Best Japanese Films Kinema Junpo (1926-2025)

In summer, Nagisa and Natsuo meet by the sea. Their vacant gazes reflect each other as they exchange awkward words and wade into the rain-drenched ocean. In winter, Li, a screenwriter, travels to a snow-covered village. There, she finds a guesthouse run by Benzo.

2024 Japanese film by Shô Miyake

Desert of Namibia follows a bipolar young woman who burns the candle at both ends. A portrait of an unidealized Tokyo gen-Z, that surprises with its incredible energy and irreverence.

A Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo were Takumi and his daughter Hana lived. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi's house, offers a city resident and its affects Takumi's life.

Ryosuke Yoshii is an ordinary person, who supports himself by reselling things on the internet. He carelessly earns grudges by people around him and, in the end, he is dragged into a desperate struggle that risks his life.

2024 film directed by Hiroshi Okuyama

Dai grows up in a small town, interpreting for his loving deaf parents, until he moves to Tokyo in search of his own independent life.

The overly confident Fujino and the shut-in Kyomoto couldn't be more different, but a love of drawing manga brings these two small-town girls together.

Nagoya, 1983: Legendary filmmaker Koji WAKAMATSU decides to open a cinema – not least to show his own films. The Cinema Skhole quickly turns into a hot spot for local cinephiles. Junichi INOUE tells an empathetic and almost true story about motion picture enthusiasts in this loose sequel to Kazuya SHIRAISHI’s DARE TO STOP US.

On the night before ‘Black Friday,’ which is the one of the busiest commerce days, a cardboard box, that is delivered from the world's largest shopping site, explodes. Soon after, a series of mysterious explosion cases occurs. The entire nation becomes terrorized by the shocking events. Funado Erena has just began to work as the center director for a large distribution warehouse that covers three-quarters of the Kanto area. Erena must gain control over this unprecedented situation with team manager Nashimoto Ko.

A drug-addicted girl from an abusive family finds hope through kind people but her grim reality strikes back just as she sees a glimmer of light.

Two rogue vagrants make their living as "manure men", turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished love story unfolds.

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.

2023 Japanese film

在关东大地震的 5 天后（1923/9/6），千叶县福田村就发生了集体杀害日本人的事件。
　　当时有 15 名从四国香川县前往关东的药商，途中行经福田村，在渡船场附近的神社稍微休息，准备搭船去茨城县。 这群来自香川的商人说的方言（讃岐弁）和福田村不同，正好福田村又陷入「担心被朝鲜人攻击」的集体恐慌状态，100 名以上的村民全副武装要猎巫，斩钉截铁认定这15 名来自香川的商人是朝鲜人，杀害了其中9 人，受害者包括3 名幼儿和1 名孕妇。

Yoko, who gets a job at a nursing home, witnesses the elderly and disabled people there having their human dignity threatened.

2023 film directed by Haruhiko Arai

2023 film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

2023 anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki