Movies by Lists - The Greatest Japanese Films (159 [160]) 
| Title | Year | Director | Genre | Rating | Runtime | Added |
|---|
| Actor's Revenge, An [Yukinojô henge]Yukinojo, a Kabuki actor, seeks revenge by destroying the three men who caused the deaths of his parents. Also involved are the daughter of one of Yukinojo's targets, two master thieves, and a swordsman who himself is out to kill Yuk | 1963 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Drama | 7.4 (2.4K votes) | 115 | 20211228 |
| Air Doll [Hirokazu Koreeda]A life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk. | 2009 | Hirokazu Koreeda | Drama, Fantasy, Romance | 6.8 (6.8K votes) | 125 | 20211228 |
| Akitsu Springs [Akitsu onsen]Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring. | 1962 | Yoshishige Yoshida | Drama, Romance | 7.2 (1.1K votes) | 113 | 20220723 |
| All About Lily Chou-ChouThe 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. | 2001 | Shunji Iwai | Crime, Drama, Music, Romance, Thriller | 7.5 (8.8K votes) | 146 | 20211228 |
| Alone on the Pacific [Taiheiyô hitoribotchi]Kenichi Horie is determined to challenge his family, the law and the nature crossing the Pacific to America in a small sailboat. Despite his careful planning many unforeseen events will test his determination. | 1963 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Adventure | 7.0 (506 votes) | 104 | 20240701 |
| Alone on the Pacific [Taiheiyô hitoribotchi]Kenichi Horie is determined to challenge his family, the law and the nature crossing the Pacific to America in a small sailboat. Despite his careful planning many unforeseen events will test his determination. | 1963 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Adventure | 7.0 (431 votes) | 104 | 20211228 |
| Baby Cart at the River StyxTrailed by a clan of female ninja, Ogami is paid to assassinate a clan traitor accompanied by three killers known as the Gods of Death. | 1972 | Kenji Misumi | Action, Adventure, Drama | 8.0 (6.1K votes) | 81 | 20211228 |
| Bad Sleep Well, TheA vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide. | 1960 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 8.0 (12.3K votes) | 151 | 20211228 |
| Ball At the Anjo House, The [Anjô-ke no butôkai]After Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for | 1947 | Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Drama | 7.3 (356 votes) | 89 | 20211228 |
| Ballad of Narayama, The [Narayama bushikô]A kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old. | 1958 | Keisuke Kinoshita | Drama | 7.9 (3.3K votes) | 98 | 20211228 |
| Bamboo Doll of Echizen [Echizen take-ningyô]Haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife. | 1963 | Kôzaburô Yoshimura | Drama, Romance | 7.2 (127 votes) | 103 | 20211228 |
| Bitter Spirit [Eien no hito]A young woman is forced by circumstance into a loveless marriage while still in love with another. This episodic tale follows their story through three decades of bitter conflict which engulfs their children and those around them. | 1961 | Keisuke Kinoshita | Drama | 7.3 (509 votes) | 103 | 20211228 |
| Black Lizard [Kurotokage]A jeweler hires detective Akechi to find his daughter kidnapped by a famous thief known as the Black Lizard. | 1962 | Umetsugu Inoue | Crime, Drama, Musical, Mystery | 6.5 (226 votes) | 101 | 20220414 |
| Black RiverA love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era. | 1957 | Masaki Kobayashi | Action, Crime, Drama | 7.1 (1K votes) | 114 | 20211228 |
| Blind Beast [Moju]A blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model. | 1969 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama, Horror | 7.2 (3.3K votes) | 86 | 20211228 |
| Blood Is Dry [Chi wa kawaiteru]An insurance company employee threatens suicide after a massive layoff is announced by the management. The company takes advantage of his threat by turning it into an advertising campaign. | 1960 | Yoshishige Yoshida | Drama | 7.1 (229 votes) | 87 | 20211228 |
| Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji [Chiyari Fuji]A samurai travels to Edo with his two servants. On their way, they meet many people and encounter great injustice. | 1955 | Tomu Uchida | Adventure, Drama | 7.4 (803 votes) | 94 | 20211228 |
| Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast [Noyuki yamayuki umibe yuki]Summer 1937 Japan begins a war with China. Militaristic moods are growing in the country. A group of Japanese schoolchildren do not understand the militaristic hysteria of adults. | 1986 | Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Comedy, Fantasy | 6.8 (173 votes) | 135 | 20211228 |
| Branded To KillAfter a badly done assignment, a hitman finds himself in conflict with his organisation, and one mysterious and dangerous fellow-hitman in particular. | 1967 | Seijun Suzuki (*) | Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller | 7.3 (8.8K votes) | 91 | 20211228 |
