A friend of mine was taking Japanese Swordfighting at St Pete beach. He would meet with a elderly Japanese man from WWII and train with wooden swords in the sand. He recommended this movie. When I was working at my college library, I saw it and had to see it.

I watched this during a college class in Japan. A great funny movie that looks at how hard the Japanese family pushes their kids to succeed in school.

World famous author, Mishima Yukio, decides to act as a Yukuza gangster. Its interesting to see the shots of Tokyo inside the station. I was too young for the Tokyo of the 50's and 60's so this movie makes good use of location and exterior shots.

My last week in Osaka, two Japanese girls took me to see it. Afterwards I asked them what it was about because there was no subtitles. They didn't know because they fell asleep. Cultural differences. I liked it and they didn't care.

A honest look at the floating world of Tokyo's bar scene by a hostess who hates her job.

A look at Japanese prostitutes sent to China to service the Japanese army.

A movie shown at Kansai Gaidai to encourage advanced students on how to understand Japanese movies in Japanese. A great film about a mid life crisis.

I've been a Shonen Knife fan since the mid 90's so I had to see this film about young girls forming a punk band in high school.

I saw this movie, opening night in Osaka, Japan. Didn't understand all the Japanese dialouge but it didn't matter, its a Godzilla movie. A lot of fun.

I wasn't expecting much but my American Kaiju friend convinced me to watch this trilogy of re-vamped Gamera with an attitude for the 90's.

A look at bullying in Japanese schools. What a youth does to endure it. Not my favorite film by Iwai Shunji. Its hard to find but seek out Swallowtail featuring Jpop star, Chara.

Zatoichi is the blind samurai who succeeds despite the odds. I like this one because I like games. In this one the chess expert kills anyone who can beat him.

Cool Sci Fi anime about people entering their dreams.

Great Yakuza films by Miike

Miike's contribution to Showtimes Masters of Horror series. This is the episode that was banned.

A twisted anime that parodies the genre while offering an entertaining storyline.

4 Discs at a good price. You get 3 movies including Woman in the Dunes plus shorts films and a biographical documentary. One short film is Tokyo 1958 starring Donald Richie looking at Ukiyo-e at the beginning.

Great action film featuring a Samurai Tengu.