Best Japanese Films Kinema Junpo (1926-2025)

A salaryman's drunken ravings in public attract the attention of journalists who coerce him into telling them his life's story.

In this Japanese drama, a dry goods merchant's daughter is surprised to discover that she has a twin sister. In rural Japan it was thought that twins bring bad luck, so the sister was abandoned at birth. Later her parents tell her that her sister was kidnapped. The woman doesn't believe this and when she eventually meets her twin, both women are involved in love affairs. The merchant's daughter is seeing an educated fellow. Trouble ensues when she begins suspecting that he may be more interested in her sister.

1963 Japanese film by Kon Ichikawa

School teachers responsible for the lives of their students work to evacuate Allied bombings near the end of WWII.

A Tokyo family escaping the war relocates to a Hokkaido village; their daughter is set to marry the local leader's son, but her siblings disapprove.

[Period covered: 1582-1594]. As the film opens, the warlod Nobunaga Oda rides to Iga Ayanokuni shrine. He is asked if he thinks he has destroyed all the ninja who opposed him and answers that he suspects that there may be more. A servant brings water and tests it first. The paige dies and we hear gunshots as two ninja flee the scene. His suspicions confirmed, Nobunaga oversees the execution of captured ninja and decides that, in the future, he needs a much crueler method of execution. The daimyo Hideyoshi comes to visit.

In this influential cult-classic animated film based on Japanese folklore, Susano is the youngest son of Izanagi and Izanami, the heavenly couple who created the Earth. Still a young boy, Susano is devastated by the passing away of his mother. Determined to find her despite the reprimands of his father, he embarks on a journey to find his brother and his sister for spiritual guidance.

The days leading up to a toddler's second birthday are seen alternately from the child's point of view as well as that of his parents.

Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education.

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such discrimination.

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

This is one of the first Japanese films distributed by ATG, preceded only by Teshigahara's Pitfall (おとし穴). Based on Nogami Yaeko's 1922 novel The Neptune (海神丸), which was in turn loosely based on real life events. It is the story of the ship Kaijin Maru, that is left adrift after losing all means of navigation in a storm, and the four people on it, becoming increasingly desperate as food and water run out.
#6 in Kinema Junpo's listing for 1962. Starring Shindo regulars Tonoyama Taiji, Otowa Nobuko and Sato Kei, and scored by the wonderful Hayashi Hikaru.

1962 film by Hiroshi Teshigahara

1962 Japanese film by Yasujiri Ozu

Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring.

A dying businessman intends to will ¥200 million to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.

Two car manufacturers spy on each other to try to find out details and prices of a new sports car each is about to launch.

Poverty-stricken sisters reach the age when they start attracting marriage proposals. They must decide between marrying for love or money, but their ambitions clash when they both fall for the same man.

Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner.