Movies and TV shows set in japan

The list contains the best, new and most relevant movies set in japan ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out serious, realistic, atmospheric, stylized, surreal and weird films and TV shows about / with asian, death, flashback, murder, blood, violence, sex, live action, female nudity and youth plots mostly in Drama, Thriller and Romance genres shot in Japan, USA, France and other countries.
japan
 3136
japan movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as japan: Guilty of Romance (2011), Tokyo Decadence (1992), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), Visitor Q (2001), Battle Royale (2000), In the Realm of the Senses (1976), The Last Samurai (2003), The Handmaiden (2016), 47 Ronin (2013).

List of movies set in japan

Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
Guilty of Romance (2011)
Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 144 min.
Story: A detective probes the brutal murder of a woman in a red light district while a housewife hides her double life as a prostitute from her husband.
Style: erotic, disturbing, rough, stylized, serious ...
Audience: adult
Plot: prostitute, murder, erotica, strong sexual content, murder investigation, submissive woman, brothel, adultery, porn, japanese girl, rape, strangulation ...
Time: 2000s, 20th century, 90s
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
Tokyo Decadence (1992)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min.
Story: A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Style: erotic, disturbing, tense, surreal, sexy ...
Plot: bdsm, sex, sexual relations, sexual abuse, prostitute, gangster, prostitution, true love, femdom, pink film, downfall, life is a bitch ...
Time: year 1992, 90s
Place: japan, tokyo, asia, mount fuji
Is relevant ?
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Japan, France
Duration: 145 min.
Story: A sweeping romantic epic set in Japan in the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Style: sentimental, romantic, stylized, captivating, dramatic ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, girls' night, teen drama
Plot: love story, geisha, women, age difference, japanese culture, older man younger woman relationship, brothel, beauty, love and romance, orphan, young woman, mentor ...
Time: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 20th century, year 2005 ...
Place: japan, asia, china, east asia, america ...
Is relevant ?
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Music, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 146 min.
Story: Charts the troubled teenage years of students Yuichi Hasumi and Shusuke Hoshino, exploring the shifting and complex power dynamics of their relationship against the backdrop of Yuichi's love for the dreamy and abstract music of fictional pop ...
Style: atmospheric, disturbing, depressing, teen, serious ...
Audience: teens, teen drama
Plot: coming of age, bullying, music, alienation, high school, social misfits, teenage life, friendship, adolescence, youth, loneliness, school ...
Time: year 2000, year 1999, 2000s, year 2001, 21st century
Place: japan, east asia, okinawa, asia, okinawa japan ...
Is relevant ?
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 6.5
 17K
Visitor Q (2001)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 84 min.
Story: A father who is a failed former television reporter tries to mount a documentary about violence and sex among youths. He proceeds to have sex with his daughter who is now a prostitute, and films his son being humiliated and hit by classmates. ...
Style: psychological, surreal, controversial, tense, dark comedy ...
Plot: rape, dysfunctional family, incest, sexual abuse, father daughter incest, macabre, breast feeding, heroin, sex, obsession, violent, necrophilia ...
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 194K
Battle Royale (2000)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min.
Story: In 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.
Style: disturbing, suspense, bleak, bloody, exciting ...
Audience: teens, boys' night, adult
Plot: game of death, survival, death, dystopia, suicide, gory, desperation, cruelty, social commentary, school class, dystopian future, contests and competitions ...
Time: future, year 2000, distant future, 2000s, near future
Place: japan, asia, east asia
Is relevant ?
In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan, France
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Based on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life itself.
Style: sexy, erotic, sexual, controversial, disturbing ...
Audience: adult
Plot: obsession, sex, sex scene, erotica, sexual perversion, bdsm, jealousy, sexual relations, passion, lust, explicit sex, unsimulated sex ...
Time: 1930s, pre world war two, year 1976, 20th century, year 1936
Place: japan, asia, east asia
Is relevant ?
The Last Samurai (2003)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA, New Zealand, Japan
Duration: 154 min.
Story: Nathan 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 destroy the samurai's way of life in the ...
Style: epic, breathtaking, serious, exciting, captivating ...
Audience: girls' night, manly, adult
Plot: samurai, sword fight, military, battles, war, japanese history, courage, warrior, katana, self discovery, pride and honor, human spirit ...
Time: 19th century, year 2003, victorian era, 1800s, middle ages ...
Place: japan, asia, africa, san francisco, tokyo ...
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 170K
The Handmaiden (2016)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 145 min.
Story: 1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl (Sookee) is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Hideko) who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle (Kouzuki). But the maid has a secret. ...
