These are some of the best movies about Japan to watch to help understand the country before visiting or just for general viewing.
First of all, you may be wondering what a backpacking website has to do with Japanese movies. Well, I’ve been a huge fan of Japanese movies since I went to film college when I saw them for the first time, and for the past 25+ years have watched all the movies listed here, and many more.
I always recommend to other travellers to watch movies about the places they intend to travel to before going to understand the place better, which is why I do articles like this, especially as my Japanese guides are some of the most popular ones on my site.
Note: I own none of the images in this post. They are used in fair usage terms to discuss the movies.
Movies About Japan
Naturally, there are plenty more great movies about Japan to watch other than just these, but these are my personal favourites and span all genres from the old classics to modern greats.
They are a mix of mostly Japanese movies and a few foreign movies made in Japan that are about the country.
Top tip: You can get a 1-month free trial of Amazon Prime (get with that link) where you can watch many of these movies about Japan for free and then cancel before the trial ends if you don’t want to continue.
Drive My Car (2021)
I’ve updated this list since first publishing it a few years ago to reflect some other recent movies and Drive My Car is number one on this list now. If you were to watch just one recent movie about Japan then make it this one. It’s the best Japanese movie I’ve seen in a while.
It follows an actor whose wife dies and in dealing with his grief he ends up getting new work and needs a driver to help get him around. That driver is a young 20-year-old woman and they develop a special relationship over time and in doing so it helps him.
A lot of this movie is set inside a car which may not sound so exciting but the dialogue between the two is brilliant. Highly recommended.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Shoplifters (2018)
This is one of my all-time favourite movies. Be prepared to get emotional at the end is all I’m saying. It’s an exploration of family, poverty, and morality. Set in Tokyo, the film follows the Shibata family, who live on the margins of society, engaging in petty theft and unconventional caregiving.
The family consists of Osamu, a day labourer, his wife Nobuyo, their son Shota, and an elderly relative, Hatsue. They also care for Yuri, a neglected young girl they find abandoned in the cold, whom they “adopt” without formal documentation. Despite their bond, questions arise about what truly makes a family.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Seven Samurai (1954)
This is a masterpiece in Japanese cinema and is directed by legendary director Akira Kurosawa. It’s a story about a samurai who is down on his luck and recruits 6 other samurai to help in the defence of a village from bandits when asked to.
The villagers, in turn, provide meals and a place to stay for the samurai. There’s an epic fight sequence at the end of the movie.
This movie won’t be to everyone’s liking as it’s three and a half hours long and can be slow in parts. But if you appreciate beautiful cinema and directing and have an interest in the times of the samurai in Japan then this is a must-watch.
Watch to see one of the best movies about samurai ever made and what it was like during the times of the samurai. It’s one of the best movies about Japan in feudal times and one of the best Japanese samurai movies.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Spirited Away (2001)
This list would not be complete without including animated movies. Even if you don’t like animation you should watch it at least once before going to Japan, as they are such a big part of the modern-day culture there.
Spirited Away is one of the best Japanese anime movies you could watch and is directed by the legendary animation director Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli fame.
It’s about a ten-year-old girl who wanders into an old amusement park in the countryside with her parents, who are turned into pigs, and she then has to work in a bathhouse for gods to be free and free her parents.
It won the Best Animated Feature at the 2003 Oscars. Watch Spirited Away to see how great Japanese animation can be.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
No list of movies about Japan would be complete without a Godzilla movie. The original classic Godzilla movie is from 1953 and is worth watching, but my personal recent favourite is Godzilla Minus One, which has been a huge hit worldwide.
Set in post-World War II Japan, the film centres on Koichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who survived an encounter with Godzilla during the war. In the aftermath, he becomes entangled in efforts to stop the now-massively mutated creature, whose rampage through Japan threatens the entire nation.
The movie combines elements of intense action, character drama, and patriotic themes, building on the legacy of Godzilla as both a destructive force and a symbol of Japan’s post-war struggles.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Black Rain (1989)
Ok, Black Rain (directed by Ridley Scott) may be a hit-and-miss movie for some people out there but I loved the setting of Osaka in this movie. It has become a cult classic movie about Japan although, upon its initial release, it had mixed reviews.
The first 15 minutes or so starts in New York City and the rest is set in Osaka, which is one of my favourite cities in Japan.
It’s about a New York cop (Michael Douglas) who has to transport a Yakuza gangster from the city back to Osaka. But things go wrong on arrival there and the gangster escapes and he must team up with a local Japanese detective (Ken Takakura)to track him down.
The scenes in Osaka are brilliant giving a good look at the city and also the culture clash between the west and the east.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Get a 1-month free trial of Amazon Prime where you can watch these movies.
Battle Royale (2000)
Get ready for some fun but also gross youth culture of the future. Japan is brilliant for all things weird and horror-related when it comes to movies and Battle Royale is a perfect example of this.
It’s about a teenage school class that is taken to an island by the authorities and each is given different weapons. They are then told that the last one alive will be allowed to leave the island.
