The best Miyuki Matsuda’s movies

Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.

Taking place during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August and set on the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima, the drama centers on a 14-year-old boy who finds a dead body floating in the sea. The young man enlists the help of his girlfriend to solve the mystery. The pair will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.

After successfully won the Tokyo qualifying tournament, Chihaya and her friends are set to go on to the nationals. As they prepare, Chihaya is faced with new personal issues as her childhood friend and inspiration, Arata, has announced that he has quit competitive karuta. Not only that, but a new rival emerges in the reigning female champion karuta player, Shinobu Wakamiya, a karuta prodigy who became the nation's and the world's greatest female karuta player as a 9th grader. All of this forces Chihaya to reexamine her love of the game in the midst of preparing for one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.

A man, who once dreamed of becoming a punk rocker, is working as a low salaryman at a musical instrument parts company. He’s secretly in love with his colleague. One day, he finds a little turtle on the rooftop, naming it Pikadon.

After the death of his grandfather, Koen Shirakawa (Atsushi Ito) quits his job at a bookstore and goes to a temple to become a monk.

Story takes place 2 years after "Chihayafuru Part 2" and Chihaya is now a high school senior.

On the night of her police university graduation, Natsume Hamanaka’s (Riho Yoshioka) younger brother dies in accident caused by Natsume Hamanaka. In the accident, Natsume Hamanaka also loses her eyesight. She gives up on being a police officer. 3 years later, Natsume Hamanaka still has gotten over what happened that night. One day, she is involved in a minor car accident. She hear's a young girl's voice asking for help. Natsume Hamanaka senses that the girl might be a kidnap victim. She reports what happened to the police, but the police doesn't purse her report. Natsume Hamanaka does not give up and keeps looking for the girl. She finds a young boy who was skateboarding near the fender bender car accident. Natsume Hamanaka believes a serial kidnapper exists.

Teenager Kazuki Miyaichi has always felt unloved by her mother due the circumstances surrounding her birth. Because she harbors anxiety and perceives herself as being worthless to others, she engages in acts of juvenile delinquency. One day, a transfer student from Yokohama named Eri introduces her to Hiroshi Haruyama, a reckless youth who’s a member of the “Nights” motorcycle gang. Kazuki finds herself increasingly drawn to Hiroshi over time, but he soon becomes leader of the Nights and gets caught up in a conflict with a rival gang.

Obayashi’s take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

When Chihaya Ayase was in the 6th grade of elementary school, she met Arata Wataya. Arata Wataya transferred from Fukui Prefecture. Taichi Mashima was Chihaya Ayase's friend since they were little. Arata got close to Chihaya and Taichi from the card game karuta. Four years later, Chihaya is a high school student. Chihaya learns that Arata, who went back to Fukui Prefecture, doesn't play karuta anymore. Believing they will meet Arata again, Chihaya and Taichi starts a karuta club at their high school.

Having abandoned modern civilization, Ryoichi lives an isolated, self-sufficient life on a snow-covered mountain and sends mail bombs to the CEOs of corporations and TV networks. One day, he encounters a mysterious creature in the forest. That night, his older brother, who had committed suicide, appears before him at his cabin. The apparition takes Ryoichi beyond a door, where Ryoichi learns the truth about his family.

Kotaro and Kuroe marry almost immediately in a Christian ceremony and move into an apartment. Life is completely joyous until, one day, Kuroe falls ill.

Five short stories of life's joys and sorrows are brought together in this omnibus drama from Japan.

In March 2011, Japan was struck by a catastrophic earthquake, with the devastating tsunami that followed causing a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power station that sent ripples of discontent throughout the country. Director Iwai Shunji's Friends after 3.11 (2011) is a deeply personal documentary which uses the statements of some of his closest friends to express the views of a society in a state of political despondency.

On the night of Mikihiko's 18th birthday, Mikihiko thinks of childhood friend Morio. Morio has been in vegetative state since the age of 6 after being involved in an accident.One day, Moria awakens from his vegetative state. Morio still has the mind of a 6-year-old.