Shôwa zankyô-den: Karajishi jingi

1969

Japanese

7.1

♡ 3

Masahiro Makino Director

Ken Takakura as

Kôji Fujiyama as

Seizaburô Kawazu as

Kôichi Yamada as

Hidejirō is sent to prison after killing the boss of a rival family. After being released, he discovers that his family has scattered and he is taken in by a company of quarry workers, whose boss has a strict code of non-violence. When the rival family tries to take over the company and kills their boss, Hidejirō must choose between his promise of non-violence and his yakuza code of revenge...

The Rocking Horsemen

1992

Japanese

7.4

♡ 3

1960s

Action

based on novel or book

Nobuhiko Ôbayashi Director

Hiroshi Katsuno as Bridegroom

Shirô Sano as Noritane Itoh

Tadanobu Asano as Seiichi Shirai

Yuriko Ishida as Woman in White Dress

It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.

The Imperial Navy

1981

Japanese

6.5

♡ 7

Action

Drama

imperial japanese navy

Shûe Matsubayashi Director

Jun Tazaki as

Masao Imanishi as

Hisaya Morishige as

Nobuo Kaneko as Chuichi Nagumo

A lavish retelling of the true story of the final voyage and ultimate destruction and sinking of the battleship Yamato, Japan's greatest flagship during the Second World War.

Tattoo

1982

Japanese

6.5

♡ 2

Banmei Takahashi Director

Yoshio Harada as

Bang-ho Cho as

Ayako Ôta as Miyoko

Misako Watanabe as Sadako Takeda

An ardent culture-vulture youth, previously charged for the murder of a woman when he was young, plans to hold hostage a local bank.

The Scent of Incense. Part 1

1964

Japanese

7.4

♡ 3

based on novel or book

Keisuke Kinoshita Director

Yoshio Inaba as

Eiji Okada as

Eijirô Yanagi as Hotel owner

Nobuko Otowa as Ikuyo

After her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply gets in trouble.

Brutal Tales of Chivalry

1965

Japanese

6.9

♡ 4

Kiyoshi Saeki Director

Kôsaku Okano as

Michitarô Mizushima as Iwasa

Hiroki Matsukata as Masa

Ken Takakura as Seiji Terajima

After World War II, their town was a pile of rubble. Gennosuke, the second generation boss of the Kamizu Group was upholding yakuza chivalry by keeping black-market and illegal items out of their open-air market. Taking advantage of the mess, Iwasa and his gang take hold of goods from the US military, black-market and controlled items in order to become the most powerful group in Enko area.

The Drudgery Train

2012

Japanese

6.8

♡ 2

50%

Nobuhiro Yamashita Director

Makita Sports as (as Makita Supôtsu)

Mirai Moriyama as Kanta Kitamachi

Kengo Kôra as Shoji Kusakabe

Atsuko Maeda as Yasuko Sakurai

In this offbeat coming-of-age tale, a charming, rebellious high school dropout named Kanta befriends the kind, provincial Shoji. The two bring out the best in each other, each gaining confidence from their friendship - especially regarding pursuit of the opposite sex. The working class Kanta becomes a sort of unruly anti-hero, maintaining his pride, defiance, and self-assurance even as his prospects seem increasingly grim.

No Longer Human

2019

Japanese

6.0

♡ 7

Action

based on novel or book

Mika Ninagawa Director

Tatsuya Fujiwara as Ango Sakaguchi

Rie Miyazawa as Michiko Tsushima

Shun Oguri as Osamu Dazai

Kengo Kôra as Yukio Mishima

The story of Osamu Dazai, one of Japan's most celebrated novelists, absorbed in alcohol and love; married and in a relationship with two other lovers.

Otoko no monshô

1963

Japanese

7.0

♡ 5

Akinori Matsuo Director

Kenjirô Ishiyama as

Eijirô Tôno as

Masako Izumi as

Hideki Takahashi as

A Japanese intelligence officer faces personal crises in the years preceding the Manchurian conflict.

The Family Game

1983

Japanese

7.1

♡ 3

75%

Yoshimitsu Morita Director

Kazuko Shirakawa as Mieko's mother

Yoneko Matsukane as Shigeyuki's English teacher

Yoshihiro Katô as Shigeyuki's gymnastic teacher

Ichirôta Miyakawa as Shigeyuki, the younger brother

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor, played by the prototypical bad boy actor Matsuda Yusaku, proceeds to blow the entire family apart.

