Favorite Japanese Movies
by aalidio1-566-983532 | created - 28 Dec 2012 | updated - 27 Jan 2013 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Departures (2008)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama
Soon 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.
Director: Yôjirô Takita | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryôko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Votes: 54,921 | Gross: $1.50M
2. Tokyo Sonata (2008)
PG-13 | 120 min | Drama
An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyôko Koizumi, Yû Koyanagi, Kai Inowaki
Votes: 11,760 | Gross: $0.28M
3. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During 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.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 847,695 | Gross: $10.06M
4. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
TV-PG | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A high-school girl named Makoto acquires the power to travel back in time, and decides to use it for her own personal benefits. Little does she know that she is affecting the lives of others just as much as she is her own.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda | Stars: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi
Votes: 70,797
5. Death Note: The Last Name (2006)
Not Rated | 141 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Picking 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.
Director: Shûsuke Kaneko | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda, Nana Katase
Votes: 17,617
6. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
PG-13 | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Directors: Shôgo Furuya, Satoshi Kon | Stars: Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Shôzô Îzuka
Votes: 46,672 | Gross: $0.13M
7. Nobody Knows (2004)
PG-13 | 141 min | Drama
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.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu
Votes: 31,335 | Gross: $0.68M
8. Nana (II) (2005)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A chance encounter between two girls of the same name, "Nana," triggers a series of events and relationships.
Director: Kentarô Ohtani | Stars: Mika Nakashima, Aoi Miyazaki, Hiroki Narimiya, Yûta Hiraoka
Votes: 4,010
9. Battle Royale (2000)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Votes: 194,251
10. Love.Com: The Movie (2006)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
Risa Koizumi an unusually tall high school girl, meets the "vertically challenged" young man Otani Atsushi. They find common ground in height anxieties and interests.
Director: Kitaji Ishikawa | Stars: Ema Fujisawa, Teppei Koike, Shôsuke Tanihara, Nami Tamaki
Votes: 974
11. Kamikaze Girls (2004)
102 min | Comedy
Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima | Stars: Kyôko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Sadao Abe
Votes: 8,081
12. Hura gâru (2006)
108 min | Comedy, Drama
Young women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.
Director: Sang-il Lee | Stars: Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Yû Aoi, Shizuyo Yamasaki
Votes: 2,268
13. 13 Assassins (2010)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yûsuke Iseya, Ikki Sawamura
Votes: 68,548 | Gross: $0.80M
14. Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
As a Labrador puppy, Quill is sent to live with a couple, Isamu and Mitsuko Nii, who work as volunteers, training guide dogs (seeing eye dogs). When he grows to an adult dog, he is taken to... See full summary »
Director: Yôichi Sai | Stars: Kaoru Kobayashi, Kippei Shîna, Teruyuki Kagawa, Keiko Toda
Votes: 1,765 | Gross: $0.01M
15. The Twilight Samurai (2002)
129 min | Drama, Romance
As the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Yôji Yamada | Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Ôsugi
Votes: 25,449
16. 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
17. The Taste of Tea (2004)
143 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A spell of time of a rural family's slightly surreal life.
Director: Katsuhito Ishii | Stars: Maya Banno, Takahiro Satô, Tadanobu Asano, Satomi Tezuka
Votes: 7,182
18. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 448,136 | Gross: $4.71M
19. Ponyo (2008)
G | 101 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A 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.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tomoko Yamaguchi
Votes: 163,125 | Gross: $15.09M
20. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,046 | Gross: $2.38M
21. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 379,498 | Gross: $1.11M
22. Ichi the Killer (2001)
R | 129 min | Action, Crime, Drama
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ômori, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun
Votes: 59,988 | Gross: $0.02M
23. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The blind masseur/swordsman comes to a town in control of warring gangs, and while bunking with a farming family, he meets two women with their own agenda.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Yui Natsukawa, Michiyo Yasuda
Votes: 51,498 | Gross: $0.85M
24. Still Walking (2008)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You, Kazuya Takahashi
Votes: 18,586 | Gross: $0.16M
25. Linda Linda Linda (2005)
TV-PG | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A music group of girls need to learn to play a song before the school festival.