| Bushido [The Cruel Code Of The Samurai]After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he remembers his gruesome family history, which sees his ancestors sacrificing themselves for the sake of their cruel lords, and realizes that he's about to repeat their mistakes. | 1963 | Tadashi Imai | Action, Drama | 7.4 (384 votes) | 122 | 20211228 |
| Colorful [Karafuru]A sinful spirit is granted the opportunity to prove worthy for rebirth, inhabiting the body of a student who killed himself. | 2010 | Keiichi Hara | Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery | 7.4 (6.8K votes) | 126 | 20231001 |
| Colt Is My Passport, AA hit man is hired to kill a mob boss. After the deed is done, he and his driver are wanted dead by rival gangs who joined forces. | 1967 | Takashi Nomura | Action, Crime | 7.4 (2K votes) | 84 | 20211228 |
| Conquest, The [Akutô]A morally-suspect and self-serving retainer rashly baits her high-ranking employer, a regional governor, with a salacious story of a former acquaintance and catastrophe ensues. | 1965 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama, History | 6.9 (92 votes) | 119 | 20211228 |
| Crazy Family, The [Gyakufunsha kazoku]After moving into a new house, a family starts acting crazier and crazier. | 1984 | Gakuryû Ishii | Comedy, Drama | 7.1 (855 votes) | 106 | 20220414 |
| Crimson Bat, the Blind Swordswoman [Mekurano Oichi monogatari - Makkana nagaradori]A young blind girl is abandoned by her mother. When her guardian is killed, she learns to wield a sword from a traveling "Ronin". She travels to seek her mother and her revenge. | 1969 | Sadatsugu Matsuda | Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance | 6.9 (157 votes) | 88 | 20211228 |
| Crossroads [Jûjiro]After falling in love with a courtesan, Rikiya is blinded by ash during a fight in a brothel. Believing the blindness permanent and his opponent dead, Rikiya goes back home to his sister. Okiku, desperate to protect her brother who t | 1928 | Teinosuke Kinugasa | Drama | 7.1 (374 votes) | 81 | 20211228 |
| Death by Hanging [Koshikei]A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce. | 1968 | Nagisa Ôshima | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 7.6 (2.7K votes) | 117 | 20211228 |
| Demons [Shura]After being robbed by a geisha, a ronin warrior carves a bloody path to seek revenge. | 1971 | Toshio Matsumoto | Drama, Horror | 8.0 (2.1K votes) | 134 | 20211228 |
| Double Suicide [Shinjû - Ten no Amijima]A doomed love between a paper merchant and a courtesan. | 1969 | Masahiro Shinoda | Drama | 7.7 (2.3K votes) | 105 | 20211228 |
| Drunken AngelA drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond. | 1948 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller | 7.7 (11.6K votes) | 102 | 20211228 |
| Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman [Eburi manshi no yûga-na seikatsu]This comedy portrays the everyday life of an ordinary salary-man who uses himself as a model to write a novella. | 1963 | Kihachi Okamoto | Comedy, Drama | 6.9 (250 votes) | 103 | 20211228 |
| Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, The [Yuki yukite, shingun]A documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war. | 1987 | Kazuo Hara | Documentary, War | 8.2 (1.8K votes) | 122 | 20211228 |
| Empire of PassionA married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well. After a while, his ghost comes to haunt them while the local gossip grows stronger. | 1978 | Nagisa Ôshima | Drama, Horror, Romance | 7.0 (4.3K votes) | 105 | 20211228 |
| Endless Desire [Hateshinaki yokubô]A real gem from Imamura. A very dark crime comedy. | 1958 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Comedy, Crime | 7.2 (425 votes) | 101 | 20211228 |
| Endless Waltz [Endoresu warutsu]Koji Wakamatsu's biopic about a Japanese free jazz/improvisation saxophonist named Kaoru Abe. | 1995 | Kôji Wakamatsu | Biography, Drama, Music, Romance | 7.1 (105 votes) | 102 | 20211228 |
| Epoch of Murder Madness [Satsujin kyôjidai]A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. | 1967 | Kihachi Okamoto | Action, Comedy | 7.0 (273 votes) | 99 | 20211228 |
| Equinox Flower [Higanbana]A businessman clashes with his elder daughter over her choice of a husband. | 1958 | Yasujirô Ozu (*) | Comedy, Drama | 7.9 (4.1K votes) | 118 | 20211228 |
| Eureka [Yurîka]The traumatized survivors of a murderous bus hijacking come together and take a road trip to attempt to overcome their damaged selves. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose. | 2000 | Shinji Aoyama | Drama | 7.7 (3.8K votes) | 217 | 20211228 |
| Face of Another, TheA businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality. | 1966 | Hiroshi Teshigahara | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi | 8.0 (8.6K votes) | 124 | 20211228 |
