Akai hankachi (1964)

Akai hankachi: Directed by Toshio Masuda. With Yûjirô Ishihara, Ruriko Asaoka, Hideaki Nitani, Nobuo Kaneko. A hot-shot detective in Yokohama kills a witness during a drug investigation. He flees to the countryside and evades his past for several years, only to return to find the woman he loved married to his former partner. He searches for answers to his troubled past, knowing that his inevitable doomed fate is more or less sealed.

“First, this film seems to be available in Japan only. I purchased mine on a recent trip to Tokyo. I believe it was about 3600 yen (around $32) It is region 2 encoded and will plan only on u0026quot;all regionu0026quot; machines or machines imported from Japan (I have a machine from Japan)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enThere are no subtitles or alternate language track, so you need to be able to speak Japanese to appreciate the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat is the main interest? The hero Mikami is played by Ishihara Yujiro.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIshihara Yujiro (now deceased) was the brother of the current outspoken governor of Tokyo, Ishihara Shintaro who cowrote u0026quot;the Japan that can say no.u0026quot; about 15 years ago.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIshihara Yujiro is a sort of John Wayne for Japan – the manu0026#39;s man. The movie theme song is one of the most famous u0026quot;Enkau0026quot; Karaoke songs.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePlot: opening with a criminal running through foggy back alleys of the Yokohama harbor. Elite policeman Mikami (Ishihara) and his partner Ishizuka (Nitani) in hot pursuit. The crook stashes a mysterious briefcase in a little u0026quot;Odenu0026quot; stand and runs on, only to be hit and killed by a truck. As the police grill the elderly owner of the Oden stand, Mikami goes to notify his daughter (Asaoka) who thinks her father is drunk again and sends Mikami back with a sweater for her father. During the interrogation, it comes out that Mikami is going to be on Japanu0026#39;s olympic pistol team. The father wonu0026#39;t talk. As Ishizuka walks the old man across the courtyard, suddenly the old man turns, knocks Ishizuka over, grabs his gun and begins firing wildly. Rushing from the building, ace-shot Mikami pulls his service revolver and kills the old man with one shot. Needless to say, the daughter is furious… too bad, because she was Mikamiu0026#39;s love interest. In the ensuing scandal, Mikami is forced to resign. Four years later, real-man Mikami is working in the Hokkaido snows on a dam construction project drilling holes in the cliff when the police investigator Tsuchiya arrives to tell him that there is something peculiar about his former parnteru0026#39;s subsequent financial success and marriage to the old manu0026#39;s daughter…”