is a 1987 Japanese film written and directed by Juzo Itami. It won numerous awards, including six major Japanese Academy awards. The title character of the film, played by Nobuko Miyamoto, is a tax investigator for the Japanese National Tax Agency who employs various techniques to catch tax evaders. The director reportedly was inspired to make the film after he entered a much higher tax bracket after his success with The Funeral. A sequel, A Taxing Woman 2, featuring some of the same characters but darker in tone, was released in 1988. Plot A female tax auditor, Ryōko Itakura, inspects the accounts of various Japanese companies, uncovering hidden incomes and recovering unpaid taxes. One day Itakura persuades her boss to let her investigate the owner of a string of love hotels who seems to be avoiding tax, but after an investigation no evidence is found. During the investigation the inspector and the inspected owner, Hideki Gondō, develop an unspoken respect for each other. Itakura is promoted to the post of government tax inspector. When the same case involving Gondō reappears Itakura is again allowed to investigate. During a sophisticated series of raids against the hotel owner's interests, she accidentally comes across a hidden room containing vital incriminating evidence. Six months later the two meet again. Gondō is tired after daily interrogations. Itakura tries to persuade him to surrender his last secrets for the sake of his son. Gondō asks Itakura to leave her job and come live with him, but she declines. He cuts his finger and writes the name of the secret bank account in blood on a handkerchief of hers that he saved from the first time she investigated him. Cast Nobuko Miyamoto: Ryōko Itakura Tsutomu Yamazaki: Hideki Gondō Masahiko Tsugawa: Hanamura Yasuo Daichi: Ijūin Kinzoh Sakura: Kaneko Hajime Asō: Himeda Kiriko Shimizu: Kazue Kenmochi Kazuyo Matsui: Kumi Torikai Hideo Murota: Jūkichi Ishii Machiko Watanabe: Nurse Shōtarō Takeuchi: Rihei Hakamada Hideji Otaki: Tsuyuguchi Moeko Ezawa: Gondō's mistress Mitsuhiko Kiyohisa: Gondō's chauffeur Akira Shioji: Realtor Yoshihiro Kato: Yamada Mariko Okada: Mitsuko Sugiura Shinsuke Ashida: Ninagawa Kōichi Ueda: Ninagawa's confidant Yūsuke Nagumo: Ninagawa's henchman Shirō Itō: Owner of a game center Eitaro Ozawa: Tax accountant Keiju Kobayashi: Boss Tokuko Sugiyama: Grocery store owner's wife Video game An eponymous visual novel video game was published by Capcom for the Family Computer in 1989. Notes References External links 1980s sex comedy films