PROGRAMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
“Ariyoshi-kun no Shojiki Sanpo,” premieres on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at
7:35 p.m.
Ariyoshi-kun and Fuji TV newscaster Yoko Ikuno takes guests for a walk in town and look for the best place to eat. Sometimes they discover hidden great restaurants and special stores around Tokyo. Fully subtitled in English.
“Mystery Hour – Sennyu Tantei Tokage (Undercover Agent Lizard),” premieres on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 7:35 p.m.
Tokage (lizard) is an ex-cop from the Metropolitan Police Department’s 1st Crime Division who couldn’t work well with people, and never opened up to anybody. But he had extraordinary abilities that included a photographic memory and unmatched physical skills enabling him to crack the most difficult cases. After the death of his only partner, Tokage quit the force and began working for a private investigator’s office as a researcher. But the Metropolitan Police are eager to recruit him back in an effort to raise their arrest rate, and manage to convince him to return as an undercover cop. Fully subtitled in English.
“Onihei Hankacho SP,” premieres on Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7:35 p.m.
Onihei is back! Hasegawa Heizo, head is the head of the special police who had jurisdiction over arson-robberies in Edo. Nicknamed “Onihei,” meaning “Heizo the demon,” he led a band of samurai police and cultivated reformed criminals as informants to solve difficult crimes. Fully subtitled in English.
“Asa ga Kita,” premieres on Friday, Dec. 11, at 7:15 p.m.
The 93rd NHK morning drama serial, “Asa ga Kita” depicts the challenges faced by Asa, in a very much male dominated society, and how she overcomes them triumphantly. It also showcases the changes in the Japanese society as the Meiji Restoration slowly swept across the nation. In the late Tokugawa Shogunate, Asa was born as the second daughter of a wealthy merchant in Kyoto, Japan. Later, in Osaka, Asa entered various business fields like coalmines, banks, and life insurance. She also founded the first female university in Japan in consideration of the connection between education for girls and the progress of society. Fully subtitled in English.
“Tantei no Tantei (Detective vs. Detectives),” premieres on Monday, Dec. 21, at 7:35 p.m.
Action-packed suspenseful thriller with a unique setting of “a detective chasing after detectives.” Rena (Keiko Kitagawa) is a beautiful woman endowed with excellent memory and superior intelligence. She works as an investigator who pursues corruption among other detectives at a private investigation agency. What motivated her to take on such position is the fact that her younger sister Sakura was murdered by a stalker, who was informed of her whereabouts by an unknown detective. One day, Makoto gets hired to become an assistant for Rena. Working alongside Rena, Makoto comes face to face with the extreme work situation, which is beyond anything she could have ever imagined. Fully subtitled in English.
“5 to 9 – Watashi ni Koishita Obosan,” premieres on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at 7:35 p.m.
Junko (Satomi Ishihara) is a part-time teacher at an English school who dreams of one day working in New York. Junko strives hard to achieve her dreams, but New York seems a far distant reality. And she hasn’t had much luck with romance for a while either. But things suddenly start to change when one day, Junko encounters a handsome Tokyo University graduate monk Takane (Tomohisa Yamashita) at a funeral service. Junko accidentally knocks over the bowl of ashes, which falls right onto the head of Takane — probably the worst impression anyone could make. After such incident, Junko figures she would never see him again. However, the two end up meeting again in a matchmaking session. 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
Dec. 4: “Bakuchiuchi Inochifuda (Fate Deals the Card of Death),” 1971 action film, 1 hour and 46 minutes.
Directed by Kosaku Yamashita. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Tomisaburo
Wakayama.
Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.
Dec. 11: “Kawajyan Hankouzoku (The Young Animals),” 1978 action film,
1 hour and 22 minutes.
Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe. Starring Hiroshi Tachi and Yoko Natsuki.
Shinji, a leather jacket man on a Harley Davidson, meets Megu, who is a queen bee with followers while stopping the fight between two female groups. Megu fell in love with Shinji, but he has his eye on cute Mayo.
