# Confessions of a Dog
**Confessions of a Dog** (*Pochi no kokuhaku*; ポチの告白) is a 2006 Japanese crime drama directed by Gen Takahashi that portrays systemic corruption within the Japanese police force through the story of an honest patrolman drawn into organized crime after his promotion to detective.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) The film runs 195 minutes, was written by Takahashi and the freelance journalist Yu Terasawa, and was considered too controversial for a theatrical release in Japan, reaching Japanese audiences only in 2009 after a four-year delay.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [3](https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/confessions-of-a-dog/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Pochi no kokuhaku* (ポチの告白)[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) |
| Director and writers | Gen Takahashi; screenplay by Takahashi and Yu Terasawa[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) |
| Runtime and year | 195 minutes; completed in 2005, production year 2006[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499362/) |
| Japanese release | January 24, 2009 per AsianWiki; the Japan Society review dates the release to late 2009, after a four-year controversy[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [5](https://japansociety.org/events/confessions-of-a-dog/) |
| Principal cast | Shun Sugata (Takeda), Harumi Inoue (Chiyoko Takeda), Junichi Kawamoto (Kusama), Gen Idemitsu (Mie)[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) |
| Production | Grand Kafe Pictures; distributed in Japan by Argo Pictures[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) |
| Setting | Japan in 1999/2000, shot with a grainy, documentary-like quality[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Takeda (Shun Sugata) is a serious police officer with a sense of justice, working at a koban, a small roadside police station, and living as a husband and father. His meekness is noticed by the corrupt captain Mie (Gen Idemitsu), who lures him into the criminal investigation department with a promotion. Unable to refuse his superior's commands and indebted for the advancement, Takeda is drawn into organized drug smuggling and a web of backroom dealings, blackmail, and corruption that reaches the top of the force, including the prosecutor's office and the courts.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [3](https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/confessions-of-a-dog/)
As he rises, Takeda changes from a moral, family-oriented cop into an abuser of his authority, becoming detached from his wife and daughter and, in the Japan Society reviewer's account, cavorting with 16-year-old girls. Spiraling out of control, he accepts a final role as scapegoat, taking the blame for homicide, embezzlement, and bribery, and attempts suicide while in custody. Surviving, he tries to expose senior police in court, but a judge threatened by the police disallows his statement.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308)
The renegade investigative journalist Kusama (Junichi Kawamoto), who had exchanged information with Takeda, is barred from Takeda's trial. Armed with evidence of police crime that Takeda obtained, he holds a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan at which the misconduct is laid out. Japan's mass media, the film argues, has decided that police crime cannot be reported, leaving the public as the unwitting victim.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308)
The film closes with Takeda, broken and betrayed in a prison cell, delivering a six-minute soliloquy damning the Japanese police force and justifying his submissiveness with the line that "no dog can survive by disobeying his master," as the camera pulls back until he is a tiny speck in a vast prison.[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308)
## Origins and realism
Takahashi based the film on his own experiences with the police and on the work of his friend Yu Terasawa, a freelance journalist in Japan who writes about police misconduct; Terasawa shares the screenplay credit and appears in the cast list.[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) In a Midnight Eye interview, Takahashi described the film as a fictional drama while stating that the incidents depicted within it are real.[6](https://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/gen-takahashi/) The depicted transgressions range from blackmail and sexual harassment to claiming false expenses and staged drug arrests.[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308)
## Release history
The film was completed in 2005 but did not receive a Japanese theatrical release; Third Window Films describes it as too controversial for Japanese cinemas and notes that it was instead distributed out of Hong Kong, winning critical praise at festival screenings.[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [3](https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/confessions-of-a-dog/) AsianWiki lists a Japanese release date of January 24, 2009, while the Japan Society's review says the film was only released in late 2009; the Japan Society's own event page states it was "finally released in Japan after a four-year controversy."[1](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog) • [2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) • [5](https://japansociety.org/events/confessions-of-a-dog/)
Its international premiere took place at the Japan Society in New York on July 11, 2009, as part of the JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film, with Takahashi present for a question-and-answer session.[5](https://japansociety.org/events/confessions-of-a-dog/) The film also screened at the Glasgow Film Festival in February 2011.[7](https://www.scifijapan.com/international-cinema/confessions-gets-uk-theatrical-release) Third Window Films released the film on DVD in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2011, with a 40-minute making-of interview, festival panel discussion, and director Q&A among the extras; the release is now out of print.[3](https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/confessions-of-a-dog/)
## Reception
Reviewers emphasized the film's length as a deliberate choice: the Electric Sheep interview noted that the 195-minute running time allows full immersion in the connections between crime, police corruption, and a complicit media.[8](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2011/03/15/confessions-of-a-dog-interview-with-gen-takahashi/) The Japan Society review called it a powerful, grim indictment of the Japanese police, praising Shun Sugata's performance as Takeda and the film's level of detail and characterization.[2](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308) On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.3/10 from 170 votes.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499362/)
## The director
Gen Takahashi was born in Tokyo and began his film career at Toei's Tokyo studio. His directorial debut *Heartless* (1992) became a cult favorite, followed by films including *Young Blood Typhoon* (1995) and *Lady Plastic* (2001); *Charon* (2005) won the audience Grand Prix at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, and *Goth* (2008) adapted a horror novel by Otsu-ichi.[5](https://japansociety.org/events/confessions-of-a-dog/) On *Confessions of a Dog* he also served as producer and editor.[9](https://watch.plex.tv/movie/confessions-of-a-dog/credits)
## References
1. [Confessions of a Dog, AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Confessions_of_a_Dog)
2. [Confessions of a Dog, review by Susan Meehan, The Japan Society Review](https://www.japansociety.org.uk/review?review=308)
3. [Confessions of a Dog, Third Window Films](https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/confessions-of-a-dog/)
4. [Confessions of a Dog (2006), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499362/)
5. [Confessions of a Dog, Japan Society (New York) event page](https://japansociety.org/events/confessions-of-a-dog/)
6. [Confessions of a Dog: Interview with Gen Takahashi, Midnight Eye](https://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/gen-takahashi/)
7. [CONFESSIONS Gets UK Theatrical Release, SciFi Japan](https://www.scifijapan.com/international-cinema/confessions-gets-uk-theatrical-release)
8. [Confessions of a Dog: Interview with Gen Takahashi, Electric Sheep](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2011/03/15/confessions-of-a-dog-interview-with-gen-takahashi/)
9. [Confessions of a Dog (2006) Cast & Crew, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/movie/confessions-of-a-dog/credits)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2005–2009 films › Released 2005 to 2007*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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