Japanese Films
List activity
527 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
58 titles
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsLily FrankySakura AndôKirin KikiOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsToshiyuki NishidaTomokazu MiuraTakeshi KitanoAs the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsTakeshi KitanoKippei ShînaRyô KaseThe boss of a major crime syndicate orders his lieutenant to bring a rogue gang of drug traffickers in line, a job that gets passed on to his long-suffering subordinate.
- DirectorKazuya ShiraishiStarsKoji YakushoJunko AbeYôsuke EguchiHiroshima Police detective Ogami Shogo and his partner Hioka Shuichi are investigating the disappearance of a company's employees amidst an escalating yakuza turf war in 1988. Blood, shooting and death is everywhere. At the same time, there is a suspicion that the former man has his own ties to the thugs. Certainly many of his methods and actions are thuggish, violent and should be illegal.
- DirectorTatsushi ÔmoriStarsHaru KurokiMikako TabeKirin KikiNoriko is a university student. By her mother's recommendation, Noriko begins attending a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin Michiko. There, Noriko learns from Teacher Takeda. Noriko now has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsAkira TeraoMitsuko BaishôToshie NegishiA collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsShôta SometaniFumi NikaidôTetsu WatanabeAfter two teenagers from abusive households befriend each other, their lives take a dark adventure into existentialism, despair, and human frailty.
- DirectorKazuki ÔmoriKoji HashimotoStarsKôsuke ToyoharaAnna NakagawaMegumi OdakaTime travelers use Godzilla in their scheme to destroy Japan to prevent the country's future economic reign.
- DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsRyunosuke KamikiMone KamishiraishiRyo NaritaTwo teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
- DirectorRyûichi HirokiStarsKumi TakiuchiKen MitsuishiKengo KôraBased on the novel "Kanojo no Jinsei wa Machigai ja Nai" (literal translation: Her life is not at fault) by Director Hiroki, it is a powerful story of survivors, who are all trying to find their own silver linings in life.
- DirectorKazuya ShiraishiStarsYû AoiSadao AbeTôri MatsuzakaTawako's boyfriend is not her kind, but she puts up with it in exchange for shelter. Her old boyfriend of almost a decade ago is long gone, and was also not nice, but like most girls she still reminisces about him and is attracted to his bad ways. Enter Mizushima who reminds Tawako of her old boyfriend, but soon more transpires to remind the girl of her old relationship.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTatsuo SaitôTomio AokiMitsuko YoshikawaTwo young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
- DirectorYukiko MishimaStarsRena TanakaTadanobu AsanoMiu AraiA 40-year old man sees his life change when his wife gets pregnant. He already has a daughter from his first marriage whom he rarely sees and two step-daughters, from his wife's first marriage. The youngest of his step-daughters is looking forward to a baby brother or sister, but the oldest doesn't welcome the news and suddenly decides that she wants to live with her father. And as if that were not enough trouble, he is forced out of his good office job into an inferior position.
- DirectorAkira NagaiStarsMasaki SudaYûdai ChibaCharles GloverTeiichi dreams of one day being the ruler of his own empire, but to get there he needs to make sure that his candidate for class president at his elite high school wins the election. This is a high school election fought with all the fervor or a nasty, national campaign. Lies, bribery, sabotage and scandal all come into play as the boys fight it out to determine who will be the next class president.
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsShizuka IshibashiSôsuke IkematsuRyûhei MatsudaNewcomer Shizuka Ishibashi throws herself into the role of Mika, a nurse by day, a 'girlie bar' hostess by night, subject to feelings of anxiety and isolation, and unable to reach through a hard outer shell that stops her from expressing tenderness to anyone else. Sosuke Ikematsu, one of Japan's most important young actors, stars as Shinji, who struggles as a day-hire construction worker with a sense of impending doom, but who still tries to find the source of an unnamable hope he feels inside. The setting is Tokyo in 2017, where empty words, a sense of doom, and feelings of isolation co-exist with hope, trust, and love. In the sense of real life conjured up in these two people is a new kind of film: the densest kind of love story.
