Ken Watanabe (born October 21, 1959) is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in director Christopher Nolan's Hollywood blockbusters Batman Begins and Inception.
Action · Sci-Fi
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
8.42010
Drama · Crime
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.
7.72005
Action · Drama
Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
6.42014
Drama · Action
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
7.62003
Action · Adventure
In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent monster who seeks to be a detective.
6.92019
Adventure · Comedy
In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.
7.82018
Sci-Fi · Action
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
7.02023
Action · Sci-Fi
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
8.42010
Drama · Crime
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.
7.72005
Action · Drama
Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
6.42014
Sci-Fi · Action
As humanity picks up the pieces after the battle of Chicago, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs. With help from Cade Yeager, Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet.
Drama · Action
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
7.62003
Action · Adventure
In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent monster who seeks to be a detective.
6.92019
Sci-Fi · Action
Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
Action · Adventure
Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager; Bumblebee; an English Lord; and an Oxford Professor.
Adventure · Comedy
In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.
7.82018
Sci-Fi · Action
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
7.02023
Drama · Romance
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
7.62005
Action · Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
7.52006
Adventure · Fantasy
When Darren Shan is taken to a circus that's chock-full of sideshow oddities, he meets a vampire and receives a life-changing bite on the neck.
Drama
In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of love and redemption.
6.22016
Comedy
In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.
7.81985
Mystery · Drama
With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to win.
8.12020
Crime · Drama
A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. Based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction book of the same name.
7.92022
Drama · Crime
Living in Ikebukuro — an area infamous for juvenile crime, 21-year-old Makoto Majima becomes associated with a youth gang called the G-Boys. A troubleshooter known for his cool headedness and ability to get things done, Makoto diffuses tense situations around Ikebukuro to keep his friends and others out of harm's way. However, the mysterious death of his girlfriend and an escalating gang turf war threaten to be more than Makoto can handle.
7.42000
Drama
In 18th-century Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo rises from a poor background to become a leading publisher. Despite political changes threatening his career, he works to shape Edo’s cultural scene through innovative books and collaborations with artists.
9.32025
Drama · War & Politics
Broadcast TV drama NHK broadcast on January 4 to December 13, 1987 (Showa 62). In the questionnaire survey conducted by NHK, it is shining in the most favorite river drama. The original is Yamaka Sosaichi's novel "Date Masamune", the biggest drama on the theme of the Date house was the first time in 17 years since the "Shinnogi remained" (1970), which painted Datejo in the Edo period. It depicts the life of Matsudo Date of Sengoku warrior · Date Masamune who built the foundation of Sendai clan 620,000 stones in his generation as a result of my own wisdom and talent.
9.01987
Drama · War & Politics
Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.
8.32018
Documentary
An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet – polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.
7.72007
Action · Adventure
An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000 year old nightmare - a secret that should have remained buried.
5.32018
Drama · Thriller
An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
6.12010
History · Drama
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
6.52020
Drama · Music
A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after performing at a Japanese businessman's lavish birthday party. Unexpected bonds are forged in the standoff that ensues.
5.42018
Drama
Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his Yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wings of a famous Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of Kabuki.
7.92025
Action · Crime
An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated one of the women.
7.02013
Mystery · Drama
A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their blood. The killer undergoes plastic surgery and flees. At three different locations in Japan, a male stranger appears. People suspect that the stranger might be the murderer.
6.92016
Documentary · Drama
Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.
7.32005
Animation · Adventure
A young boy and his family set off on a sailing trip of a lifetime until a violent storm erupts, sweeping Michael and his dog overboard. After washing up on a remote island, terrified, they struggle to survive and adjust to life alone, One day, Michael discovers he is not alone when he is confronted by a mysterious Japanese man who has lived there secretly since World War II, angry that Michael has arrived. However, as dangerous invaders threaten their fragile island paradise, Michael and the old man, Kensuke, join forces to save their secret world.
7.12024
Comedy
A love story written by an ordinary housewife is going to be broadcast as a radio drama and almost everyone among the crew insists on changing various parts of the play to their liking.
7.61997
Drama
After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young businessman slips slowly away from his loving family.
6.12006
Drama · War
Two interns and a nurse are interrogated by American MPs for their involvement in an atrocity during the war: the vivisections of a downed American air crew.
7.01986
Drama
A top fashion photographer who, after being diagnosed with a life-altering illness, must overcome overwhelming challenges and find hope and strength in her journey of transformation.
8.02025
Drama
Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner to make ends meet. He also has a drinking problem, an overeating mother, and a propensity to protect the oppressed, all of which eat into his finances. His confident mother Masajo (Kyoko Kishida) is the descendant of a famous family of shogunate retainers and a mistress of the pen and sword, who regards her son as a failure.
8.01995
Drama
Eiryo Waga is well-known musician who has begun a rapid climb to stardom, but he must keep his terrible past a secret. One day someone who knows all about his past confronts him, and Waga kills him in order to protect the fame he has obtained. Unfortunately, as Waga is leaving the scene, he runs into Asami, a budding stage actress. An investigation team is established led by two detectives, but they have difficulty making any headway. Meanwhile, by coincidence Waga bumps into Asami again. She also has her own dark past, and soon they fall in love. But Waga is already engaged to Ayaka whose father is responsible for his rapid ascent to the top of the music world. It looks like Waga’s ambitions are about to confront reality. Based on Seicho Matsumoto’s famous work that was released in 1960-61, this drama illustrates the life of a man burdened with a heavy fate in a contemporary setting.
4.02004
Drama · Family
A 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and daughters.
8.02014
Documentary
NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on all sorts of topics and genres.
9.02017
Crime
During the day, Dr. Baian is the friendly and trusted village acupuncturist. At night, he becomes Baian, the assassin. Using his acupuncture needles as weapons, he takes on deadly assignments, killing evildoers with an undeniable skill and precision.
10.01991
Drama · Family
Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents, the story revolves around the Tachibana family and Rin's life throughout many years.
8.01986
Drama · War & Politics
The 40th NHK Taiga Drama is Hojo Tokimune. It tells the dramatic and turbulent life of young shikken Hojo Tokimune, and his successful defense of Japan from invasion by Mongolia in the 1200's. It is a tragic story of betrayal and clan wars and Hojo Tokimune is at the center of it all. The main focus of the story is Hojo Tokiyori's older sons, their relationship, and their views and actions concerning Kublai Khan's attempted invasion. The two brothers, Tokimune and Tokisuke, are torn apart by politics.
8.02001
Crime
A remake of the American show "The Fugitive." After performing emergency surgery, elite doctor Kazuki Kakurai returns home to find his wife and housekeeper murdered. He briefly confronts the real killer but is knocked unconscious. Despite his innocence, Kazuki is framed and sentenced to death for the double homicide. During a prison transfer, he escapes the convoy bus and goes on the run. Now a fugitive, he must clear his name while staying one step ahead of the relentless Detective Masami Hosaka.
7.02020
Drama · Family
A locksmith who can open any kind of lock with his well-honed fingertip skills is caught up in a case in which his nephew is put in danger just because he played a role in exposing political bribery due to his special skills, and his love for his sister-in-law.
1993
NHK's 50th-anniversary memorial drama serial. This drama consisting of several short stories starring some of the well-known actors and actress of Japan today. A ball floats from the river's source to the sea, unlocking the portrayal of six love stories across the four seasons of the year.
2003
