The Best Japanese Movies
My all time favorite Japanese movies, in no particular order. For jidaigeki (period dramas) and Japanese classics please check out my other lists, The Best Jidaigeki Movies and The Best Japanese Classics.
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23 titles
- 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.
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsKoji YakushoTamiyo KusakariNaoto TakenakaA successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
- 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.
- DirectorJun'ichi MoriStarsAi HashimotoMayu MatsuokaYôichi NukumizuIchiko lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
- DirectorJun'ichi MoriStarsAi HashimotoMayu MatsuokaYôichi NukumizuIchiko lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsRyûhei MatsudaAoi MiyazakiJoe OdagiriMajime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will 'The Great Passage' ever be completed?
- 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.
- DirectorShûsuke KanekoStarsTatsuya FujiwaraKen'ichi MatsuyamaAsaka SetoA battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.
- DirectorShûsuke KanekoStarsTatsuya FujiwaraKen'ichi MatsuyamaErika TodaPicking up where the first one leaves off, Light joins the task force searching for Kira in an effort to avert suspicion from himself---and get rid of L.
- DirectorMasaya KakehiStarsTakeshi KaneshiroManami KonishiSumiko FujiKaneshiro plays a Grim Reaper who appears to his victims in human form and spends a week with them before deciding whether to off them or not.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsKasumi ArimuraNanami AbeMorio AgataFact-based tale of a slacker high-school girl, years behind in her studies, who decides to start working hard and pass the entrance exams to a prestigious university in Japan.
- DirectorKenji UchidaStarsMasato SakaiTeruyuki KagawaRyôko HirosueA failed actor switches identities with a stranger at a bath house thinking it is his way out of his life of misery but only to find himself filling the shoes of an elite assassin.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsHiroshi AbeYôko MakiSatomi KobayashiAfter the death of his father, a private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and ex-wife.
- 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.
- 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 YamazakiStarsMasato SakaiMitsuki TakahataShin'ichi TsutsumiNot only is Kamakura-based Masakazu Isshiki a mystery novelist, but he is also a good detective himself. His wife Akiko and he are acquainted with all manners of creatures and gods who are of, from or passing through the town. Dealing with and tackling his cases means he can use all the help he can get.
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsYûko TakeuchiShidô NakamuraAkashi TakeiA young woman returns from the dead to her guilt-ridden husband and son, but she cannot remember them.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsSayuri YoshinagaTsurube ShôfukuteiYû AoiGinko seems to be living the good life: She's the respectable owner of a neighborhood drug store in Tokyo, and her daughter Koharu is about to get married to a doctor. However, Koharu's wedding day also brings homes Ginko's younger brother Tetsuro, a failed actor and a hard drinker who shows up causing trouble. Having covered for him all her life, Ginko is ready to disown her burdensome younger brother, but some things are easier said than done...
- DirectorMasayuki SuzukiStarsTakuya KimuraMasami NagasawaFumiyo KohinataA serial (3) killer leaves a GPS code of his next target with each victim - this time Hotel Cortesia Tokyo. A detective goes undercover as hotel staff - haircut, manners etc.
- DirectorIsshin InudôStarsSatoshi TsumabukiChizuru IkewakiJuri UenoTsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage. Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.
- DirectorKei IshikawaStarsSakura AndôMasataka KubotaYôko MakiAkira works as a lawyer. One day, he meets with his former client Rie, who asks Akira to perform a background check on her late husband Daisuke.
- DirectorShinobu YaguchiStarsHideaki ItôMasami NagasawaShôta SometaniAfter failing to get into university, a soft city boy randomly picks a job in forestry.
- DirectorHitoshi MatsumotoStarsHitoshi MatsumotoDavid QuinteroLuis AccinelliA man wakes up in a white room empty other than buttons on the walls, he must find out which button to push to get what he wants.