Dec. 18: “Fudatsuki Bakuto (A Wad of Notes),” 1970 action film, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Minoru Oki.
A lone gambler tries to keep a yakuza family from taking over a festival in Kitakyushu. After away from his hometown for 13 years, Ryuji comes back and saves the town that is becoming run-down from yakuza’s ill deeds.
Dec. 25: “Seiju Gakuen (The Transgressor),” 1974 drama, 1 hour and 31
minutes.
Directed by Norifumi Suzuki. Starring Yumi Takigawa and Hayato Tani.
After the mysterious death of her mother, Maya takes religious vows to find out what terrible things happened to her mother inside the Sacred Heart Convent. As soon as the door closes to the nunnery, the nuns start torturing her. She also has to deal with a lecherous archbishops and a lesbian mother superior.
NGN3 MOVIE OF THE MONTH
“Uzumasa Limelight (Uzumasa Limelight),” 2014 drama, 1 hour and 43
minutes.
Directed by Sadao Nakajima. Starring Seizo Fukumoto and Chihiro Yamamoto.
The film centers an aged movie extra who specializes to be killed in samurai movies without ever being lit by the limelight. Seiichi Kamiyama has devoted 50 years of his life as a “kirare-yaku” or “drop-dead” actor: a swordsman extra in samurai films who is always killed off in the fight at Kyoto’s Uzumasa Studios. Now an elderly man, Kamiyama lives very modestly but has earned immense respect from his peers, some of them movie stars. One day, a young girl named Satsuki convinces him that she becomes Kamiyama’s disciple. Will the art of
“kirare-yaku” live on?
NGN3 COMMUNITY FAVORITE
“Hibari Ohako Benten Kozo (Hibari’s Favorite),” 1960 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 14 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Hibari Misora, Kotaro Satomi and Tomisaburo Wakayama.
Kikunosuke, a young temple servant, turns to his mother, Ofuji, for protection after being wrongly accused of murder. However Ofuji decides to turn her son into the police to collect a monetary reward. Devastated by this betrayal, Kikunosuke escapes to Edo in hopes of starting over. Once there, he takes on the name, “Benten Kozo” and soon joins a gang led by Nihon Daemon which will later be known as Shiranami Goninotoko.
NGN3 Movies (in alphabetical order)
“Bakuto Shichinin (Seven Gamblers),” 1988 action film, 1 hour and 41
minutes.
Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Shingo Yamashiro.
Yakuza action film centering around seven men. In the mid Meiji period, Hanjiro with only one eye comes to Okinoshima to save the town from a violent Yakuza group with the help of six other handicapped guys.
“Big Magnum Kuroiwa Sensei (Big Magnum Kuroiwa),” 1985 comedy action film, 1 hour and 42 minutes.
Directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. Starring Yasushi Yokoyama and Shiro Ito.
Kuroiwa, a high school teacher who carries a “Big Magnum 44” gun is sent to a school that is full of violence. Can Kuroiwa reform the students with the gun?
“Edo no Akutaro (Evil Taro of Edo),” 1959 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 31 minutes.
Directed by Masahiro Makino. Starring Ryutaro Otomo and Keiko Okawa.
Kindhearted swordsman Sanshiro rescues poor villagers from evil and greedy Vassal Akiyama.
“Haikarasan ga Toru (There Goes Benio, The Smart Girl),” 1987 drama, 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Directed by Masamichi Sato. Starring Yoko Minamin and Hiroshi Abe.
Benio, a peppy tomboy, is surprised to learn that she has been secretly betrothed by her grandfather to a young officer named Shinobu Ijuin. Because of his family’s noble status, Benio must first undergo rigorous training to learn how to be a proper bride and wife before she can marry. However, because of her vivacious personality, this proves to me more challenging than anyone imagined.