| Fires on the Plain [Nobi]In the closing days of WWII remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain starvation. | 1959 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Drama, War | 8.0 (4.7K votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| Floating Clouds [Ukigumo]A tragic social drama set in post war Japan and concerns a lonely woman trying to find purpose and stability in a devastated Tokyo. | 1955 | Mikio Naruse (*) | Drama, Romance | 7.7 (2.7K votes) | 123 | 20211228 |
| Floating Weeds [Ukikusa]The head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous. | 1959 | Yasujirô Ozu (*) | Drama | 8.0 (7.8K votes) | 119 | 20211228 |
| Gate Of Hell [Jigokumon]A samurai pursues a married lady-in-waiting. | 1953 | Teinosuke Kinugasa | Drama, History | 7.2 (3.6K votes) | 89 | 20211228 |
| Gate of Youth, The - Part 2 [Seishun no mon_ Jiritsu hen]Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu. | 1982 | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Drama | 7.3 (19 votes) | 137 | 20231001 |
| Gate of Youth, The [Seishun no mon]The story of Shinsuke, a young man who lives through a stormy life as a poverty-stricken coal miner. | 1981 | Kinji Fukasaku, Koreyoshi Kurahara | Drama | 6.7 (47 votes) | 145 | 20211228 |
| Giants and Toys [Kyojin to gangu]In the middle of a fierce commercial competition between three caramel companies, an executive builds up a ditsy teenage girl as a mascot while simultaneously trying to uncover the rival companies' plans. | 1958 | Yasuzô Masumura | Comedy, Drama | 7.3 (976 votes) | 95 | 20211228 |
| Good Morning [Ohayo]Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set. | 1959 | Yasujirô Ozu (*) | Comedy, Drama, Family | 7.9 (9.1K votes) | 94 | 20211228 |
| Happiness of Us Alone [Namonaku mazushiku utsukushiku]A sympathetic portrayal of the suffering of a deaf couple at the hands of a shell shocked postwar society that treats them like wayward children to be at turns pitied or exploited. | 1961 | Zenzô Matsuyama | Drama | 7.9 (143 votes) | 130 | 20211228 |
| Heart, The [Kokoro]At the end of Meiji era a young student befriend an older man who as a proof of trust but also as a kind of exorcism entrust him his secret, a story about jealousy, betrayal, shame and guilt. | 1955 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Drama | 7.3 (432 votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Hell [Jigoku]A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell. | 1960 | Nobuo Nakagawa | Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller | 6.8 (4.2K votes) | 101 | 20221116 |
| Hen in the Wind, A [Kaze no naka no mendori]A man returns from World War II to find his desperate wife had resorted to one night of prostitution to pay for their son's hospital bills. | 1948 | Yasujirô Ozu (*) | Drama | 7.5 (1.4K votes) | 84 | 20211228 |
| Hero of the Red Light District [Yôtô monogatari - hana no Yoshiwara hyakunin-giri]A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring birthmark on his face. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him, until inde | 1960 | Tomu Uchida | Action, Fantasy | 7.5 (274 votes) | 109 | 20211228 |
| Hidden Blade, The [Kakushi ken oni no tsume]A 19th Century samurai, held in low esteem due to an action by his late father, must resolve his history with a maid and with his close friend. | 2004 | Yôji Yamada | Drama, History, Romance | 7.7 (6.6K votes) | 132 | 20211228 |
| Hidden Fortress, TheLured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines. | 1958 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Action, Adventure, Drama | 8.1 (37.9K votes) | 126 | 20211228 |
| High and Low [Tengoku to jigoku]An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom. | 1963 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 8.4 (41.4K votes) | 143 | 20211228 |
| HimikoA freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk. | 1974 | Masahiro Shinoda | Drama, Fantasy, History | 7.1 (543 votes) | 100 | 20220315 |
| Horrors of Malformed Men [Kyôfu kikei ningen; Edogawa RamAfter escaping from an insane asylum, a medical student assumes the identity of a mysterious dead man, who appeared to be his doppelganger, and gets lured to a sinister island ruled by a mad scientist and his malformed men. | 1969 | Teruo Ishii | Horror | 6.5 (1.6K votes) | 99 | 20211228 |
| House [Hausu]A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted. | 1977 | Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Comedy, Horror | 7.4 (25.4K votes) | 88 | 20211228 |
| Human [Ningen]The ship Kaijin Maru is left adrift after losing all means of navigation in a storm. The four people on the ship are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water run out. | 1962 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama | 6.9 (178 votes) | 117 | 20211228 |
| Human Bullet, The [Nikudan]During World War II, a Japanese soldier finds himself assigned to a kamikaze mission against a U.S. battleship. | 1968 | Kihachi Okamoto | Drama, War | 7.2 (412 votes) | 116 | 20211228 |
