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| Cinema of Japan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| No. ofscreens | 3,675 (2024)[1] |
| • Per capita | 2.8 per 100,000 (2017)[2] |
| Main distributors | Toho (33.7%) Toei (10.5%)[3] |
| Produced feature films (2024)[1] | |
| Total | 685 |
| Number of admissions (2024)[1] | |
| Total | 144,441,000 |
| Gross box office (2024)[1] | |
| Total | ¥206.983 billion ($1.35 billion) |
| National films | ¥155.800 billion (75.2%) |
Thecinema of Japan (日本映画,Nihon eiga), also known domestically ashōga (邦画; "Japanese cinema"), began in the late 1890s.Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2022, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced (634) and the third largest in terms of box office revenue ($1.5 billion).[4]
During the 1950s, a period dubbed the "Golden Age of Japanese cinema", thejidaigeki films ofAkira Kurosawa and thesci-fi films ofIshirō Honda andEiji Tsuburaya gained Japanese cinema international praise and made these directors universally renowned and highly influential. Some Japanese films of this period are now considered some of thegreatest of all time: in 2012,Yasujirō Ozu's filmTokyo Story (1953) was placed at No. 3 onSight & Sound's 100 greatest films of all time[5] and dethronedCitizen Kane (1941) atop theSight & Sound directors' poll of thetop 50 greatest films of all time,[6][7] while Kurosawa's filmSeven Samurai (1954) topped theBBC's 2018 survey of the100 Greatest Foreign-Language Films.[8] Japan has also won theAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film[nb 1] five times,[nb 2] more than any other Asian country.[11]
Anime rose in popularity during the 1980s, with new animated films being released every summer and winter, often based upon popular anime television series.Mamoru Oshii released his landmark filmAngel's Egg (1985) whileHayao Miyazaki adapted his ownmanga seriesNausicaä of the Valley of Wind into a1984 film of the same name, andKatsuhiro Otomo followed suit by adapting his own manga seriesAkira into a1988 film of the same name. Anime continues to be massively popular around the world, especially the works ofStudio Ghibli, which counts among its highest-grossing filmsPrincess Mononoke (1997),Spirited Away (2001),Howl's Moving Castle (2004),Ponyo (2008), andThe Boy and the Heron (2023).[12] As of 2025, the top 16highest-grossing Japanese films worldwide are all anime, and the top 10 (four of which are by Studio Ghibli) were all released in the 21st century.
AlthoughJapanese horror films have been around since thepost-war era that began in 1945 and gained recognition withkaiju such asGodzilla (1954),[13] the genre did not experience a popularity boom until the late 1990s, with films such asRingu (1998),Kairo (2001),Dark Water (2002),Ju-On: The Grudge (2002),Yogen (2004), andOne Missed Call (2004) garnering commercial success.[13][14]
Japan's primary film studios areToho,Toei,Shochiku, andKadokawa, which are nicknamed the "Big Four" and are the only members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ). TheJapan Academy Film Prize, hosted annually by the Nippon Academy-shō Association, was created in 1978 and is considered to be the Japanese equivalent of theAcademy Awards.
Thekinetoscope, first shown commercially byThomas Edison in the U.S. in 1894, was first shown in Japan in November 1896. TheVitascope and theLumière Brothers'Cinematograph were first presented in Japan in early 1897,[15] by businessmen such asInabata Katsutaro.[16] Lumière cameramen were the first to shoot films in Japan.[17] Moving pictures, however, were not an entirely new experience for the Japanese because of their rich tradition of pre-cinematic devices such asgentō (utsushi-e) or themagic lantern.[18][19] The first successful Japanese film in late 1897 showed sights in Tokyo.[20]
In 1898, someghost films were made, such as theShirō Asano shortsBake Jizo (Jizo the Spook / 化け地蔵) andShinin no sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse).[21] The first documentary, the shortGeisha no teodori (芸者の手踊り), was made in June 1899.Tsunekichi Shibata made a number of early films, includingMomijigari, an 1899 record of two famous actors performing a scene from a well-knownkabuki play. Early films were influenced by traditional theater – for example, kabuki andbunraku.
