Takuro Okada – Konoma

In a jealous rage, Takuro Yamashita brutally murdered his beautiful wife after catching her making love to another man. Without hesitating, he delicately covered her lifeless body and turned himself in to the local authorities. After an eight-year prison sentence, he chose to start a new life as a barber in a small town offering perfect isolation from his fears. The agonizing pain of his wife's infidelity has left him unforgiving and without remorse. For years now, his only solace has been through an eel he kept as a pet in prison and, as of late, in a small tank at the barbershop. As a favor to the town's priest, Takuro has reluctantly agreed to help a young woman (Keiki) with a troubled past by offering her a job as his assistant. Beautiful, sincere and uncompromisingly dedicated, it would appear that Keiki is just what Takuro needs in his life. However, when he least expects it, Keiki's past will collide with Takuro's. And, if he isn't careful, Takuro's past will come back to haunt him forever.

Mukojima Takuro is a lonely teenager who spends his time fishing at the pier and, to his incredible surprise, fishes up Muromi, a mermaid. Muromi first off doesn’t realize she's a mermaid until she meets Takuro...

Izo Okada, a ronin (masterless samurai), desperately seeks a way out of his financial straits. He allies himself with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader, Takechi, and imagines that he has come up in the world. But Takechi makes Izo a killer and a puppet, filled with self-loathing and a need to stop Takechi.

Le temps des lilas is an ode to Romanticism, a love song and a nostalgic reflection on the bittersweet beauty of lost happiness. Dedicated to the music of Ernest Chausson, this album oscillates between passion and melancholy, wonder and nostalgia.

Lost Balloons are Jeff Burke (Radioactivity, Marked Men, etc etc) and Yusuke Okada (of Japan’s incredible Suspicious Beasts). Texas and Japan team up for a trans-Pacific, 2 man summertime pop explosion. The 2 play all the instruments (although there is a live lineup as well) and split singing/songwriting duties. This is their 2nd album, following 2015’s self-titled debut. "Hey Summer" works fantastically well as an album, meant to be listened to from start-to-finish.

An affluent medical professor, Komiya, and his bossy wife, Tokio, are to look after Setsuko, their high-spirited niece from Osaka. Setsuko is a liberated woman who does what she wants, including smoking, even though she is a minor. On Saturday, the professor does not feel like going to his weekend golf game, but his wife packs him off anyway.