| Human Condition I - No Greater Love, TheA Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan. | 1959 | Masaki Kobayashi | Drama, History, War | 8.6 (7.6K votes) | 208 | 20211228 |
| Human Condition II - The Road to Eternity, TheAs a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals. | 1959 | Masaki Kobayashi | Drama, History, War | 8.5 (6.1K votes) | 181 | 20211228 |
| Human Condition III - A Soldier's Prayer, TheHis ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival. | 1961 | Masaki Kobayashi | Drama, History, War | 8.8 (5.9K votes) | 190 | 20211228 |
| Human Vapor, TheA librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into 'The Human Vapour'. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthles | 1960 | Ishirô Honda | Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller | 6.4 (418 votes) | 81 | 20211228 |
| Humanity and Paper Balloons [Ninjo Kami Fusen]The lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters. | 1937 | Sadao Yamanaka | Drama | 7.7 (2K votes) | 86 | 20211228 |
| Hymn [Sanka]The story tells of the adoration of Sasuke for his mistress, the blind Shamisen teacher Shunkin, who treats him imperiously and subjects him to cruel beatings. | 1972 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama | 7.1 (89 votes) | 112 | 20220414 |
| I Am Waiting [Ore wa matteru ze]A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer. | 1957 | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Action, Crime, Drama | 7.0 (833 votes) | 91 | 20211228 |
| I Hate But Love [Nikui an-chikushô]A celebrity impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters. | 1962 | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Drama, Romance | 6.7 (269 votes) | 106 | 20211228 |
| I Live In FearAn aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family. | 1955 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 7.3 (4.7K votes) | 103 | 20211228 |
| I Want to Be a Shellfish [Watashi wa kai ni naritai]On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the accusation by GHQ, Toyomats | 1959 | Shinobu Hashimoto | Drama, War | 7.4 (53 votes) | 89 | 20211228 |
| IkiruA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer. | 1952 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 8.3 (75.5K votes) | 143 | 20211228 |
| Inn of Evil [Inochi bo ni furo]The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an isolated inn (the one that the title refers to), the head-quarters of a group of smuggler | 1971 | Masaki Kobayashi | Crime, Drama | 7.7 (1.9K votes) | 121 | 20211228 |
| Intentions of Murder [Akai satsui]A housewife living under her tyrannical husband has her life stressfully turned upside down after getting raped by a burglar. | 1964 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Drama | 7.7 (1.6K votes) | 150 | 20211228 |
| Intimidation [Aru kyôhaku]A bank manager is blackmailed into robbing his own bank. | 1960 | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Action, Crime | 7.2 (714 votes) | 65 | 20211228 |
| IrezumiA seductive woman gets kidnapped into prostitution. After getting a spider tattoo made on her back, she grows vengeful, leaving several men in her path. | 1966 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama | 7.1 (964 votes) | 86 | 20211228 |
| It Was a Faint Dream [Asaki yumemishi]After a number of stressful affairs, a court lady becomes a nun in order to pursue a life without desire. | 1974 | Akio Jissôji | Drama | 6.6 (118 votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Japanese Tragedy, A [Nihon no higeki]Alternating in time, between the end of World War II and 1953, Haruko, a widow, does what she can to keep her daughter Utako and son Seiichi safe, fed, and sheltered. By 1953, it's clear that the children, as they enter adulthood, wa | 1953 | Keisuke Kinoshita | Drama | 7.3 (318 votes) | 116 | 20211228 |
| Jiro Dreams of SushiA documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu. | 2011 | David Gelb | Documentary | 7.9 (35.1K votes) | 81 | 20211228 |
| Kisses [Kuchizuke]Story of a young couple whose fathers are prison bound. | 1957 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama, Romance | 7.4 (487 votes) | 74 | 20211228 |
| Kwaidan [Kaidan]A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes. | 1964 | Masaki Kobayashi | Drama, Fantasy, Horror | 8.0 (17K votes) | 183 | 20211228 |
| Lake of Tears [Umi no koto]Explore popular movies available to rent or buy on Prime Video. | 1966 | Tomotaka Tasaka | Drama, Romance | 7.2 (25 votes) | 130 | 20211228 |
| Land of Hope, The [Kibô no kuni]An earth-quake causes a nuclear crisis in a fictive Japanese prefecture. In wake of the disaster, the members of the Ono family who reside just outside the border of the mandatory evacuation zone face uncertainty. | 2012 | Sion Sono | Drama, Sci-Fi | 6.5 (1.2K votes) | 133 | 20211228 |
