- published: 03 Nov 2010
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Mitsui Group (三井グループ, Mitsui Gurūpu?) is one of the largest corporate conglomerates (keiretsu) in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.
Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi (1622–1694), who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture. From his shop, called Echigoya (越後屋), Mitsui Takatoshi's father originally sold miso and ran a pawn shop business. Later, the family would open a second shop in Edo (now called Tokyo).
Takatoshi moved to Edo when he was 14 years old, and later his older brother joined him. Sent back to Matsutaka by his brother, Takatoshi waited for 24 years until his older brother died before he could take over the family shop, Echigoya. He opened a new branch in 1673; a large gofukuya (kimono shop) in Nihonbashi, a district in the heart of Edo. This genesis of Mitsui's business history began in the Enpō era, which was a nengō meaning "Prolonged Wealth".
In time, the gofukuya division separated from Mitsui, and is now called Mitsukoshi. Traditionally, gofukuyas provided products made to order; a visit was made to the customer's house (typically a person of high social class or who was successful in business), an order taken, then fulfilled. The system of accountancy was called "margin transaction". Mitsui changed this by producing products first, then selling them directly at his shop for cash. At the time, this was an unfamiliar mode of operation in Japan. Even as the shop began providing dry goods to the government of the city of Edo, cash sales were not yet a widespread business practice.
Actors: Takashi Ukaji (actor), Masahiro Kômoto (actor), Shigemitsu Ogi (actor), Katsumi Takahashi (actor), Tadao Nakamaru (actor), Ken Utsui (actor), Kenta Satoi (actor), Takeshi Masu (actor), Gorô Inagaki (actor), Miho Kanno (actress), Masayuki Ochiai (director), Masayuki Ochiai (writer), Kuniaki Haishima (composer), Yasushi Fukuda (writer), Yuki Watanabe (actress),
Plot: Three apparently unrelated suicides occur on the same day in Tokyo. One involves a young athlete, one a groom at his wedding reception, and the third an elderly man celebrating his wife's birthday. A middle aged detective investigating one of the cases begins to suspect a connection between the three when he discovers that each person mentioned a "green monkey" before they died. With the help of a young psychiatrist he formulates the theory that hypnosis is somehow involved. In the mean time other bizarre "suicides" are reported and the mystery intensifies. Who will be next? What is the truth? Can more deaths be prevented?
Keywords: aluminum-baseball-bat, anorexia, athlete, bar, bare-chested-male, based-on-novel, bell, birthday, blood, broken-legActors: Akira Nagoya (actor), Kiichi Nakai (actor), Nenji Kobayashi (actor), Hiroyuki Nagato (actor), Denden (actor), Tôru Emori (actor), Toshio Kurosawa (actor), Isao Hashizume (actor), Akira Emoto (actor), Sôichirô Kitamura (actor), Takaaki Enoki (actor), Kôji Ishizaka (actor), Takuya Fujioka (actor), Teruyuki Kagawa (actor), Noboru Nakaya (actor),
Genres: Drama, History,Actors: Tatsuya Hamaguchi (actor), Hidetoshi Kageyama (actor), Ichirô Kijima (actor), Toshiyuki Kitami (actor), Noboru Mitani (actor), Yuki Kazamatsuri (actress), Kichitaro Negishi (director), Eri Kanuma (actress), Hiroko Fuji (actress), Akira Hanaue (actor), Yuusuke Koike (actor), Ayako Ohta (actress),
Plot: A schoolteacher gets a phone call regarding one of her female students. It seems that the young girl has been accused of prostitution and requested help from her teacher. The young girl's situation brings to mind some dark incidents from the teacher's past, which she is still trying to deal with.
