“Tokoro-san no Me ga Ten! (Eye-Popping Science),” premieres on Friday, Aug. 1, at 8:30 p.m.
A seemingly familiar and banal topic is put through a rigorous investigation each week. Things we normally take for granted turn out to be a lot more interesting, strange, and surprising than they seem. Experiments that at times seem silly or nonsensical lead to mind-blowing revelations! Fully subtitled in English.
“Mystery Hour – Keiji no Manazashi (Detective’s Gaze),” premieres on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 7:35 p.m.
Fortysomething-year-old Nobuhito Natsume is a late-blooming rookie cop, having switched careers after many years as a legal counselor in a juvenile correctional institute. Natsume goes from a job of trusting people to one that requires doubting them. But he aims to get at the truth of a case in a deliberate, careful and sensitive means, speaking from his heart and digging up truths locked away in people’s minds. Taking on all manner of heinous crimes of varying motives, Natsume himself comes from a family victimized by crime, exuding the compassion that only those truly hurt by crime can understand, and squarely facing the loneliness of both criminals and victims. Fully subtitled in English.
“Kansei! Dream House,” premieres on Thursday, Aug. 14, at 8:30 p.m.
Architects build dream dwellings for regular folks. Often, the architects are acting under some sort of constraint. Sometimes, they’re working in a small space. Other times, they are trying to appease the residents. From design to completion of the “dream house” is shown. Fully subtitled in English.
“Youkame no Semi (Rebirth),” premieres on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 7:35 p.m.
Kiwako has an affair with a married man. Kiwako is unable to conceive, so when her lover’s wife gives birth to a daughter, she kidnaps the baby and takes off. Kiwako raises the child as her own for four years until she is arrested. The child named Erina is then returned to her birth parents, but grows up resenting them. She decides to retrace the steps of her early life and goes to Shodoshima where she lived with Kiwako as a child. Erina discovers a shocking truth and is forced to make a decision. Fully subtitled in English.
NGN 3 MOVIE CHANNEL (Digital Ch. 679)
Premiere titles air on Friday. Movies are shown at various times. Check your digital on-screen guide for movie schedules, using either the GUIDE or INFO buttons (up to one week ahead). Or call NGN, Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 538-1966 for inquiries or to request an e-mail of NGN 3 programming information. All movies are in Japanese language with full English subtitles.
PREMIERE TITLES OF THE MONTH
Aug. 1: “Bazoku Yakuza (Yakuza on Horseback),” 1968 action film,
1 hour and 31 minutes.
Directed by Ozawa Shigehiro. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Hiroki
Matsukata.
A story of fearless horsemen in the open spaces of Manchuria. Koji Tsuruta stars as a gangster who serves in the cavalry and uses a Chinese sword to fight the enemy.
Aug. 8: “Hokuriku Dairi Senso (The Shadow War of the Yakuza),” 1977 action film, 1 hour and 38 minutes.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Starring Hiroki Matsukata and Sonny Chiba.
The fight between a local small gang and the biggest family. In the setting of the Hokuriku region, where the snow and cold winds rage, battles among yakuza who value land over tradition are shown. Noboru Kawada uses any measure for survival, disregarding parents, brothers, and tradition.
Aug. 15: “Ninkyo Kiso Garasu (Chivalrous Nature),” 1965 jidaigeki,
1 hour and 29 minutes.
Directed by Eiichi Kudo. Starring Hashizo Okawa and Satomi Oka.
A wanderer named Shinta finds himself falsely accused of a crime.
Aug. 22: “Gang Chushingura (Gang Loyalty and Vengeance),” 1963
action film, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, with an all-star cast.
A modern gang version of “Chushingura,” chronicling almost scene for scene the Brave 47 Ronin story, transposed from the Genroku Period to the Showa Era.
Aug. 29: “Shorinji Kenpo (The Killing Machine),” 1975 action film,
1 hour and 27 minutes.
Directed by Norihumi Suzuki. Starring Sonny Chiba and Yutaka
Nakajima.