| Legend of a Duel to the Death [A Legend or Was It; Shitô no densetsu]A Tokyo family escaping the war relocates to a Hokkaido village; their daughter is set to marry the local leader's son, but her siblings disapprove, which eventually leads to a violent tragedy. | 1963 | Keisuke Kinoshita | Drama, War | 7.6 (281 votes) | 83 | 20221228 |
| Life of Oharu, The [Saikaku Ichidai Onna]Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society. | 1952 | Kenji Mizoguchi (*) | Drama | 8.1 (6.8K votes) | 133 | 20211228 |
| Lost Alibi, The [Kuroi gashû - Aru sarariman no shôgen]Ishino has a pleasant life as a procurement manager in a good company, a husband with a loving wife and two kids, and a sugar daddy with a mistress. His affair jeopardizes everything when it becomes a murder suspect's only alibi. | 1960 | Hiromichi Horikawa | Drama | 7.6 (80 votes) | 95 | 20211228 |
| Love and Honour [Bushi no ichibun]A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor. | 2006 | Yôji Yamada | Drama, History, Romance | 7.7 (3.8K votes) | 122 | 20211228 |
| Love Betrayed [Kokoro]Kokoro is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder scholar whom he calls Sensei. Haunted by tragic secrets that have cast a long shadow over his life, Sensei slo | 1973 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama | 7.1 (122 votes) | 90 | 20211228 |
| Lower Depths, TheIn a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family. | 1957 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 7.3 (5.3K votes) | 137 | 20211228 |
| Lullaby of the Earth [Daichi no komoriuta]The story of an orphan girl, brought up in naive, rustic innocence by an elderly relative, who is suddenly exposed to the brutality, greed and deceptiveness of the outside world, when her grandmother dies. | 1976 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama | 6.6 (181 votes) | 111 | 20211228 |
| Making of a Prostitute, TheDocumentary - (The interviewer is an Asian male director, Shohei Imamura.) Interview with Kikuyo Zendo, a 73 year-old, Japanese, trafficked-in-1921, prostitute (karayuki-san) who spent the longer part of her life outside Japan in Mal | 1975 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Documentary | 7.3 (114 votes) | 70 | 20211228 |
| Miyamoto Musashi 2 Showdown At Hannyazaka.HeightsThe remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his | 1962 | Tomu Uchida | Drama | 7.1 (184 votes) | 107 | 20211228 |
| Miyamoto Musashi 3 The Duel Against.YagyuIn the third installment of Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, things continue from the 2nd film at the end of battle, where Miyamoto continues on a mission of learning; with the introduction of his arch-rival Sasaki Kojiro; and lastly the l | 1963 | Tomu Uchida | Drama | 6.9 (163 votes) | 104 | 20211228 |
| Miyamoto Musashi 4 The Duel At IchijojiIn the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the f | 1964 | Tomu Uchida | Action, Drama | 7.1 (186 votes) | 128 | 20211228 |
| Miyamoto Musashi 5 Musashi Vs.KojiroThe fifth and final installment with the build up of the epic battle between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. With all the familiar characters making appearances: Otsu (Musashi's great love), Akemi, Matahachi (his former fellow so | 1965 | Tomu Uchida | Action, Drama | 7.0 (165 votes) | 121 | 20211228 |
| Miyamoto.MusashiThe film begins when the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi is still named Shinmen Takezo. After being on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, Takezo and his friend manage to escape and come across a young woman and her mot | 1961 | Tomu Uchida | Action, Drama, History | 7.0 (251 votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Morning for the Osone Family [Ôsone-ke no ashita]A Japanese family weathers much hardship after their military uncle comes to live with them during WWII. | 1946 | Keisuke Kinoshita | Drama | 6.9 (270 votes) | 81 | 20211228 |
| Muddy River [Doro no kawa]In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty. | 1981 | Kôhei Oguri | Drama | 7.8 (864 votes) | 105 | 20211228 |
| Nausicaa of the Valley of the WindWarrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet. | 1984 | Hayao Miyazaki (*) | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi | 8.1 (163.7K votes) | 117 | 20211228 |
| Nippon tanjôIn the closing days of WWII remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain starvation. | 1959 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Drama, War | 8.0 (4.7K votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| No Regrets For Our YouthThe daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII. | 1946 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 7.1 (3.4K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Nobody Knows [Dare mo shiranai]In 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. | 2004 | Hirokazu Koreeda | Drama | 8.1 (27K votes) | 141 | 20211228 |
