Nishida Toshiyuki is a Japanese actor who was born on November 4, 1947, in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He made his acting debut in 1974, when he began appearing in both drama series titles and movies. He made an international name for himself when he starred as Pigsy in the hit TV series “Monkey” (1978-1980) – an adaptation of the Chinese literary classic “A Journey to the West.” Between 1988 and 2009, he also starred in a number of hit movie adaptations of the fishing-themed manga comedy series “Tsuribaka Nisshi.” More recently, he has appeared in “The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms” (2020).

Nishida Toshiyuki

An unnamed hard-boiled private detective (played by Oizumi Yo) goes for a fateful evening out on a cold winter’s night at his favorite cocktail bar accompanied by Takada (Matsuda Ryuhei) his lazy but loyal driver and companion. After a few drinks, Takada falls asleep slumped over the bar and the phone at the bar rings.

The female caller asks to speak to the detective and asks him to complete a simple-sounding task. The detective agrees – but when he goes to carry it out, he is almost buried alive under snow by a gang of thugs. He is saved at the last moment by Takada’s quick-thinking actions.

The detective decides to take his revenge on the gang, but is interrupted by another phone call from the mysterious woman.

This once-simple job now starts to get very complex, and he soon finds himself investigating a number of baffling murder cases, one of which involves a powerful local business leader and his beautiful wife...

This film was based on the “Susukino Detective” series of books by the novelist Naomi Azuma.

“Phone Call to the Bar” is a 2011 Japanese crime movie that was directed by Hajime Hashimoto.

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