Style: erotic, sexy, atmospheric, tense, melancholic ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: lesbian, plot twist, lesbian relationship, lesbian love, sex, lust, lgbtq, lesbian romance, lesbian sex, lesbianism, twists and turns, seduction ...
Time: 1930s, year 2016, 2010s, ancient times
Place: japan, south korea, asia, indiana
Is relevant ?
 6.2
 170K
47 Ronin (2013)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA, UK, Japan, Hungary
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Based on the original 1941 movie from Japan, and from ancient Japan’s most enduring tale, the epic 3D fantasy-adventure 47 Ronin is born. Keanu Reeves leads the cast as Kai, an outcast who joins Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), the leader of the 47 ...
Style: stylized, epic, exciting, fairy tale, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, martial arts, ronin, medieval, battles, beast, revenge, shogun, exile, samurai sword, sword and sorcery, heroes ...
Time: 18th century, year 2013, middle ages, 2010s
Place: japan, asia, ancient china
Is relevant ?
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006)
Genre: Animation, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min.
TV show
Story: Japan has been invaded and conquered by the Britannian Empire. Japan is now known as Area 11 and its citizens known as Elevens. The Britannian Empire takes away Japan's autonomous power and imposes its rule through the use of Knightmares. The ...
Style: anime, suspenseful, rough, stylized, manga ...
Audience: kids, teens, boys' night
Plot: mind control, rebelliousness, youth, peril, rebellion, military, young heroes, battles, civil rights, resistance, leader, emperor ...
Time: future
Place: japan, kyoto japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 6.6
 43K
Wasabi (2001)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Japan
Duration: 94 min.
Story: Hubert is a French policeman with very sharp methods. After being forced to take 2 months off by his boss, who doesn't share his view on working methods, he goes back to Japan, where he used to work 19 years ago, to settle the probate of his ...
Style: funny, realistic, semi serious, exciting, action packed ...
Audience: boys' night, teens
Plot: yakuza, father daughter relationship, justice, police brutality, lone hero, investigation, japanese mafia, police detective, youth, tough guy, culture clash, inheritance ...
Time: year 2001, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, france, paris france, asia ...
Is relevant ?
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 8.0
 31K
Nobody Knows (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min.
Story: 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.
Style: depressing, touching, serious, atmospheric, bleak ...
Audience: kids, teens
Plot: childhood, poverty, dysfunctional family, boy, young kid, innocence lost, children, child abandonment, brother brother relationship, tragedy, coming of age, family relations ...
Time: year 2004, 2000s, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
 8.6
 840K
Spirited Away (2001)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 125 min.
Story: 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.
Style: anime, surreal, atmospheric, stylized, fairy tale ...
Audience: family outing, kids, family friendly, teens, pre-teens
Plot: friendship, surrealism, supernatural, magic, witch, parallel world, fantasy world, imaginary, ghost, creature, dragon, japanese mythology ...
Time: 2000s, year 2001, year 2002, y2k, 21st century
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.1
 89K
Audition (1999)
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.
Style: psychological thriller, scary, disturbing, tense, dark ...
Plot: torture, femme fatale, psychopath, murder, sadism, macabre, revenge, serial killer, twists and turns, unsettling, violence, obsession ...
Time: 90s, year 1999, 20th century
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
The Garden of Words (2013)
Genre: Animation, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 46 min.
Story: Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and ...
Style: anime, touching, sweet, atmospheric, melancholic ...
Audience: teens, date night, teen drama
Plot: shoemaker, rain, age difference, youth, grownups, unlikely couple, overcoming, older woman younger man relationship, shyness, teenage life, teen angst, love and romance ...
Time: 2010s, 21st century
Place: tokyo, japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 93K
Perfect Blue (1997)
Genre: Animation, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 81 min.
Story: A retired pop singer turned actress' sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past.
Style: surreal, suspense, adult animation, anime, suspenseful ...
Audience: adult
Plot: murder, serial killer, mentally unstable, stalking, obsession, actor's life, actress, twists and turns, psychopath, rape, losing-it hero, woman in danger ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1997
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Lost in Translation (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Two 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 company, away from their lives in America.
Style: melancholic, atmospheric, offbeat, psychological, artsy ...
Audience: date night, girls' night, chick flick, family friendly
Plot: loneliness, midlife crisis, age difference, friendship, older man younger woman relationship, alienation, fish out of water, love story, unlikely couple, self discovery, relationships, adultery ...
Time: year 2003, 2000s, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, asia, america, yale university ...
Is relevant ?
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Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min.
Story: Former legendary assassin Kenshin Himura has now become a wandering samurai. Offering aid & protecting those in need as atonement for his past deeds. During this time Kenshin Himura comes across and aides Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). Her father ...