At the dawn of the 20th century, theaters in Japan hiredbenshi, storytellers who sat next to the screen and narrated silent movies. They were descendants ofkabuki jōruri,kōdan storytellers, theater barkers and other forms of oral storytelling.[22] Benshi could be accompanied by music like silent films fromcinema of the West. With the advent of sound in the early 1930s, the benshi gradually declined.
In 1908,Shōzō Makino, considered the pioneering director of Japanese film, began his influential career withHonnōji gassen (本能寺合戦), produced forYokota Shōkai. Shōzō recruitedMatsunosuke Onoe, a formerkabuki actor, to star in his productions. Onoe became Japan's firstfilm star, appearing in over 1,000 films, mostly shorts, between 1909 and 1926. The pair pioneered thejidaigeki genre.[23]Tokihiko Okada was a popular romantic lead of the same era.
The first Japanese film production studio was built in 1909 by theYoshizawa Shōten company inTokyo.[24]
The first female Japanese performer to appear in a film professionally was the dancer/actressTokuko Nagai Takagi, who appeared in four shorts for the American-basedThanhouser Company between 1911 and 1914.[25]
Among intellectuals, critiques of Japanese cinema grew in the 1910s and eventually developed into a movement that transformed Japanese film. Film criticism began with early film magazines such asKatsudō shashinkai (begun in 1909) and a full-length book written byYasunosuke Gonda in 1914, but many earlyfilm critics often focused on chastising the work of studios likeNikkatsu andTenkatsu for being too theatrical (using, for instance, elements fromkabuki andshinpa such asonnagata) and for not utilizing what were considered morecinematic techniques to tell stories, instead relying on benshi. In what was later named thePure Film Movement, writers in magazines such asKinema Record called for a broader use of such cinematic techniques. Some of these critics, such asNorimasa Kaeriyama, went on to put their ideas into practice by directing such films asThe Glow of Life (1918), which was one of the first films to use actresses (in this case,Harumi Hanayagi). There were parallel efforts elsewhere in the film industry. In his 1917 filmThe Captain's Daughter (based on the play byChoji Nakauchi, based in turn on the German film,Gendarm Möbius),Masao Inoue started using techniques new to the silent film era, such as the close-up and cut back. The Pure Film Movement was central in the development of thegendaigeki andscriptwriting.[26]
New studios established around 1920, such asShochiku andTaikatsu, aided the cause for reform. At Taikatsu,Thomas Kurihara directed films scripted by the novelistJunichiro Tanizaki, who was a strong advocate of film reform.[27] Even Nikkatsu produced reformist films under the direction ofEizō Tanaka. By the mid-1920s, actresses had replaced onnagata and films used more of the devices pioneered by Inoue. Some of the most discussed silent films from Japan are those ofKenji Mizoguchi, whose later works (includingUgetsu/Ugetsu Monogatari) retain a very high reputation.
Japanese films gained popularity in the mid-1920s against foreign films, in part fueled by the popularity ofmovie stars and a new style ofjidaigeki. Directors such asDaisuke Itō andMasahiro Makino madesamurai films likeA Diary of Chuji's Travels andRoningai featuring rebellious antiheroes in fast-cut fight scenes that were both critically acclaimed and commercial successes.[28] Some stars, such asTsumasaburo Bando,Kanjūrō Arashi,Chiezō Kataoka,Takako Irie andUtaemon Ichikawa, were inspired byMakino Film Productions and formed their own independent production companies where directors such asHiroshi Inagaki,Mansaku Itami andSadao Yamanaka honed their skills. DirectorTeinosuke Kinugasa created a production company to produce the experimental masterpieceA Page of Madness, starring Masao Inoue, in 1926.[29] Many of these companies, while surviving during the silent era against major studios likeNikkatsu,Shochiku,Teikine, andToa Studios, could not survive the cost involved in converting to sound.