It’s brilliant for mixing typical Japanese cuteness, and youth culture, along with a lot of violence.
Rated as one of the best modern Japanese movies.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Tokyo Story (1953)
A beautiful story about an elderly couple who go to visit their family in Tokyo, only to discover that their children have such busy lives they don’t have much time to see them.
It shows the growing differences in Japanese culture between the old and the young. It’s a slow movie, but the acting and general ambience make it worth the watch.
One of the best Japanese drama movies and a great movie about Japanese history in Tokyo after WW2.
Also, a must-see if looking for movies about Japanese culture in general. It was directed by legendary Japanese director Ozu.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Akira (1988)
As great as Spirited Away is, Akira is the movie that put Japanese animation into the mainstream.
It’s about a cyberpunk motorbike gang set in neo-Tokyo in the future, where one of their members has an accident against a child with special psychic powers that he then gains himself.
This is an epic piece of animation. If you were ever to see just one animation in your life then this would be a good choice and it’s one of the best-animated movies about Japan.
I’m personally adding it here as it’s the movie that got me into Japanese animation as a teenager and influenced many other people as well.
Get it here:
Trailer:
Audition (1999)
The end scene alone is what makes this movie so good and equally sick in one. Japanese horror is some of the best, but it’s hard to put this movie into a category. It certainly gets very horrific and psychotic as it goes along.
A widowed man interviews (auditions) various women to see who he likes, and then the one he ends up choosing turns out, in the end, to be not what he was expecting at all.
It could be called a very f**ked-up Japanese romance movie.
Just be prepared for that spine-shivering end scene. A brilliant slow build-up throughout.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Ringu (1998)
Japanese horror movies are some of the best you can watch if you like the horror genre.
Ringu is about a girl who was viciously murdered by her dad and now haunts those who watch a video that she has possessed, where they then have 7 days to find out how they won’t die from having seen it.
Discover one of the coolest Japanese horror movies. Although there are plenty of others out there also worth seeing for this genre.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Harakiri (1962)
Another samurai movie (let’s be honest samurai movies are awesome for action and history) that starts on the slow side but the story builds up to an epic ending.
It’s set in the early 17th century in the Edo period and is about a samurai who has no master (called a ronin) and wishes to commit suicide (seppuku) in the traditional Japanese way having had problems with his family.
At the House of Li Samurai Clan, he recalls the family story in the courtyard of what happened. The ending is so epic you need to see it just for that. It’s that slow build-up that helps make the ending so great.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Read: 20 best Japanese samurai movies.
Departures (2009)
Departures won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and is definitely worthy of it (not that you need an Academy Award to have great movies)
The plot revolves around Daigo Kobayashi who finds out the orchestra he is a part of is disbanding (after he just bought a new cello).
He leaves his home to go back to the far north of Japan where his family is from and ends up working in a mortuary where he learns how to get the dead ready for their end in life with traditional Japanese rituals.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Lost In Translation (2003)
A non-Japanese film about two Americans visiting Tokyo for different reasons. They don’t know each other but end up having adventures in Tokyo together.
It’s fun to watch the older (Bill Murray) and younger (Scarlett Johansson) learn about Japanese life and some of the “funnier things” they are not used to.
The film title says it all. Want to know what complete culture shock can feel like before going to Japan? Then this is the movie to see.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is not a movie about Japan but is a brilliant documentary based around Jiro Ono an 85-year-old sushi master, one of the best sushi chefs in Japan (if not the world), and his son who tries to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Jiro runs a small sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway that only takes several people at a time. It’s also a Michelin award-winning place and there’s a long wait to get a seat there (months).
My favourite Japanese food documentary. If you love sushi and Tokyo then this is a must-watch.
Watch it here:
Trailer:
Read: 15 best documentaries about Japan.
The Best Movies About Japan
So those are some of the best movies about Japan to watch spanning a lot of genres plus a few extras.
If you’re looking for Japanese movies in English don’t worry some of these can be found dubbed over but it’s better to watch them in Japanese with subtitles for a more authentic experience with the language.
Again a top tip: You can get a 1-month free trial of Amazon Prime (get with that link) where you can watch many of these movies about Japan for free and then cancel before the trial ends if you don’t want to continue.
Enjoy whichever movies about Japan you choose to see!
Planning to visit Japan? Get a Japan Rail Pass (get one with that link) to save money on the fast Shinkansen trains.
Share these best Japanese movies about Japan:
Hi, I’ve found your choice interesting, for many of these movied I haven’t watched yet (and some I havent even heard about as I’m not very much into horrors 🙂
From my part I would add “Samurai Twillight” (Tasogare Seibei) and “Farewells” (Okuribito), my absolute (not only Japanese) favourites.
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Japan’s movies and culture are very interesting, a very talented country.
Great post for us. Hoping to read your next exclusive article. so thank you.
Wow! its a imagine post. This is so helpful for us. Thanks for.
Wow! its a imagine post. This is so helpful for us. Thanks for
Movies can drive a story in such a way that every one of us can easily connect to it.
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