| One Wonderful SundayDuring a Sunday trip into war-ravaged Tokyo, despairing Yuzo and optimistic Masako look for work and lodging, as well as affordable entertainments to pass the time. | 1947 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama, Romance | 7.2 (3.1K votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| Owls' Castle [Fukuro no shiro]As the great military commander Nobunaga Oda was consolidating his power across Japan, one of his actions was to wipe out a clan of assassins, killing every man, woman and child he found in the village. Years later, one of the surviv | 1999 | Masahiro Shinoda | Action, Drama | 6.0 (520 votes) | 138 | 20211228 |
| Pale Flower [Kawaita hana]A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling. | 1964 | Masahiro Shinoda | Action, Crime | 7.7 (3.6K votes) | 96 | 20211228 |
| Perfect Game [Kanzenna yûgi]A group of five college students decide to jinx a bicycle race in their favor and claim the money to pay off their debts, but when the illegal bookie cannot pay, they take up his offer of "collateral" as revenge and complexities begi | 1958 | Toshio Masuda | Action, Crime | 7.3 (80 votes) | 93 | 20211228 |
| Petrified Forest, The [Kaseki no mori]Medical student Himoto Haruo makes no compromises in resolving issues with his mother, his authoritarian department boss, and his girlfriend's abusive employer. | 1973 | Masahiro Shinoda | Crime, Drama | 7.1 (206 votes) | 118 | 20220414 |
| Pigs and Battleships [Buta to gunkan]A young hoodlum decides to work for a criminal organization that is tearing itself apart. | 1961 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Action, Comedy, Crime, Romance | 7.5 (2.3K votes) | 108 | 20220414 |
| PonyoA five-year-old boy develops a relationship with Ponyo, a young goldfish princess who longs to become a human after falling in love with him. | 2008 | Hayao Miyazaki (*) | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy | 7.7 (136.6K votes) | 101 | 20211228 |
| Porco RossoIn 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig. | 1992 | Hayao Miyazaki (*) | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy | 7.7 (85.4K votes) | 94 | 20211228 |
| Pornographers, The [Erogotoshi-tachi yori Jinruigaku nyûmon]While avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions. | 1966 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Comedy, Drama | 7.3 (2.3K votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Portrait of Hell [Jigokuhen]A rebellious Korean artist tests the limits of his sadistic patron, an omnipotent feudal Japanese lord. Yoshihide demands a commission to paint screens of the Hell which he sees the egotistical lord's peasants suffer. Such a public d | 1969 | Shirô Toyoda | Drama | 7.1 (343 votes) | 91 | 20211228 |
| Profound Desires of the Gods [Kamigami no fukaki yokubô]An engineer from Tokyo arrives on a drought-ridden tropical island to drill a well to power a nearby sugar mill. He meets the inbred Futori family, hated by the locals for breaking religious customs. | 1968 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Drama | 7.7 (1.6K votes) | 173 | 20211228 |
| Promise, A [Ningen no yakusoku]An old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death. | 1986 | Yoshishige Yoshida | Drama | 7.2 (159 votes) | 123 | 20211228 |
| Punishment Room [Shokei no heya]Nothing less than a phenomenal, astonishing and pioneering film. This spectacle of an angry, ego-driven youth tormented by his own emotional impotence, low self-esteem and resentment towards his parents. | 1956 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Action, Crime, Thriller | 7.0 (193 votes) | 96 | 20211228 |
| Puppets Under Starry Skies [Hoshizora no marionette]Hot-rodder leader, and his girlfriend, and his only friend. They lead decadent life. | 1978 | Hôjin Hashiura | Drama | 5.5 (28 votes) | 99 | 20211228 |
| Quiet Duel, TheA surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him. | 1949 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 7.4 (3.3K votes) | 95 | 20211228 |
| RanIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him. | 1985 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Action, Drama, War | 8.2 (121.7K votes) | 162 | 20211228 |
| Record of a Tenement GentlemanA young boy follows Tashiro home to his tenement housing complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, the boy who was separated from his carpenter father somehow and somewhere in Kudan. All Tashiro knows is that the boy and his father came to | 1947 | Yasujirô Ozu (*) | Drama | 7.7 (1.9K votes) | 72 | 20211228 |
| Red BeardIn 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern. | 1965 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama | 8.4 (18.5K votes) | 185 | 20211228 |
