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Michiko Kuwano
was a Japanese film actress. Career Kuwano was born in Shiba ward, Tokyo. After graduating from Mita High School in 1932, she first worked as a "sweets girl" for Morinaga & Company before entering the Shochiku film studios in 1934, where she gave her debut in Hiroshi Shimizu's '' Eclipse''. In addition to many films directed by Shimizu, she starred in films by Yasujirō Ozu and Yasujirō Shimazu. In 1946, she collapsed on the set of Kenji Mizoguchi's ''Victory of Women''. She is the mother of actress Miyuki Kuwano. Selected filmography * 1934: '' Eclipse'' * 1936: ''Mr. Thank You'' * 1937: '' What Did the Lady Forget?'' * 1939: '' A Brother and His Younger Sister'' * 1940: '' The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi'' * 1942: ''Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family is a 1941 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. Plot The upper-class Toda family celebrates the 69th birthday of their father with a commemorative photoshoot at their outdoor garden. Unfortunately, shortly a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiba, Tokyo
Shiba (芝) is an area of Minato ward in Tokyo, Japan and one of districts in the Shiba area. Shiba area Shiba was a ward of Tokyo City from 1878 to 1947. It was merged with Akasaka and Azabu wards to form Minato ward on March 15, 1947. The Shiba area (芝地域) is located in the eastern and southern parts of Minato ward and consisting of a number of districts including Atago, Kaigan, Kōnan, Shiba, Shiba-kōen, Shibaura, Shiba-daimon, Shirokane, Shirokanedai, Shinbashi, Daiba, Takanawa, Toranomon, Nishi-Shinbashi, Hamamatsuchō, Higashi-Shinbashi (aka Shiodome) and Mita. The main office of Minato ward and Zōjō-ji temple, the Great Main Temple of the Chinzai sect of Shingon Buddhism, are located in Shiba-kōen. Shiba area (administrative) Minato City Office has 5 regional city offices: Shiba, Azabu, Akasaka, Takanawa and Shiba Kōnan. The Shiba Regional City Office (芝総合支所) administrates the following districts/neighborhoods: Atago, Kaigan 1 chōme, Shiba, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents ; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became politically prominent in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world with a population of over one million people. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, which was renamed "Tokyo" (). Tokyo was devastate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morinaga & Company
is a confectionery company in Tokyo, Japan, in operation since 1899. Their products include candy and other confectioneries. Morinaga has had Ayumi Hamasaki and Mao Asada appear in their commercials, and in the past has used stars such as the Carpenters to advertise their products. In 1960, the company advertised that women should give chocolates to men on Valentine's Day. This action strongly influenced the present culture of Valentine's Day in Japan. Moreover, in 2009, the company made chocolates for men to give women, which are called ''Gyaku-choco''. (''Gyaku'' means ''reverse'' in Japanese.) Affiliate company * Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. See also *Glico Morinaga case *Marie biscuit *Hi-Chew is a Japanese fruit candy sold by Morinaga & Company. Origin Hi-Chew candy was first released in 1975. It was re-released in the packaging of individually wrapped candies in February 1996. The origins of Hi-Chew began when Taichiro Morinag ... References External l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shochiku
() is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all, anime films produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks). Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada. It has also produced films by highly regarded independent and "loner" directors such as Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi and Taiwanese New Wave director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Shochiku is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and the oldest of Japan's "Big Four" film studios. History As Shochiku Kinema The company was founded in 1895 as a kabuki production company and later began producing films in 1920. Shochiku is considered the oldest company in Japan involved in present-day film production, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroshi Shimizu (director)
was a Japanese film director, who directed over 160 films during his career. Biography Early years Shimizu was born in Shizuoka Prefecture and attended Hokkaidō University, but left before graduating. He joined the Shochiku film studio in Tokyo in 1921, making his directorial debut in 1924 at the age of just 21. Career Shimizu specialised in melodramas and comedies. In his most distinguished silent films like ''Fue no Shiratama'' (1929) and '' Japanese Girls at the Harbor'' (1933), he explored a Japan poised between native and Western ideas, traditionalism and liberalism, while stylistically relying on modernist and avant-garde techniques. The majority of his silent films is nowadays considered lost. In the 1930s, Shimizu increasingly took advantage of shooting on location and with non-professional actors, and was praised at the time by film critics such as Matsuo Kishi and fellow directors as Kenji Mizoguchi. ''Mr. Thank You'' (1936), ''The Masseurs and a Woman'' (1938) and ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eclipse (1934 Film)
is a 1934 Japanese silent romance film directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. It is based on the novel ''Kinkanshoku'' by Masao Kume and one of the few extant silent films by the director. Plot Ōsaki and Kanda return to their rural hometown after graduating from university. As Kanda has reached the age to marry and, having graduated in law, is considered an eligible match, he chooses Ōsaki's cousin Kinue, whom he has long been interested in, as a future wife. Ōsaki acts as a go-between for Kanda, but Kinue is indignant as it had always been Ōsaki whom she loved. Ōsaki leaves for Tokyo in hope for better job prospects, leaving behind a disappointed and embittered Kinue. After repeated attempts, Ōsaki finds a position as a private teacher for the young son of wealthy businessman Iwaki. House maid Kayo, sister of Iwaki's chauffeur Matsumura, develops an affection for Ōsaki, but is pushed aside by Iwaki's boisterous daughter Tomone. During a surprise visit by Kanda, who once served ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yasujirō Ozu
