Kunie Tanaka

Overview

Known for
Acting
Gender
Other
Birthday
Nov 23, 1932 (92 years old)
Death date
Mar 24, 2021

Kunie Tanaka

Known For

The Boat to Heaven
1h 49m
Movie 2003

The Boat to Heaven

A young boy, Masahiko Sakurai, grows up in Nagasaki where he sees the clear blue ocean everyday. His mother wants him to be a violinist. To make her dream come true, Masahiko goes to Tokyo to learn the violin, and stays with his aunt, Setsuko, in Kamakura near Tokyo. Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Masashi Sada's novel of the same name received the 21st Japanese Cinema Reconstruction and Promotion Award and the 46th Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Fukumimi
1h 50m
Movie 2003

Fukumimi

29-year-old Satonaka Takashi (Kudo Kankuro) is a freelancer. He falls in love at first sight with Satoru Nobunaga (Shiho Takano), who was a nurse at his previous hospitalization. He half stalks her and ends up working at the "Time Machine" restaurant in Tokyo Patio, an apartment complex for the elderly in Asakusa. On his first day of work, Takashi is approached at the entrance by a strange old man (Kunie Tanaka). However, he is told that the old man, Fujiwara Fujiro, is already dead. Fujiro, unable to give up his feelings for Chidori Kanzaki (Yoko Tsukasa), whom he loved before her death, possesses Takashi and uses his body to fulfill his feelings for her. Possessed by Fujirou, Takashi tries somehow to get rid of the spirit, but without success. However, when Fujirou discovers his feelings for Saiya, Takashi is helped by Fujirou, who has a wealth of knowledge and experience due to his age, and finally decides to allow Saiya to live with him in his body...

北の国から 記憶 前編
Movie 2003

北の国から 記憶 前編

The Password is Courage
1h 0m
TV Show 2000

The Password is Courage

The story takes place in a small rural village surrounded by beautiful nature. However, it is about to be destroyed by a waste disposal plant. Something must be done. The villagers rise up. They get a lawyer from Tokyo to help fight alongside them. Only that he's not a real lawyer but a washed-up actor (Yakusho Kōji), who once played a lawyer on TV.

As the River Flows
1h 48m
Movie 2000

As the River Flows

2000 live-action Japanese film.

A Class to Remember III: The New Voyage
2h 13m
Movie 1998

A Class to Remember III: The New Voyage

A widow who has single-handedly raised her autistic son loses her job and begins attending a technical college to gain new qualifications. She meets others looking for a new start in life, including a former salaryman with whom she begins a furtive romance...

The Rainbow Seeker 2
1h 52m
Movie 1997

The Rainbow Seeker 2

Sequel to The Rainbow Seeker where Ryo meets Katsu on a small island in the south of Japan. There, he falls in love for a single mother.

Magnitude: Bridge to Tomorrow
1h 30m
Movie 1997

Magnitude: Bridge to Tomorrow

A drama about a father and his son centered around the Great Hanshin earthquake.

The Rainbow Seeker
2h 0m
Movie 1996

The Rainbow Seeker

A young man fails his company entrance exams and leaves home to work at a run-down cinema in Tokushima, whose owner lives to bring entertaining films to the residents of his small town.

Oishinbo
1h 45m
Movie 1996

Oishinbo

Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu".

Biography

Kunie Tanaka (田中 邦衛 Tanaka Kunie, November 23, 1932 - March 24, 2021) was a Japanese actor. He had his first notable role in 1960 as a thug in Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, and worked with the director again on Sanjuro. Tanaka is well known for his roles in Kinji Fukasaku's yakuza films, namely the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. He also appeared in Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan. He has been nominated for five Japanese Academy Awards, winning the Best Supporting Actor statuette for Gakko in 1993. He appeared as the lecherous Shinjiro Ishiyama, nicknamed Aodaishō, the antagonist of the hero, played by Yūzō Kayama, in all of the Wakadaishō series of films. The character Kizaru, from Eiichiro Oda's manga series One Piece, is modeled after Tanaka.

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