Keywords: bare-breasts, eighth-in-series, eighth-movie, erotica, female-nudity, female-teacher, japanese-woman, part-of-a-series, part-of-series, pink-cinemaActors: Shunsuke Kikuchi (composer), Makoto Satô (actor), Rikiya Yasuoka (actor), Akira Ôizumi (actor), Tetsurô Tanba (actor), Noribumi Suzuki (director), Gôzô Sôma (actor), Asao Koike (actor), Shin'ichi Chiba (actor), Hôsei Komatsu (actor), Hideo Murota (actor), Hiroshi Nawa (actor), Isao Matsumoto (writer), Etsuko Shihomi (actress), Teruo Shimizu (actor),
Plot: Sonny Chiba plays the character referred to as "Mr Soh", who is based on the true life founder of [i]Shorinji Kempo[/i], Doshin So. Mr Soh has been acting as a secret agent in Manchuria during the Japanese occupation. He is first seen spying on a meeting of Chinese soldiers as they plan a surprise ambush on the retreating Japanese Army. He is discovered and has to fight his way out, using fists, feet and then a machine gun. He rushes to inform the Japanese commanders of the plot, but is horrified to learn that Japan has done the unthinkable by surrendering unconditionally. Soh returns to his homeland to find a ravaged land of beaten people. Victimised by gangsters, occupation forces and corrupt local officials, the poor and the disenfranchised have lost the will to fight back. Using his "Shao Lin" skills (subtitle translation of [i]Shorinji Kempo[/i]), he regularly champions the weak and teaches the black market thugs the error of their ways, becoming a regular guest at the local prison. He is seen to assist a former soldier, Otaki, who is seeking his lost wife at the bottom of a bottle, a fallen woman (Kiku) who has turned to prostitution after suffering rape by Russian soldiers, her little brother Kimio who gets injured by some American G.I.s who subsequently try to flee from accident. The Prison Governor warns him that the US Administration will not be so tolerant now that he has "crippled" the troops, suggesting a likely death sentence. He helps him to "escape" the jail and Soh leaves town in a hurry, pausing only to give advice to the band of orphans that he has befriended. Soh leaves the city of Osaka (central Japan) to go to the rural island of Shikoku where he finds a similar situation. He determines to bring new hope to the locals by teaching his martial arts skills to a growing band of followers. He gathers the loafers, ruffians and aimless, teaches them [i]Shorinji Kempo[/i] (referred to as "Shao Lin" in subtitles) to build them up to be stronger physically and mentally. He meets some new characters, who he soon enlists in his school; Tomoda the young ex-soldier and his sister Miho. When the noodle-stall girl Noriko is raped by a gang of [i]yakuza[/i] thugs, Soh and Tomoda dish out some rough justice (with some sharp scissors to one of the miscreant's tenderest flesh). Later, Tomoda and Miho are attacked and Tomoda has his arm cut off with a [i]katana[/i] (Samurai sword). Soh avenges that with a visit to the local [i]yakuza[/i] boss that leaves the boss with a dislocated arm and his minion missing a digit. Otaki, the former drunken soldier from Osaka joins the group, then in an emotional scene, discovers his wife is alive but has re-married after he was reported dead in the war. When the small-time local [i]yakuza[/i] gangs are joined by familiar faces from Osaka seeking to expand their activities, it is time for action with a capital A. Before the final climactic face-off between Soh's students and the yakuza mob, there is time for Soh to receive an urgent message to see Kiku in Osaka. He returns to find the orphans caring for a terminally ill Kiku, who had turned to prostitution to help support them all. Soh experiences an epiphany and comes to recognise that "Strength and Compassion must be together" ([i]Riki Ai Funi[/i]). In a typically cinematic finale, Soh's friend Otaki dies is killed by [i]yakuza[/i] thugs paid to clear the honest poor from land to be used to build brothels and gambling dens. Soh goes on a final rampage to clear the [i]yakuza[/i] right out of town forever. The epilogue reveals how Soh's school has flourished and spread across Japan (circa 1975), with scenes filmed at the organisations magnificent headquarters still based in the town of Tadotsu.
Keywords: martial-artsActors: Junzaburô Ban (actor), Arihiro Fujimura (actor), Frankie Sakai (actor), Tôru Yuri (actor), Ichirô Zaitsu (actor), Chieko Baishô (actress), Kazuro Funabashi (writer), Chôchô Miyako (actress), Masaharu Segawa (director), Taku Izumi (composer), Kensaku Morita (actor), Tomomi Satô (actress), Kiyoshi Shimazu (producer), Hiroshi Minami (actor), Utako Kyô (actress),
Genres: ,See the world the way I do
Through the eyes of a bitter truth
Fear will shoot through your soul.
You raise your cup and drink their blood
You've gained the power, but you've lost your soul
Oh, what have you done?
Can you feel their breath?
Like ice down your spine
They are here
Hounds of hell, sniffing your heals
Now there's nowhere to hide
No escape for you
You know you're doomed
You're going to die
[SOLO]
Cast away your chains and run
The battle for your life's began
Don't ever look back.
You can hear the hideous cries
They're getting close, you know they're near
Oh, they'll tear you apart
Can you feel their breath?
Like ice down your spine
They are here
Hounds of hell, sniffing your heals
Now there's nowhere to hide
No escape for you
You know you're doomed
You're going to die
[SOLO]
Hounds of hell, sniffing your heals
Now there's nowhere to hide
No escape for you
You know you're doomed
You're going to die