THE JAPAN FOUNDATION TOURING FILM PROGRAMME 2025 announces full programme of films

The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP25), is back for its latest entertaining and thought-provoking instalment, presenting a packed programme on the theme of ‘Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema’.

In a world where injustice runs rampant, cinematic expressions of justice seem inexhaustible: time and time again, heroic protagonists fend off malicious antagonists or enact their revenge, with the constant injustices they face mirroring those of audiences. Japanese film is no exception to this, and the JFTFP25 promises to showcase how Japanese filmmakers use the language of cinema to explore the concepts of criminal, social and moral justice, along with the ways people respond to external judgement. Featuring everything from thought-provoking hidden gems, powerful true-life tales, women-led stories, anarchic comedies, and unearthed retrospective titles, UK audiences are invited to join the festival in questioning the very concepts of justice, justification and judgement against today’s backdrop of ever-changing values and perspectives.

Real life incidents of crime and injustice have long been mined in cinematic storytelling and this year’s programme themes are explored in a selection of titles based on true-life stories. Inspired by shocking events in which institutionalised people with disabilities were murdered in Japan, The Moon (2023, 144 min, UK Premiere) follows Yoko (Rie Miyazawa, The Twilight Samurai), a once popular writer who, after losing her desire to write begins working at an institution for the disabled hidden within a forest, and Sato (Hayato Isomura), a seemingly empathetic young carer who begins to exhibit eccentric thoughts on the residents and the value of their lives. From director Yuya Ishii (The Great Passage), The Moon is a chilling adaptation which asks scathing questions on the state of the Japanese care system and the meaning of life itself. Inspired by a real‐life prostitution club bust in 2013, director Bunji Sotoyama’s (Soiree) Tea Friends (2022, 134 min, UK Premiere) tackles loneliness among Japan’s growing elderly population and the taboo topic of sexuality within this group through the story of Mana (Rei Okamoto), the founder of “Tea Friends,” a call girl service that sends elderly “tea girls” to its lonely old callers, ostensibly for company. The group enjoys booming business and a deep sense of camaraderie, until the seemingly‐unbreakable bonds suddenly begin to collapse. A Girl Named Ann (2024, 113 min, UK Premiere) follows a young woman who, having endured a traumatic childhood, finds her life beginning to improve through the intervention of detective Tatara (Jiro Sato). However, when rumours begin to circulate about Tatara’s involvement in a scandal and the pandemic threatens Ann’s future, her fate is once again thrown into question. Painful and emotionally‐charged, the film sees director Yu Irie (Memoirs of a Murderer) question the idea of forcing upon individuals the responsibility for broader societal problems within inadequate support structures.

