On the south side of Kyoto. Tucked away from it's ancient temples and tourist sites, lies a 40 building low income housing project. Mukaijima New Town, as it's known around the city, is home to poor immigrants, gangsters, drug addicts and lost children. Most residents of Kyoto simply ignore it, many don't even know it exists, but now, one young man is fighting to change that. Danchi No Yume - Dreams of the Projects, tells the story of Anarchy, a young man born into a hidden underworld of yakuza gangsters, immigrants and low income families struggling to survive in a strict Japanese society. To overcome his despair at being raised in a single parent household, Anarchy turned to the streets of Mukaijima and found others like him. They created a new family for themselves, a family of friends. Each have their own circumstances but they all share the common bond of being outsiders in a rigid society that ignores its underbelly with a cold indifference. Anarchy and his friends, with no money or resources, turned to Hip Hop to band themselves together and to express their pride and despair. Anarchy became the example for forgetting your woes and immersing oneself in the explosive culture of hip hop, where all you need to participate is a voice and a dream. The rags-to-riches success stories of other Hip Hop artists like Jay-Z, 50 cent and Eminem, serve as the inspiration and template for their own salvation. They will stop at nothing to achieve similar success and bring respect and honor to their home, Mukaijima. After many years of perseverance, the cultural trends in Japanese media are shifting. Once unthinkable, a lower class kid from the projects is making noise on a national level through Hip Hop. We follow Anarchy as he embarks on his quest to record his first album, Dream and Drama, and then brings it to the people of Japan through relentless touring and live concerts.

In the tradition of Central Station comes KIKUJIRO, the highly acclaimed new film from Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, the award-winning director of (Fireworks, Hana-Bi and Sonatine). Lonely nine-year-old Masao leaves Tokyo in search of his mother, a woman he's never met. He's accompanied on his journey across the Japanese countryside by surly, middle-aged petty crook KIKUJIRO (Kitano), who is none too happy being the chaperone. When KIKUJIRO gambles away all of Masao's travel money, the two must rely on their wits and the kindness of colorful strangers. Along the way, as the two share a series of wild and unpredictable adventures, they end up at a destination that neither of them could have imagined. (Original Title - Kikujiro) © 1999 Office Kitano. All Rights Reserved.

Imagine a world where video games reign supreme. Five story buildings filled with arcade cabinets, old and new, inundate the streets of downtown Tokyo. Welcome to Japan. A FilmBuff Presentation.

After her husband kills himself, future prospects for the demure and beautiful Mitsuko Fuji look incredibly bleak. Fortunately, her dead husband's largest creditor, Mr. Kito, is there to offer a shoulder to cry on as he offers to settle all her debts. But, sure enough, Kito's charity comes with certain strings attached; namely that Mitsuko becomes his personal sex slave. Things become even more complicated when Kito's son Kazuhiko falls for the helpless widow, throwing into jeopardy his own marriage plans.

In this tale of star-crossed love, two troubled young lovers - a gambler and a stripper - run off to the tranquil Japanese countryside to marry and start a new life. But their dark past follows them in the form of a veteran loan shark.

Yuka is a troubled young woman who suddenly begins working part-time as a high-class call girl. During her trysts with various clients she finds unexpected romance while on the job.

At an all female high school, a senior of the broadcast club becomes fascinated with the club's newest member. As graduation approaches and the summer heat rises, so does the sexual tension between the girls. Inspired by the photo book of photographer Yuki Aoyama.

A casual scam triggers a surreal series of events, which turns everyone into "ME" who eventually turns on each other. This quirky metaphysical tale of "self-multiplication" hits all the trademarks of cult director, Satoshi Miki ("Adrift in Tokyo", "Instant Swamp"), who has made a name with his original worldview that encapsulates all of his films. Kazuya Kamenashi of popular boy-band, KAT-TUN, stars as Hitoshi, who is at first disoriented in the world that is inhabited by so many Hitoshis, yet unexpectedly finds the uncomplicated relationships among "himselves" quite comfortable.

Cult director Takashi Ishii (Flower and Snake, Gonin) puts his signature touch on this perverse detective story, where a hardboiled private investigator finds himself lured into a strange world filled with violence and sex when he takes on an odd job to retrieve a lost Rolex for his mysterious employer.

Screened at Sundance, this serene coming-of-age story follows a cynical Japanese high-school girl as she learns the joy of lending an helping hand in the quieter parts of life.

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is the story of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be
awarded a prestigious three-star Michelin Guide rating, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro's sushi bar.

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family and the art of perfection, chronicling Jiro's life as both an unparalleled success in the culinary world and a loving yet complicated father.

The critically acclaimed love story about a former rising star in the New York art scene and his equally talented muse, as they navigate success, chaos, artistic passion and true love over 4 decades of marriage.

Acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows, Still Walking) won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for this touching drama. The life of go-getting workaholic architect Ryota -- one of comfort and quietly ordered affluence with his wife Midori and son Keita -- is violently overturned when hospital administrators reveal the unthinkable: Keita is not his biological son. Switched at birth by the maternity ward nurse, his "true" son has been raised in the disheveled but warm-hearted home of working-class shopkeeper Yudai and his wife. The different approaches of both couples to their excruciating dilemma and the gradual emotional awakening of the all-too-rational Ryota are at the core of this sensitive drama of family feeling, which showcases Kore-eda's rich sense of humanity.

In the aftermath of the great earthquake and nuclear meltdown that devastated the Northeast coast of Japan, two families whose homes fall on opposite sides of the evacuation border must confront hard choices about whether to leave, and whose orders to follow. The elderly Onos have deep reasons for not wanting to abandon their dairy farm, while their son Yoichi and his wife Izumi fear the insidious effects of radiation on Izumi's pregnancy. Meanwhile, the Suzukis' son helps his girlfriend search for her parents in a devastated landscape.

Shinkichi, a handsome 25-year old man, was cursed as a baby when his father killed a businessman. Unknowing of the curse, Shinkichi gets married to an older woman, Oshiga, who works as a teacher. It doesn't take long before the curse starts to take its toll on the couple and during a dispute, Shinkichi accidentally injures his wife in the face. The injury doesn't seem very bad at first but the infection soon spreads and Oshiga dies. Shinkichi tries to start over with other women but the deadly curse is far from over.