Mamoru Hoshi

Sci-fi writer Sakutaro (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and bank employee Setsuko (Yuko Takeuchi) met at as high school freshmen during their summer vacation. Since that time, the couple has always been together and eventually married.One day, Setsuko complains of a stomach ache and is hospitalized. Sakutaro then learns that his wife has colon cancer. Sakutaro takes the advice from his doctor that laughter helps the immune system and proceeds to write a short story for his wife every day. At first, Setsuko was expected to live for only 1 more year, but she lived for 5 more years and Sakutaro eventually wrote 1,778 short stories for his wife.

A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.

A collection of five short stories by Hoshi Shinichi

"Tales of the Bizarre: 2023 Fall Special" (世にも奇妙な物語 '23秋の特別編) is a Japanese anthology drama that aired on Fuji TV on November 11, 2023. This special presents four unique, mysterious tales. Episode summaries: 1. "The Eternal Two" An assistant accused of murder alters reality with a mysterious button. 2. "False Accusation in Hell" A lawyer defends a deceased man in Hell, uncovering shocking truths. 3. "Transistor Compression Contest" A fierce competition to compress a magazine leads to unexpected rivalries. 4. "Set Your Life's Playlist in Advance" A life-caster builds an AI idol, unveiling secrets from her past.

Consisting of 5 stories: 1. Extra Synopsis: A man decides to go against a society whose every action and exchange of dialogue has already been prewritten in the screenplay of life. 2. 13-banme no Kyaku (Guest no. 13) Synopsis: A short-tempered man gets his hair cut at a strange barber shop only to find that he cannot leave before going through a certain process. 3. Black Room Synopsis: A son returns home from America to find his hometown shrouded in black and his parents behaving very strangely. 4. Boku wa Tabi o Suru (I'm Taking a Trip) Synopsis: A man’s older sister goes on a trip without realizing the terrifying truth. 5. Otona Juken (Adult Test) Synopsis: A young man must prove that he is truly an adult through a series of real life scenario tests.

Hosted by veteran comedian Tamori, "Bizarre Tales 2002 Spring Special" presents five tales. 1. Mushi Game (Ignore the Game) - starring Uchiyama Rina 2. Okashina Machi (Funny Town) - starring Yanagiba Toshiro 3. Tokage no Shippo (Lizard's Tail) - starring Kashiwabara Takashi 4. Yogisha no Otoko (Man's Night Train) - starring Osugi Ren 5. Manhole - starring Kagawa Teruyuki

***Sainou-dama A talentless young musician receives a spam email advertising "Talent Balls"--three lollipops which when eaten will awaken your hidden talents and turn you into a savant. However, what awakens within him turns out to be far from what he expects. ***Virtual Memory A women is understress at her job and goes to a store that offers her a machine that allows her to live other peoples memories. What happens when she starts selling hers? ***Funsadan Kyouiku A new teacher finds that her pay is based off her popularity with the students, so she starts to create problems for herself to solve. ***Gozen 2-ji no Chime A writer gets a call at his front gate every day at 2 am, but no one believes him. And then a murder happens and none of the cameras pick the criminal up. ***Kaisou Densha An old man revisiting memories on the subway.

Hosted by veteran comedian Tamori, "Bizarre Tales 2003 Fall Special" presents five tales. 1. *Kagi (The Key) - starring Eguchi Yosuke. 2. Perfect Couple - starring Yada Akiko. 3. Toosugita Otoko (The Man Who Was Too Far Away) - starring Nakamura Shido. 4. Meiro (The Maze)- starring Tanihara Shosuke. 5. Kage ga Omonaru Toki (When Shadows Accumulate) - starring Yashima Norito. * Adapted from a novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka.

In pre-war Japan, a government censor tries to make the writer for a theater troupe alter his comedic script. As they work with and against each other, the script ends up developing in unexpected ways.

Kashiopea no Endo Roru A murder takes place on a luxury overnight train which runs from Sapporo to Ueno, Tokyo. The victim is a film director. The suspects are 4 women. Nokosareta Senritsu After a pianist concludes her best performance to date, she dies mysteriously in the waiting room. The cause of her death is potassium cyanide that was laced in her coffee. Kuroi Pan Teru A man works as a supervisor for a construction company. 30 years ago, he was a popular actor who played a hero character on TV. Now, he has a wife and a 20-year-old daughter. One day, the man learns that his daughter is kidnapped. Daiyamondo Dasuto A cold wave hits Tokyo. Two men, working for the same company, are unable to avoid overtime work that night. The snow storm then causes electrical outages. The two men must face difficult life or death decisions.