The family takes centre stage in a selection of dramas which confront, challenge and hold a mirror up to societal norms in this year’s programme including quirky, chaotic black comedy Qualia (2023, 96 min, UK Premiere), the directorial debut of actor Ryo Ushimaru (actor: Lowlife Love). The film follows Yuko’s (Kokone Sasaki, Live) search for a new live‐in employee that leads her to Saki, her husband’s mistress. Throw a bullying sister‐in‐law and a reclusive colleague into the mix and Yuko’s once‐peaceful life becomes a tangle of bizarre relationships and blurred boundaries. In emotional mystery Stay Mum (Dir. Kosai Sekine, 2024, 128 min, UK Premiere), an estranged daughter, Chisako (Anne Watanabe, xxxHoLiC), visiting her dementia‐stricken father (Eiji Okuda, Like a Rolling Stone), encounters a boy who has lost his memory. Spotting signs of child abuse on his body, Chisako decides to pretend to be his mother, but the destructive consequences of her lie begin to close in leading to a shocking climax… Unflinchingly tackling a wide range of social issues, from whistle‐blowing and suicide to orphanhood and crime, Day and Night (Dir. Michihito Fujii, 2019, 134 min, UK Premiere) follows Koji (played by Shinnosuke Abe, star of recent TV hit Shōgun) after his father, a whistle‐blower, takes his own life. Under pressure from his father’s debtors, Koji begins work at an orphanage run by Kenichi (Masanobu Ando, Battle Royale; Kids Return), but when he is also dragged into Kenichi’s criminal activities by night, the line between good and evil begins to blur. Sensitively interrogating the idea of being “normal” and asking topical questions on our understanding of diversity and its true meaning, (Ab)normal Desire (2023, 134 min, UK Premiere) looks at the lives and desires of a seemingly disconnected group of people including Yaeko, who fears men but loves darkly secretive Daiya; Natsuki and Yoshimichi, who share a fetish for spurting water; and Hiroki, who cannot accept his son’s truancy. Finally, powerful drama Hope (2020, 108 min, UK Premiere) finds the Ishikawa family living a successful and peaceful life that is torn apart when their teenage son goes missing and is reported to be involved in a murder case, with the subsequent media frenzy surrounding the case pushing them to the edge. The thought process of an ordinary family torn to shreds by youth crime, the ruthless media machine that preys on them, and the scandal‐hungry society that devours them in the name of justice are all skillfully dissected by director Yukihiko Tsutsumi (First Love; The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps) in this tense drama.

Exploring the programme’s themes through a comic lens, a series of comedies lightens proceedings. Director Masaharu Take’s (100 Yen Love) We Make Antiques! (2018, 105 min, UK Premiere) is a breakout hit set in the world of Japanese antiques dealership and tea ceremonies, which kickstarted a beloved franchise. Shady antiques dealer Norio (Kiichi Nakai, Hit Me Anyone One More Time!) and talented‐but‐impoverished potter Sasuke (Kuranosuke Sasaki, Godzilla Minus One) team up to con respectable connoisseurs out of their money, including making a gamble of historic proportions against an authenticator who has wronged them both in the past. Brought to life by a fantastic ensemble cast including Yuki Amami, voice of animated favourites including Ponyo and Mary and the Witch’s Flower, genre legend Sho Aikawa (Dead or Alive series) and veteran actors Mitsuko Kusabue (The Devil’s Island) and Sandayu Dokumamushi (Ultraman series), director Tetsu Maeda (Do Unto Others, A Banana? At This Time of Night?) shines his comic light on the economic issues around retirement in What Happened to Our Nest Egg!? (2021, 115 min, UK Premiere). The film finds frugal housewife Atsuko’s retirement savings cleaned out by a series of disasters: she is forced to pay for an expensive funeral for her father‐in‐law, her husband loses his job, and above all, her big‐spending mother‐in‐law moves in… how can the family overcome their newfound financial adversity? A yakuza film with a difference, Let’s Go Karaoke! (Dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2024, 107 min, UK Premiere) is a heartfelt and hilarious comedy which sees junior high school choir leader Satomi’s ordinary teenage life turned upside down when yakuza lieutenant Kyoji (Go Ayano; Rage, The Snow White Murder Case) desperately asks him to provide singing lessons in the leadup to his gang’s high‐stakes annual karaoke contest.

Turning to the past, period drama Bushido (2024, 129 min, UK Premiere) finds respected samurai and skilled ‘Go’ player Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Midnight Swan) falsely accused of a crime, which destroys his family and his status, leaving him living the life of a ronin. When he finds out the truth behind the accusation, he and his daughter Okinu (Kaya Kiyohara, Josee, the Tiger and the Fish) set out to restore their honour through revenge, but their journey comes at a cost… Viciously emotional conflicts of honour and revenge collide in director Kazuya Shiraishi’s (Lesson in Murder; Birds Without Names) unmissable new twist on the samurai genre. Adapted from literary master Toson Shimazaki’s 1906 classic novel, Broken Commandment (Dir. Kazuo Maeda, 2022, 119 min, UK Premiere) is a moving deep‐dive into a hidden, taboo class system that still lingers in Japan today via the story of teacher Ushimatsu (Shotaro Mamiya, Tokyo Revengers), who has a potentially devastating secret: he is a burakumin, a member of Japan’s outcaste community. Despite rumblings of anti‐discrimination activism, those around Ushimatsu are beginning to doubt his roots, threatening both his position at the school and his romantic prospects. A contemporary successor to previous adaptations by master directors like Keisuke Kinoshita and Kon Ichikawa (both featured in the programme), this new version inherits its predecessors’ opposition to injustice and discrimination while critiquing the growing militarism at the turn of the century.

