This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.

Tokyo Olympiad director Kon Ichikawa documents the 50th anniversary of the Koshien games.

A Man Vanishes examines the concept of Johatsu, tackling the phenomenon of people missing in Japan over the years. It picks one such person from the list, someone who had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth due to embezzlement from his company, and the filmmakers begin an investigative documentary into the reasons behind and attempt at tracking him down.

A college graduate falls in love with a woman during a business trip in Hokkaido

Documentary filmed by young directors in Japan that was shaken by the US-Japan security pact struggles and student disputes. An illusionary image comes back to life for the first time in 34 years. (Produced in 1968 but unreleased until 2002).

The secret of the Himalayas

Documentary on the city of Kyoto, Japan. Topics include the Ryoanji Temple stone garden, a geisha residence, the Katsura Imperial Villa, and the Gion Festival.

This documentary follows and records interviews with an actress in an underground theater troupe and others around her.

Nagisa Oshima's documentary details the rise of Chairman Mao during the revolution and shows the Communist Party's struggle and cultural upheaval. Made in 1969 for NTV station, this TV documentary also questions Mao's dictator tendency during the cultural revolution.

Early Japanese mondo film, also known as Mondo Grottesco.

Documentary about the relationships between mothers and their children.

The second of two concerts, where the boys have grey suits, was video taped by Nippon Television. The two shows were edited together and broadcast during The Beatles Recital, From Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, which was screened on NTV Channel 4 on 1 July from 9pm.

The Weavers of Nishijin captures the process of traditional textile manufacture in Nishijin.

Constructed as an experimental montage of still photographs, "Diary of Yunbogi" reflects on poverty and historical responsibility through the imagined diary of a six-year-old Korean boy living in a South Korean slum. Drawing on photographs taken during Ōshima’s 1965 research trip to Korea, the film juxtaposes the child’s daily struggle to care for his siblings with the director’s own reflections on Japanese–Korean relations.

Captures the optimistic attitude and entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of the Vietnamese people, who remain positive despite ever-present reminders of the horrors of the Vietnam War.

Akio Jissoji's documentary on the production of Ultra Q. Interview with series creator Eiji Tsuburaya.

A chronicle of the eight-year battle against the construction of the Matsubara dam at Ogunimachi Shimouke, Asogun, district of Kumamoto. Tomoyuki Murahara constructs the “beehive fortress,” the point of reference for the protest movement opposing the decision to expropriate land.

A fascinating glimpse of the Tokyo Paralympics Games of 1964 and the pioneering athletes who participated in them.

Tsuchimoto made this travelogue film in 1967, documenting a five-month journey from the port city of Nakhodka on the coast of the Sea of Japan, to Moscow on the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Beautifully shot in colour, Tsuchimoto moves the camera from celebrations and official parades to the expressions of ordinary daily life, portraying the experiences of young people in Siberia. This commissioned film was televised, but this theatrical version was never released, and it is rarely shown.

A feature-length documentary film written, directed, and filmed by Akira Ide, a former broadcast writer, covering the truth about discontinuity in the world.

This documentary examines the plight of Korean veterans who were conscripted into the Japanese imperial army during World War II and later left destitute in postwar Japan. Many, disabled by their service, are denied compensation because of their Korean nationality. Filmed for Japanese television, the work confronts public apathy and exposes the unresolved moral responsibility Japan bears toward those who fought in its name.

Documentary about Japanese pearl fishers.

Cameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.

A promotional movie that was shown to Kirin Brewery factory visitors at the time. Japanese history and family memories intertwine with a musical interlude that introduces song-by-song the industrial brewing process by a cute "Beer Spirit".

Anma (The Masseurs) is a representative and historical work by the creator of Butoh dance, Tatsumi Hijikata in his early period in the 1960s. The film is realized not only as a dance document but also as a Cine-Dance, a term made by Iimura, that is meant to be a choreography of film. The filmmaker "performed" with a camera on the stage in front of the audience. With the main performers: Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, the film has the highlights such as Butohs of a soldier by Hijikata & a mad woman by Ohno. There is a story of the mad woman, first outcast and ignored, at the end joins to the community through her dance. Inserted descriptions of Anma (The Masseurs) are made for the film by the filmmaker, but were not in the original Butoh. The film, the only document taken of the performance, must be seen for the understanding of Hijikata Butoh and the foundation of Butoh.

Documentary against buraku discrimination

This rare silent black & white and color Super-8 footage was shot with the camera of actor Kei Sato (Hachi in the film) during the production of Onibaba

Japanese "mondo" film.

This was a sponsored documentary film by director Kazuo Kuroki of Japan. This highly artistic film focused entirely on Japanese marathon runner Kenji Kimihara. Kimihara finished eighth in the 1964 Olympic marathon with a time of 2:19:49. He had previously won the Japanese trials in 2:17:11 on April 12th of that year. He competed in a total of three Olympic marathons in all (finishing 2nd in 1968, and 5th in 1972) and he won 9 of 18 marathons prior to the Mexico City Games, including the Boston Marathon in 1966. Kimihara’s personal best was 2:13:25.