With the rise of left-wing political movements and labor unions at the end of the 1920s, there arose so-calledtendency films with left-leaning tendencies. DirectorsKenji Mizoguchi,Daisuke Itō,Shigeyoshi Suzuki, andTomu Uchida were prominent examples. In contrast to these commercially produced35 mm films, theMarxistProletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino) made works independently in smaller gauges (such as9.5mm and16mm), with more radical intentions.[30] Tendency films suffered from severe censorship heading into the 1930s, and Prokino members were arrested and the movement effectively crushed. Such moves by the government had profound effects on the expression of political dissent in 1930s cinema. Films from this period include:Sakanaya Honda,Jitsuroku Chushingura, Horaijima,Orochi, Maboroshi,Kurutta Ippeji,Jujiro,Kurama Tengu: Kyōfu Jidai, andKurama Tengu.[31]
The1923 earthquake, the bombing of Tokyo during World War II, and the natural effects of time and Japan'shumidity on flammable and unstablenitrate film have resulted in a great dearth of surviving films from this period.Ref?
Unlike in the West, silent films were still being produced in Japan well into the 1930s; as late as 1938, a third of Japanese films were silent.[32] For instance,Yasujirō Ozu'sAn Inn in Tokyo (1935), considered a precursor to theneorealism genre, was a silent film. A few Japanese sound shorts were made in the 1920s and 1930s, but Japan's first feature-length talkie wasFujiwara Yoshie no furusato (1930), which used theMina Talkie System. Notable talkies of this period includeMikio Naruse'sWife, Be Like A Rose! (Tsuma Yo Bara No Yoni, 1935), which was one of the first Japanese films to gain a theatrical release in the U.S.;Kenji Mizoguchi'sSisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai, 1936);Osaka Elegy (1936);The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939); andSadao Yamanaka'sHumanity and Paper Balloons (1937).
Film criticism shared this vitality, with many film journals such asKinema Junpo and newspapers printing detailed discussions of the cinema of the day, both at home and abroad. A cultured "impressionist" criticism pursued by critics such asTadashi Iijima,Fuyuhiko Kitagawa, andMatsuo Kishi was dominant, but opposed by leftist critics such asAkira Iwasaki andGenjū Sasa who sought an ideological critique of films.[33]
The 1930s also saw increased government involvement in cinema, which was symbolized by the passing of theFilm Law, which gave the state more authority over the film industry, in 1939. The government encouraged some forms of cinema, producingpropaganda films and promotingdocumentary films (also calledbunka eiga or "culture films"), with important documentaries being made by directors such asFumio Kamei.[34] Realism was in favor;film theorists such asTaihei Imamura andHeiichi Sugiyama advocated for documentary or realist drama, while directors such asHiroshi Shimizu andTomotaka Tasaka produced fiction films that were strongly realistic in style. Films reinforced the importance of traditional Japanese values against the rise of the Westernisedmodern girl, a character epitomised byShizue Tatsuta in Ozu's 1930 filmYoung Lady.[35]
Because of World War II and the weak economy, unemployment became widespread in Japan, and the cinema industry suffered.
During this period, when Japan was expanding its empire, the Japanese government saw cinema as a propaganda tool to show the glory and invincibility of theEmpire of Japan. Thus, many films from this period depict patriotic and militaristic themes. In 1942,Kajiro Yamamoto's filmThe War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya portrayed theattack on Pearl Harbor; the film made use ofspecial effects directed byEiji Tsuburaya, including a miniature scale model of Pearl Harbor itself.
Kamishibai (紙芝居) or paper theater was a popular form of street entertainment, especially for the children. Kamishibai was often used to tell stories of Buddhist deities and the history of some Buddhist temples. In 1920 it started out as normal storytelling for the children, but in about 1932, it started to lean more to a militaristic viewpoint.
Yoshiko Yamaguchi was a very popular actress. She rose to international stardom with 22 wartime movies. TheManchukuo Film Association let her use the Chinese name Li Xianglan so she could represent Chinese roles in Japanese propaganda movies. After the war she used her official Japanese name and starred in an additional 29 movies. She was elected as a member of theJapanese parliament in the 1970s and served for 18 years.
