Highest-Rated Movies about 'Japanese Culture'

Tokyo Story (1953), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Cherry Blossoms (2008), Tampopo (1985), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Last Samurai (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Japanese Culture movies.

#1. Tokyo Story (1953)

Storyline: Elderly couple Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama live in the small coastal village of Onomichi, Japan with their youngest daughter, schoolteacher Kyoko Hirayama. Their other three surviving adult children, who they have not seen in quite some time, live either in Tokyo or Osaka. As such, Shukishi and Tomi make the unilateral decision to have an extended visit in Tokyo with their children, pediatrician Koichi Hirayama and beautician Shige Kaneko, and their respective families (which includes two grandchildren). In transit, they make an unexpected stop in Osaka and stay with their other son, Keiso Hirayama. All of their children treat the visit more as an obligation than a want, each trying to figure out what to do with their parents while they continue on with their own daily lives. At one point, they even decide to ship their parents off to an inexpensive resort at Atami Hot Springs rather than spend time with them. The only offspring who makes a concerted effort on this trip is Noriko ...

Plot Keywords: family, generation gap, aging, loneliness, tradition, modernity, parent-child relationship ...

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#2. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Storyline: The lead character, called 'The Bride,' was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her lover 'Bill.' Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill's child, 'The Bride' decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, who, on the day of their wedding rehearsal was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, 'The Bride' wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She, then, decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby. The saga of Kill Bill Volume I begins.

Plot Keywords: revenge, action, violence, martial arts, female lead, quentin tarantino, japanese culture ...

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#3. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Storyline: The murderous Bride is back and she is still continuing her vengeance quest against her ex-boss, Bill, and taking aim at Bill's younger brother Budd and Elle Driver, the only survivors from the squad of assassins who betrayed her four years earlier. It's all leading up to the ultimate confrontation with Bill, the Bride's former master and the man who ordered her execution!

Plot Keywords: revenge, action, violence, martial arts, gangster, female protagonist, nonlinear narrative ...

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#5. Tampopo (1985)

Storyline: In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro, who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect noodle soup restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food, to an old woman who terrorizes a shopkeeper by compulsively squeezing his wares.

Plot Keywords: comedy, food, culture, humor, romance, drama, social satire ...

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#6. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Storyline: Christmas in Tokyo, Japan. Three homeless friends: a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum. While foraging through some trash, they find an abandoned newborn. Hana, the transvestite with delusions of being a mother, convinces the others to keep it overnight. The next day, using a key found with the baby, they start tracking down the parents, with many adventures along the way.—Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>

Plot Keywords: animation, comedy, drama, adventure, family, christmas, tokyo ...

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#7. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Storyline: Kubo lives a quiet, normal life in a small shoreside village until a spirit from the past turns his life upside down by re-igniting an age-old vendetta. This causes all sorts of havoc as gods and monsters chase Kubo who, in order to survive, must locate a magical suit of armor once worn by his late father, a legendary Samurai warrior.

Plot Keywords: animation, fantasy, adventure, family, japanese culture, mythology, coming of age ...

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#8. The Last Samurai (2003)

Storyline: In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto's failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when ...

Plot Keywords: history, war, japanese culture, tradition vs modernity, honor, sacrifice, loyalty ...

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#9. Lady Snowblood (1973)

Storyline: Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, she makes sure that the child will be raised as an assassin to kill the criminals who destroyed her family. Young Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.

Plot Keywords: action, revenge, violence, gore, swordplay, period drama, female protagonist ...

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#10. The Japanese Wife (2010)

Storyline: Snehamoy Chatterjee lives a poor lifestyle on Bali Island in the West Bengal Sunderbans, along with his maternal aunt who wants him to get married to Sandhya. But Snehamoy, who teaches for a living, has entered into a long-term relationship with Japan-based Miyage, and both have made a marriage-commitment without meeting each other. Sandhya will end up getting married, giving birth to a son, getting widowed, and after the passing of her mother, will move in with them. Snehamoy will continue corresponding and even speaking with Miyage on the telephone, and it is here he will find out that she is ill, and he will consult with doctors dealing with a variety of Unani, Allopathic, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medicines in order to find a cure for his pen-pal/wife.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Plot Keywords: romance, drama, long-distance relationship, japanese culture, indian culture, cross-cultural, marriage ...

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#13. Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King (1993)

Storyline: A documentary covering the rise of extremely alternative band Half Japanese: from the early days when Jad and David Fair recorded loud music in their bedroom for distribution via mail order cassette tape, to their contemporary incarnation after David's departure for married life and Jad's increased stature among musicians and critics. Includes interviews with Jad, David, Mo Tucker of Velvet underground fame, and Penn Jillette, who produced an album of theirs.—James Meek <james@oz.net>

Plot Keywords: music documentary, independent music, japanese culture, music history, art film, music legend, independent film ...

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#14. Sayonara (1957)

Storyline: Major Lloyd Gruver, a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan, staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American troops and Japanese women. But that's before Gruver experiences a love that challenges his own deeply set prejudices... and plunges him into conflict with the U.S. Air Force and Japan's own cultural taboos.—alfiehitchie

Plot Keywords: romance, war, race relations, japanese culture, tragedy, social prejudice, forbidden love ...

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#15. The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)

Storyline: This comedy-drama is partially a gentle satire on America's drive to change the world in the post-war years. One year after World War II, Captain Fisby is sent to the village of Tobiki in Okinawa to teach the people democracy. The first step is to build a school -- but the wily Okinawans know what they really want. They tell him about their culture and traditions -- and persuade him to build something they really want instead: a teahouse. Fisby has a hard time breaking this news to his superiors.—Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, cultural clash, american film, 1950s, post-war, japanese culture ...

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