- DirectorMasahide IchiiStarsYûko ArakiHairi KatagiriChieko MatsubaraRyota and Koharu are high school students. Ryota is indifferent to people and says very little. Koharu is not afraid of to speak her mind and she has a bright personality. Since a game of rice bag jump, they begin to date. They date at a fast-food restaurant, realize they love each other at a family restaurant and finally swear their love on a dining table with white rice.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôHidetaka YoshiokaA mysterious stranger appears at door of a farmhouse on a stormy night and asks for shelter.
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôAyumi IshidaConstantly put to the test and faced with tragedy wherever he turns, can a man finally find solace and a modicum of love or rest with what is left of his hometown, his family, love or himself?
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKen TakakuraChieko BaishôKaori MomoiThree complete strangers embark on a road-trip to Hokkaido.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHitoshi TakagiNoriko HidakaChika SakamotoWhen two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsKirsten DunstMinami TakayamaRei SakumaA young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsToshiyuki NishidaEiko ShinyaKeiko TakeshitaAt a night school a diverse group of students ranging from teenagers to elderly, smart to under-developed and of different races have been assembled to study and finally hopefully graduate.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsMiho NakayamaEtsushi ToyokawaBunjaku HanWhen exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.
- DirectorYoshifumi KondôStarsYoko HonnaIssei TakahashiTakashi TachibanaA love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
- DirectorTakeshi KitanoStarsKen KanekoMasanobu AndôLeo MorimotoDropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsHiroshi MikamiCharaAyumi ItoThe struggles of a group of immigrant outcasts living in an alternative-future, xenophobic Japanese metropolis.
- DirectorShunji IwaiStarsTakako MatsuSeiichi TanabeKazuhiko KatoIn spring, a young girl leaves the island of Hokkaido to attend university in Tokyo.
- DirectorKatsuyuki MotohiroStarsYûji OdaToshirô YanagibaEri FukatsuAoshima, a police detective working in the Bayside Precinct, is continually frustrated by the hierarchy and red tape that plague the system. His friend Muroi is climbing the ladder of the police bureaucracy. Muroi has made a pact with Aoshima that while Aoshima looks after the streets, Muroi would make life easier for the cops on the beat. One day in Bayside, a series of events turns the small station upside down. A corpse is found in the river, then the Police Commissioner is kidnapped, leading to the Metropolitian Police Department to take over the investigation which is led by Murai. Will he be true to his pact with Aoshima and co-operate with the local police? In the meantime, the murder investigation leads to a morbid web page and a deadly chat room in cyberspace...
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTakeshi KitanoRyûhei MatsudaShinji TakedaThe new member of a samurai militia unit causes disruption as several of his colleagues fall in love with him, threatening to disturb the rigid code of their squad.
- DirectorRyosuke HashiguchiStarsReiko KataokaKazuya TakahashiSeiichi TanabeSoon after the disparate yet compatible Naoya and Katsuhiro start to settle into a relationship, a slightly unhinged young woman named Asako asks Katsuhiro to father her child.
- 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.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsSatoshi TsumabukiHiroshi TamakiAkifumi MiuraIn a Japanese high school, a class of adolescent geeks joins the new synchronized swimming teacher and takes up the challenge to take part in the competition, in spite of the mockeries of the "real sportsmen".
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorShinzô KatayamaStarsYûya MatsuuraMisa WadaMasayasu KitayamaTwo siblings, older brother Yoshio who had a bad one leg, and sister Mariko who had intellectual disability lived in one port town. One day, Mariko was gone from home. A while later, She was protected by the angler. When they coming home, 10,000 yen bills find from pockets of Mariko's pants. He heard that, she said had sex with the angler but, she can not understand what is wrong. After that, Yoshio was fired the company. He was in danger of life, so tried to make a living by prostituting Mariko.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsMasahiro HigashideErika KarataSairi ItôAsako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
- DirectorShin'ichirô UedaStarsTakayuki HamatsuYuzuki AkiyamaHarumi ShuhamaThings go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.
