20 Best Japanese Movies of All Time

Above, Shin Godzilla made the list.

Lists of "best of" things, especially of music and movies, are subjective. There can be no definitive lists as everyone has their own preferences and opinions.

Japan Web Magazine has posted their list of "20 Best Japanese Movies of All Time". As one would expect, Akira Kurosawa directed some of them. Happily, I have some of them in my personal library. Also, a Godzilla movie actually made the list: Shin Godzilla (2016). 

They begin with:

Japan has shown a significant presence in the global film industry for a long time even aside from the recent explosive success of Japanese animated movies. It is difficult to exactly define a Japanese movie, however, it includes films that are made by Japanese directors or actors, filmed in Japan, or composed of Japanese language if you make a broad definition.

Looking back on a long history of the cinema of Japan, its origin can be identified around the end of 19th century, when early short movies were originated by Japanese cinematographers incorporating the Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope: for example, Bake Jizo and Shinin no sosei by Shiro Asano.

During the 1950s, the Japanese movies that developed independently from the original style with the unique culture were establishing the international reputation through global film festivals. The Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950) won the Golden Lion at the 12th Venice Film Festival, followed by the Kenji Mizoguchi’s The Life of Oharu (1952) which got the International Prize at the 13th Venice Film Festival; Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954) achieved the Silver Lion Award at the 14th and 15th Venice International Film Festival.

The current fame of Japanese cinema have been led by more movies created by several mass movie production companies such as Toei, Toho and Shochiku after the 1950s. Nowadays, Japanese movies are being distributed with subtitles and dubbings of international languages worldwide through varied online platforms. An anime, one of the most popular modern genres, is getting more famous around the world, which contains Studio Ghibli’s works.

For international cinema lovers, here is the list of 20 best Japanese movies of all time which are produced by Japanese directors. You can enjoy a range of films from the traditional masterpieces to the latest animations.

Let’s have fun with this list of well-selected recommendations!

To see the full list, go here.