Best Japanese Films Kinema Junpo (1926-2025)

U.F.O. Blue Christmas

1979 film directed by Hayao Miyazaki

A convict, newly released from prison for murder, joins two strangers on a road trip through Hokkaido to visit his ex-wife, whom he hasn't seen in four years, knowing that if she puts a yellow handkerchief on the window, it would mean that she wants him back at home.

After over 50 years of wandering up and down Japan, finally in the 1970s, the rough-hewn blind shamisen player and folk-song collector named Takahashi Chikuzan became a musical sensation. This biographical drama chronicles his wanderings and his life, with a particular focus on his humble beginnings as a peasant on a remote and arid island.

1977 film by Masahiro Shinoda

1977 film by Shirō Moritani

Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu.

Kôsuke Kindaichi, a somewhat peculiar private detective, visits a remote town. He meets a police detective and they start to investigate an old unsolved murder. Then some murders happen. Kindaichi must find out about the past in order to reveal who the murderer is.

Mariko Miyagi's documentary about everyday life at the school she founded, Silktree (Nemunoki).

In the midst of a match, Hayato, a successful boxer, has had enough of the sport. He lets himself get knocked out, and quits boxing, leaving his wife and living alone with his mangy dog. One day a young mediocre boxer knocks at the door and wants to be Hayato's apprentice.

Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai’s heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her trauma, and finally, rescues his niece who is about to be lured into prostitution.

When Tora-san's infatuation with his nephew's school teacher causes family turmoil, he leaves on his travels again. When he returns, he falls in love with the teacher's mother.

This biopic is centered on New Year's Day of 1894, when Kitamura is recovering from a suicide attempt. Japan is then under the spell of fervent patriotism because the government wants to build up public support for a war with China. Kitamura's literary friends and militant comrades come to visit. They wonder why Kitamura wants to kill himself. Kitamura at first refuses to receive them, then he sits down with them and looks back on his days as a civil rights militant, his stormy love life and his ardent but destructive desire to live literature to the full.

A Yakuza group from Osaka with dreams of national dominance moves into the snowy Hokuriku region, sparking a bloody turf war with local gangs.

A young executive has a really bad night after an encounter with a crazed bisexual wannabe yakuza and his horny girlfriend.

The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. Adaptation of novel by Seishi Yokomizo

In 1930, the chance meeting of a novelist and one of his fans opens the door to a series of mysterious events culminating in the death of a wealthy industrialist who may have been leading a double life.

A rookie golfer must cope with the stress of fame after a marketing executive transforms her into a sports celebrity.

Tora-san befriends the descendant of a feudal lord. The man asks Tora to locate his deceased son's wife who resides somewhere in Tokyo.

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the countryside to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.