Top Japanese Movies


The Top Japanese Movies List is calculated by overall movie ratings and members' "Top Japanese List". Lists are calculated daily.

21. High and Low ( Tengoku to jigoku )

Year of Release: 1963
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Thriller/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa, Takashi Shimura
Plot: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.

22. Dreams ( Akira Kurosawa's Dreams )

Year of Release: 1990
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Martin Scorsese, Mieko Harada
Plot: Has eight various dream sequences which mostly tackle about humanity, nature and a child's innocence. Some characters repeat in certain dreams. A myriad of events occur such as mountaineers traveling thru a violent snow storm, tree spirits talking to a child, a demon explaining hell, nuclear plants exploding, a wise elderly talking about his opinions and a man stumbling inside a painting and meeting the artist who created it.

23. Ponyo on the Cliff ( Gake no ue no Ponyo )

Year of Release: 2009
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Adventure
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Frankie Jonas, Noah Lindsey Cyrus, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson
Plot: Hayao Miyazaki brings to life the story of Sosuke, a 5-year-old boy and Ponyo, a goldfish princess who wishes to become human.

24. Tokyo Story ( Tôkyô monogatari )

Year of Release: 1953
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Actors: Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, Chieko Higashiyama
Plot: An older couple head to Tokyo to visit their children and grandchildren, but are greeted with indifference and shipped off to a resort in this touching meditation on the sorrows of growing older.

25. Wolf Children ( Okami kodomo no ame to yuki )

Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Actors: Kumiko Asô, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Megumi Hayashibara, Takuma Hiraoka
Plot: The story of student who fell in love with a young man who had a secret - he was actually a wolf - and when fate suddenly takes him away, she is forced to raise their children alone. Because of their unique nature, she faces many trials, but the love is always there, even when the children older and wandering farther away.

26. Akira

Year of Release: 1990
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Action
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Actors: Johnny Yong Bosch, Joshua Seth, Wendee Lee, Michelle Ruff
Plot: The future and Neo-Tokyo where the leader of a violent biker gang becomes involved with a shady military project that grants him amazing powers that quickly spin out of control.

27. Ugetsu Monogatari

Year of Release: 1954
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Actors: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitarô Ozawa
Plot: Long hailed as one of the great achievements in Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi's film, set against the backdrop of the civil wars of 16th Century Japan, follow two men looking for glory: one as a potter, the other as a would-be samurai. Their ambition causes them to abandon their respective wives, leading to tragedy.

28. Throne of Blood ( Kumonosu-jou )

Year of Release: 1957
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/Action
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo
Plot: Inspired by a prophecy, an ambitious lord seeks to become emperor as his even more ambicious wife pushes him on.

29. Red Beard ( Akahige )

Year of Release: 1965
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshirô Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan
Plot: In 19th-century Japan, a young doctor reluctantly goes to work at a rural hospital. There, he first rebels against, then comes to respect and learn from, "Red Beard," the head doctor.

30. Perfect Blue

Year of Release: 1999
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Satoshi Kon
Actors: Bridget Hoffman, Wendee Lee, R. Martin Klein, Michael Lindsay
Plot: A retired pop idol begins a new career as a risque actress, but when she finds a website that has intimate details of her life, she begins to question her own life.

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