WatchMojo.com released “Top 10 Movies from Japan.” Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world. It includes anime, samurai movie, action and drama movie. And some of them won the Academy Awards in the U.S.. How many Japanese movies have you watched?
#10 My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film – which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi – tells the story of the two young daughters (Satsuki and Mei) of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan.
#9 Tokyo Story
Tokyo Story is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their widowed daughter-in-law, who treats them with kindness.
#8 Battle Royale
Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese action thriller film adapted from the 1999 novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. It is the final film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, the screenplay written by his son Kenta, and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film tells the story of Shuya Nanahara, a junior high-school student who is struggling with the death of his father and is forced by the government to compete in a deadly game where the students must kill each other in order to win.
#7 Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka.
#6 Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke is a 1997 anime epic action historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli and produced by Toshio Suzuki.
#5 Rashomon
Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. It stars Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori and Takashi Shimura. The film is based on two stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: “Rashomon”, which provides the setting, and “In a Grove”, which provides the characters and plot.
#4 AKIRA
Akira (stylized in Japan as AKIRA) is a 1988 Japanese epic animated science fiction thriller film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and featuring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo’s manga of the same name, focusing mainly on the first half of the story.
#3 Godzilla
Godzilla is a 1954 Japanese science fiction kaiju film from Toho, produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, directed by Ishirō Honda and starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura and Haruo Nakajima, who portrayed the titular character until his retirement in 1972. The film features special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
#2 Spirited Away
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli.
#1 Seven Samurai
Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese Jidaigeki adventure film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film takes place in 1587 during the Warring States Period of Japan. It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven masterless samurai (ronin) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.