PROGRAMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
“Heiwa eno Kakahashi (Bridge to Peace),” premieres on Friday, Aug. 5,
at 9:05 p.m.
“Experience Hiroshima, learn about peace, and make a bridge to peace.” In this program, they speak to people past and present who have acted as “bridges to peace,” and capture many individuals’ wishes for peace. Fully subtitled in English.
“Mystery Hour – Hakugin Jack,” premieres on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at
7:35 p.m.
Reiji Kurata (Ken Watanabe) is the general manager of the ski slope at Appi Ski Resort. A threatening letter arrives at a ski resort at the end of the year, but it can’t be reported to the police. The criminal takes over a ski resort and seeks for ransoms. What is the criminal’s motivation . . . revenge or mercenary? The key to it all is in the forbidden slopes which were stained with blood a year ago. Fully subtitled in English.
“Mystery Hour – Chihoshi o Kau Onna,” premieres on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 7:35 p.m.
Novelist Ryuji Sugimoto (Masakazu Tamura) moves from Tokyo to Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture because his novel will be serialized for the local newspaper, the Kanazawa Hibi Shimbun. His novel “Distant Memory” gains popularity. The newspaper has receives a letter from Yoshiko (Ryoko Hirosue), a woman in Tokyo, wanting a subscription because she wants to read “Distant Memory.”
Sugimoto has slight doubts about her and wonders where she read his novel and why she wants to read it halfway through. He later finds out she did not subscribe to the newspaper because she wanted to read his novel. Sugimoto reads the newspapers with the dates that Yoshiko wanted to subscribe and find an article about a double suicide connected to Tokyo. Fully subtitled in English.
“Shinjuwan ni Saku Nagaoka Hanabi (Nagaoka Fireworks at Pearl Harbor),” premieres on Friday, Aug. 26, at 7:35 p.m.
On Aug. 15, 2015, Nagaoka Fireworks were displayed at Pearl Harbor at Ford Island, with 28,000 people in attendance. How were the peace and memorial themes of the fireworks received by Hawaii locals? Fully subtitled in English.
NGN 3 MOVIE CHANNEL (Digital Ch. 679)
Premiere titles air on Friday. “Movie of the Month” premieres on the first Saturday. 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. 5: “Jingi Naki Tatakai Kanketsu-hen (A Change of the Underworld Supreme Ruler),” 1979 action film, 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Directed by Noribumi Suzuki. Starring Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa.
In the wake of a big police crackdown, Takeda, a longtime leader of one of Hiroshima’s Yakuza families, attempts to resolve the longtime war between various mob factions by reshaping his organization into a political organization that would be both powerful and legal. But not all of Takeda’s men take to this new way of doing things, and a rash act by the older, hardened yakuza leads to a final turf war between the families.
MOVIE OF THE MONTH
Aug. 6: “Gekijoban SPEC ~Ten~ (SPEC: Heaven),” 2012 drama, 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Starring Erika Toda and Ryo Kase.
Saya Toma is a gifted female detective with an IQ of 201 with an innate ability to glean information from any social situation. Her partner Sebumi is a career detective with a distinguished background. They work on cases by postulating the “SPEC” of the unknown criminals and then deduce the criminal’s unknown “SPEC” to make arrests. A mystery occurs when a large number of mummified corpses are found on a cruiser in the ocean. These two detectives from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department are brought in to solve the case. Eventually, this strange incident develops into a major situation.
MOVIE SYNOPSIS (in alphabetical order)
“Aku Oyabun tai Daigashi (The Evil Partnership),” 1971 action film,
1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Takeichi Saito. Starring Tomisaburo Wakayama and Bunta Sugawara.
A high ranking yakuza rises to national notoriety.
“Amadera Bakuto (The Gambling Nun),” 1971 drama, 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Directed by Shinji Murakami. Starring Yumiko Nogawa and Haruko Kato.
Female monk Haruko scrambles to save a Buddhist convent from the evil yakuza.
“Bara no Hyoteki (Target),” 1980 action film, 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Directed by Toru Murakawa. Starring Hiroshi Tachi and Yutaka Nakajima.
Two killers revenge a wirepuller of the underworld in Yokohama.
“Edo no Asakaze (Morning Breeze in Edo),” 1960 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 32 minutes.
Directed by Hideaki Onishi. Starring Chiezo Kataoka and Totsuben Sawamura.
The sole survivor of a shipwreck pursues the whereabouts of his friends’ missing family members in Edo.
“Edo no Meibutsu Otoko Isshin Tasuke (Noble Tasuke),” 1958 jidaigeki,
1 hour and 30 minutes.
Directed by Tadashi Sawashima. Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ryunosuke Tsukigata and Hitomi Nakahara.
Brave and compassionate man Tasuke prevents the feud between the lords.
“Edokko Hanjoki (Work of the Fish Man),” 1961 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Directed by Masahiro Makino. Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura and Yuiko Hasegawa.
Katsujiro the fisherman overcomes his laziness when he learns of his younger sister Okiku’s unfortunate fate.
“Hana no Orizurugasa (The Paper Crane),” 1962 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 46 minutes.
Directed by Toshikazu Kono. Starring Hashizo Okawa, Yukio Hashi and Hiroko Sakuramachi.
A wandering vagrant, Hantaro, risks his life to save a beautiful blind girl and her father from con artists.
“Hibari no Hanagata Tantei Gassen (Detective Duel),” 1958 drama, 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Hibari Misora, Ken Takakura and Yoshiko Sakuma.
A friendly rivalry turns into romance for a elite female detective, Yukiko, and a handsome private eye, Mitamura, while investigating the missing person case of a wealthy family member.
