Following its Oct. 23 screening at the film festival, "Hauru no Ugoku Shiro'' (Howl's Moving Castle) will open nationwide on Nov. 20.

Think of film festivals and chances are places like Cannes, Berlin and Venice immediately spring to mind. Tokyo, however, probably doesn't-though by all rights, it should.

Believe it or not, the annual Tokyo International Film Festival, which opens Oct. 23 this year, ranks among the world's 12 major film festivals. It's not a household name because it has never had a strong identity. Since its establishment in 1985, the festival has had a heck of a time pleasing the public, let alone the film industry.

Given the growing prominence of other Asian festivals, notably South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival, it has become all too apparent that the Tokyo festival needs to change in order to survive.

The problem hasn't gone unnoticed. In recent years, one general producer after another has been brought in to shake things up. Last year saw Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, chairman of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., take the helm. Now, he's giving it another go.

``Last year, we announced the slogan, `Cannes in the West and Tokyo in the East,''' he said at a news conference last month. ``This year, see that slogan become a reality.''

Emphasizing ``the East,'' or more specifically Japan, is clearly one of Kadokawa's aims. Still fresh in the minds of festival-goers is his decision last year to show Yoshimitsu Morita's ``Ashura no Gotoku'' (Like Asura) as the opening film, making it the first Japanese movie in 11 years to kick off the event.

This year's Tokyo International Film Festival also begins with a Japanese film. Yoji Yamada's ``Kakushiken Oni no Tsume'' (The Hidden Blade) will be shown Oct. 23 (6:30 p.m.) at the event's new main venue, Virgin Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills.

The veteran director's first period drama, ``Tasogare Seibei'' (The Twilight Samurai), was a hit both here and abroad and earned him a nomination for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Apparently eager to maintain his momentum, Yamada has followed up that success with another period film, whose plot recalls that of ``Tasogare Seibei.''

``Kakushiken Oni no Tsume'' is about a samurai (Masatoshi Nagase) who is struggling to come to grips with a new way of life in the closing days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Though deeply in love with a farmer's daughter (Takako Matsu), he is ever conscious of his higher status as a samurai in the old scheme of things and unsure if he should follow his heart.

For ``Tasogare'' fans, the story will be predictable. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Having directed all 48 installments in the ``Otoko wa Tsuraiyo'' (It's Tough Being a Man) series, which featured the lovable loser Tora-san, Yamada knows a thing or two about holding an audience's interest through films that couldn't be more predictable.

In a nod to the popularity of Japanese animation, the other film to be shown on opening night will be ``Hauru no Ugoku Shiro'' (Howl's Moving Castle), the latest work by Hayao Miyazaki. The screening, which is also the film's Japan premiere, starts at 10 p.m. at the same venue.

Miyazaki, who won last year's Oscar for Best Animated Feature with ``Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi'' (Spirited Away), can always be counted on to deliver the goods, and ``Hauru no Ugoku Shiro'' does not disappoint. This fantasy film revolves around an 18-year-old girl who has been turned into an elderly woman by a wicked witch and her adventures with Howl, a cowardly wizard who lives in a magical moving castle.

If the film falls a little short of his earlier animated works, that's partly because the storytelling weakens as the movie nears its climax. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same title by English writer Diana Wynne Jones, and Miyazaki tends to make stronger movies when he has a greater role involved in developing the plot and its characters.

This year, Kadokawa and his staff have added a new category to the festival program called Japanese Eyes. Its purpose is to bring this country's films to the attention of the world.

``Japanese films are so hot at the moment,'' Kadokawa says. ``Too many Japanese films of high quality get passed over for screening in each section, so we decided to create a new category exclusively showing Japanese films.''

Among the eight films in the Japanese Eyes lineup is Nobuhiko Obayashi's ``Riyu'' (Riyuu/The Motive), to be screened Oct. 23 (noon) and Oct. 26 (6 p.m.) at Virgin Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills.

``With this category, we hope we can support independent Japanese films as well as major ones,'' Kadokawa says.

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All Japanese films screened at the festival will be shown with English subtitles.(IHT/Asahi: October 15,2004) (10/15)