Best Of Japan Cinema, a list by DKG

9.7

/90/

97

/7/

94

/9/

4.6

/2813/

Fishmans' legendary final live performance under the Fishmans name before frontman Shinji Sato's passing. The show was recorded and filmed at Akasaka Blitz, a Japanese music venue based in Minato, Tokyo, on December 28, 1998, and released as an album nine months later. The album title roughly translates to "A Men's Farewell: December 28th, 1998", a reference to the tour name to bassist Yuzuru Kashiwabara's departure and to signal an "end of an era" for the band's three piece era.

92

8.6

/398157/

84

/5714/

84

/4080/

4.6

/383477/

100

/103/

97

/6724/

98

/7/

4.0

age 13+

A 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 themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

91

8.6

/88679/

85

/1882/

84

/1146/

4.7

/199789/

100

/10/

97

/415/

85

/9/

4.0

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

90

8.3

/100788/

82

/1711/

83

/1272/

4.5

/175635/

98

/57/

96

/1465/

92

/20/

4.0

age 11+

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

90

8.3

/19635/

79

/389/

81

/411/

4.4

/34418/

100

/20/

95

/266/

96

/17/

4.0

In medieval Japan, a woman and her children journey to find the family's patriarch, who was exiled years earlier.

90

8.4

/25021/

81

/540/

82

/500/

4.5

/59770/

100

/33/

93

/343/

4.0

A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.

90

8.1

/76663/

81

/1443/

81

/1174/

4.4

/136430/

100

/52/

93

/871/

100

/19/

4.0

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

90

8.2

/141608/

80

/2363/

80

/1615/

4.3

/162000/

96

/51/

96

/2271/

93

/17/

4.0

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

90

8.2

/149711/

80

/2542/

80

/1725/

4.5

/226531/

96

/94/

95

/2188/

97

/21/

4.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

89

?

9.0

/138/

85

/24/

95

/2/

Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2017, headlined by Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

89

8.1

/194488/

79

/3196/

80

/2436/

4.2

/266593/

98

/64/

93

/2665/

98

/18/

4.0

age 15+

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

89

78

8.8

/8486/

86

/212/

84

/202/

4.6

/25705/

97

/28/

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines.

89

8.2

/21206/

80

/450/

80

/454/

4.3

/57652/

100

/25/

92

/256/

93

/18/

4.0

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

89

8.4

/69732/

84

/1467/

83

/1059/

4.6

/185667/

97

/70/

95

/556/

90

/17/

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

88

8.1

/27916/

78

/561/

80

/626/

4.3

/55624/

100

/34/

93

/412/

4.0

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

88

7.9

/93973/

79

/3577/

78

/2214/

4.3

/280254/

99

/230/

91

/197/

93

/40/

4.0

age 16+

In 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 fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.

87

8.0

/11790/

78

/272/

79

/311/

4.2

/31049/

95

/21/

90

/81/

91

/17/

4.0

Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

87

7.9

/20544/

80

/600/

78

/420/

4.3

/58245/

100

/66/

90

/301/

89

/21/

4.0

A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.

87

7.9

/26090/

80

/983/

78

/407/

4.3

/140198/

100

/58/

93

/725/

87

/18/

4.0

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

86

7.9

/98073/

79

/4036/

77

/1742/

4.3

/718618/

96

/186/

93

/34/

80

/38/

4.0

age 12+

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

86

8.3

/23073/

81

/379/

81

/392/

4.4

/29613/

73

/15/

95

/388/

90

/10/

4.0

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

86

77

8.0

/5302/

80

/121/

79

/122/

4.2

/10650/

100

/16/

93

/93/

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

86

8.0

/8295/

76

/138/

77

/188/

4.2

/12753/

100

/14/

89

/66/

4.0

In 17th century Edo Period Japan, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

86

80

8.5

/8679/

82

/227/

82

/211/

4.5

/23248/

94

/897/

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

86

82

8.0

/10525/

78

/206/

78

/200/

4.2

/20005/

100

/11/

92

/97/

94

/5/

A 28-year-old single woman is pressured to marry.

86

8.3

/15415/

81

/267/

82

/256/

4.3

/20243/

100

/9/

93

/171/

90

/9/

3.0

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.