“Hajimari no Michi (Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story),” 2013 drama, 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Directed by Keiichi Hara. Starring Ryo Kase and Yuko Tanaka.
Based on the life of prolific movie director Keisuke Kinoshita, “Hajimari no Michi” covers various unknown parts of his life.
As a young man, Keisuke carried his mother on a handcart across a mountain. He grew up as a hot-blooded young man and was monitored by the military. He then joined Shochiku Company to eventually become a movie director.
“Hakujasho (White Snake Enchantment),” 1983 drama, 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Directed by Shunya Ito. Starring Rumiko Koyanagi and Tomisaburo Wakayama.
Uta married a priest who saved her when she tried to commit suicide at a waterfall. The love triangle between a lustful priest, his second wife and his son Masao.
“Hakurai Jingi Capone no Shatei (Brothers of Capones),” 1970 action film,
1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Ryuuji Harada. Starring Tomisaburo Wakayama and Shingo Yamashiro.
Three aspiring assassins seek their education from Chicago returnees.
“Hibari no Sado Jouwa (Hibari’s Tale of Pathos),” 1962 drama, 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Directed by Kunio Watanabe. Starring Hibari Misora, Akitake Kono and
Kyosuke Machida.
While visiting a site in Sado for a prospective project, Akiyama, a young developer, falls in love with Kimie, a local entertainer and tour guide. But their happiness is threatened by the gangster, Ono, who has his own plans for Kimie.
“Hibotan Bakuto Jingi Toshimasu (The Valiant Red Peony, Part 8),” 1971 drama, 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Directed by Buichi Saito. Starring Junko Fuji and Chiezo Kataoka.
Oryu, a gambler in training, avenges the death of her beloved friend Otaka.
“Himeyuri no Tou (Monument of Star Lilies),” 1953 drama, 2 hours and 8 minutes.
Directed by Tadashi Imai. Starring Keiko Tsushima and Kyoko Kagawa.
Following the lives of high school girls sent to the battlefield to serve as military nurses in World War II. With great courage and resolve, the girls work tirelessly to help those wounded near the front lines. In spite of the constant threat of danger, they find the strength to survive each day. But when their position is overrun, their lives are forever changed. This is the first movie to portray the suffering of Okinawan people during the war.
“Keisho Sakazuki (Succession),” 1992 comedy drama, 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Directed by Kazuki Omori. Starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Yuko Kotegawa.
Stockbroker turned yakuza Shoichi Yoshinari has been presented with a thankless task. He is to invite an oyabun (don) of a yakuza gang to emcee a succession ceremony — the passing of the baton from the older to the younger generation.
“Kisaragi Musoken (The Kisaragi Swordsman),” 1962 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Utaemon Ichikawa, Hiroki Matsukata, Chiyonosuke Azuma and Kotaro Satomi.
Superb swordsman Tsukinosuke’s services are called upon to cease the insurgence against the Shogunate.
“Kouen Dori no Nekotachi (Cats in Park Avenue),” 1989 drama, 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Directed by Shinichi Nakada. Starring Yoko Oginome, Izumi Igarashi and Renji Ishibashi.
A story about the lives of young aspiring dancers who strive to create their own musical about stray cats.
“Mondonosuke Sanbanshobu (The Third Contest),” 1965 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Tetsuya Yamauchi. Starring Hashizo Okawa, Shigeru Amachi,
Kotaro Satomi and Jushiro Konoe.
Skilled swordsman Mondonoske must face his rival Genba in a deadly competition for the prestigious position of fencing instructor to a famous lord.
“Ooku ~Eien~ (The Castle of Crossed Destinies),” 2012 jidaigeki drama,
2 hours and 4 minutes.
Directed by Fuminori Kaneko. Starring Masato Sakai and Miho Kanno.
