Japanese Movies by Genre: Drama

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  Isha Sensei (2015)

  Director: Jiro Nagae
  Plot: Chikako Shida was born in 1910 in Ooisawa, Yamagata (now Nishikawa) as the eldest daughter of a prominent family. Her father Soujirou was the principal of a local elementary school and her mother died during a particularly difficult childbirth. At that time, Ooisawa had no doctors, and by the time they rushed her mother to a neighboring town it was too late to save her. Because of this incident, and recognizing that Chikako was a particularly clever child, Soujirou had early hopes that she'd grow up to become a doctor.Wanting to fulfill her father's wishes, Shida attended what is now Tokyo Women's Medical University. After graduating, she returned to Ooisawa where she devoted the rest of her life to rural health care.

• Sugihara Chiune (2015)

  Director: Cellin Gluck
  Plot: Chiune Sugihara is assigned the role of Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Kaunas, Lithuania during World War II. His superiors also give him the dangerous task of relaying German and Russian troop movements back to Japan, as they suspect Hitler of withholding information from his allies. Meanwhile, Sugihara puts his career at risk by using his position to write over 6,000 transit visas for Jewish refugees, allowing them to escape to Japan.
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  Yoru ga Aketara (2014)

  Director: Kiyoto Kawamura
  Plot: Haru begins a romantic relationship with her high school teacher, Yuichiro. The two get married, but they become distant over time. One night, Yuichiro is involved in an accident while cheating with another one of his students, a girl named Shiori. In the wake of the accident, the two women meet by chance, leading to a fierce conflict.
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  The Case of Hana & Alice (2015)

  Director: Shunji Iwai
  Plot: 9th grader Tetsuko “Alice" Arisugawa transfers to Ishinomori Junior High School and hears a rumor involving a murder committed by four people a year earlier. She also discovers that the house next door to her is feared by her classmates, who refer to it as “Hanayashiki" (the flower garden). Alice decides to investigate Hanayashiki, and its there where she meets Hana Arai, a girl who has recently been staying home from school.
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  Initiation Love (2015)

  Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
  Plot: In the late 1980s, a job-hunting college student in Shizuoka Prefecture named Suzuki begins an awkward romance with a dental hygienist named Mayu. However, when Suzuki finds a job he moves to Tokyo and the two are forced into a long-distance relationship. Over time, their relationship starts to fall apart as Suzuki begins spending time with another woman named Miyako.
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  Five Minutes to Tomorrow (2014)

  Director: Isao Yukisada
  Plot: Ryo is a clockmaker living in Taipei. One day he meets a beautiful woman named Maggie who enlists his help in coming up with a gift idea for her identical twin sister Michelle. In fact, the resemblance is so striking that they often switch places to confuse Ryo. Before long, Ryo begins dating Maggie in spite of being keenly aware that Maggie is secretly in love with Michelle's boyfriend Leon.Maggie and Michelle decide to go on a trip before Michelle's wedding to Leon, but they get into an accident and only Michelle survives. Ryo buries his feelings and leads a solitary life until one day he's contacted by Leon, who's distraught because he's become convinced Michelle was actually the one who died in the accident and Maggie has taken her place. Worse yet, she doesn't even seem to have a grasp on her own identity.
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  Midnight Canteen (2015)

  Director: Joji Matsuoka
  Plot: A small diner is located in a back alley of a shopping district. The diner opens up after midnight and its menu consists of only pork miso soup and sake. However, the mysterious proprietor of this establishment--known only by his title, "master"--can whip up just about anything at the specific request of his regular patrons. As the nights pass, these regulars deal with a variety of problems and gossip with each other while enjoying the master's meals.
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  Kono Kuni no Sora (2015)

  Director: Haruhiko Arai
  Plot: 19-year-old Satoko lives with her mother and aunt in Tokyo. As the war nears its end and Japan's defeat seems imminent, Satoko begins to worry that she'll never have a chance to get married and have a happy life even though she's nearing the traditional age of marriage. However, her life begins to come into focus when she begins interacting with a neighbor named Ichige who was rejected as a soldier after failing his physical exam.
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  Kinki (2014)

  Director: Kotaro Wajima
  Plot: Sala is a teacher at an all-female high school who's involved in a sexual relationship with one of her underage students. When she hears that her father has been involved in a violent crime, she visits his home and discovers a boy named Moto who's been kept there as a sex slave. Fearing the consequences if news got out of her father's crime, Sala continues harboring the boy and begins to feel sexually attracted to him.
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  Taksu (2014)

  Director: Kiki Sugino
  Plot: As Chihiro's preoccupation with death begins to become a concern for the people in his life, he and his wife Yuri decide to take a trip to Bali to visit his sister. Yuri hopes that seeing his sister will ease Chihiro out of his funk, but when they arrive things only seem to get worse. Kumi spends most of her time preparing for her upcoming birth and Yuri falls for another man. It soon becomes apparent that the three of them have vastly different priorities and concerns as they struggle to find common ground.