Akira Kurosawa made his feature film debut withSugata Sanshiro in 1943.
After thesurrender of Japan in 1945, wartime controls and restrictions on the Japanese film industry were abolished, and theSupreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) established theCivil Information and Education Section (CIE), which came to manage the industry. All film proposals andscreenplays were to be processed and approved by CIE. The script would then be processed by theCivil Censorship Detachment (CCD), which was under the direct control of American military.[36] Pre-war and wartime films were also subject to review, and over 500 were condemned, with half of them being burned. In addition,Toho andDaiei pre-emptively destroyed films they thought to be incriminating.[37] In November 1945, CIE announced that it would forbid films deemed to be:
A major consequence of these restrictions was that the production ofjidaigeki films, especially those involvingsamurai, became effectively impossible.[39] A notable case of censorship was of the war filmEscape at Dawn, written byAkira Kurosawa andSenkichi Taniguchi, which was re-written over a dozen times at the request of CIE, largely erasing the original content of the story.[40] On the other hand, the CIE favored the production of films that reflected the policies of theOccupation, such asagricultural reform and the organization oflabor unions, and promoted the peaceful redevelopment of Japan and therights of individuals.
Significant movies among them are,Setsuko Hara appeared inAkira Kurosawa'sNo Regrets for Our Youth (1946),Kōzaburō Yoshimura'sA Ball at the Anjo House (1947),Tadashi Imai'sAoi sanmyaku (1949), etc. It gained national popularity as a star symbolizing the beginning of a new era. InYasushi Sasaki'sHatachi no Seishun (1946), the first kiss scene of a Japanese movie was filmed. TheMainichi Film Award was also created in 1946.[41]
The first movie released after the war wasSoyokaze, directed byYasushi Sasaki, and the theme songRingo no Uta was a big hit.[42]
The first collaborations betweenAkira Kurosawa and actorToshiro Mifune wereDrunken Angel in 1948 andStray Dog in 1949.Yasujirō Ozu directed the critically and commercially successfulLate Spring in 1949.
In the later half of the Occupation, theReverse Course came into effect.Left-wing filmmakers displaced from the major studios in theRed Purge joined those displaced after suppression of theToho strikes, forming a newindependent film movement. Directors such asFumio Kamei,Tadashi Imai andSatsuo Yamamoto were members of theJapanese Communist Party. Independentsocial realist dramas saw a small and temporary boom amid the wave of sentimental war dramas produced after the end of Occupation.[40]
The 1950s are widely considered theGolden Age of Japanese cinema.[43] Three Japanese films from this decade (Rashomon,Seven Samurai andTokyo Story) appeared in the top ten ofSight & Sound's critics' and directors' polls for thebest films of all time in 2002.[44] They also appeared in the 2012 polls,[45][46] withTokyo Story (1953) dethroningCitizen Kane at the top of the2012 directors' poll.[46]
War movies covering themes previously restricted bySCAP began to be produced, such as Hideo Sekigawa'sListen to the Voices of the Sea (1950),Tadashi Imai'sHimeyuri no Tô (Tower of the Lilies, 1953),Keisuke Kinoshita'sTwenty-Four Eyes (1954) andKon Ichikawa'sThe Burmese Harp (1956). Works showcasing tragic and sentimental retrospectives of the war experience became a public phenomenon. Other films produced includeBattleship Yamato (1953) andEagle of the Pacific (1953). Under these circumstances, movies such asEmperor Meiji and the Russo-Japanese War (明治天皇と日露大戦争, 1957), whereKanjūrō Arashi playedEmperor Meiji, also appeared. It was a situation that was unthinkable before the war, the commercialization of theEmperor who was supposed to be sacred and inviolable.
The period after theAmerican Occupation led to a rise in diversity in movie distribution thanks to the increased output and popularity of the film studios ofToho,Daiei,Shochiku,Nikkatsu, andToei. This period gave rise to the six great artists of Japanese cinema:Masaki Kobayashi,Akira Kurosawa,Ishirō Honda,Eiji Tsuburaya,Kenji Mizoguchi, andYasujirō Ozu. Each director dealt with the effects the war and subsequent occupation by America in unique and innovative ways. During this decade, the works of Kurosawa, Honda, and Tsuburaya would become the first Japanese films to be widely distributed in foreign theaters.
