Best Japanese Drama Movies
This page is updated regularly. Subscribe, so you don't miss new recommendations. The list of "Best Japanese Drama Movies" contains films with the following parameters. Style: realistic, psychological, captivating, serious, touching and sincere. Plot: asian, friendship, family relations, storytelling, loneliness, relationships, love, husband wife relationship, runaway and mother daughter relationship. Genre: Drama, Romance and Animation. Country: Japan, USA and China.
Best Japanese Drama Movies
TOP Movies: A Silent Voice (2016), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Luca (2021), Drive My Car (2021), Departures (2008), Like Father, Like Son (2013), The Great Passage (2013), Close-Knit (2017), Still Walking (2008), The King of Staten Island (2020), Nobody Knows (2004), Maborosi (1995), The Kirishima Thing (2012), Little Forest: Winter/Spring (2015), A Story of Yonosuke (2012), Blood and Bones (2004), She Said (2022), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Inside Out (2015), Not Yet (1993).
List of Best Movies
Genre: Animation, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya ...
Style:
anime, sincere, touching, romantic, sweet ...
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
bullying, disability, deaf, sign language, friendship, teenager, high school, japanese schoolgirl, coming of age, japanese school, suicide attempt, redemption ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
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:
captivating, sentimental, dramatic, serious, romantic ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
love story, geisha, women, age difference, japanese culture, older man younger woman relationship, brothel, beauty, orphan, love and romance, mentor, femininity ...
Time:
1920s, 1940s, 1930s, ancient times, 20th century ...
Place:
japan, asia, china, east asia, america ...
Is relevant?
220K
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
In a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, two young boys experience an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. But all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another ...
Style:
3d animation, entertaining, funny, sexy, cute ...
Audience:
kids, teens, family friendly, family outing
Plot:
friendship, water, coming of age, ocean, disguise, seaside town, friends, sea voyage, male female friendship, sea adventure, friendship between boys, monster ...
Time:
future, 2020s, 1950s, year 1959, 20th century ...
Place:
italy, europe, riviera, mediterranean sea
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 179 min.
Story:
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 Vanja at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to ...
Style:
inspirational, road movie, poetic, slow cinema, art house ...
Plot:
driver, infidelity, japanese wife, stage play, snow, loss of wife, chauffeur, road trip, sex, grief, audition, asian ...
Time:
2010s, 2020s, year 2019
Place:
japan, hiroshima japan, south korea, hokkaido, tokyo ...
Is relevant?
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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, thought provoking, emotional, inspirational ...
Plot:
funeral, self discovery, father son relationship, pregnant wife, life philosophy, workplace, small town, character study, new job, small town life, classical music, musician ...
Time:
year 2008, 21st century
Place:
japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Style:
touching, sincere, disturbing, psychological, poignant ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
family drama, family reunited, boy, parents and children, architect, parenthood, moral dilemma, father son relationship, self discovery, class differences, introspection, life turned upside down ...
Time:
year 2013, 21st century
Place:
japan, tokyo, asia
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, ‘The Great Passage.’ In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is ...
Style:
realistic, feel good, sincere, serious, sentimental ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
obsession, fall in love, workplace, love and romance, social misfits, workplace situations, publishing, creative process, passion, office, perseverance, literary ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, 2010s
Place:
asia, japan, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
After being neglected by her mother, a little girl is taken in by her uncle and his transgender girlfriend, who create a loving home for her.
Style:
sexual, psychological, disturbing, educational, sexy ...
Plot:
trans woman, transsexual, japanese girl, gay slur, dysfunctional family, family problems, family relations, gay, parents and children, life is a bitch, family life, lgbt ...
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Twelve years after their beloved eldest son, Junpei, drowned while saving a stranger's life, Kyohei and Toshiko welcome their surviving children home for a family reunion. Younger son Ryota still feels that his parents resent that he isn't ...