“Mr. Soh,” who is based on the true-life founder of Shorinji Kempo, devotes himself to spreading the arts. A righteous man with a cold stare and fists of steel, he returns to a lawless post-war Japan from Manchuria in 1946. He protects the weak, defends the poor and knocks some good sense into friends and enemies alike.
NGN3 MOVIE OF THE MONTH
“Nintama Rantaro (Ninja Kids),” 2011 comedy, 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Seishiro Kato and Hiroki Matsukata.
A family-oriented comedy film directed by Takashi Miike about the adventures of Rantaro and other ninja apprentices at an elite ninjutsu academy. Rantaro comes from a family of bad ninjas and has been sent off to Ninja School to break the streak of unsuccessful ninjas in the family. During the summer, they are challenged by a group of rival ninjas, which culminates in a race to ring a bell on top of a mountain.
NGN3 COMMUNITY FAVORITE
“Hatamoto Taikutsu Otoko (The Idle Vassal Tribute),” 1958 samurai film, 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda. Starring Hashizo Okawa, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Utaemon Ichikawa and Chiyonosuke Azuma.
Master swordsman and loyal vassal, Mondonosuke Saotome, is sent to investigate an intrigue centering on the Date clan. Ichikawa Utaemon’s 300th movie. A must see for all samurai fans featuring Japan’s most celebrated samurai stars!
NGN3 Movies (in alphabetical order)
“Aloha Buddha,” 2011 documentary, 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Directed by Bill Ferehawk and Dylan Robertson.
Brought over by Japanese immigrants who came to work on the sugar plantations, Buddhism played a key role in shaping Hawai‘i’s religious identity. Today, however, the religion is fading and the temples are closing. By talking to the elders we discover the aloha spirit and important history that uniquely define Buddhism in Hawai‘i.
“Dendera,” 2011 drama, 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Directed by Daisuke Tengan. Starring Ruriko Asaoka and Mitsuko Baisho.
Fifty elderly women are abandoned to die on a snow covered mountain, but instead work together to build their own village named “Dendera.” Some want to live the final years of their lives out in peace, while others want revenge against the villagers who left them to die.
“Hanagasa Wakashuu (A Martial Crowd),” 1958 samurai film, 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Kiyoshi Sasaki. Starring Hibari Misora, Denjiro Okouchi and Hashizo Okawa.
As a result of a superstitious belief that twins bring bad luck to the family, newborn twin princesses are separated. Yukihime, who was sent away to be raised by a yakuza family in Edo, returns home after many years to settle an old score.
“Hizakura Daimyo (The Hectic Lord),” 1958 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 22 minutes.
Directed by Tai Kato. Starring Hashizo Okawa and Keiko Okawa.
A lord and princess elope to escape forced marriages.
“Isan Sozoku (Estate Inheritance),” 1990 drama, 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Directed by Yasuo Furuhata. Starring Yoshiko Sakuma, Masumi Miyazaki and Misa Shimizu.
The unexpected death of Fujishima Motoharu, president of a medium-sized firm, triggers a fierce battle over his estate inheritance among family members.
“Kimi no Na wa (Always in My Heart, Part 1),” 1953 drama, 2 hours and 9 minutes.
Directed by Hideo Oba. Starring Keiko Kishi and Keiji Sada.
Machiko Ujiie and Haruki Atomiya first meet and fall in love on Ginza’s Sukiyabashi Bridge during the Great Tokyo Air Raid in March 1945. Machiko and Haruki pledge to meet again at the bridge in six months but part without asking each other’s names. Part one of three.
“Nihon Ansatsu Hiroku (Assassination: Right or Wrong),” 1969
action/drama, 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Directed by Sadao Nakajima. Starring Sonny Chiba and Tomisaburo Wakayama.
This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.
Famous men were assassinated under Japan’s growing militarism.
“Nihon Kyokakuden Kaminarimon no Ketto (The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate),” 1966 action film, 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Directed by Masahiro Makino. Starring Ken Takakura and Kanbi
Fujiyama.
The life of entertainers in Asakusa’s pleasure quarters. An exciting yakuza story with superb action.