The decade started withAkira Kurosawa'sRashomon (1950), which won theGolden Lion at theVenice Film Festival in 1951 and theAcademy Honorary Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1952, and marked the entrance of Japanese cinema onto the world stage. It was also the breakout role for legendary starToshiro Mifune.[47] In 1953,Entotsu no mieru basho byHeinosuke Gosho was in competition at the3rd Berlin International Film Festival.
The first Japanese film incolor wasCarmen Comes Home directed byKeisuke Kinoshita and released in 1951. There was also a black-and-white version of this film available.Tokyo File 212 (1951) was the first American feature film to be shot entirely in Japan. The lead roles were played byFlorence Marly andRobert Peyton. It featured the geishaIchimaru in a short cameo. Suzuki Ikuzo's Tonichi Enterprises Company co-produced the film.[49]Gate of Hell, a 1953 film byTeinosuke Kinugasa, was the first movie that filmed usingEastmancolor film,Gate of Hell was bothDaiei's first color film and the first Japanese color movie to be released outside Japan, receiving anAcademy Honorary Award in 1954 forBest Costume Design bySanzo Wada and an Honorary Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also won thePalme d'Or at theCannes Film Festival, the first Japanese film to achieve that honour.
The year 1954 saw two of Japan's most influential films released. The first was theKurosawa epicSeven Samurai, about a band of hired samurai who protect a helpless village from a rapacious gang of thieves. The same year, Kurosawa's friend and colleagueIshirō Honda directed the anti-nuclear monster-dramaGodzilla, featuring award-winning effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The latter film was first ever Japanese film to be given a wide release throughout the United States,[50] where it was heavily re-edited, and featured new footage with actorRaymond Burr for its distribution in 1956 asGodzilla, King of the Monsters!.[51] Although it was edited for its Western release,Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire subgenre ofkaiju films,[52] as well as thelongest-running film franchise in history.[53] Also in 1954, another Kurosawa film,Ikiru was in competition at the4th Berlin International Film Festival.
In 1955,Hiroshi Inagaki won an Academy Honorary Award for Best Foreign Language Film forPart I of hisSamurai trilogy and in 1958 won theGolden Lion at theVenice Film Festival forRickshaw Man.Kon Ichikawa directed two anti-war dramas:The Burmese Harp (1956), which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, andFires on the Plain (1959), along withEnjo (1958), which was adapted fromYukio Mishima's novelTemple of The Golden Pavilion.Masaki Kobayashi made three films which would collectively become known asThe Human Condition Trilogy:No Greater Love (1959), andThe Road to Eternity (1959). The trilogy was completed in 1961, withA Soldier's Prayer.
Kenji Mizoguchi, who died in 1956, ended his career with a series of masterpieces includingThe Life of Oharu (1952),Ugetsu (1953) andSansho the Bailiff (1954). He won theSilver Lion at theVenice Film Festival forUgetsu. Mizoguchi's films often deal with the tragedies inflicted on women by Japanese society.Mikio Naruse madeRepast (1950),Late Chrysanthemums (1954),Sound of the Mountain (1954) andFloating Clouds (1955). Yasujirō Ozu began directing color films beginning withEquinox Flower (1958), and laterGood Morning (1959) andFloating Weeds (1958), which was adapted from his earlier silentA Story of Floating Weeds (1934), and was shot byRashomon andSansho the Bailiff cinematographerKazuo Miyagawa.
TheBlue Ribbon Awards were established in 1950. The first winner for Best Film wasUntil We Meet Again byTadashi Imai.
The number of films produced, and the cinema audience reached a peak in the 1960s.[54] Most films were shown in double bills, with one half of the bill being a "program picture" orB movie. A typical program picture was shot in four weeks. The demand for these program pictures in quantity meant the growth of film series such asThe Hoodlum Soldier orAkumyo.