Style:
contemplative, realistic, touching, sincere, aesthetic ...
Plot:
family reunited, family gatherings, family life, generation gap, bereavement, dealing with death, reconciliation, parents and children, old age, father son relationship, food, generation ...
Time:
2000s, year 2008
Place:
japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, China
Duration: 136 min.
Story:
Scott has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He’s now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious ...
Style:
humorous, psychological, funny, ironic, dark comedy ...
Plot:
slacker, tattoo artist, arrested development, re-education, stoner, traumatized man, fear of commitment, adhd, coming of age, tattoo, jealousy, meditation ...
Time:
2020s, 21st century
Place:
new york, hawaii, manhattan new york city, usa
Is relevant?
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:
touching, depressing, atmospheric, gloomy, bleak ...
Audience:
kids, teens
Plot:
poverty, childhood, children, young kid, child abandonment, dysfunctional family, brother brother relationship, innocence lost, responsibility, neglect, jailbait, family relations ...
Time:
year 2004, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
japan, tokyo, east asia, asia, california ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.
Style:
art house, atmospheric, contemplative, slow cinema, retro ...
Plot:
suicide, stepbrother stepsister relationship, death, arranged marriage, melancholy, self discovery, drinking, memory, sea, loss of husband, widow, water ...
Time:
90s, year 1995
Place:
japan, europe, venice, asia, italy ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A story about the disappearance of Kirishima, a star athlete of the volleyball club, and how his disappearance affects every person in school.
Style:
realistic, atmospheric, semi serious, touching, psychological ...
Plot:
high school, disappearance, friendship, society, social relations, youth, high school student, rivalry, japanese schoolgirl, japanese teenager, great ending, asian ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto) lived in a big city, but goes back to her small hometown Komori, located on a mountain in the Tohoku region. She is self-sufficient. Ichiko gains energy living among nature and eating foods she makes from seasonal ingredients.
Style:
thought provoking, captivating, sincere, realistic, epic ...
Plot:
food, japanese girl, japanese culture, solitude, nature, agriculture, abandoned by mother, isolation, society, rural setting, backpacking, cookery ...
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 160 min.
Story:
The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and ...
Style:
realistic, psychological, tense, captivating, independent film ...
Plot:
university, cheerleader, dating, student, dancing, public, father son relationship, flirting, getting home, asian, friendship, love and romance ...
Time:
year 1987
Place:
tokyo, japan, tanzania
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min.
Story:
In 1923, the young Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island (South Korea), to Osaka (Japan). Through the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko (processed seafood products) in his poor Korean-Japanese ...
Style:
realistic, psychological, serious, rough, bleak
Plot:
dysfunctional family, family problems, life is a bitch, obsession, danger, loan, family in crisis, violence, marital abuse, badass, asian, abusive relationship ...
Time:
1950s, 80s, 50s
Place:
japan, asia
Is relevant?
49K
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
Style:
f word
Plot:
journalism, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault, abuse of power, film producer, women's rights, film industry, rape, investigation, sex crime, based on real people ...
Time:
2010s, year 2016, year 2017, year 1992, 21st century
Place:
hong kong, manhattan new york city, ireland, new york, venice ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Style:
realistic, epic, contemplative, disturbing, touching ...
Audience:
family outing, adult
Plot:
world war two, war, military, japanese history, battles, anti war, survival, japanese military, japanese army, imperial japan, violence, stallion ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 2006, ancient times, 2000s ...
Place:
japan, asia, nebraska, tokyo, germany
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
903K
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. ...
Style:
touching, inspirational, emotional, motivational, 3d animation ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, family friendly, teens, pre-teens ...
Plot:
joy, imaginary friend, memory, creativity, parents and children, dream, childhood, life philosophy, coming of age, friendship, anger, happy ending ...
