Central Kansas Library System

Haunted by his personal demons, Marine Sgt. John Stryker is both hated and feared by his men, who see him as a cold-hearted sadist. But when their boots hit the beaches, the begin to understand the reason for Stryker's rigid form of discipline, as he leads them into one of the most treacherous battles in the Pacific.

Sixty-two years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil, giving faces and voices to the men who fought there and more. Includes several bonus documentaries.

Following the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister via the Ghost-infecting virus Fire-Starter, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her special operative team must track down the cyber terrorists behind the virus before they begin taking over the linked system connecting the general population's cybernetic implants.

Tom Cruise plays Civil war hero Capt. Natahan Algren, who comes to Japan to fight the Samurai and ends up pledging himself to their cause. Ken Watanabe ( Academy Award nominee) plays Katsumoto, a Samurai leader facing a vanishing way of life, whose destiny becomes intertwined with that of the American captain. Edward Zwick (winner of the National board of Review's Best Director Award) directs his sweeping an emotional epic tale of the birth of modern...

About a celebrated war photographer W. Eugene Smith in a real life David vs Goliath story, pitting Smith against a powerful corporation responsible for poisoning the people of Minamata, Japan in 1971. With the glory days of World War II far behind him, Smith has become a recluse. Between an impassioned Japanese translator called Aileen urging him to go and a much-needed commission from "Life" Magazine editor Ralph Graves, Smith is finally convinced...

When young high school student Takao decides to skip school one day in favor of sketching in a rainy garden, he has no idea how much his life will change when he encounters Yukino. Despite the difference in their ages, they strike up an unusual relationship that unexpectedly continues and evolves with random meetings in the same garden on each rainy day. Between the raindrops, between the calms in the storm, what will blossom in The Garden of Words?...

Two orphans in war-time Kobe, Japan, face fire-bombs, hunger, homelessness, and despair as the war and their lives come to an end.

Okinawa 1946, occupied by American troops whose assignment is to bring democracy to the inhabitants. The captain in charge, Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford), is a well-meaning but inept loser, and faces a wily Okinawan interpreter, Sakini (Marlon Brando), and a determined geisha girl, Lotus Blossom (Machiko Kyo), along with villagers who know how to take advantage of foreign occupation!

"Two young girls, Satsuki and Mei, have moved with their father into a new home in the country, while their mother recovers from illness in a nearby hospital. To their surprise, they soon discover that they share this home with some rather unusual creatures and even stranger neighbours - forest guardians that the girls dub Totoro. When trouble occurs, their new friends will help them rediscover hope." -- Container.

Chamberlain plays Blackthorne, an English navigator shipwrecked on the shores of feudal Japan, who becomes a samurai. Mifune is Toranaga, the warlord driven to become Shogun - supreme military dictator. Shimada plays Mariko, Blackthorn's interpreter and ill-fated lover.