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Top Japanese Films

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Seven Samurai 1954 Akira Kurosawa 32
2 Rashômon 1950 Akira Kurosawa 84
3 Tokyo Story 1953 Yasujiro Ozu 110
4 Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki 174
5 Ran1 1985 Akira Kurosawa 185
6 Lost in Translation2 2003 Sofia Coppola 254
7 Ugetsu 1953 Kenji Mizoguchi 273
8 Akira 1988 Katsuhiro Ôtomo 302
9 Hiroshima mon amour1 1959 Alain Resnais 303
10 Ikiru 1952 Akira Kurosawa 331
11 Yojimbo 1961 Akira Kurosawa 342
12 Sansho the Bailiff 1954 Kenji Mizoguchi 464
13 Princess Mononoke 1997 Hayao Miyazaki 537
14 The Crying Game3 1992 Neil Jordan 547
15 My Neighbor Totoro 1988 Hayao Miyazaki 554
16 Malcolm X2 1992 Spike Lee 582
17 In the Realm of the Senses1 1976 Nagisa Oshima 615
18 Yi yi: A One and a Two...4 2000 Edward Yang 678
19 Ghost in the Shell2 1995 Mamoru Oshii 697
20 Throne of Blood 1957 Akira Kurosawa 712
21 Dead Man2 5 1995 Jim Jarmusch 732
22 Grave of the Fireflies 1988 Isao Takahata 771
23 The Audition6 1999 Takashi Miike 802
24 Godzilla 1954 Ishirô Honda 847
25 Late Spring 1949 Yasujiro Ozu 855
26 Woman in the Dunes 1964 Hiroshi Teshigahara 914
27 Ring 1998 Hideo Nakata 921
28 Howards End3 1992 James Ivory 933
29 Ju Dou7 1990 Fenglian Yang and Yimou Zhang 946
30 Tampopo 1985 Juzo Itami 981
31 The Life of Oharu 1952 Kenji Mizoguchi 1044
32 Kagemusha2 1980 Akira Kurosawa 1061
33 High and Low 1963 Akira Kurosawa 1074
34 Point Break2 1991 Kathryn Bigelow 1077
35 Sonatine 1993 Takeshi Kitano 1079
36 Battle Royale 2000 Kinji Fukasaku 1094
37 After Life 1998 Hirokazu Koreeda 1135
38 Dersu Uzala8 1975 Akira Kurosawa 1194
39 The Hidden Fortress 1958 Akira Kurosawa 1242
40 Fireworks 1997 Takeshi Kitano 1281
41 Onibaba 1964 Kaneto Shindô 1324
42 The Ballad of Narayama 1983 Shohei Imamura 1344
43 The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums 1939 Kenji Mizoguchi 1357
44 The Ring2 2002 Gore Verbinski 1422
45 Red Beard 1965 Akira Kurosawa 1450
46 Howl's Moving Castle 2004 Hayao Miyazaki 1479
47 A Simple Plan1 2 3 5 1998 Sam Raimi 1494
48 Tokyo Olympiad 1965 Kon Ichikawa 1570
49 Dawn of the Dead1 2 9 2004 Zack Snyder 1587
50 Naked Lunch3 9 1991 David Cronenberg 1618
51 An Autumn Afternoon 1962 Yasujiro Ozu 1638
52 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 1984 Hayao Miyazaki 1647
53 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai1 2 5 1999 Jim Jarmusch 1662
54 Primary Colors1 2 3 5 1998 Mike Nichols 1711
55 An Actor's Revenge 1963 Kon Ichikawa 1722
56 Tora! Tora! Tora!2 1970 Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda 1760
57 Reversal of Fortune2 3 1990 Barbet Schroeder 1762
58 Early Summer 1951 Yasujiro Ozu 1803
59 Branded to Kill 1967 Seijun Suzuki 1853
60 Shall We Dance? 1996 Masayuki Suo 1864
61 Wonder Boys2 3 5 2000 Curtis Hanson 1878
62 Good Night, and Good Luck.1 2 3 2005 George Clooney 1901
63 Smoke2 5 1995 Wayne Wang 1943
64 Harakiri 1962 Masaki Kobayashi 1949
65 I Was Born, But... 1932 Yasujiro Ozu 1963
66 Platform1 7 10 2000 Zhang Ke Jia 2024
67 Mystery Train2 1989 Jim Jarmusch 2034
68 Chaplin1 2 11 1992 Richard Attenborough 2072
69 Kiki’s Delivery Service 1989 Hayao Miyazaki 2111
70 Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto 1954 Hiroshi Inagaki 2212
71 Osama12 2003 Siddiq Barmak 2218
72 Laputa: Castle in the Sky 1986 Hayao Miyazaki 2245
73 Stray Dog 1949 Akira Kurosawa 2264
74 Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters2 1985 Paul Schrader 2297
75 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within2 2001 Hironobu Sakaguchi 2358

1 Joint production with France.
2 Joint production with the United States.
3 Joint production with the United Kingdom.
4 Joint production with Taiwan.
5 Joint production with Germany.
6 Joint production with South Korea.
7 Joint production with the People's Republic of China.
8 Joint production with the Soviet Union.
9 Joint production with Canada.
10 Joint production with Hong Kong.
11 Joint production with Italy.
12 Joint production with Afghanistan and Ireland.

This page was last modified on June 5, 2011