Visit Japan
We've teamed up with the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) to bring you some of the best of Japanese cinema, and a serious dose of wanderlust.
From Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, and everywhere in between, this is the perfect opportunity to take stock of some dreamy film locations and even plan some film set visits.
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Urban Locations
Tokyo StoryTokyo Story
Drama1953136 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujirō Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
Stray DogStray Dog
Crime1949122 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.
Dangan RunnerDangan Runner
Drama199782 minsDirector: Sabu
Acclaimed Japanese director Sabu (Happiness, Miss Zombie) with this frenetic, kinetic action comedy set on the bustling streets of Tokyo, the story of three losers brought together by fate.
Nobody KnowsNobody Knows
Drama2003141 minsDirector: Hirokazu Koreeda
Koreeda’s drama about four children left to fend for themselves is a heartbreaking study of childhood neglect.
Shinjuku Triad SocietyShinjuku Triad Society
Gangster1995102 minsDirector: Takashi Miike
Amid a war between Taiwanese Triads and Japanese Yakuza, a mixed-race cop hunts a psychotic criminal who traffics in children's organs.
Tokyo-GaTokyo-Ga
Documentary198592 minsDirector: Wim Wenders
Profiling one of the great directors of World Cinema, Wim Wenders delivers this moving portrait of Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu.
Tokyo TwilightTokyo Twilight
Drama1957141 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Abandoned by their mother, sisters Akiko (Ineko Arima) and Takako (Setsuko Hara) live with their father Shukichi (Chishu Ryu). When Akiko falls into desperate trouble, she turns away from her family.
Tokyo TribeTokyo Tribe
Action and Adventure2014116 minsDirector: Sion Sono
Sion Sono's unique brand of subversive cinema explodes onscreen once again with this ingenious hybrid of Yakuza gang action and hip-hop musical.
IkiruIkiru
Drama1952143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
A bureaucrat’s life finds new meaning in Kurosawa’s classic original, the source for Bill Nighy’s brilliant drama, Living.
Sweet BeanSweet Bean
Drama2015113 minsDirector: Naomi Kawase
A struggling street food vendor accepts help from an elderly lady with a sensational recipe up her sleeve, in Naomi Kawase's bittersweet drama of culinary redemption.
High and LowHigh and Low
Crime1963143 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece, from Ed McBain’s gritty novel, follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice as a result of a botched kidnapping by ruthless criminals.
Drunken AngelDrunken Angel
Film noir194898 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.
Rural Locations
RanRan
Drama1985154 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Seven SamuraiSeven Samurai
Drama1954207 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
Late SpringLate Spring
Drama1949108 minsDirector: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's influential masterpiece is a tender meditation on family politics, sacrifice and the status quo.
RashomonRashomon
Crime195088 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.
A Scene at the SeaA Scene at the Sea
Drama1991101 minsDirector: Takeshi Kitano
An atypically lyrical offering from Takeshi Kitano, charting the course of a relationship between a boy and his girlfriend – both profoundly deaf – when the former decides to teach himself to surf.
The Mourning ForestThe Mourning Forest
Drama200797 minsDirector: Naomi Kawase
A beautiful and contemplative portrait of grief from Cannes-winning filmmaker Naomi Kawase (Sweet Bean, Still the Water).
Journey to the ShoreJourney to the Shore
Drama2015128 minsDirector: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
The living and the dead coexist in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cannes-winning meditation on love and loss.
Ugetsu MonogatariUgetsu Monogatari
Romance195397 minsDirector: Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi's haunting evocation of a feudal world where brutal realism intermingles with the supernatural.
SonatineSonatine
Crime199394 minsDirector: Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano's masterful and meditative gangster film, about a yakuza sent to the beautiful beaches of Okinawa where he has time to ruminate on his fate.
KwaidanKwaidan
Anthology1964183 minsDirector: Masaki Kobayashi
This stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural films ever made.
The Woodsman and the RainThe Woodsman and the Rain
Comedy2011128 minsDirector: Shûichi Okita
A redneck lumberjack is recruited to work on a rookie producer's inane zombie movie, in this hilarious movie-making satire.
Sansho DayuSansho Dayu
Period drama1954125 minsDirector: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi’s historical epic is among the greatest of all Japanese films, and a masterpiece of humanist cinema.
More Japanese films on our Japan 2020 landing page