- DirectorYûichi FukudaStarsTakayuki YamadaMasami NagasawaTsuyoshi MuroMeeting the woman of your dreams in Hawaii is a blessing until you discover she has short-term memory loss and forgets everything the very next day.
- DirectorKeisuke YoshidaStarsSeiji FukushiYûsuke IseyaAoba KawaiThe film centers on Iwao Shishido, who at age forty suddenly leaves his rural village, but returns with a foreign bride during his father's funeral.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHaruka AyaseMasami NagasawaKahoThree sisters who live in their grandmother's home invite their thirteen-year-old half sister, whom they have just met, to join them.
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsHiromi NagasakuArata IuraAju MakitaA woman with an adopted child is contacted unexpectedly by the child's birth mother.
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsKirin KikiMasatoshi NagaseKyara UchidaBurdened with a heavy and ever-increasing debt, a dorayaki baker hires a kind ageing woman, after tasting her delicious surprise. Little by little, she unravels her beautiful inner world. Could she be holding the secret to his success?
- DirectorNaomi KawaseStarsNijirô MurakamiJunko AbeMiyuki MatsudaOn a subtropical island, a teenage couple deal with the interwoven cycle of life, death and love.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsHidetoshi NishijimaTôko MiuraReika KirishimaA renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
- DirectorShûichi OkitaStarsAyumi ItoJun KunimuraGô AyanoWere people's lives changed by having known Yonosuke?
- DirectorHaruhiko AraiStarsTasuku EmotoKumi TakiuchiAkira EmotoKenji returns to Akita to attend his old squeeze's wedding and Naoko proposes they have sex again, marking a new beginning.
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsKotone FurukawaAyumu NakajimaHyunriAn unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsYû AoiIssei TakahashiMasahiro HigashideA Japanese merchant who leaves his wife behind in order to travel to Manchuria, where he witnesses an act of barbarism. His subsequent actions cause misunderstanding, jealousy and legal problems for his wife.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsKoji YakushoSeiji RokkakuYukiya KitamuraA lifelong Yakuza, released from prison after 13 years, journeys to find the mother who abandoned him as a child. He is hindered by his gangster past and struggles to adapt to his new life outside of prison.
- DirectorYukiko SodeStarsMugi KadowakiKiko MizuharaKei IshibashiHanako is looking for stability with her man. She gets dumped instead. She begins dating. Miki studied and worked hard to get to where she is and is holding down a job. They are introduced through an intermediary man
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsTsurube ShôfukuteiEita NagayamaTeruyuki KagawaA young medical intern student is dismayed when he is assigned to work in a remote countryside village.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsMasaki SudaKasumi ArimuraKaya KiyoharaA love story spanning 5 years between a man and a woman. A 22-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman both miss the last train at Meidaimae Station in Tokyo and meet there. Their relationship develops romantically.
- DirectorMiwa NishikawaStarsMasahiro MotokiPistol TakeharaEri FukatsuA recently widowed writer whose wife died in a bus crash comes to terms with his grief, or lack of it, in caring for the children of a working man who also lost his wife in the same accident.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsSong Kang-hoGang Dong-wonBae DoonaWhen a young mother reconsiders abandoning her baby, she discovers a scheme selling foundlings for adoption.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsSakura AndôEita NagayamaSoya KurokawaA mother demands answers from her son's teacher when her son begins acting strangely.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSoma SantokiMasaki SudaKô ShibasakiIn the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy named Mahito ventures into a dreamlike world shared by both the living and the dead.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsKoji YakushoTokio EmotoArisa NakanoHirayama cleans public toilets in Tokyo, lives his life in simplicity and daily tranquility. Some encounters also lead him to reflect on himself.