Women take centre stage across a number of titles which explore a range of contemporary societal issues. Unnerving and suspenseful, Rude to Love (Dir. Yukihiro Morigaki, 2024, 105 min, UK Premiere) follows hard‐working, well‐dressed and caring housewife Momoko (Noriko Eguchi, My Girlfriend is a Serial Killer) as she grows frustrated by her mother‐in‐law’s intrusions, her untidy neighbours, and her husband’s indifference, and her final slide into madness on discovery of his affair. 99% Cloudy… Always (2023, 110 min, UK Premiere) is an uncompromising drama exploring the conventional standards enforced on women on the autism spectrum, as seen via 45‐year‐old Kazuha (Midori Sangoumi) who, despite a happy life with her husband, is deeply affected when a family member asks if she’s ever going to have children – she is uncertain, not only due to a past miscarriage but also because of her concerns over how her Asperger’s Syndrome may affect her abilities as a mother. Similarly tackling an issue not generally represented on screen, All the Long Nights (2024, 119 min, UK Premiere) is a thoughtful character study looking with empathy and kindness at one woman’s struggles with PMS. In the film, Misa (Mone Kamishiraishi, Your Name; Wolf Children), a woman with debilitating PMS, and Takatoshi (Hokuto Matsumura, Suzume), a man with a severe panic disorder, initially clash when they meet at work, but soon come to share a mutual understanding of their struggles to mentally and physically function “normally”, and develop a unique and precious companionship. In director Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s (Three Stories of Love; All Around Us) loving contribution to the Japanese “home drama” genre, To Mom, With Love (2024, 106 min, UK Premiere), three very different sisters gather at a hot spring resort to celebrate their mother’s birthday: the bossy spinster Yayoi (Noriko Eguchi, also appearing in Rude to Love), the beautiful but chaotic Manami (Chika Uchida, Lowlife Love), and the disillusioned Kiyomi (Kotone Furukawa, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy). When Kiyomi reveals a big surprise, their happy gathering descends into chaos and sibling rivalry in this lightning‐fast dysfunctional family comedy. The Scoop (Dir. Keiichi Kobayashi, 2024, 98 min, UK Premiere) centres on bookworm Yui’s unique entry requirement for her school’s literature club: she must find out the true identity of an elusive but famous student writer. Yui infiltrates the newspaper club to investigate, but quickly discovers darker secrets that will shake her school to its very core… this gripping, skilfully-acted school drama depicts a microcosm of the society we inhabit, where injustice is everywhere and journalism is relied upon to, supposedly, fight back against all odds.

The ‘time-loop’ is fast becoming its own distinct genre in contemporary Japanese cinema with quirky and imaginative titles in the past few years including Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes, River and last year’s JFTFP offering Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week!. Two films from this year’s programme offer original time travel twists with Penalty Loop (Dir. Shinji Araki, 2023, 99 min), proving a darker entry than previous offerings, as a young man Jun (Ryuya Wakaba, Gantz series) seeks revenge for his girlfriend’s death. After killing the man who murdered his lover he wakes to find himself trapped in a time loop of the same day, exacting his revenge over and over again… Then, in A Samurai in Time (2024, 131 min) swordsman Shinzaemon (Makiya Yamaguchi, Confessions) draws his blade against his rival on the streets of Kyoto – only for lightning to strike, sending him forward through time onto the set of a twenty-first century period drama! This crowd-pleasing comedy drama offers a heartfelt tribute to the once mighty ‘jidaigeki’.

