Watanabe Gisuke (Nagatsuka Kyozo) is a retired French literature professor in Teki Cometh.

Since his wife’s death, he has lived quietly alone in a traditional Japanese house.

He leads a regular life and enjoys occasional company from former students, particularly Takatsukasa Yasuko (Takiuchi Kumi), all the while considering ending his life before he runs out of money for his funeral.

One day, he receives a chilling message on his PC: “An enemy is coming from the north.” Despite his immediate dismissal of it as a hoax, an ominous feeling begins to grow within him.

Soon, he starts experiencing haunting dreams that seem to expose his deepest sins…Is it all in his imagination?

Tsutsui Yasutaka, the original novelist, once called this “a novel that I thought was impossible to film.”

However, seasoned director Yoshida Daihachi (Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction, JFTFP22; The Scythian Lamb, JFTFP19) successfully translates the book’s deep, unconscious karma and the self that cannot let go — even in later life — into this striking black-and-white contemporary film.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026

Knowing Me, Knowing You: The True Self in Japanese Cinema.

The UK’s largest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP),is back again. This is the place where cinema comes alive!

Knowing others—let alone ourselves—is not easy, as we behave differently depending on the relationship, environment, or even intention. In an age of advanced digital technology, where imagery can be readily manipulated, it is even harder to define who we, or others, truly are.

With these questions in mind, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026 showcases some of the most unmissable Japanese films nationwide across the UK.

From powerful social crime dramas and laugh-out-loud comedies to gender-defining films, fantasy, and horror, the programme offers something for everyone.

See all our JFTFP 2026 screenings!

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