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most prominent themes of Ozu's work are marriage and family, especially the relationships between generations. His most widely beloved films include ''Late Spring'' (1949), ''Tokyo Story'' (1953), and ''An Autumn Afternoon'' (1962). Widely regarded as one of the world's greatest and most influential filmmakers, Ozu's work has continued to receive acclaim since his death. In the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' poll, Ozu's ''Tokyo Story'' was voted the third-greatest film of all time by critics world-wide. In the same poll, ''Tokyo Story'' was voted the greatest film of all time by 358 directors and film-makers world-wide. Biography Early life Ozu was born in the Fukagawa, Tokyo, the second son of merchant Toranosuke Ozu and his wife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yasujirō Shimazu
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, and a pioneer of the ''shomin-geki'' (common people drama) genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan. Biography Shimazu was born in Tokyo, the second son of merchant Otojirō Shimazu. His father owned a long-established seaweed business named Kōshū-ya directly in front of the main Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi. Shimazu entered Shōchiku in 1920 after answering an advertisement and began training under Kaoru Osanai. He gave his debut as director in 1921 at Shōchiku's recently established Kamata studio, directing both comedy and melodrama films, often depicting the everyday life of the lower middle classes. ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' (1934) and ''A Brother and His Younger Sister'' (1939) are regarded as his most exemplary and best films. By the end of the 1930s, he moved to Tōhō studios, where he made some films in cooperation with the Manchuria Film Association. He died of cancer just after the war e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenji Mizoguchi
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Ugetsu'' (1953), and '' Sansho the Bailiff'' (1954), with the latter three all being awarded at the Venice International Film Festival. A recurring theme of his films was the oppression of women in historical and contemporary Japan. Together with Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Mizoguchi is seen as a representative of the "golden age" of Japanese cinema. Biography Early years Mizoguchi was born in Hongō, Tokyo, as the second of three children, to Zentaro Miguchi, a roofing carpenter, and his wife Masa. The family's background was relatively humble until the father's failed business venture of selling raincoats to the Japanese troops during the Russo-Japanese War. The family was forced to move to the downtown district of Asakusa and gave Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
What Did The Lady Forget?
is a 1937 Japanese comedy-drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. In 2009 the film was ranked at No. 59 on the list of the ''Greatest Japanese Films of All Time'' by Japanese film magazine ''Kinema Junpo''. Plot Komiya is a good-natured professor of medicine at a Tokyo university, who lives in a childless marriage with his strict wife Tokiko. When his niece from Osaka, Setsuko, comes for a visit, Tokiko criticises her liberated manners, including her smoking in public, which annoys Setsuko. Tokiko asks her husband to go for his usual weekend golfing trip to Izu, though Komiya is not keen. So as not to upset his insistent wife, Komiya leaves anyway, but leaves his golf equipment with his student Okada, and writes a postcard telling Tokiko that he's having a nice trip and the weather is fine. Setsuko follows her uncle to a Ginza bar, and insists on Komiya taking her to visit a geisha house, where she gets drunk. Komiya asks Okada to take Setsuko back to his home, where Tokiko is disp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Brother And His Younger Sister
, also titled ''An Older Brother and His Younger Sister'', is a 1939 Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Yasujirō Shimazu. Together with ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' (1934), it is regarded as one of Shimazu's major films, and a representative of the shōshimin-eiga genre. Plot Office worker Mamiya regularly returns home late from playing go with his employer Mr. Arita. Not only do his wife Akiko and his younger sister Fumiko, who lives with them, comment on this, his habit is also the talk of his colleagues. Mamiya's envious colleague Yukita schemes against him behind his back by alleging that Mamiya is an informer for Arita. Arita asks Mamiya to negotiate between his nephew Michio and Fumiko, whom Michio wants to propose to. When the self-confident Fumiko refuses the proposal, Mamiya accepts her decision, but Yukita spreads the rumour that Mamiya uses his sister to appease Arita. On the day of his promotion as head of the department, Mamiya is attacked by form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Legend Of Tank Commander Nishizumi
, ''The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi'', is a 1940 Japanese war film directed by Kōzaburō Yoshimura. It is based on a true story of the Sino-Japanese war involving Japanese war hero Kojirō Nishizumi, commander in the First Tank Regiment. To make the film, Yoshimura toured the actual battlefields in China. Cast * Shin Saburi * Ken Uehara * Michiko Kuwano Historical background Following his death during the Battle of Xuzhou in 1938, Nishizumi was declared Japan’s first "gunshin", or War God. His career became the subject of legend and widespread praise throughout Japan, spawning numerous biographies, songs, and novels in his honor. The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi was promoted by the Japanese Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of Education upon its release in 1940. Legacy Cinema theorist Kate Taylor-Jones suggests that along with films like ''Mud and Soldiers'' and ''Chocolate and Soldiers is a 1938 Japanese war film directed by Sato Takeshi. It shows the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