| RikyuLegendary tea master Sen no Rikyu is faced with his warmongering lord's unrealistic pretensions. | 1989 | Hiroshi Teshigahara | Drama, History | 7.1 (715 votes) | 135 | 20211228 |
| Ringing Bell [Chirin no Suzu]An innocent lamb learns about life and death when he seeks revenge upon the wolf who slaughtered his mother. | 1978 | Masami Hata | Animation, Drama, Family | 7.1 (811 votes) | 47 | 20220723 |
| Samurai Rebellion [Jôi-uchi Hairyô tsuma shimatsu]The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back. | 1967 | Masaki Kobayashi | Drama | 8.4 (12.3K votes) | 128 | 20211228 |
| Sandakan 8 [Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo]A journalist interviews an old woman who was forced into prostitution, just like many other Japanese women working in Asia outside of Japan during the first half of the 20th century. She worked in a Malaysian brothel called Sandakan | 1974 | Kei Kumai | Drama, History, War | 7.5 (580 votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo [Tange Sazen yowa - Hyakuman ryô no tsubo]A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it. | 1935 | Sadao Yamanaka | Comedy, Drama | 7.8 (1K votes) | 92 | 20211228 |
| Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan, The [Buraikan]An outlaw pushes the residents of Edo's red light district to rebel against a growing number of stifling, moralistic laws. | 1970 | Masahiro Shinoda | Comedy, Drama | 6.8 (244 votes) | 104 | 20211228 |
| Scarlet Camellia, The [Goben no tsubaki]A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her. | 1964 | Yoshitarô Nomura | Crime, Drama | 6.3 (41 votes) | 117 | 20220414 |
| Sea and Poison, The [Umi to dokuyaku]Downed American fliers in WWII are vivisected by Japanese surgeons in cruel medical experiments. | 1986 | Kei Kumai | Drama | 7.5 (247 votes) | 123 | 20220315 |
| Seisaku's Wife [Seisaku no tsuma]On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty. | 1965 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama, Romance, War | 7.7 (529 votes) | 93 | 20211228 |
| Sinners of Hell, The [Jigoku]A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell. | 1960 | Nobuo Nakagawa | Drama, Horror | 6.8 (3.9K votes) | 101 | 20211228 |
| Spirited AwayDuring 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. | 2001 | Hayao Miyazaki (*) | Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery | 8.6 (715.3K votes) | 125 | 20211228 |
| Sting of Death, The [Shi no toge]Period drama set in the 1950's about a couple isolating themselves from the outside world as they attempt to salvage their faltering marriage, no matter what the costs, after the husband has an affair. | 1990 | Kôhei Oguri | Drama | 6.9 (286 votes) | 115 | 20211228 |
| Story of Pure Love, The [Jun'ai monogatari]Junai Monogatari is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately trying to be together despite tortuous circumstances. | 1957 | Tadashi Imai | Crime, Drama, Romance | 7.4 (75 votes) | 133 | 20231001 |
| Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, The [Zangiku monogatari] The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory. | 1939 | Kenji Mizoguchi (*) | Drama, Romance | 7.9 (3.6K votes) | 148 | 20211228 |
| Strange Tale of Oyuki, The [Bokuto kidan]The film tells the story of Japanese writer Kafu Nagai (1879-1959), a man about sixty with a huge reputation of seducer who falls madly in love for a young geisha named Oyuki. Meticulous and smartly dressed, Nagai patiently wrote in | 1992 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama | 7.0 (155 votes) | 116 | 20211228 |
| Stranger Within a Woman, The [Onna no naka ni iru tanin]Two friends meet in a bar. Later that night, one friend's flirtatious wife is reportedly in an accident. The other friend doesn't feel well. What's come over him? | 1966 | Mikio Naruse (*) | Crime, Drama | 7.3 (383 votes) | 102 | 20211228 |
| Street of Shame [Akasen chitai]The personal tales of various prostitutes who occupy a brothel. | 1956 | Kenji Mizoguchi (*) | Drama | 7.8 (4.3K votes) | 86 | 20211228 |
| Summer Days with Coo [Kappa no Kû to natsuyasumi]A boy befriends an orphaned water spirit, or Kappa, he found dried up and buried in a riverbank. He and his family help the creature adjust to life in the modern world. | 2007 | Keiichi Hara | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | 7.4 (2.1K votes) | 138 | 20231001 |
| Swastika [Manji]A childless housewife falls in love with a beautiful model. | 1964 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama, Romance | 6.9 (946 votes) | 91 | 20211228 |
| Sword of Doom, The [Dai-bosatsu tôge]Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely. | 1966 | Kihachi Okamoto | Action, Drama | 8.0 (10.7K votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Taboo [Gohatto]The 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. | 1999 | Nagisa Ôshima | Drama, History, Thriller | 6.9 (7.5K votes) | 100 | 20211228 |