Time:
year 2015, 2010s, 2000s, year 2016, 21st century
Place:
san francisco, minnesota, california, tibet, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
This film tells the story of professor Uehida Hyakken-sama (1889-1971), in Gotemba, around the forties. He was a university professor until an air raid, when he left to become a writer and has to live in a hut. His mood has hardly changed, not by ...
Style:
emotional, epic, independent film, contemplative, serious ...
Plot:
world war two, teacher, professor, existentialism, death, school teacher, japanese history, education, samurai, tribute, birthday party, post war japan ...
Time:
1940s, year 1993
Place:
tokyo, japan, asia, hong kong, germany
Is relevant?
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:
sincere, jidai geki, talky, touching, lyrical ...
Plot:
samurai, poverty, feudal japan, sword fight, asian history, friendship, love story, tragedy, character study, samurai era, visceral, assassination ...
Time:
19th century, 2000s, y2k, 1800s, year 2002
Place:
japan, east asia, asia, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
A terminally ill single mother is determined to reconcile her splintered family.
Style:
sincere, psychological, disturbing, captivating, sentimental ...
Plot:
japanese woman, bullying, east asian woman, father daughter relationship, terminal illness, siblings, diagnosis, cancer, husband wife relationship, waitress, sign language, dead mother ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan, mount fuji, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.
Style:
thought provoking, captivating, sincere
Plot:
hobby, tradition, east asian woman, instructor, teacher, skill, japanese culture, slice of life, food, mother and daughter, tea, lifestyle ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Musical
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 147 min.
Story:
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, ...
Style:
realistic, hood, intense, clever, inspirational ...
Audience:
manly
Plot:
hip hop, racism, music, ghetto, gangster, redemption, rap, rags to riches, profanity, rapper, african american, gang ...
Time:
90s, year 2015, 2010s, year 1990, year 1995 ...
Place:
los angeles, california, milwaukee wisconsin, usa, detroit ...
Is relevant?
924
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 147 min.
Story:
After the collapse of their relationship, Kiwako abducts the 6-month old child of a man she was having an affair with. Raising the child as her own, it is four years before the authorities catch up with her and the young child.
Style:
psychological, captivating, emotional, intense, sad ...
Plot:
kidnapping, motherhood, relationship problems, parents and children, social problems, life is a bitch, family problems, abduction, family life, kidnapper, tragic past, family tragedy ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
Tony Takitani had a solitary childhood. Being alone was normal since his mother died young and his father was always away with his jazz band. At school he studied art, but while his sketches are accurate and detailed they lack feeling. Used to being ...
Style:
captivating, atmospheric, serious, psychological, realistic ...
Plot:
solitude, couples, emotionless, hopes, fall in love, alone, musician, marriage proposal, lost love, love and romance, jazz, couple relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan, asia, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young businessman slips slowly away from his loving family.
Style:
realistic, touching, psychological, emotional, captivating ...
Plot:
alzheimer's disease, family relations, mental illness, businessman, family problems, family in crisis, unfulfillment, supportive spouse, mental disorder, terminal illness, love, friendship ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story:
Sawako Kuronuma, called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. However, despite her ...
Style:
shoujo, romantic drama, sentimental, captivating, sweet ...
Plot:
high school crush, feminine wiles, japanese school, high school life, japanese teenager, love, teenage girl, father daughter relationship, school, fall in love, social misfits, couples ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan, east asia
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 142 min.
Story:
Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and ...
Style:
serious, sincere, sentimental, touching, emotional ...
Plot:
parents separation, family life, mother and son, aging, life is a bitch, family relations, parents and children, terminal illness, single parent, fighting illness, nursing, overprotective mother ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
tokyo, asia, japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap, and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and ...
Style:
psychological, suspense, disturbing, captivating, philosophical ...
Plot:
coincidence, love triangle, women, encounter, lgbt, lesbian, revenge, female protagonist, destiny, multiple storylines, change of luck, love story ...
Time:
2020s
Place:
japan, tokyo
Is relevant?
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