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita | Stars: Bae Doona, Aki Maeda, Yû Kashii, Shiori Sekine
Votes: 4,475
26. Gantz (2010)
Not Rated | 130 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.
Director: Shinsuke Sato | Stars: Kazunari Ninomiya, Kanata Hongô, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Natsuna
Votes: 8,300
27. 20th Century Boys 1: Beginning of the End (2008)
142 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery
Years after a schoolboy writes a book of prophecies, a mysterious super-villain uses it as his master-plan of world destruction.
Directors: Kimura Hisashi, Yukihiko Tsutsumi | Stars: Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Takako Tokiwa, Teruyuki Kagawa
Votes: 2,775
28. 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: 1,515 | Gross: $0.01M
29. Fish Story (2009)
113 min | Action, Comedy, Music
Several seemingly unrelated but surprisingly intertwined tales reveal how a Japanese band that independently invented punk rock in 1975 is, 37 years later, connected to a comet that is about to destroy the world.
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura | Stars: Atsushi Itô, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Noriko Eguchi, Hidekazu Mashima
Votes: 3,432
30. Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Horror
About hair extensions that attack the women that wear them.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Chiaki Kuriyama, Megumi Satô, Tsugumi, Eri Machimoto
Votes: 3,346
31. Goemon (2009)
128 min | Action, Drama, History
Based on a Japanese folk legend that echoes the tale of Robin Hood, this ninja thriller follows the exploits of Goemon Ishikawa (Yôsuke Eguchi), who leaves his fighting clan after its chief... See full summary »
Director: Kazuaki Kiriya | Stars: Yôsuke Eguchi, Takao Osawa, Ryôko Hirosue, Jun Kaname
Votes: 5,549
32. The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief (2006)
Not Rated | 76 min | Documentary
Osaka's top host club owner trains boys to excel in the underground love scene. They learn to fake relationships with girls, their income source.
Director: Jake Clennell
Votes: 1,472
33. Hachimitsu to kurôbâ (2008– )
Drama
Honey and Clover follows the lives of five college students and their love triangles.
Stars: Hiroki Narimiya, Yutaka Matsushige, Takashi Kashiwabara, Riko Narumi
Votes: 204
34. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 204,912 | Gross: $0.55M
35. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 135,994 | Gross: $4.14M
36. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya
Votes: 182,283 | Gross: $0.50M
37. Shall We Dance? (1996)
PG | 136 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
Director: Masayuki Suô | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanabe
Votes: 11,713 | Gross: $9.68M
38. A Taxing Woman (1987)
127 min | Comedy, Crime
If tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.
Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Yasuo Daichi
Votes: 2,238
39. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
Votes: 169,933 | Gross: $13.76M
40. Ringu (1998)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko Takeuchi, Hitomi Satô
Votes: 77,385
41. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 48,011 | Gross: $0.33M
42. I Wish (2011)
PG | 128 min | Drama
Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Kôki Maeda, Oshiro Maeda, Ryôga Hayashi, Seinosuke Nagayoshi
Votes: 7,929 | Gross: $0.15M
43. Vital (2004)
R | 86 min | Drama, Thriller
After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a ... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kiki, Kazuyoshi Kushida
Votes: 3,368
44. Sway (2006)
120 min | Crime, Drama
On the anniversary of the death of the mother of a hip and happening Tokyo-based photographer, the son returns to his hometown for the funeral. What follows is a return to the past that is ... See full summary »
Director: Miwa Nishikawa | Stars: Joe Odagiri, Teruyuki Kagawa, Masatô Ibu, Hirofumi Arai
Votes: 1,209
45. Adrift in Tokyo (2007)
101 min | Comedy
Takemura has no friends and no family. He's a law student but he doesn't have any particular ambitions. A thug offers to pay Takemura's considerable gambling debt if the student accompanies him on a trip across Tokyo.
Director: Satoshi Miki | Stars: Joe Odagiri, Tomokazu Miura, Kyôko Koizumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka
Votes: 3,087
46. Time Traveller (2010)
Not Rated | 122 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A high-school girl acquires the ability to time travel.
Director: Masaaki Taniguchi | Stars: Riisa Naka, Akiyoshi Nakao, Munetaka Aoki, Anna Ishibashi
Votes: 1,721
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