The best Renji Ishibashi’s romance movies

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

Kae Horii moves into her new flat in an undisclosed area of Kyoto. While unpacking her belongings, she discovers a hidden compartment behind a inconspicuous mirror. In that compartment, Kae finds a notebook, that turns out to be a diary belonging to the previous tenant. Later that evening Kae starts to read the diary. The writer of the diary is Ibuki Mano, a young lady about to embark on her first year as an elementary school teacher. Ibuki is also in love with a man named Takashi, who may or may not hold similar feelings for Ibuki. The diary immediately resonates with Kae, as she plans to become an elementary school teacher herself. Ibuki’s experiences also works as an inspirational instructional guide for Kae’s own personal life. Kae is also in love with an aloof illustrator/artist, who may or may not hold similar feelings for Kae.

Intellectual collegue professor Sasa becomes obsessed with beautiful Sugiko, a virgin. Eventually, luring her to a love hotel.

After the death of her mother a young woman wants to meet her real father

This biopic is centered on New Year's Day of 1894, when Kitamura is recovering from a suicide attempt. Japan is then under the spell of fervent patriotism because the government wants to build up public support for a war with China. Kitamura's literary friends and militant comrades come to visit. They wonder why Kitamura wants to kill himself. Kitamura at first refuses to receive them, then he sits down with them and looks back on his days as a civil rights militant, his stormy love life and his ardent but destructive desire to live literature to the full.

Hiromi works in a posh French restaurant. One day, he meets an ordinary-looking old man who has a discerning palate. He is no ordinary cook, and can pinpoint the exact problems with Hiromi's dishes. His name is Tatematsu Ippei, a legendary chef renowned for his work in France once upon a time. After a food poisoning mishap, his fiance Sophie had left him and he cut himself off from the culinary world. Hiromi is engrossed with Ippei's cuisine and asks for lessons. Meanwhile, Sophie, now the wife of the director of a top tableware manufacturer, comes to Japan. Ippei cooks a banquet for her using Hiromi's restaurant as a front. Sophie notices that the food is made by Ippei, her former lover. The two meet and enjoy a short-lived reunion, but go on to live their own separate lives.