Movies: Japan

Serial killer Shinju Shinagawa , called "Shinagawa Pierrot" for her clown makeup at arrest 3 years ago, remained silent during her first trial. Child consultation center worker Arata Natsume suddenly gets a request from Takuto Yamashita, the child of...

How the Japanese process American pop culture and make it their own -- a mind-bending odyssey through cultural mixing....

This film depicts the battle of a man with miraculous bass fishing skills. Rei Kurokami, also known as the "Bass Eraser", stands up to restore the lake, whose ecosystem has changed due to the construction of Leisure Land....

A film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition and its impact on the Nordic building-tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future, traditions, nature, concrete, gardens and high-tech, KOCHUU tells us how co...

Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series. Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmer...

A fictionalised documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644–1694), the spiritual father of haiku poetry. A monk, portraying the poet, journeys through Japan, following Bashô's journal and writing many of his haikus. A ruminant, poetic, Zen ...

Kintaro Walks Japan is a documentary film produced and directed by Tyler MacNiven. It is an account of MacNiven's journey walking and backpacking the entire length of Japan from Kyūshū to Hokkaidō, more than 2000 miles in 145 days....

Documentary about Japan's Unit 731 of World War II....

> Story 1: "Missing" > Story 2: "Miss Ringo" (ミスりんご) > Story 3: "Tea Brewer" (お茶をつぐ) Raita is a deaf boy who has just lost his father. His father wanted him to succeed his tea shop, but Raita didn't want to because his relationship with his father...

Father of nine children cannot find a job. Despite their aspirations, the children are encouraged by both parents to hold down menial jobs and contribute to the family expenses....

Siblings Aru, age 3, and Kino, age 1, have 3 parents: father Fumino, who is transgender; mother Honoyo, Fumino's partner who gave birth to the children; and father Gon, a close gay friend who donated his sperm. The 3 are now raising their children to...

It's summer vacation, but two high schoolers have been instructed to clean the (empty) swimming pool. As they sweep the pool, they initially discuss school life, love and makeup. But it isn't long before their worries begin to overflow and their thou...

Frustrated with her mundane life, a Tokyo office worker becomes obsessed with a fictional movie that she mistakes for a documentary. Fixating on a scene where stolen cash is buried in North Dakota, she travels to America to find it....

The Japanese volleyball players called the “Oriental Witches” are now in their 70s. From the formation of the team at the factory until their victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, memories and legends rise to the surface and blend inextricably....

A coming-of-age story about a high-school girl who wants to use magic, featuring the 11-member experimental band Vampillia...

Revealing the flaws of Japanese society, the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway prompted Murakami to return to his homeland, whose conformism he rejected, to examine it closely. This led to the creation of two works: Underground and 1Q84....

Based on four of the six short stories compiled in Murakami Haruki's anthology, After the Quake explores the complex aftermath of Japan’s earthquakes and other global crises....

Can a candidate with no political experience and no charisma win an election if he is backed by the political giant Prime Minister Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party? This cinema-verite documentary closely follows a heated election campaign in ...

A boy living in underdeveloped Welsh village hopes for a better time of his homeland when seeing the two Japaneese businessmen with the apparent intentions to build a factory there....

Two young swordsmen, Akado Suzunosuke and Tatsumaki Rainoshin, arrive at the city of Edo in their quest to test and improve their skills. Soon they become involved in a conflict against a mysterious group of demonic criminals led by the king of hell,...