This is a documentary centered on traditional Japanese patterns. To capture the unique sensibility of the Japanese people, the film features 170 kimono fabrics from the Muromachi to Edo periods, along with over 1,000 family crests that have been passed down through generations. These elements are presented using avant-garde visual techniques. Viewed from a modern perspective, the film transforms the exceptional patterns created by the Japanese in the past into a completely new illustrated scroll. The entire documentary contains no narration, relying solely on visuals and music to convey its message.

An experimental film edited from footage of the Japanese countryside.

Filmed between 1967-68 in 16mm, the documentary is a propaganda film funded by the Tokyo Headquarters of the Japanese Socialist Party to support governor Minobe Ryōkichi, elected in 1967.

A documentary film that includes footage of past Olympics held in different countries with an particular emphasis on the activities and successes of Japanese athletes and how they are currently (circa 1963) improving themselves.

Japanese documentary from 1964 directed by Noriaki Tsuchimoto. The film focuses on the taxi drivers of Tokyo in the year before the Tokyo Olympics and the difficulties they face: construction obstructing traffic, poor working conditions, numerous accidents, and bad pay. It becomes a critique of a changing and modernizing urban Japan.

Cameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.

This documentary records a South Vietnamese Marine battalion conducting village-to-village search-and-destroy missions during the Vietnam War. Originally produced in three parts by Japanese television producer Junichi Ushiyama, the footage documents interactions with villagers and includes scenes of interrogations and executions that provoked official controversy.

Documentary of the construction of the Tokaido Shinkansen rail line, the technology involved, and how it functions

A galvanising documentary about the organised resistance of a group of students barricaded at the Takasaki City University of Economics. The university student struggles at the end of the 1960s in Japan were the culmination of over a decade of protests, social dissent and political unrest. All this gave energy to the student movement, which displayed original and sustained forms of organisation and resistance against the government and which would spread to universities all over the country. Together with the filmmakers of the recently formed collective Jieiso, Ogawa Shinsuke joined a group of students barricading themselves inside the Takasaki City University of Economics. Shot over the course of a year, this film documents the nature of the political discussion and organisation as well as the fierce debates going on among the students and their violent struggles with the authorities. Credit: ICA London

In 1968, Ogawa decided to form Ogawa Productions and locate it at the newly announced construction site of Narita International Airport in a district called Sanrizuka. Ogawa chose to locate his company in the most radical of the villages, Heta. Some farmers immediately sold their land; others vehemently protested and drew the support of social movements across the country. Together they clashed with riot police sent in to protect surveyors, who were plotting out the airport. Summer in Sanrizuka is a messy film – its chaos communicating the passions and actions on the ground.

A short documentary by Hiroshi Teshigahara about his father, the sculptor Sofu Teshigahara, preparing an exhibition.

Presentation of polymer chemistry-based synthetic fiber, and the manufacturing facilities and production process used by Toray, Japan’s leading textile maker. Also depicts the textiles being sold throughout Europe and the US.

A film documenting life in Okinawa under the domination of American military bases

A documentary focusing on the things and animals necessary for the Olympics in Tokyo in 1964.

Haneda employed various cinematic and scientific technic to explore the world of cabbage butterfly, and the result was a completely new type of educational film.

Nobuko Shibuya's Japanese volleyball documentary

Cameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.

"In my filmography, An Engineer’s Assistant (1963) is called my “first film.” This PR film on the safety of the Japanese National Railways was designed to be “self-criticism” after the big accident on the Joban line at Mikawashima Station, which had occurred in 1962. Right after the events back then, the responsibility for the accident was considered to be negligence of the engineer and the engineer’s assistant. The topic of this project was the promotion of a new device to avoid accidents. However, I had seen that the true cause of the accident was a congested service schedule, and I consciously placed emphasis on the depiction of the actual work of the engineer and his assistant, and of those who had chosen the route and were responsible for safety on the line on which the accident took place."

An independently produced documentary about growing up as a blind youth in 1960's Japan. It focuses on a group of elementary level students being taught by Mr. Kawai at the Zoshigaya Branch of Tokyo Educational University. Filmed over 12 years, the documentary tracks these student's lives up through their young adulthood. It follows the journey of one student in particular, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, a young boy who eventually learns a passion for music and wants to become a recording artist. Expanded from director Hideo Hamada's documentary short "But We Can Gaze!"

A non-narrative tribute to the seaside town of Onomichi, where Obayashi grew up and where most of these films were made.

A film made with a group of student and worker activists during the Haneda 1967 protests against Japan’s cooperation with the US and the Vietnam war. The film subverts the conventions of mainstream television news coverage to investigate in great detail the killing of a young protester during clashes with the riot police and thus denounces the increasing use of repressive violence by the government.

Documentary on Chua Swee­-Lin, a Malaysian exchange student who was threatened with deportation over his protest against the separation and inde­pendence of Singapore.

A documentary film that explores the effects of air pollutants contained in smog on the body and raises the issue of air pollution. Selected for the Japan Industrial Film Competition Industrial Film Award and the Science and Technology Film Festival.

This film takes us into the microscopic world of the plankton that mass in the oceans. Their bodies ultimately turn to marine snow and accumulate on the ocean floor where, across vast time spans, they transform into crude oil.

While extracting and polishing their blocks of stone, stonecutters used to say “the stone is coming to life". This paradox provided Matsumoto with the best metaphor for what making a film is all about. In his opinion, filmmakers work images in the same way that stonecutters work stones.