Best Japanese Films Kinema Junpo (1926-2025)

2015 film directed by Izuru Narushima

Nobuko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) works in Nagasaki, Japan as a midwife. Her son died 3 years earlier from the atomic bomb. On August 9, 1948, her son appears in front of her again. Since that time, Koji (Kazunari Ninomiya) appears in front of her and they reminiscence about pleasant times. These happy, but bizarre moments seem eternal.

A new primary school teacher struggles to deal with his new students and their over-protective parents. When he learns that one of his pupils is being abused, he decides to do something about it.

Kanichi works at wet tissue company in Mito, Japan. He runs into Gondo. 10 years ago, Gondo was fired from his job as a teacher for secretly filming others. He is now with Mihari who works as a hostess. He took away her away from Tokyo. Kanichi falls in love with Mihari at first sight and takes her away from Gondo. Meanwhile, due to a female student on the video Gondo secretly shot, an unexpected disturbance is created.

A man has thrown away love and a woman has given up on love. The two souls meet in a brief summer in the northern city of Hakodate.

2014 film directed by Momoko Andō

Daily, Rika Umezawa battles a nagging sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction. She works a tiring job, comes home to an unappreciative husband and has little opportunity to enjoy life. But things change when office gossip about affairs and embezzlement inspire Rika to do the unthinkable. Soon, Rika finds herself filling the void with a university student named Kota and the millions entrusted to her by clients. Is her newfound lifestyle the key to happiness? And if so, how long can it last?

Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.

The emotional journey of a four-member family that fails to recognize that it is rapidly growing apart until the mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.

As a young child, Hana loses her family to a devastating tsunami that wipes out her town. At a shelter, distant relative Jungo sees her wandering and adopts her as his daughter.

早已过了而立之年的一子（安藤樱 饰）整天百无聊赖，她根本无心帮助打理自家的料理店，整日玩游戏虐杀小外甥。她的妹妹二三子（早织 饰）离婚后回到娘家，极度看不惯姐姐的作为，为此两姐妹甚至大打出手。自感不被家人所容的一子搬了出去，并在日常光顾的百元超市谋得收银员的职位。这间小 店云集着许多怪人，患有忧郁症的店长、话唠猥琐的同事、因盗窃被开除却还时常回来拿临过期食品的老太。在这些人中间，一子的心情愈加苦闷。偶然机缘，她和名不见经传的拳击手狩野（新井浩文 饰）走到一起，无奈他们之间甚至连爱情都谈不上。极度压抑之际一子选择学习拳击，她渴望释放心中的委屈和不满，渴望获得哪怕只有一次的认可。
本片荣获2014年日本电影旬报十佳影片第八名。

A sect is threatened to fall apart, when its leader, a young Korean woman, develops doubts regarding her alleged psychic powers.

Yukihiko Nishino is very popular with women, but, in the end, he is always dumped by a woman. Yukihiko seeks out his true love.

A retired samurai must redeem himself for a crime that he committed earlier in his life.

Laid-back baby boomer Yuichi (Ryo Iwamatsu) is a middle-aged manga artist and singer-songwriter when he isn't at his salaryman day job or watching out for his elderly mother. Suffering from increasing dementia since her husband's death, Mitsue (Harue Akagi) is a constant source of comic energy or annoyance for Yuichi, and he and his son must soon decide if they should put her in a home for the elderly. Jumping back in time, we see how Mitsue (played by Kiwako Harada) tracked the tumult of the latter half of the 20th century, being raised as one of 10 brothers and sisters, surviving the war, and having to push her alcoholic husband (Ryo Kase) along in life. "Pecoross" is directed by the oldest active film director in Japan, Azuma Morisaki, who creates an emotionally complex work that is only the more profound and life-affirming for its cartoonish portrayal.

2013 film by Yuya Ishii

Death-row inmate Sudo sends a letter to magazine reporter Fujii. In his letter, he states that a man named Kimura, also known as "teacher," committed numerous murders for insurance money. While checking out the story, based on Sudo's tip, Fuji becomes convinced that the letter is correct. But, a lot of time has passed from the incidents and Sudo's testimony isn't clear. Due to the persistance of Sudo, who is a former yakuza, and Fuji, the police begin to move.

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

Toma lives in a small riverside town with his brutish father and his father's girlfriend. Witnessing his father's predilections for abuse, Toma becomes anxious that he will have inherited those urges.