Maison Ikkoku is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from November 1980 to April 1987, with the chapters collected into 15 tankōbon volumes. Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy involving a group of eccentric people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo. The story focuses primarily on the gradually developing relationships between Yusaku Godai, a poor student down on his luck, and Kyoko Otonashi, a young, recently widowed boarding house manager.
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Jerusalem Prize and the Princess of Asturias Awards.
Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusion, drug use, surrealism, murder and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are Almost Transparent Blue, Audition, Coin Locker Babies and In the Miso Soup.
The Akutagawa Prize is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes.
Tokyo Decadence is Japanese pink film. This erotic film was directed by Ryū Murakami with music by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The film was shot and completed during 1991 and released in the start of 1992. It stars Miho Nikaido and is known by two alternate titles, Topaz and Sex Dreams of Topaz.. Because of the cruel and graphic nature of this film, it has been banned in several countries such as Australia and South Korea. Shimada Masahiko also makes an appearance in this film. The story follows Ai, the submissive and lovesick prostitute who goes about her trade with misery and is being abused by hedonists and criminals while trying to find some sort of appeasement away from the fact that her lover is currently married.
Tokyo Story is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama, about an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children.
Almost Transparent Blue is a 1976 novel, written by Japanese author Ryū Murakami, that features a portrait of narrator Ryū and his friends trapped in a cycle of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll during the 1970s.
Osao Chosei Funahara is a musician and film director and producer. Born in Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan, Chosei Funahara was educated in both United States and Japan. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Nihon University College of Art's Cinema Department in Tokyo. While pursuing New York University's NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science, he performed as bassist and founding member of the cult punk rock group the Plasmatics.
Skip Beat!, abbreviated as Sukibi, is a Japanese shōjo manga by Yoshiki Nakamura. It is the story of Kyoko Mogami, a 16-year-old girl who discovers that her childhood friend and romantic goal, Shotaro Fuwa, only keeps her around to act as a maid and to earn his living expenses, while he works his way to become the top pop idol in Japan. Furious and heartbroken, she vows revenge by beating him in show business.
Tomoko Ishimura is a Japanese voice actress who works for 81 Produce. She was formerly credited as Mifuyu Hiiragi and Kyoko Tsuruno.
Kyōko, Kyoko, Kyouko, or Kyohko is a very common feminine Japanese given name. Not to be confused with Kiyoko.
Ju-on: The Curse, also known as simply Ju-on, is a 2000 Japanese V-Cinema supernatural horror film and the first installment in the Ju-on franchise, following two short films. The film was written and directed by Takashi Shimizu and is divided into six parts, chronicling the experiences of tenants of a cursed house where a man, Takeo Saeki killed his wife, Kayako, in a jealous rage. It was followed by Ju-on: The Curse 2 in the same year.
Kyoko is a Japanese feminine given name.
Piercing is a novel by Ryu Murakami. Originally published in Japanese in 1994, it was translated and published in English by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2008. An American film adaptation starring Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska, directed by Nicolas Pesce, was released in 2019.
1Q84 is a novel written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, first published in three volumes in Japan in 2009–10. It covers a fictionalized year of 1984 in parallel with a "real" one. The novel is a story of how a woman named Aomame begins to notice strange changes occurring in the world. She is quickly caught up in a plot involving Sakigake, a religious cult, and her childhood love, Tengo, and embarks on a journey to discover what is "real".
Audition (オーディション) is a Japanese novel by Ryu Murakami published in 1997 and published in English in 2009. It was the basis for the 1999 film Audition, directed by Takashi Miike.
Gunshi Kanbei is a 2014 Japanese historical drama television series and the 53rd NHK taiga drama. The series was broadcast from January 5 to December 21, 2014, and ran a total of 50 episodes. The drama depicts the life of Kuroda Kanbei, a retainer of daimyō Kodera Masamoto of Harima Province, and a strategist for daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Takeda Shingen (武田信玄) is a 1988 Japanese historical television series. It is the 26th NHK Taiga drama. It is based on the novels by Jirō Nitta of the same title. It had the average viewing rating of 39.7%, with its peak reaching 47.8%. It had the second highest average viewership rating in its history with only a 0.5% difference to the previous year's Taiga drama One-Eyed Dragon Masamune.
From the Fatherland, with Love is a novel by Ryū Murakami, first published in Japanese in 2005 and translated into English in 2013 by Ralph McCarthy, Charles De Wolf, and Ginny Tapley. The novel depicts an alternate history in which North Korea invades and then occupies the Japanese island of Kyushu in 2011. Murakami states that he spent 3 years researching the novel, including interviewing 20 refugees from North Korea.
Bōkyaku Tantei is a Japanese mystery novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Vofan. It has been published by Kodansha since October 2014 under their Kodansha Bungei label. A manga adaptation by Yō Asami titled Okitegami Kyōko no Bibōroku was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine from August 2015 to March 2017. It was collected in five tankōbon volumes. A Japanese drama adaptation also titled Okitegami Kyōko no Bibōroku aired for 10 episodes on NTV from October to December 2015.
