TOKYO -- The Nippon Academy-sho Association has announced its noms for the 31st Japan Academy Awards, with the biggest haul, thirteen noms, going to "Tokyo Tower, Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad."

Helmed by Joji Matsuoka, the pic stars Joe Odagiri as a struggling illustrator and Kirin Kiki as the cancer-afflicted mother he cares for when she comes from her native Kyushu to Tokyo for treatment. Based on a best-selling autobiographical novel by illustrator and media personality Lily Franky, the pic was preceded by a hit TV drama.  

Picking up twelve noms was "Always 2," the sequel to the hit ensemble drama about life in 1950s Tokyo that scooped twelve Japan Academy Awards for 2005.  

Third in the AA race, with eleven noms, was "I Just Didn't Do It," helmer Masayuki Suo's courtroom drama about a salaryman falsely accused of groping a teenage girl in a commuter train.

A total of 189 Japanese pics and 272 foreign pics were considered for the noms. The awards will be presented on February 15, 2008.

2007 Japan Academy Awards nominations

Best Picture

Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me and Sometimes Dad

Always 2

I Just Didn't Do It

Bizan

Kisaragi

Best Actor

Koji Yakusho

Sadao Abe

Joe Odagiri

Ryo Kase

Hidetaka Yoshioka

Best Actress

Kirin Kiki

Shinobu Terajima

Miki Nakatani

Rie Miyazawa

Best Director

Isshin Inudo (Bizan)

Yuichi Sato (Kisaragi)

Masayuki Suo (I Just Didn't Do It)

Joji Matsuoka (Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me and Sometimes Dad)

Takashi Yamazaki (Always 2)

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