Movies and TV series about Japan
The 50 best titles about Japan, ranked by the iRank Score — our composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb. Every page includes cast, where to watch and similar recommendations.
Seven Samurai
1954 · Akira Kurosawa
MovieActionDramaA samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend
Shoplifters
2018 · Hirokazu Kore-eda
MovieCrimeDramaThrillerIn the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already
BLUE EYE SAMURAI
2023 · Amber Noizumi
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationDramaDriven by a dream of revenge against those who made her an outcast in Edo-period Japan, a young warrior cuts a bloody path toward her destiny.
Lost in Translation
2003 · Sofia Coppola
MovieComedyDramaRomanceTwo lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's co
Drive My Car
2021 · Ryusuke Hamaguchi
MovieDramaYusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Mi
Kubo and the Two Strings
2016 · Travis Knight
MovieAdventureAnimationFamilyKubo mesmerizes the people in his village with his magical gift for spinning wild tales with origami. When he accidentally summons an evil spirit seeking vengeance, Kubo is forced to go on a quest to
KENGAN ASHURA
2019 · Tomoko Takahashi
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationSci-Fi & FantasyOhma Tokita enters a hidden world where corporate disputes are settled in brutal gladiator bouts. Forget the money, he just wants to fight — and win.
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
2018 · Kenji Nagasaki
MovieActionAdventureAnimationAll Might and Deku accept an invitation to go abroad to a floating and mobile manmade city, called 'I-Island', where they research quirks as well as hero supplemental items at the special 'I-Expo' con
Rurouni Kenshin: The Final
2021 · Keishi Otomo
MovieActionAdventureDramaIn 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Wes Anderson
MovieAdventureAnimationComedyIn the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old
Ninja Scroll
1993 · Yoshiaki Kawajiri
MovieActionAnimationFantasyJubei is a masterless ninja who travels the land alone, lending his services to those with gold—or a worthy cause. His fearsome abilities have served him well, but a plot to overthrow the government t
The Wind Rises
2013 · Hayao Miyazaki
MovieAnimationDramaHistoryA lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
Predator: Killer of Killers
2025 · Dan Trachtenberg
MovieActionAnimationScience FictionWhile three of the fiercest warriors in human history—a Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a WWII pilot—are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent: the ultima
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising
2019 · Kenji Nagasaki
MovieActionAdventureAnimationClass 1-A visits Nabu Island where they finally get to do some real hero work. The place is so peaceful that it's more like a vacation... until they're attacked by a villain with an unfathomable Quirk
Detective Conan
1996
SeriesAnimationComedyCrimeThe son of a world famous mystery writer, Jimmy Kudo, has achieved his own notoriety by assisting the local police as a student detective. He has always been able to solve the most difficult of crimin
Hacksaw Ridge
2016 · Mel Gibson
MovieDramaHistoryWarWWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
2003 · Quentin Tarantino
MovieActionCrimeAn assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
Battle Royale
2000 · Kinji Fukasaku
MovieActionDramaThrillerIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Weathering with You
2019 · Makoto Shinkai
MovieAnimationDramaFantasyThe summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloo
The Boy and the Beast
2015 · Mamoru Hosoda
MovieActionAdventureAnimationKyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu
Dragon Ball Z Kai
2009
SeriesAction & AdventureAnimationComedyRejoin Goku and his friends in a series of cosmic battles! Toei has redubbed, recut, and cleaned up the animation of the original 1989 animated series. The show's story arc has been refined to better
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning
2021 · Keishi Otomo
MovieActionAdventureDramaBefore he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will ch
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins
2012 · Keishi Otomo
MovieActionAdventureFantasyIn 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
Flags of Our Fathers
2006 · Clint Eastwood
MovieDramaHistoryWarThere were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - Jo
Shin Godzilla
2016 · Shinji Higuchi
MovieActionHorrorScience FictionWhen a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover
In the Realm of the Senses
1976 · Nagisa Ōshima
MovieDramaRomanceA passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission
2021 · Kenji Nagasaki
MovieActionAdventureAnimationA mysterious group called Humarize strongly believes in the Quirk Singularity Doomsday theory which states that when quirks get mixed further in with future generations, that power will bring forth th
The Last Samurai
2003 · Edward Zwick
MovieActionDramaWarNathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to
You Only Live Twice
1967 · Lewis Gilbert
MovieActionAdventureThrillerA mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his arche
Ju-on: The Grudge
2002 · Takashi Shimizu
MovieHorrorWhen a social worker is sent to check on a traumatized elderly woman whose family have moved in at the site of a notorious murder case, she unwittingly unleashes a cycle of terror that transmits via i
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
1999 · Hiroyuki Okiura
MovieAnimationScience FictionThrillerA member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining. However, unbeknownst to him, he b
Tora! Tora! Tora!
1970 · Toshio Masuda
MovieDramaHistoryWarIn the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lea
As the Gods Will
2014 · Takashi Miike
MovieComedyHorrorThrillerHigh school student Shun Takahata is bored. Bored with the day-to-day monotony of school and life, he prays for change, for something exciting. Suddenly, he and his classmates are forced to play deadl
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · Rob Marshall
MovieDramaHistoryRomanceIn the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
The Karate Kid Part II
1986 · John G. Avildsen
MovieActionAdventureDramaSummoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turne
Pacific Rim: Uprising
2018 · Steven S. DeKnight
MovieActionAdventureFantasyIt has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defen
Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources