Kinji Fujiwa

Part one of two.

A Japanese family weathers much hardship after their military uncle comes to live with them during WWII.

A film that begins with wit and comedy when a husband tries to hide and mask his drinking, which his Jesus freak and very Christian wife dislikes, by gargling and other methods, turns somber when the man loses his job after being fired. He attempts to keep us appearances by having parties and still going to night clubs, which means money is even more of a short supply. He turns to gambling and the race horse tracks as a result.

An episodic film about life in and around a rural police station and the people it serves.

Father of nine children cannot find a job. Despite their aspirations, the children are encouraged by both parents to hold down menial jobs and contribute to the family expenses.

Japanese film based on the life of writer Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896).

A Fond Face from the Past is also set in a rural community, specifically a village outside Kameoka, near Kyoto. In some ways this short, thirty-six-minute film is Naruse's most moving negotiation of the militarist restrictions of the time, perhaps because it is also his most direct engagement with the culture of war. When a newsreel comes to Kameoka featuring a local man named Yoichi, it causes some excitement in the community and, of course, in Yoichi's own family. First of all his mother makes the newsreel (Nippon News, no. 14), which begins with the same marching music that opens his own film, followed by a curious baby judging context in Los Angeles featuring two hundred Japanese babies. Released in January 1941, almost a year before the pacific war begins, this “found footage” is indicative of Japanese imperialist ambitions beyond Asia long before Pearl Harbor.

The premature death of a young mother serves as inspiration for her husband and son.

A "slice-of life" film about a group of high school girls in 1940s Japan.

This film attempts to reconstruct the tension of the Battle of Shanghai through an episode in an understated way, introducting its story in a documentary mode. In the film story, Japan's marine regiment protects Japanese residents and Chinese refugees-women and young children-from rampant street fighting, Shanhai Rikusentai unsparingly uses its first eight minutes for an official-mannered self-justification of the war. From the viewpoint of explaining Japan's military operation,the narration refers to the city s spatial division in sync with maps on screen.

Wartime propaganda filmed by the Japanese in occupied China, Shirley Yamaguchi portrays an orphan rescued from the streets by a kindly Japanese merchant marine officer. Part spy thriller and part Shanghai travelogue, it was part of a popular series known as "Chinese Continental Friendship" made by the occupying Japanese in China.

Part two of two.

In this semi-documentary, an older locomotive driver is tasked with training younger ones and is currently training two in particular. The old man is finding the task overwhelming as it is hard work with practical lessons and classroom components. His wife has died, but he has three daughters with the oldest taking care of her younger siblings.

The year is 1936. Ōhinata-mura was a very poor village between deep valleys. Soncho, the village head is trying to collect the village taxes from the villagers but he knows full well that no one can afford to pay the village tax which has been unpaid for years...

At 38, Seiu marries Masako, who is emotionally distant and attempts suicide. Masako’s past includes being sold into servitude and an unrecognised pregnancy. Seiu learns the truth and accepts Masako and the unborn child, embracing his roles as husband and father. He also reforms a troubled youth at his institution. In a climactic speech, Seiu inspires his students with resilience and love.

Song of the White Orchid was a co-production of Toho and Mantetsu, the railway that served the colonial region of Manchuria, and the first film in the Kazuo Hasegawa/Shirley Yamaguchi (Ri Koran) “Continental Trilogy.” Handsome Hasegawa (representing Japan) runs up against an impertinent Yamaguchi (representing the continent); not surprisingly, in the course of the film the woman comes around and realizes the benevolent intentions of the Japanese. In Song of the White Orchid Yamaguchi leaves Hasegawa, who plays an expatriate working for the railway, because of a misunderstanding. She joins a communist guerilla group plotting to blow up the Manchurian railway. Learning of the subterfuge that led to the misunderstanding, she renews her faith in Hasegawa—and by extension Japan—and tries to undermine the plot.

This is the story of a woman who enters the world of sales. She works at a company in Ginza as a typist. She determines that she needs money for her family and herself and asks her co-worker, who is a salesman, for guidance on sales. Armed with the information he provides, she begins in sales and is successful. Her original guide eventually begins to feel strange about her...

Original work by Hyakken Uchida.

Shochiku melodrama about the loves of the humble people living in the poor tenement called the Ryuheiso.