappointment...

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki / Production Year: 2005 / Running Time: 132min

August

Thursday, August 13

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature "70 Years after the end of War – Part One"

Hotaru No Haka (Grave of the Fireflies)

An anime movie with events taking place in the city of Kobe near the end of World War Two, portraying the struggles of two young siblings to stay alive after losing their parents.

The city of Kobe is subjected to air raids daily, and during chaos the child Seita and his younger sister Setsuko are separated from their mother. When Seita makes his way to a public school, the place of refuge during times of emergency, he finds his mother in a very crirical condition, and she soon passes away...

Directed by Isao Nakahata / Production Year: 1988 / Running Time: 89min

June

Thursday, June 11

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature " Enjoy Summer in Advance! Part 2"

Water Boys

It’s springtime in Japan and the Tadano High School swim team is barely keeping afloat.

When a pretty new coach turns up with the nutty idea of creating a top synchronized swimming team of her own, she has just a few problems to overcome. First, she's teaching at an all-boys school; second, the 5 boys who have committed to the team are all hopelessly bad swimmers; third, she suddenly discovers she’s 8 months pregnant and due for maternity leave.

Inspired by their darling coach’s dream, the boys bumble through the spring and summer, preparing a routine for Tadano High’s festival.

Will the Waterboys hard work be wasted, or can they paddle their way to the success and recognition they've worked so hard to win?

Directed by Shinobu Yaguchi / Production Year: 2001 / Running Time: 91min

May

Thursday, May 28

From 6 P.M

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Special Feature " Enjoy Summer in Advance ! "

A Midsummer's Okinawan Dream

Set on a small Okinawa island, this is a story filled with happiness woven between humans and kijimun (spirits). The cast stars Taira Tomi and a well known collection of Okinawan talent from Nakae's previous productions. Exhausted from her romance in Tokyo, Yuriko (Shibamoto Yuki) returns to her hometown on Yugafu Island and reunites with the spirit (kijimun) Majiru (Kurashita Honami). Majiru's duty is to bless mortals, and to protect the island and Yuriko. Things start to get hectic as soon as she arrives. Not only does she find herself embroiled in the mayor's treacherous plans to develop the island, but her ex-boyfriend pursues her home, too. Majiru does his absolute best using a secret love potion.

　Directed by Yuji Nakae / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 105 min

April

Thursday, April 23

From 6 P.M.

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Special Feature "Japanese Food"

NORIBEN – The Recipe for Fortune

‘Gourmet’ entertainment about a heroine who is separated from her husband, who imagines that he is a writer, but can’t earn a living. She raises her daughter, who is in kindergarten, while struggling to open a shop for box lunches in working-class Tokyo.
 
Worthy of special mention is the theme that was chosen, “food,” which is of primary interest to everyone, everywhere. Although very simple, the appealing warmth and tastiness of Japanese traditional home cooking meal is abundant throughout the film.

　
Directed by Akira Ogata / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 107 min

March

Thursday, March 19

From 6 P.M.

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Special Feature "Japanese Spring"

After the Flowers

Spring in the Unasaka region. The area within the second enclosure of the castle is full of young girls delighting in the cherry blossoms. As she is enthralled by the cherry blossoms, Ito is suddenly greeted by a young samurai, Eguchi Magoshiro. Trained in swordsmanship by her father, Ito is said to have successively defeated the best students at the dojo Sonshiro attends and he has come to challenge her to a duel someday. At some point, Ito had grown fond of Sonshiro as a polite as well as skilled swordsman, but Ito’s father has chosen a fiance for her, Saisuke. Meanwhile, engagement talks move forward for Sonshiro also; the individual is Kayo, Ito’s uninhibited senior who is known have had experience with men. Yet, the engagement will elevate the status of Sonshiro’s family and if this makes him happy, then that is Ito’s hope; however, she catches Kayo together with a samurai with whom she is rumored of having an affair, Fujii Kageyu. Furthermore, a year later, Ito’s hope is mercilessly betrayed…

　
Directed by Kenji Nakanishi / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 107 min

February

Thursday, February 12

From 6 P.M.

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LAPUTA – Castle in The Sky 

Subtitled in English

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
This film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix in 1986.

Director Hayao MIYAZAKI

Born January 5, 1941, is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. Through a career that has spanned over fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio.
Miyazaki's films often contain recurrent themes like humanity's relationship with nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women.
　
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki / Production Year: 1986 / Running Time: 126 min

January

Thursday, January 29

From 6 P.M.

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(Cancelled)

Special Feature "Japanese Food" - Vol. 2

NORIBEN – The Recipe for Fortune

‘Gourmet’ entertainment about a heroine who is separated from her husband, who imagines that he is a writer, but can’t earn a living. She raises her daughter, who is in kindergarten, while struggling to open a shop for box lunches in working-class Tokyo.
 
Worthy of special mention is the theme that was chosen, “food,” which is of primary interest to everyone, everywhere. Although very simple, the appealing warmth and tastiness of Japanese traditional home cooking meal is abundant throughout the film.

　
Directed by Akira Ogata / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 107 min