Shunsuke Matsuoka

For sixty years, the group of detectives known as “Detective Office 5” have raised the bar for detective work. The agents of Detective Office 5 are a group of stellar detectives lead by the genius code breaker Detective 507. When an unknown client enlists 507 to crack his most difficult programming code yet, the detective embarks for Shanghai where he crosses paths with a sniper, an informant, the head of the Blue-Dragon Mafia, and beautiful singer on the run, Meilan. As 507 stumbles deeper into a twisted quagmire of intrigue he discovers the sad truth behind the mystery.Read More »

This coming-of-age story revolves around two young long distance runners, Kenji Hirose and Ryuji Nakazawa. Kenji, haunted by memories of his dead friend Aihara with whom he had a brief homosexual affair, is now dating Aihara’s former girlfriend Kyoko, but Kyoko is more interested in Kenji than he is in her. Ryuji, Kenji’s friend and track rival, is pursuing hurdler Shoko but she in turn is after Kenji. Ryuji does have his own admirer, Nao, Kenji’s younger sister, but when they do get together, Nao resembles her brother too much for Ryuji to go through with the lovemaking.Read More »

Trainee designer Kasumi has married her employer in Tokyo, the manager of a design workshop, and has had a two-year affair with one of his clients. She and her unsuspecting husband are vacationing in Hokkaido with her ex-lover and his wife when their five-year old daughter Yuka disappears without a trace. Distraught, Kasumi clings to the idea that Yuka is somewhere alive and safe. She returns to the spot every year, hoping to find a clue. Meanwhile her marriage nearly collapses, and her ex-lover’s marriage does collapse. On her fifth visit to Hokkaido, she is shadowed by Utsumi, a detective who has his own ominous reasons for wanting to be involved…Read More »

“Very sweet, wryly funny in spots, but always haunted by war (described sparingly but never shown). It was based on a stage play and betrays its theatrical roots in some of the pacing and staging. It’s slow, perhaps too slow for action film fans, but it’s not boring. Rather, it’s delicate and precise like tea ceremony.Read More »