What is "shomin-geki"

is a pseudo-Japanese word invented by Western film scholars. It describes a genre of realist film and television or theater plays in Japan which focuses on the lives of common working class people.

Mikio Naruse (1905–1969) and Yasujirō Ozu (1903–1963) were two prominent directors considered to work primarily in the field of shomin-geki. In Japanese the word for this genre of films is shōshimin-eiga.