Japanese Recommendations
by wolfspirit198 | created - 27 Nov 2013 | updated - 27 Nov 2013 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Densha otoko (2005)
101 min | Comedy, Romance
The supposedly true story of a 23-year-old otaku (Japanese geek) who intervenes when a drunk man is harassing several women on a train. The otaku ultimately begins dating one of the women, ... See full summary »
Director: Shôsuke Murakami | Stars: Takayuki Yamada, Miki Nakatani, Ryôko Kuninaka, Eita Nagayama
Votes: 2,430
2. Miss Zombie (2013)
85 min | Horror
A Japanese family acquires an undead domestic servant whose presence begins to affect their daily lives.
Director: Sabu | Stars: Makoto Togashi, Ayaka Komatsu, Riku Ônishi, Tôru Tezuka
Votes: 735
3. Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san (2005)
124 min | Comedy, Fantasy
Yaji and Kita are two men who live in Edo. They are deeply in love. Yaji is married to a woman, while Kita is an actor addicted to various drugs.
Director: Kankurô Kudô | Stars: Tomoya Nagase, Shichinosuke Nakamura, Sadao Abe, Aja
Votes: 462
4. The Life of Oharu (1952)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 7,638
5. Sakuran (2006)
111 min | Drama, History
A young girl is sold into a red-light district brothel and tries to adapt to life as an oiran (courtesan).
Director: Mika Ninagawa | Stars: Anna Tsuchiya, Kippei Shîna, Yoshino Kimura, Hiroki Narimiya
Votes: 2,138
6. 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
TV-PG | 63 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Told in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.
Director: Makoto Shinkai | Stars: Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura, Ayaka Onoue
Votes: 63,669
7. Maiko haaaan!!! (2007)
120 min | Comedy
Kimihiko Onizuka is a salaryman infatuated with maiko (apprentice geisha) and whose greatest goal in life is to play a party game called "yakyuken" with one.
Director: Nobuo Mizuta | Stars: Sadao Abe, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Kô Shibasaki, Saori
Votes: 600
8. Kyatapirâ (2010)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, History, War
The story of a village woman given the grueling task of looking after (and fulfilling the sexual needs of) her quadruple amputee husband, a Japanese soldier in the Second Sino-Japanese War who has been decreed a "War God" by the Emperor.
Director: Kôji Wakamatsu | Stars: Shinobu Terajima, Shima Ônishi, Ken Yoshizawa, Keigo Kasuya
Votes: 1,190 | Gross: $0.00M
9. Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)
Not Rated | 99 min | Horror
After 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.
Director: Teruo Ishii | Stars: Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa, Teruko Yumi, Mitsuko Aoi
Votes: 1,877
10. Gemini (1999)
84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryô, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Masako Motai
Votes: 2,876
11. Blind Beast (1969)
86 min | Drama, Horror
A blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
Votes: 3,900
12. Rampo (1994)
R | 100 min | Drama, Mystery
Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts... See full summary »
Directors: Rintarô Mayuzumi, Kazuyoshi Okuyama | Stars: Naoto Takenaka, Michiko Hada, Masahiro Motoki, Teruyuki Kagawa
Votes: 610 | Gross: $0.31M
13. The Watcher in the Attic (1976)
76 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
The landlord of a boarding house in 1923 Tokyo, is keen on spying on the bizarre close encounters taking place beneath his roof. One day he sees a prostitute killing a customer, and decides he's found his soulmate.
Director: Noboru Tanaka | Stars: Junko Miyashita, Renji Ishibashi, Hiroshi Chô, Kyôichi Mizuki
Votes: 499
14. Ranpo jigoku (2005)
134 min | Fantasy, Horror
This four-part anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of legendary horror writer Edogawa Rampo.
Directors: Akio Jissôji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satô, Suguru Takeuchi | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Yûko Daike, Chisako Hara, Masami Horiuchi
Votes: 1,195
15. Sword Art Online (2012– )
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In the year 2022, thousands of people get trapped in a new virtual MMORPG and the lone wolf player, Kirito, works to escape.
Stars: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Haruka Tomatsu, Bryce Papenbrook, Cherami Leigh
Votes: 52,550
16. I Was Born, But... (1932)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hideo Sugawara
Votes: 6,202
17. I Just Didn't Do It (2006)
143 min | Drama
A 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.
Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Ryô Kase, Asaka Seto, Kôji Yamamoto, Masako Motai
Votes: 1,907
18. Good Morning (1959)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 11,002
19. The Wind Rises (2013)
PG-13 | 126 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
Jiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura
Votes: 98,554 | Gross: $5.21M
20. Drunken Angel (1948)
Not Rated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Reizaburô Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure
Votes: 13,348
21. The Sun (2005)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, History
Third part in Aleksandr Sokurov's quadrilogy of Power, following Moloch (1999) and Taurus (2001), focuses on Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Japan's defeat in World War II when he is finally confronted by General Douglas MacArthur who offers him to accept a diplomatic defeat for survival.
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov | Stars: Issei Ogata, Robert Dawson, Kaori Momoi, Shirô Sano
Votes: 2,968 | Gross: $0.08M
22. Kabei: Our Mother (2008)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Based on childhood days of Teruyo Nogami.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Mayumi Tanaka, Chieko Baishô, Mirai Shida
Votes: 1,516 | Gross: $0.01M
23. One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
During 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Isao Numasaki, Chieko Nakakita, Atsushi Watanabe, Zekô Nakamura
Votes: 3,672
24. Yasukuni (2007)
123 min | Documentary
Controversy abounds as Japanese officials honor the deceased at the legendary Yasukuni shrine, where swords used to kill Chinese soldiers were famously forged. Few know about the shrine's eerie past and the mysterious sword inside.
Director: Ying Li | Stars: Naoharu Kariya, Jun'ichirô Koizumi
Votes: 157
25. Harvey (1950)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Due to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Wallace Ford, William H. Lynn, Victoria Horne
Votes: 58,210
26. Barefoot Gen (1983)
TV-PG | 83 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
A powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
Director: Mori Masaki | Stars: Issei Miyazaki, Catherine Battistone, Yoshie Shimamura, Iona Morris
Votes: 9,195
27. Black Rain (1989)
R | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two NYC cops arrest a Yakuza member and must escort him when he's extradited to Japan.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw
Votes: 59,639 | Gross: $46.21M
28. Black Rain (1989)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, War
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 3,942
29. The Face of Jizo (2004)
99 min | Drama
Based on a play by Hisashi Inoue, it focuses on the sufferings of the survivors of Hiroshima. The film takes place during 4 days in the summer of 1948, as the ghost of her father visits ... See full summary »
Director: Kazuo Kuroki | Stars: Rie Miyazawa, Yoshio Harada, Tadanobu Asano
Votes: 251
30. Tony Takitani (2004)
75 min | Drama
When technical illustrator Tony Takitani asks his wife to resist her all-consuming obsession for designer clothes, the consequences are tragic.
Director: Jun Ichikawa | Stars: Issei Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Shinohara Takahumi, Hidetoshi Nishijima
Votes: 4,937
31. All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Unrated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The 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.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Hayato Ichihara, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Takao Osawa
Votes: 11,129 | Gross: $0.02M
32. All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Unrated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The 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.
Director: Shunji Iwai | Stars: Hayato Ichihara, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayumi Ito, Takao Osawa
Votes: 11,129 | Gross: $0.02M
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