He won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō Trilogy, "Zigeunerweisen" (1980), "Kagero-za" (1981) and "Yumeji" (1991). His movies remained widely unknown outside Japan until a series of theatrical movies beginning in the mid-1980s, home video releases of key movies such as "Branded to Kill" and "Tokyo Drifter" became popular outside of Japan.