The best Aki Asakura’s movies

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.

A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.

Beautiful Noriko Miki works at a cosmetic company. One day, Noriko is murdered. People begin to suspect her co-worker Miki Shirono might have killed her. Television begins to cover her story. A TV show interviews Miki Shirono's colleagues, family, people from her hometown. Rumors turn into fear. Is she a wicked a woman?

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

Dr. Ichito Kuriharai (Sho Sakurai) works at a clinic in Nagano Prefecture. He rarely has any free time due to the clinic's shortage of doctors and the constant influx of patients. Ichito even sometimes diagnoses patients out of his area of speciality and sometimes goes days without sleeping. He hopes to work at a major hospital where he can get more free time to spend with his wife Haruna (Aoi Miyazaki) and also specialize in his field of study. However, Ichito is also reluctant to add to shortage of doctors at the clinic and break his relationships with the patients. One day, Dr. Ichito Kuriharai clears out the belongings of a terminal cancer patient who passed away. During this time, he discovers a letter made out to him thanking him for the care he provided to her, even though he could not cure her sickness. Dr. Ichito Kuriharai then has a revelation about the medical chart he keeps in his hand - filled with personal observations and concerns ...

15 short films with an animated end-title sequence by young women directors born in late ‘80s to ‘90s.

A former teacher and student reunite after moving on from their respective school years.

A seemingly lazy salaryman is tasked with managing a company secret.

Kato, a scriptwriter, is in love with Miho—but he can never manage to muster up enough courage to make the relationship anything more than a platonic friendship. Seemingly oblivious to Kato's feelings for her, Miho is always calling him up and spilling her guts about her own love problems. She's in love with someone else, it turns out, but Kato swallows his pride—hearing about it all is almost too much to bear, but he wants to be with Miho as much as he can. In the meantime, the script he's working on for a TV drama mirrors a lot of his relationship with Miho. One day, Kato's friends tell him that his views on love are all mistaken, that he shouldn't delude himself into thinking that his dead-end crush on Miho will go anywhere. Emboldened and motivated, Kato finally decides to tell Miho exactly how he feels.

Mariko Okano’s boyfriend Junichi Nagata leaves suddenly to become a volunteer teacher in a remote country. Mariko and Junichi’s families are both left wondering why he departed so quickly, without discussing his plans with them first. The next day, a woman’s charred body is discovered in a warehouse. The woman turns out to be Ayako Oshima, the mother of a student who was suspected of arson in a warehouse blaze 15 years ago. Oddly, Mariko had been trapped in that warehouse fire with another student, but was saved by Junichi. However, the other student died in the blaze. Soon after, Mariko receives a letter from Junichi, in which he confesses to a crime Mariko was not aware of. Are the two fires related? And what was the crime Junichi confessed to?