| Taira Clan Saga [Shin Heike monogatari]After his father is not rewarded for his military achievements, Taira Kiyomori rebels against the court and the monks who rule the country. He also falls in love with Tokiko and discovers unsettling revelations about his parentage. | 1955 | Kenji Mizoguchi (*) | Drama, History | 7.2 (996 votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| Tale of the Princess Kaguya, TheFound inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately she must confront her | 2013 | Isao Takahata | Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy | 8.0 (43.7K votes) | 137 | 20211228 |
| Tale of Zatoichi, TheThe adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman. | 1962 | Kenji Misumi | Action, Adventure, Drama | 7.6 (5.1K votes) | 95 | 20211228 |
| Throne of BloodA war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle. | 1957 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Drama, History | 8.1 (50.7K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Till We Meet Again [Mata au hi made]The hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee. | 1950 | Tadashi Imai | Drama, History | 7.1 (158 votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Tony Takitani [Tonî Takitani]When technical illustrator Tony Takitani asks his wife to resist her all-consuming obsession for designer clothes, the consequences are tragic. | 2004 | Jun Ichikawa | Drama | 7.3 (4.6K votes) | 105 | 20220731 |
| Twenty Hours [Húsz óra]Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate. | 1965 | Kon Ichikawa (*) | Documentary, Sport | 7.8 (1.9K votes) | 170 | 20211228 |
| Untamed Woman [Arakure]A woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper, only to find herself subordinated to his drive for success, takes up with a tailor who cannot console himself with her strong persona | 1957 | Mikio Naruse (*) | Drama | 7.1 (211 votes) | 121 | 20211228 |
| Vengeance is Mine [Fukushû suruwa wareniari]Chronological exploits of Iwao Enokizu, a murderous thief on the run. | 1979 | Shohei Imamura (*) | Crime, Drama | 7.8 (6.4K votes) | 139 | 20211228 |
| When a Woman Ascends the Stairs [Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki]A middle-aged bar hostess, constantly in debt, is faced with numerous social constraints and challenges posed to her by her family, customers and friends. | 1960 | Mikio Naruse (*) | Drama | 8.1 (4.2K votes) | 111 | 20211228 |
| Where Chimneys Are Seen [Entotsu no mieru basho]Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo. | 1953 | Heinosuke Gosho | Comedy, Drama | 7.4 (260 votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| Wife of Seishu Hanaoka, The [Hanaoka Seishû no tsuma]The Wife of Seishû Hanaoka is set in feudal Japan. Its two central characters are based on the wife and mother of Japanese physician Seishû Hanaoka (1760-1835). Hanaoka developed a herbal general anesthetic, ""Tsusensan"", some fort... | 1967 | Yasuzô Masumura | Drama, History | 7.5 (212 votes) | 99 | 20230728 |
| Wolf [Ôkami]Time; a few years after the surrender of Japan in the Second World War. The country is in ruins, economy devastated, and the vulnerable masses deprived of work; let alone the basic amenities of life. A new order, led by voratius oppo | 1955 | Kaneto Shindô (*) | Drama | 7.2 (93 votes) | 127 | 20211228 |
| Wolf Children [Ôkami kodomo no Ame to Yuki]After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident while hunting for food for their children, a young woman must find ways to raise the werewolf son and daughter that she had with him while keeping their trait hidden from s... | 2012 | Mamoru Hosoda | Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy | 8.1 (47.8K votes) | 117 | 20231001 |
| Woman in the Dunes [Suna no onna]An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them. | 1964 | Hiroshi Teshigahara | Drama, Thriller | 8.5 (19.3K votes) | 147 | 20211228 |
| Yearning [Midareru]After a bombing raid destroys the family store and her husband, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction. | 1964 | Mikio Naruse (*) | Drama | 8.0 (1.6K votes) | 98 | 20211228 |
| YojimboA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town. | 1961 | Akira Kurosawa (*) | Action, Drama, Thriller | 8.2 (119.3K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Youth Killer, The [Seishun no satsujinsha]Though his parents help him run the family business, Jun still feels persecuted by their love; when they bar him from meeting with his girlfriend, tensions increase. | 1976 | Kazuhiko Hasegawa | Crime, Drama | 6.7 (312 votes) | 132 | 20211228 |
| ZatoichiThe adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman. | 1962 | Kenji Misumi | Action, Adventure, Drama | 7.6 (5.1K votes) | 95 | 20211228 |
| Muhômatsu kokyô ni kaeru | 1973 | Shôhei Imamura | Documentary | 7.4 (Unkn) | | Excluded |
| Riben guizi | 2001 | Minoru Matsui | Documentary, War | 7.4 (Unkn) | | Excluded |