Station to Heaven

1984

Japanese

7.0

♡ 1

Masanobu Deme Director

Sayuri Yoshinaga as Kayo Hayashiba

Tomokazu Miura as Kouichi Hashimoto

Masahiko Tsugawa as Kouji Fukumi

Nobuyoshi Araki as Photographer

From a true incident that happened in 1960's Japan. This drama is contemporary in setting but medieval in its characters and emotions as it focuses on a tangled web of murder and deceit encountered by a beautiful woman, Kayo after her abusive husband is murdered.

Tonbi

2022

Japanese

6.4

♡ 3

based on novel or book

Drama

family

Family

father son relationship

grieving

shōwa era (1926-89)

single father

Takahisa Zeze Director

Ken Yasuda as Mitsumo

Hiroko Yakushimaru as Taeko

Hiroshi Abe as Yasuo Ichikawa

Yûko Ôshima as Yukie

Yasuo (Hiroshi Abe) grew up as an orphan. He married a woman he loved and they had a son Akira (later played by Takumi Kitamura). Yasuo's life seemed great at the time, but his life totally changed after his wife died in accident. Since that time, Yasuo, who never experienced parents' love himself, has to raise his son Akira alone.

Hiroshima Death Match

1973

Japanese

7.4

♡ 2

Kinji Fukasaku Director

Shin'ichi Chiba as Katsutoshi Otomo

Tatsuo Endô as Tokimori Kanichi

Masataka Iwao as Wada

Nobuo Kaneko as Yoshio Yamamori

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Always: Sunset on Third Street

2005

Japanese

7.7

♡ 4

90%

japanese economic miracle

shōwa era (1926-89)

tokyo, japan

Takashi Yamazaki Director Koyuki

Koyuki as Hiromi Ishizaki

Tomokazu Miura as Shirô "Akuma" Takuma

Yôichi Nukumizu as The Bicycle Shopkeeper

Pierre Taki as The Ice Seller

Teenage Mutsuko comes to Tokyo for work but ends up at a repair shop. She befriends the owner's family. Neighbors Hiromi, writer Chagawa with admirer Junnosuke strive alongside them in postwar Tokyo's evolution.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

1973

Japanese

7.4

♡ 13

90%

Kinji Fukasaku Director

Tatsuo Endô as

Takeshi Katô as

Takashi Ebata as Constable Maekawa

Nobuo Kaneko as Yamamori

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

The End of Summer

1961

Japanese

7.7

♡ 11

Yasujirô Ozu Director

Setsuko Hara as Akiko

Hisaya Morishige as Isomura Eiichirou

Akira Takarada as Teramoto Tadashi

Reiko Dan as Yuriko, her daughter

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

Coup d'Etat

1973

Japanese

6.8

♡ 6

Yoshishige Yoshida Director

Seishirô Hara as

Shintarô Nanjô as

Masao Imafuku as

Rentarô Mikuni as Kazuki Kitamura / Ikki Kita

A freestyle biopic of Ikki Kita, the ultranationalist intellectual whose ideas inspired the failed military coup in 1936.

Farewell to the Land

6.9

Mitsuo Yanagimachi Director

Sumiko Hidaka as Ine Yamazawa

Kumiko Akiyoshi as Junko

Kazuko Shirakawa as Prayer

Jinpachi Nezu as Yukio Yamazawa

Yukio is an ex-farmer working as a dump-truck driver in Kashima. Haunted by the drowning of his two young sons, whose names he has had tattooed on his back in penance, and locked in a sibling rivalry with his traditional but urbane younger brother who lives in Tokyo, Yukio has become an amphetamine-addicted loner at odds with his family, friends and colleagues.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960

Japanese

8.0

♡ 18

100%

Mikio Naruse Director

Chikako Hosokawa as

Masao Oda as

Hideko Takamine as Keiko Yashiro

Masayuki Mori as Nobuhiko Fujisaki

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.

Equinox Flower

1958

Japanese

7.8

♡ 14

89%

father daughter conflict

shōwa era (1926-89)

tradition

wedding

Yasujirô Ozu Director

Fujio Suga as

Miyuki Kuwano as Hisako Hirayama

Ureo Egawa as Schoolmate Nakanishi

Toyo Takahashi as Wakamatsu's owner

Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a coworker and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

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Shôwa zankyô-den: Karajishi jingi

The Rocking Horsemen

The Imperial Navy

Tattoo

The Scent of Incense. Part 1

Brutal Tales of Chivalry

The Drudgery Train

No Longer Human

Otoko no monshô

The Family Game

Station to Heaven

Tonbi

Hiroshima Death Match

Always: Sunset on Third Street

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

The End of Summer

Coup d'Etat

Farewell to the Land

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Equinox Flower