“Iroha Wakashu Hanakago Touge (A Young Rabble 2),” 1959 jidaigeki,
1 hour and 26 minutes.
Directed by Toshikazu Kono. Starring Hibari Misora and Kotaro Satomi.
The adventures of a feisty girl named Oyuki and a homeless child she saves.
“Kanashii Iroyanen (Love and Action in Osaka),” 1988 drama, 1 hour and 42 minutes.
Directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Starring Toru Nakamura and Masahiro Takashima.
Despite his efforts of living a normal life as a banker, the life of Toru, the only son of the Yubari Family, becomes disrupted by trouble brought on by his father. When his father’s battle against his rival group the Miike Family ignites, Toru becomes more involved in the turf war than he wished for.
“Kobe Kokusai Gang (The International Gang of Kobe),” 1975 action film, 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Directed by Noboru Tanaka. Starring Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara.
An international gang fights with other families at postwar Kobe.
“Koken wa Orezu Tsukikage Ittoryu (Unperishable Sword),” 1960 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Hibari Misora.
A self-reliant samurai is involved in a plot.
“Kyokotsu Ichidai (The Chivalrous Life),” 1967 action film, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Starring Ken Takakura and Junko Fuji.
Ryoma is a former military man who gets to know the leader of a yakuza group and helps them defend themselves against other yakuza gangs.
“Ninkyo Kouboushi Kumicho to Daigashi (Rise and Fall of Yakuza),” 1970 action film, 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Directed by Yasuo Furuhata. Starring Koji Tsuruta and Tetsuro Tanba.
A gang boss gone straight assists a former member out of jail.
“Saigo no Bakuto (The Last True Yakuza),” 1985 action film, 2 hours and
5 minutes.
Directed by Kosaku Yamashita. Starring Hiroki Matsukata and Sonny Chiba.
A depiction of Japan’s most infamous violent gang incident.
“Shinshokoku Monogatari Nanatsu no Chikai Kurosuisen no Maki (The Seven Vows),” 1956 jidaigeki/adventure film, 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura, Hashizo Okawa, Chiyonosuke Azuma and Ryunosuke Tsukigata.
Toruhan, a king’s retainer, embarks on a journey to find a royal treasure that can only be revealed though secret codes hidden in seven crosses carried by his fellow samurai.
“Shinshokoku Monogatari Nanatsu no Chikai Doreisen no Maki (The Seven Vows, Part 2),” 1956 jidaigeki/adventure film, 1 hour and 1 minute.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura, Hashizo Okawa and Chiyonosuke Azuma.
The adventures of Goro and his fellow samurai continue in its second installment. While being held captive by the enemy pirate Ongo, Goro discovers the whereabouts of the missing seventh cross. Will he succeed in bringing all seven cross together to reveal the secret code of the royal treasure?
“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.
“Tonosama Yajikita Kaidan Dochu (Ghost Story on Passage),” 1958 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Directed by Tadashi Sawashima. Starring Kinnosuke Nakamura and Katsuo Nakamura.
Two young lords travel the Tokaido highway pretending to be merchant-class townspeople and meet a ghost on their way.
“Toyama no Kinsan Gozonji Irezumi Hangan (Official with a Tattoo),” 1960 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Directed by Yasushi Sasaki. Starring Chiezo Kataoka and Satomi Oka.
Kinnosuke of Toyama sets out on a private mission to clear his father’s name for a crime he did not commit.
“Truck Yaro Kokyo Tokkyubin (Run Truck Rascal, Run!),” 1979 action film, 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Directed by Noribumi Suzuki. Starring Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa.
Momojiro and Jonathan go to Kochi on a ferry. On the ferry, a singer called Yuka dropped her sheet music into the ocean. Momojiro helps her by diving in to collect the sheets for her and ends up falling in love.
“Uzumasa Limelight,” 2014 drama, 1 hour and 43 minutes.
Directed by Sadao Nakajima. Starring Seizo Fukumoto and Chihiro Yamamoto.
The film centers around 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?
“Wakasama Zamurai Torimonocho Beranme Katsujinken (Case of A Young Lord, Part 2),” 1956 jidaigeki, 52 minutes.
Directed by Kinnosuke Fukada. Starring Hashizo Okawa and Yumiko Hasegawa.
A master swordsman must retrieve the mercer’s stolen heirloom in time to present it to the Shogun.
“Yokiro (The Geisha),” 1983 drama, 2 hour and 24 minutes.
Directed by Hideo Gosha. Starring Kimiko Ikegami, Atsuko Asano, Morio Kazama and Ken Ogata.
An illustration of the turbulent lives of geisha at Yokiro, the top geisha house in Kochi.
Momowaka, the most popular geisha at Yokiro, must protect herself from those who grow envious of her beauty and glory.
“Zakurozaka no Adauchi (Snow on the Blades),” 2014 drama, 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu. Starring Kiichi Nakai and Hiroshi Abe.
Kingo Shimura serves his lord Naosuke Ii, Shogun’s chief minister. One day in 1860 Kingo fails his duty to protect him when Ii is killed by ronins from the Mito Domain. He is not allowed to kill himself and receives a secret order to exact revenge. However, all but one of the assassins die before Kingo can reach them. Still, Kingo presses on and travels for 13 years to find the last enemy.
“Zoku Rokyoku Komoriuta (Samurai’s Lullaby),” 1967 jidaigeki, 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Directed by Ryuichi Takamori. Starring Sonny Chiba and Akiko Koyama.
A touching story about a father and son set to a popular soundtrack.