Style: exciting, serious, manga, realistic, anime ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, martial arts, master warrior, japanese culture, katana, drifter, swordsman, shogun, heroes, one man army, medieval, fight ...
Time: 1800s, 2010s, 1870s, 1860s, 19th century
Place: japan, asia, ancient china, tokyo, kyoto japan
Is relevant ?
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 147 min.
Story: An entomologist suffers extreme psychological and sexual torture after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village.
Style: atmospheric, surreal, psychological, avant garde, philosophical ...
Plot: existentialism, surrealism, trapped, desert, love affair, isolation, metaphor, sun, insect, obsession, beautiful scenery, solitude ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.9
 38K
Kagemusha (1980)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 180 min.
Story: When a warlord dies, a peasant thief is called upon to impersonate him, in order to protect his clan from appearing weak and vulnerable. But he finds himself haunted by the warlord’s spirit as well as his own ambitions.
Style: captivating, enigmatic, bleak, costume drama, epic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, battles, martial arts, japanese history, war, warlord, medieval, doppelganger, emperor, death, feudal japan, culture clash ...
Time: 16th century, medieval times, year 1980
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Prison School (2015)
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min.
TV show
Story: There was a time when the Hachimitsu Private Academy was a revered and elite all-girls' boarding school on the outskirts of Tokyo but a recent policy revision is allowing boys into the student body. On his first day, Kiyoshi Fujino discovers ...
Style: anime, ecchi, humorous, feel good, entertaining ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gross out humor, masochism, punishment, teamwork, school, female nudity, abuse, teenage protagonist, prison, prison escape, secret love, escapades ...
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 51K
Zatoichi (2003)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 116 min.
Story: Zatôichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. However, behind this humble facade, he is a master swordsman gifted with a lightning-fast draw and breathtaking precision. While wandering, Zatôichi discovers a ...
Style: atmospheric, humorous, exciting, harsh, stylized ...
Plot: samurai, martial arts, sword fight, master warrior, fencing, zatoichi, violence, gang, good versus evil, protector, blind character, swordsman ...
Time: 19th century, year 2003, 1800s, 2000s
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
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Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
Genre: Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min.
Story: A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Style: scary, psychological, disturbing, creepy, cult classic ...
Audience: adult
Plot: ghost, supernatural, haunted house, afterlife, social worker, panic, haunted by the past, family problems, woman in danger, investigation, haunted, curses spells and rituals ...
Time: year 2002, year 2000, 21st century
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 55K
Departures (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min.
Story: Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a ...
Style: sad, philosophical, psychological, touching, thought provoking ...
Plot: self discovery, funeral, father son relationship, pregnant wife, workplace, small town, character study, new job, small town life, heartwarming, music, melancholy ...
Time: year 2008, 21st century
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 17K
Dolls (2002)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater performances -- opening each section of his film with a story provided by the puppets and their masters, which relates thematically to the ...
Style: surreal, emotional, lyrical, melancholic, romantic ...
Plot: obsession, regret, love, culture clash, philosophy, suicide attempt, disfigurement, love and romance, renewed love, blind character, mental illness, melancholy ...
Time: year 2002, 21st century
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
 6.5
 22K
Suicide Club (2001)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min.
Story: When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the ...
Style: psychological, surreal, disturbing, creepy, bloody ...
Plot: suicide, conspiracy, police investigation, gory, violent, surrealism, high school, brutality, hacker, student, website, extreme ...
Time: year 2001, 21st century
Place: japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 18K
Another (2012)
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 286 min.
TV show
Story: When Kouichi Sasakibara transfers to his new school, he can sense something frightening in the atmosphere of his new class, a secret none of them will talk about. At the center is the beautiful girl Mei Misaki. Kouichi is immediately drawn to her ...
Style: anime, suspenseful, atmospheric, disturbing, mind twisting ...
Plot: classmate, mysterious character, death, supernatural, school, accidental death, curses spells and rituals, suspicion, encounter, twists and turns, nightmare, paranormal activity ...
Time: 20th century, year 1998, 90s
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story: 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 ...
Style: tense, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, sincere ...
Plot: samurai, sword fight, feudal japan, poverty, love, friendship, medieval, character study, tragedy, visceral, love story, assassination ...
Time: 19th century, 2000s, year 2002, y2k, 1800s
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
The Boy and the Beast (2015)
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Kyuta, 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 who becomes his spirit guide. That ...
Style: anime, touching, breathtaking, poignant, intense ...
Plot: training, mentor, beast, friendship, martial arts, destiny, orphan, good versus evil, fantasy world, japanese schoolgirl, loneliness, boy ...
Time: 2010s
Place: japan, tokyo
Is relevant ?
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