Best films · Asia
10 Best Japanese Movies to Watch First
Move from postwar humanism and studio-era masters to animation and contemporary genre filmmaking without treating one director as the whole national canon.
Compare this list
Compare the route at a glance
Runtime, mood, and entry level help narrow the list without replacing the editorial ranking.
| Film | Runtime | Genre | Mood | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grave of the Fireflies | 89 min | Animation · Drama · War | tense · thoughtful · dark | first visit · shorter watch · animation fans |
| Howl's Moving Castle | 119 min | Fantasy · Animation · Adventure | dreamlike · dark · uplifting | first visit · animation fans |
| Seven Samurai | 207 min | Action · Drama | thoughtful · dark · adventurous | first visit · film history |
| Spirited Away | 125 min | Animation · Family · Fantasy | dreamlike | animation fans |
| Your Name | 106 min | Animation · Romance · Drama | romantic · thoughtful · dreamlike | animation fans |
| Akira | 124 min | Animation · Science Fiction · Action | adventurous | animation fans |
| Ikiru | 143 min | Drama | thoughtful · dark | film history |
| Weathering with You | 112 min | Animation · Drama · Fantasy | thoughtful · dreamlike | animation fans |
| Arrietty | 94 min | Fantasy · Animation · Family | dreamlike · uplifting | shorter watch · animation fans |
| Tokyo Story | 137 min | Drama | thoughtful · dreamlike | film history |
10 Essential Japanese Films
Ranked native cinema in Japan’s own creative voice.
-
1. Grave of the Fireflies
In the final months of World War II, a teenage boy and his little sister, orphaned by the firebombing of their city, struggle to survive on their own amid hunger and indifference. Isao Takahata's devastating, beautiful animated tragedy.
Details
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Genre
- Animation · Drama · War
- Mood
- tense · thoughtful · dark
- Best for
- first visit · shorter watch · animation fans
Content notes: war or political violence · child harm or distress
-
2. Howl's Moving Castle
A shy young hatmaker cursed by a witch into the body of an old woman takes refuge in the walking castle of a vain, powerful wizard, and is drawn into his struggle against a looming war. Hayao Miyazaki's whimsical, sumptuous fantasy.
Details
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Genre
- Fantasy · Animation · Adventure
- Mood
- dreamlike · dark · uplifting
- Best for
- first visit · animation fans
Content notes: war or political violence
-
3. Seven Samurai
A poor farming village under threat from marauding bandits hires seven masterless samurai to defend it, and the warriors train the peasants to stand and fight. Akira Kurosawa's monumental, endlessly influential epic.
Why & details
Curator’s note: Kurosawa's epic is central to Japanese cinema and global action storytelling.
- Runtime
- 207 min
- Genre
- Action · Drama
- Mood
- thoughtful · dark · adventurous
- Best for
- first visit · film history
Content notes: war or political violence · violence or threat
-
4. Spirited Away
A sullen young girl whose parents are magically transformed becomes trapped in a fantastical bathhouse for spirits, where she must work, grow brave, and find a way to save her family. Hayao Miyazaki's wondrous, Oscar-winning masterpiece.
Why & details
Curator’s note: A modern animated classic rooted in Japanese folklore, labor, and memory.
- Runtime
- 125 min
- Genre
- Animation · Family · Fantasy
- Mood
- dreamlike
- Best for
- animation fans
-
5. Your Name
A country girl and a Tokyo boy who have never met inexplicably begin swapping bodies in their sleep, forging a strange bond across distance — until a cosmic event threatens to sever their connection. Makoto Shinkai's dazzling, emotional animated romance.
Details
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Genre
- Animation · Romance · Drama
- Mood
- romantic · thoughtful · dreamlike
- Best for
- animation fans
-
6. Akira
In a dystopian Neo-Tokyo, a member of a teenage biker gang is subjected to a secret government experiment that awakens terrifying psychic powers, threatening to destroy the city. Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark cyberpunk anime.
Why & details
Curator’s note: A cyberpunk anime landmark that reshaped global animation culture.
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Genre
- Animation · Science Fiction · Action
- Mood
- adventurous
- Best for
- animation fans
-
7. Ikiru
A drab Tokyo bureaucrat who has shuffled papers for decades learns he is dying of cancer, and in his final months desperately searches for a way to make his life mean something. Akira Kurosawa's profound, humane masterpiece.
Details
- Runtime
- 143 min
- Genre
- Drama
- Mood
- thoughtful · dark
- Best for
- film history
-
8. Weathering with You
A runaway teenager scraping by in a perpetually rain-soaked Tokyo meets a girl with the mysterious power to clear the skies, and their bond forces an impossible choice between love and the fate of the city. Makoto Shinkai's lush animated fantasy.
Details
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Genre
- Animation · Drama · Fantasy
- Mood
- thoughtful · dreamlike
- Best for
- animation fans
Content notes: child harm or distress
-
9. Arrietty
A tiny four-inch girl who lives with her family beneath the floorboards, quietly borrowing from the humans above, strikes up a forbidden friendship with a sickly boy that endangers her hidden world. A delicate Studio Ghibli fantasy from Mary Norton's tale.
Details
- Runtime
- 94 min
- Genre
- Fantasy · Animation · Family
- Mood
- dreamlike · uplifting
- Best for
- shorter watch · animation fans
-
10. Tokyo Story
An elderly couple travels to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them too busy and self-absorbed to make time, in a quiet reckoning with family, distance, and mortality. Yasujirō Ozu's serene, universally beloved masterpiece.
Why & details
Curator’s note: Ozu's family drama is one of the most revered films in world cinema.
- Runtime
- 137 min
- Genre
- Drama
- Mood
- thoughtful · dreamlike
- Best for
- film history
The view from outside
10 Best Movies Set in or About Japan
Compare romantic, wartime, and modern foreign images of Japan with the country’s own cinematic voice, watching for the line between sustained engagement and decorative exoticism.
- The Last Samurai 2003
- Letters from Iwo Jima 2006
- Sans Soleil 1983
Selected by the FilmsAroundThe.World editorial desk
Ranked for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within Japan cinema. Decision labels are concise editorial aids, and content notes are non-exhaustive. Read the methodology.
Editorial review: 2026-07-13
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