Justice and judgement are examined in three tense and thought-provoking films that use the thriller genre to compellingly address real world issues. Anchored by performances from leading men Hiroshi Abe (Still Walking; After The Storm) and Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin series), In the Wake (Dir. Takahisa Zeze, 2021, 134 min, UK Premiere), sees a sinister serial murder case unfold in Sendai nine years after the city was ravaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Prefectural investigator Tomashino suspects ex-convict Tone, but discovers that the case’s roots lie deep in the disaster and the social injustice that followed it. Police PR employee Izumi Moriguchi’s (Hana Sugisaki, Blade of the Immortal) best friend is murdered in the midst of a major police misconduct scandal in the suspenseful Sakura (Dir. Hiroto Hara, 2024, 119 min, UK Premiere). Izumi is determined to find the killer, but the police force’s secrets run deep, and her search for justice uncovers far more than she bargained for. In the arresting thriller Ichiko (Dir. Akihiro Toda, 2023, 126 min, UK Premiere) actor Hana Sugisaki returns, this time as a young woman who vanishes after her boyfriend’s (Ryuya Wakaba, also seen in Penalty Loop) marriage proposal. Bewildered, he sets out to find her, and discovers a shocking truth: there is no record of her ever existing. Who is Ichiko, and where has she gone?

This year’s animated entry is Ghost Cat Anzu (2024, 97 min), a visually stunning joy that brings the world of Japan’s yokai (ghosts) to vibrant, charming life. Eleven‐year‐old Karin isn’t happy when her good‐for‐nothing father drops her off at her grandfather’s temple to stay while he runs away from the loan sharks on his tail, nor is she excited when she meets Anzu (voiced by Mirai Moriyama, Inu-oh), her grandfather’s 37‐year‐old, six foot tall, bipedal, talking cat! After reluctantly banding together, this unusual pair set off on an extraordinary, magical journey, which eventually leads them on a path down to the underworld itself…

Completing the programme are two stunning retrospective titles from two of Japan’s greatest filmmakers. Kon Ichikawa, best known for his searing anti-war polemics The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain, kabuki tale An Actor’s Revenge and his ground-breaking documentary on the 1964 Olympics, Tokyo Olympiad, here presents a thrilling ensemble mystery, The Inugami Family (1976, 146 min). Set shortly after World War II, the Inugami family patriarch’s death brings a shocking revelation: only one of his grandsons can inherit his fortune, and to do so he must marry outsider Tamayo (Yoko Shimada, Shogun). The scramble for the inheritance takes a dark turn when a series of gruesome murders shake the family to its core. The first of various film and TV drama adaptations of crime and mystery novelist Seishi Yokomizo’s best‐selling novel, Ichikawa weaves a compelling tale of human greed and family strife, setting a new standard for the Japanese noir and demonstrating his typically brilliant use of colour. From legendary director of Japan’s Golden Age of cinema Keisuke Kinoshita (The Snow Flurry; Twenty-Four Eyes; Ballad of Narayama), Carmen Comes Home (1951, 86 min) is one of the director’s most beloved films which holds the distinction of being the first ever Japanese feature film produced in full colour. When a self‐proclaimed artistic dancer who goes by the stage name of Carmen returns to her rural hometown, her behaviour and dress sense soon cause confusion and upset as the film humorously depicts shifts in post‐war moral standards. The film stars Hideko Takamine, a Kinoshita regular who also notably worked with the biggest directors of the age including Mikio Naruse in Floating Clouds and A Woman Ascends the Stairs, Yasujiro Ozu in The Munekata Sisters and Akira Kurosawa in Those Who Make Tomorrow.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025 takes place in cinemas around the UK from 7 February – 31 March 2025