Akira Emoto

In the late Edo period, when traditional Chinese medicine (Kampo) was mainstream, a Dutch-style Western doctor, Taikichi, devoted himself to treating poor villagers. After saving the life of a rough young man, Shinzaburō, through surgery, the man turned his life around and began training to become a doctor himself. Fifteen years later, having studied the latest medical science in Nagasaki, Shinzaburō returns and joins Taikichi in confronting a suspected outbreak of typhoid fever. Set against the backdrop of a time when Kampo and Western medicine competed for legitimacy, this moving historical drama follows the struggles of doctors who risked everything to save lives during Japan’s medical awakening.

It is the year 1988. Yamabuki is an eight-year-old little boy growing up in a traditional family where every family member has problems and secrets they try to hide from each other. The father runs a failing construction company and has an intimate relationship with another woman. The mother is struggling with severe depression, as she cannot cope with the death of her youngest child. The grandfather, who used to be a construction engineer, hopes to start building an amusement park, but to no avail. The grandmother runs a small store where she sells items of forged origin. The sister is fed up with the lies of her predecessors and is looking for a way to run away from home. In the midst of all this chaos, Yamabuki has started to find solace in patting an imaginary dog.

An American actor in Tokyo struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese 'rental family' agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients' worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality.

Akira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.

After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he is sent to Kamusari Village for a year of work experience - where he becomes assimilated with the beauty of nature and the warm-hearted people of the village.

An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated one of the women.

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison.

A bored accountant spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.

A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.