“Nogitsunebue Hanafubuki Ichiban Matoi (Glorious Firefighter’s Standard),” 1960 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Directed by Shoji Matsumura. Starring Chiyonosuke Azuma and Satomi Oka.
Firefighter Sanji learns the secret of his birth.
“Onmitsu Kenshi (The Detective Fencer),” 1964 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Directed by Sadao Funadoko. Starring Koichi Oose and Junko Fuji.
Young swordsman Shintaro must fight against evil officials who plot to overthrow the youthful Shogun.
“Ookami Yakuza Koroshi wa Ore ga Yaru (Yakuza Wolf),” 1972 action film, 1 hour and 29 minutes.
Directed by Takeichi Saito. Starring Sonny Chiba and Koji Nanbara.
A fearless man confronts a yakuza organization pushing the envelope of extravagant & all sorts of violence.
“Ooku Juhakkei (Dolls of the Shogun’s Harem),” 1986 drama, 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Directed by Norihumi Suzuki. Starring Kyoko Tsujisawa and Mami Nomura.
In a quest to find the missing woman who might bear the child of the shogun, Genshiro, a doctor, must go out and try out different women to see if they carry the child, and if so to abort her child.
“Oshin Soshuhen (Oshin Special),” 1983 drama, 1 hour and 35
minutes.
Directed by Hiroyuki Deguchi. Starring Asako Kobayashi and Yuko Tanaka.
As one of six children, Oshin is sent out to work at the tender age of 7. Grueling childhood employment allows her to help support her family. As she matures, her father has his sights set on her becoming a barmaid, but her dying sister has a different wish. The future is always uncertain for Oshin, but her strength of spirit and loyalty to her family serve her well.
“Sannin no Bakuto (Three Gamblers),” 1967 drama, 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Kyosuke
Machida.
Gambling duo Naojiro and Kansuke endure hardships to rescue
Naojiro’s family.
“Shin Abashiri Bangaichi Ryujin Misaki no Ketto (New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2),” 1969 drama, 1 hour and 49 minutes.
Directed by Furuhata Yasuo. Starring Ken Takakura and Takashi
Shimura.
Suehiro Katsuji, a prisoner of Abashiri, is sent to Shikoku to work at a dock where a fierce turf battle takes place between a local gang and the dock operator.
“Tengoku no Taizai (Heavenly Sin),” 1992 drama, 1 hour and 54
minutes.
Directed by Toshio Masuda. Starring Sayuri Yoshinaga and Omar Sharif.
Elite lawyer Ryoko enlists the help of a foreign mafia in rescuing her son from a criminal who holds grudge against her.
“Wakasama Zamurai Torimonocho Shinya no Shibijin (Case of a Young Lord 5),” 1957 jidaigeki, 58 minutes.
Directed by Kinnosuke Fukada. Starring Hashizo Okawa and Michiko Hoshi.
A young lord solves the mystery of multiple murders involving a young couple and a woman.
“Youkame no Semi (Rebirth),” 2011 drama, 2 hours and 27 minutes.
Directed by Izuru Narushima. Starring Mao Inoue and Hiromi
Nagasaku.
Kiwako has an affair with a married man. Kiwako is unable to conceive, so when her lover’s wife gives birth to a daughter, she kidnaps the baby and takes off. Kiwako raises the child as her own for four years until she is arrested. The child named Erina is then returned to her birth parents, but grows up resenting them. She decides to retrace the steps of her early life and goes to Shodoshima where she lived with Kiwako as a child. Erina discovers a shocking truth and is forced to make a decision.
“Yumechiyo Nikki (Yumechiyo),” 1985 drama, 2 hours and 9 minutes.
Starring Sayuri Yoshinaga, Kinya Kitaooji and Yuko Natori.
Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Through her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in providing a man innocent of a false murder charge and in the process discovers love for the first time in his arms.
“Zoku Jirocho Sangokushi (The Kingdom of Jirocho 2),” 1963
jidaigeki, 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Directed by Masahiro Makino. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Yoshiko
Sakuma.
Jirocho and his henchmen befriend Ishimatsu, a wanderer in Mishima.
