Best Japanese movies
List activity
199 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
139 titles
- DirectorTakehiko ShinjôStarsAoi MiyazakiHiroshi TamakiMunetaka AokiA photographer named Makoto travels to New York during Christmas to look for his best friend, Shizuru. The two first met when Makoto attended his university entrance ceremony. Due to his inferiority complex, Makoto tends to shy away other people but Shizuru managed to make him open up to her. Because of their friendship, Shizuru also ended up taking an interest in photography and the two often went to the forest to take pictures. Shizuru wants nothing else but to be by Makoto's side, so when he started liking another girl called Miyuki , Shizuru decided that she too will like Miyuki and becomes her friend. One day , Makoto asked Shizuru what present she'd like to receive for her Birthday. Shizuru , who wants to enter a photography competition, had an idea to take a picture of the two of them kissing in a forest. Makoto agreed to do this and the two kissed for the very first time. After that day, however, Shizuru disappears from Makoto's life.
- DirectorJae-young KwakStarsHaruka AyaseKeisuke KoideRisa AiA lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYûko TakeuchiShidô NakamuraAkashi TakeiA young woman returns from the dead to her guilt-ridden husband and son, but she cannot remember them.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsMiki NakataniEita NagayamaYûsuke IseyaWhen Matsuko is murdered, her nephew, Sho, gets to progressively unveil the many details of her mysterious past, discovering she wasn't just a forgotten outcast and had led an intriguing yet bizarre life.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHayato IchiharaShûgo OshinariAyumi ItoThe problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou's dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKoji YakushoTakayuki YamadaYûsuke IseyaA group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTadanobu AsanoNao ÔmoriShin'ya TsukamotoAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTakeshi KitanoHirofumi AraiTomoko TabataIn 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody. Later he closes the factory, lending the money with high interests and becoming a loan shark. His hatred behavior remains until his last breath, alone in North Korea.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsEtsushi ToyokawaShinobu ÔtakeNaomasa MusakaToward the end of World War II, middle-aged soldier Keita is entrusted with a postcard from a comrade who is sure he will die in battle. After the war ends, Keita visits his comrade's wife Yuko and bears witness to the tragic life she has led. This year's Oscar entry from Japan finds SHINDO in top form and his 49th and reportedly last film as fresh and poignant as ever.
- DirectorTakashi KoizumiStarsAkira TeraoYoshiko MiyazakiShirô MifuneDuring a downpour, a generous ronin and his supporting wife are stranded at a country inn. The ronin comes to the attention of a lord who wants to hire him as an instructor for his men, who treat the ronin with disrespect.
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsMieko HaradaMaho NonamiFumiyo KohinataA woman with an abusive childhood travels back to taiwan from japan with her daughter in order to find her father's missing ashes, confronting her past along the way, discovering many secrets that were hidden from her throughout her life.
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsYasuko MatsuyukiEtsushi ToyokawaYû AoiYoung women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsMieko HaradaMitsuko BaishôShigeru MuroiFour down on their luck housewives murder their husbands and find whacky ways to hide the bodies!
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsYôsuke KubozukaKô ShibasakiTarô YamamotoSugihara, born in Japan but with North Korean parents, falls in love with a Japanese girl after changing from a North Korean school to a Japanese school. His boxer dad teaches him boxing - skills used a lot.
- DirectorToshiaki ToyodaStarsKyôko KoizumiAnne SuzukiItsuji ItaoA family struggling to live together even with the outrageous behaviors from each family members.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsYûta SoneKimika YoshinoShohei HinoA yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsTeruyuki KagawaKyôko KoizumiYû KoyanagiAn ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
- DirectorGen SekiguchiStarsTadanobu AsanoReika HashimotoKyôko KoizumiFive bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.