The movie is part of the Kindaichi TV movie series. Kindaichi is played by actor Goro Inagaki. The character's grandfather began with the written word. Kousuke Kindaichi started life in the novels of Seishi Yokomizo, written and set in post-war Japan. Inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Kindaichi is still very much a unique character, giving the Japanese their very own literary hero-detective. Young Hajime Kindaichi is a young man with bad dandruff and worse dress-sense (decades before Columbo), who wears a trademark, scruffy sunhat. He also happens to be better than the police at deductive reasoning. Having gained publicity for solving a high-profile murder case, the detectives allow him to work with them again. This story is slimmer than the twisty plots of Inugami and Village, but is graced by the presence of Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Great Yokai War) in the title role.

TV Movie based on the novel by Seishi Yokomizo.

Tales of the Bizarre: Spring Special aired on April 4, 1991.

Inspired by American TV movies like "Hitchcock Theater" and "The Twilight Zone," the show features multiple works with Tamori as the storyteller and actors as the main characters. While horror and supernatural themes are predominant, a variety of genres like comedy and drama are also produced. Most episodes, however, have a bad ending.

This drama follows the staff of an Italian restaurant and their everyday struggles. “Roccabianca” is a famous and popular Italian restaurant, but their head chef and owner Tatsumi suddenly collapses and the restaurant loses its unique flavor. The number of customers rapidly declines, but the owner’s daughter and deputy manager Saori happens to find another chef named Ezaki through an online job market who learned cooking at the same place her father did. Ezaki becomes the new head chef of this restaurant and while nobody can deny that he is a gifted chef, it’s his extreme rationalism that doesn’t exactly go well with the restaurants attempt to save its traditional flavor.

Recent retiree Takeshi rediscovers his passion for food and life by getting in touch with his inner warrior and eating what he truly desires.

Kyoko, a newly-appointed English teacher at a rural but well-respected, prestigious prefectural high school, had spent her childhood and high school years overseas before returning to Japan. Because she lived abroad for a long time, she cannot understand the old-fashioned ideas peculiar to Japan and tends to be frank about what she thinks. On the eve and the day of the school entrance examination, various incidents occur. There is the spectre of someone attempting to wreck the examination for some motive. Everyone present is a potential suspect and the truth remains shrouded in mystery to the end.

Urara Shiraishi is a model student with excellent grades. Ryu Yamada is a trouble student. One day, Urara tumbles down the stairs with Ryu. After the accident, their bodies become switched. When they tumbled down the stairs, they happened to kiss. They guess that they may have changed bodies because of the kiss. They kiss again and they get their own bodies back. Through kissing they can change bodies freely. They also learn that there are 7 witches with special abilities and that the 7 witches can use their special abilities by kissing, so Urara and Ryu set out to find the 7 witches.

Ryuichiro's bride, company president Mayumi Kitahara dies, leaving him to take care of her daughter Natsumi. Natsumi moves into Ryuichiro's flat, but he sets to work to be the father she never had.

Boku no Ikiru Michi is a 2003 Japanese television drama series.

A bold clash of taste and ambition unfolds when Yutori Shiomi criticizes renowned ramen master Tatsumi Serizawa's new dish but later applies for a job, claiming she can make it better.

After graduating from college, Yuuji lands the job of his dreams at the company that manufactures his favorite running shoes. The complete sincerity and selflessness that Yuuji shows everyone he meets causes many to dismiss him as naive or simply stupid. But when his good deeds start paying off, his co-workers begin to come around to the idea that nice guys don't have to finish last. -- DramaWiki

After a corporate restructuring, Mr. Ogura, an aging manager, is assigned to run La Mer, a French restaurant in Japan. Joe Satake, a very talented French Japanese wine expert, has been asked by Ms. Katagiri, Mr. Ogura's immediate supervisor, to help. Using his expertise and keen observation skills, Joe is a genius in selecting the right wine for every occasion for his customers. He is very eccentric and has high standards, demanding that the wine be properly handled and appreciated.