is a 1979

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese film directed by

Yasuo Furuhata was a Japanese film director. He was a director of Toei film company and he often worked with Ken Takakura in such films as '' Eki'' and ''Shin Abashiri Bangaichi''. He won the 2000 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year and 31st Internati ...

. Inspired by

Lockheed bribery scandals The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft. The scandal caused consid ...

. Modeling on

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives from 1947 Japanese general election, 1947 to 1990 Japanese general election, 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After ...

and

Yoshio Kodama was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist and a prominent figure in the rise of organized crime in Japan. The most famous '' kuromaku'', or behind-the-scenes power broker, of the 20th century, he was active in Japan's political arena and crimi ...

, the film depicts the collusion between Japanese right-wing organizations and the political and business world.

Nagisa Oshima NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...

was due to direct this film.

Plot

Yamaoka is a fixer who made a man the prime minister of Japan, but he is being pursued for violating the Foreign Exchange Law and tax evasion in a fraudulent case involving the sale of aircraft. One day a boy tries to kill Yamaoka, but fails because Imaizumi stops him, and Yamaoka names him Koichi and makes him his subordinate.

Cast

Shin Saburi was a Japanese film actor noted for his leading roles in a number of films by the director Yasujirō Ozu including ''Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family'' (1941), '' Tea Over Rice'' (1952), ''Equinox Flower'' (1958) and '' Late Autumn'' (196 ...

as Yamakuni (modeled after

) *

Masakazu Tamura was a Japanese film and theatre actor. Profile Masakazu Tamura was born 1 August 1943 in Kyoto, Japan to Japanese actor Tsumasaburō Bandō. Tsumasaburō Bandō died when Tamura was only nine years old. His brothers Takahiro and Ryō are also ...

as Imaizumi *

Kayo Matsuo is a Japanese actress. Partial filmography # '' Endless Desire'' (''Hateshinaki yokubo'', 1958) # '' My Second Brother'' (''Nianchan'', 1959) # '' Hikaru umi'' (1963) # '' Gate of Flesh'' (''Nikutai no mon'', 1964) # '' Story of a Prostitute'' ( ...

as Masako Yamaoka *

Kyoko Enami was a Japanese film and television actress. Career Enami was the daughter of the actress Kazuko Enami. She joined the Daiei Film studio in 1959 and made her screen debut in 1960 with ''Ashita kara otona da''. Her first starring role as Noboriry� ...

as Toshiko Yamaoka *

Akira Nakao is a Japanese actor, TV personality, and artist from Kisarazu, Chiba. Nakao is represented by the Furutachi Project agency. Biography Nakao attended Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School from 1958, and entered Musashino Art University from 1961 ...

as Dan *

Seizō Fukumoto (3 February 1943 – 1 January 2021) was a Japanese actor. Biography He started acting at age 15 in Kyoto, the capital of Japanese cinema. A specialist in film and television jidaigeki set in the Edo period, he most often played a rōnin, but in ...

as Nakahashi *Harumi Sone as Yutaka Ikeuchi *

Junkichi Orimoto was a Japanese actor. Orimoto often worked with Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima. He started his acting career at the Shinkyō theatre company in 1949. His first film appearance was in the 1952 film ''Yamabiko Gakkō'' directed by Tadashi Imai. ...

as Tsunuma *Ryunosuke Kaneda as Hirayama *Maki Tachibana as Kayoko Sawai *Masataka Iwao as Yuji Maejima *Etsushi Takahashi as Masao Kaga *

Nenji Kobayashi is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for ''Poppoya''. Kobayashi signed with Toei in 1961 and started his acting career with small roles. Filmography Film * '' Soshiki Bōryoku'' (196 ...

as Shunsuke Mizumaki *

Ichirō Nakatani was a Japanese actor. He attended Waseda University, but withdrew before completing his degree and joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company. In 1959, Nakatani won Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year. Nakatani was well known for his role as Ninj ...

as Yoshino *

Kunie Tanaka was a Japanese actor. Tanaka first made a name for himself as the lecherous antagonist of the ''Wakadaishō'' series (1961–1981) of films. He is also well-known for his roles in Kinji Fukasaku's yakuza films, namely the ''Battles Without Honor ...

as Tatsuo Ryuzaki *

Noboru Nakaya Noboru (written: , , , , in hiragana or katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, official in the government of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture *, former professional sumo wrestler and current politician fr ...

as Suzumura *

Ichirō Arishima was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'' (1962). Arishima's real name was Tadao Oshima. He was bor ...

as Heikichi Shibuya *

Mikio Narita was a Japanese actor. He was most famous for playing villains. He often worked with Kinji Fukasaku. Narita graduated from Haiyuza Theatre Company acting school and joined Daiei Film. His career as a screen actor started in 1963. His film debut ...

as Yasuzo Morishima *Chomei Soganoya as Tasuo Osanai(modeled after

) *

Tatsuo Umemiya was a Japanese actor, ''tarento'', and businessman. He was represented by the agency Pickles. His daughter is model and ''tarento'' Anna Umemiya. The son of a doctor, Umemiya gave up a medical career to debut as a Toei New Face at the Toei Stu ...

as Takayoshi Oguri

References

External links

* Japanese drama films 1970s Japanese films {{1970s-Japan-film-stub