The Lady Shogun rules the land in the wake of a devastating plague that has drastically reduced the male population during the late 1600s. Gender roles are reversed with political leadership firmly in female hands, now served by prettified and solicitous male concubines to cater to their whims while tasked with siring the next generation of Edo elites. While the Shogun has ostensibly forsaken love to fulfill her role undistracted, 3,000 men compete for her favor and affections. One is determined to stand above the rest to further his own ambitions. Can each stay the course they’ve so carefully adhered to until now, or will real feelings get in the way of political power moves and socially-ascribed destinies?
“Salaryman Isshin Tasuke (The Ambitious Youth),” 1962 drama, 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Directed by Tadashi Sawashima. Starring Katsuo Nakamura and Kiyoshi
Atsumi.
As descendent of famed fishmonger Isshin Tasuke, young feisty Ishii Tasuke uses his talent to flourish his employer’s food business.
“Shin Abashiri Bangaichi (New Prison Walls of Abashiri),” 1968 action drama, 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Directed by Masahiro Maki. Starring Ken Takakura, Hiroyuki Nagato, Kayo Matsuo and Ai Sasaki.
Former soldier, Suehiro Katsuji, fights violent gangs and powerful Chinese merchants during the post-war period in Japan.
“Shundo (Bushido),” 2013 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 42 minutes.
Directed by Yasuo Mikami. Starring Takehiro Hira and Go Wakabayashi.
During the reign of the 8th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the western part of Japan suffered a severe famine in the year 1732. Three years later, a sword instructor Jyuzo Matsumiya is sent on a mysterious mission by the shogunate, culminating with an epic sword battle in the snow.
“Tange Sazen Nuretsubame Ittoryu (Tange Sazen and the Princess),” 1961 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda. Starring Ryutaro Otomo, Hashizo Okawa and Yumiko Hasegawa.
Tange Sazen interferes with an evil plot against the Iga Yagyu family.
“Tarao Bannai Kimenmura no Sangeki (The Tragedy in the Devil Masked Village),” 1978 drama, 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Starring Akira Kobayashi and Kuniyasu Atsumi.
Tarao’s services are called upon to solve the mysterious death of bride-to-be, Mariko, who was found dead with an eerie mask of a devil.
“Toyama no Kinsan Hayabusa Bugyo,” (Falcon Magistrate) 1957 samurai film, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Directed by Kinnosuke Fukada. Starring Chiezo Kataoka, Hashizo Okawa and Shinobu Chihara.
Toyama Kinshiro, a commissioner from northern Edo, goes undercover to unravel the mystery behind a series of murders. Kinshiro, played by Kataoka Chiezo, is most famous for the cherry blossom tattoos on his shoulder which he reveals at the moment of judgement.
“Tsuri Baka Nisshi 6 (Free and Easy 6),” 1993 comedy, 1 hour and 53 minutes.
Directed by Tomio Kuriyama. Starring Toshiyuki Nishida and Rentaro Mikuni.
The sixth film of the “Tsuribaka Nisshi” series. Su-san must give a lecture in far-off Iwate, which serves as another excuse for the company president and Hama-chan to go fishing. Once there, however, Hama-chan is mistaken for the company president and Su-san for his chauffeur! But Su-san is delighted at the mix-up: he gets to go fishing with a beautiful woman working at a local inn.
“Utamatsuri Kanzashi Matoi (Girl with Fire Banner),” 1958 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Directed by Kinnosuke Fukada. Starring Hibari Misora and Chiyonosuke Azuma.
Fearless girl firefighter Oharu and skilled firefighter Shintaro battle against their evil rivals who threaten to take over Oharu’s family’s turf.
“Wakasama Zamurai Torimonocho Okesho Gumo (Three Talismans),” 1962 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 24 minutes.
Directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda. Starring Hashizo Okawa and Hiroki Matsukata.
Young lord investigates the mysterious death that takes place in the underworld.
“Yoru no Kayo Series: Akuto Blues (The Bad Guy Blues),” 1969 drama, 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Ryuichi Takamori. Starring Tatsuo Umemiya.
A story about club hostesses in Osaka.