86

8.1

/26832/

80

/582/

77

/342/

4.1

/12071/

99

/69/

94

/817/

82

/25/

4.0

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

85

31

8.6

/1515/

78

/12/

86

/5/

3.9

/408/

99

/30/

Produced and directed by Yuzuru Hanyu. The first-ever solo ice show at Tokyo Dome "GIFT,” a story that self-portrays Yuzuru Hanyu's life and future on the ice. Featuring MIKIKO as the director. The show will finally open for one night only on February 26, 2023.

85

52

8.6

/999/

83

/51/

78

/19/

4.2

/4105/

97

/130/

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family. The film version of the stage production was shot during the play’s 2022 run at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.

85

?

8.4

/154/

82

/70/

89

/9/

AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door was a co-produced professional wrestling event featuring American promotion AEW and Japanese promotion NJPW. It took place on June 26, 2022 at the United Center in Chicago and featured 13 matches, including 4 on the pre-show. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the interim AEW World Champion. Other notable matches included Jay White defeating Adam Page, Kazuchika Okada, and Adam Cole in a four-way match to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Pac becoming the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion in a four-way match, and Claudio Castagnoli making his AEW debut by defeating Zack Sabre Jr. The event also featured special appearances by Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata.

85

?

8.2

/163/

87

/14/

88

/6/

Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2018, headlined by Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

85

8.0

/45249/

79

/841/

80

/669/

4.1

/60355/

96

/52/

92

/830/

89

/16/

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

85

8.0

/34823/

80

/849/

79

/603/

4.4

/98249/

92

/92/

93

/907/

88

/31/

3.5

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.

85

7.7

/8191/

78

/256/

75

/227/

4.3

/66105/

100

/22/

84

/49/

4.0

In 1960s Tokyo, Gonda owns a bar in which the gay, cross-dresser, and trans scenes meet. Gonda is in a relationship with the madam of the bar, Leda. As the younger Eddie starts a passionate affair with Gonda, she ignites the jealousy of Leda, unaware of another kind of history between them.

85

78

8.0

/5609/

77

/140/

76

/150/

4.2

/15883/

100

/7/

92

/52/

87

/6/

Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.

85

7.9

/9657/

77

/186/

75

/198/

4.1

/18074/

96

/23/

91

/122/

4.0

When a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.

85

8.0

/43903/

80

/911/

80

/689/

4.1

/59774/

100

/29/

95

/760/

83

/15/

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

85

8.0

/59559/

78

/1065/

79

/947/

4.3

/103590/

96

/49/

93

/1068/

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

85

69

8.1

/2345/

80

/77/

75

/48/

4.3

/7738/

100

/6/

90

/37/

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed while the Japanese garrison was surrounded, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.

85

7.5

/8261/

76

/241/

74

/186/

4.1

/26100/

100

/24/

83

/101/

92

/8/

4.0

A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.

85

7.9

/40549/

77

/741/

78

/711/

4.2

/43692/

89

/27/

92

/710/

84

/15/

4.0

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

84

53

8.0

/1821/

70

/26/

81

/18/

3.9

/9144/

100

/20/

97

/19/

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki.

84

7.8

/39704/

79

/1965/

79

/804/

4.3

/383200/

97

/173/

90

/88/

79

/40/

3.5

After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.

84

14

8.1

/94/

76

/10/

100

/2/

4.1

/976/

The words I promised to Kin-ichi Motegi, 'This is the first and last. I tell you everything about Fishmans without telling a lie.' The friends who made the sound of Fishmans devoted their lives to music. Shinji Sato's way of life is packed in this movie for nearly three hours.

84

7.5

/75269/

75

/2757/

74

/1427/

4.2

/360182/

97

/216/

78

/269/

91

/42/

4.0

age 15+

Yusuke 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 Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.

84

7.7

/5133/

76

/116/

73

/110/

4.0

/14904/

92

/12/

92

/45/

4.0

A gangster gets released from prison and has to cope with the recent shifts of power between the gangs, while taking care of a thrill-seeking young woman, who got in bad company while gambling.

84

71

8.0

/5375/

76

/103/

77

/145/

4.2

/8890/

100

/7/

92

/24/

When the wife of a 17th century Kyoto scroll-maker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves falling for one another.

84

75

7.9

/5762/

77

/100/

75

/120/

4.1

/6648/

100

/19/