The huge level of activity of 1960s Japanese cinema also resulted in many classics. Akira Kurosawa directed the 1961 classicYojimbo. Yasujirō Ozu made his final film,An Autumn Afternoon, in 1962. Mikio Naruse directed the wide screen melodramaWhen a Woman Ascends the Stairs in 1960; his final film was 1967'sScattered Clouds.
Kon Ichikawa captured the watershed1964 Olympics in his three-hour documentaryTokyo Olympiad (1965).Seijun Suzuki was fired byNikkatsu for "making films that don't make any sense and don't make any money" after his surrealistyakuza flickBranded to Kill (1967).
The 1960s were the peak years of theJapanese New Wave movement, which began in the 1950s and continued through the early 1970s.Nagisa Oshima,Kaneto Shindo,Masahiro Shinoda,Susumu Hani andShohei Imamura emerged as major filmmakers during the decade. Oshima'sCruel Story of Youth,Night and Fog in Japan andDeath by Hanging, along with Shindo'sOnibaba, Hani'sKanojo to kare and Imamura'sThe Insect Woman, became some of the better-known examples of Japanese New Wave filmmaking. Documentary played a crucial role in the New Wave, as directors such as Hani,Kazuo Kuroki,Toshio Matsumoto, andHiroshi Teshigahara moved from documentary into fiction film, while feature filmmakers like Oshima and Imamura also made documentaries.Shinsuke Ogawa andNoriaki Tsuchimoto became the most important documentarists: "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."[55]
Teshigahara'sWoman in the Dunes (1964) won the Special Jury Prize at theCannes Film Festival, and was nominated forBest Director and Best Foreign Language FilmOscars. Masaki Kobayashi'sKwaidan (1965) also picked up the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.Bushido, Samurai Saga byTadashi Imai won the Golden Bear at the13th Berlin International Film Festival.Immortal Love byKeisuke Kinoshita andTwin Sisters of Kyoto andPortrait of Chieko, both byNoboru Nakamura, also received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.Lost Spring, also by Nakamura, was in competition for the Golden Bear at the17th Berlin International Film Festival.
The 1970s saw the cinema audience drop due to the spread of television. Total audience declined from 1.2 billion in 1960 to 0.2 billion in 1980.[56]Film companies refused to hire top actors and directors, not even the companies' production skills to the television industry, thereby making the film companies losing money.[57]
Film companies fought back in various ways, such as the bigger budget films ofKadokawa Pictures, or including increasingly sexual or violent content and language which could not be shown on television. The resultingpink film industry became the stepping stone for many young independent filmmakers. The seventies also saw the start of the "idol eiga", films starring young"idols", who would bring in audiences due to their fame and popularity.
Toshiya Fujita made the revenge filmLady Snowblood in 1973. In the same year,Yoshishige Yoshida made the filmCoup d'État, a portrait ofIkki Kita, the leader of the Japanese coup of February 1936. Its experimental cinematography and mise-en-scène, as well as its avant-garde score byToshi Ichiyanagi, garnered it wide critical acclaim within Japan.
In 1976, theHochi Film Award was created. The first winner for Best Film wasThe Inugamis byKon Ichikawa. Nagisa Oshima directedIn the Realm of the Senses (1976), a film detailing a crime of passion involvingSada Abe set in the 1930s. Controversial for its explicit sexual content, it has never been seen uncensored in Japan.
Kinji Fukasaku completed the epicBattles Without Honor and Humanity series of yakuza films.Yoji Yamada introduced the commercially successfulTora-San series, while also directing other films, notably the popularThe Yellow Handkerchief, which won the firstJapan Academy Prize for Best Film in 1978. New wave filmmakers Susumu Hani and Shōhei Imamura retreated todocumentary work, though Imamura made a dramatic return to feature filmmaking withVengeance Is Mine (1979).
Dodes'ka-den by Akira Kurosawa andSandakan No. 8 by Kei Kumai were nominated to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The 1980s saw the decline of the major Japanese film studios and their associated chains of cinemas, with major studiosToho andToei barely staying in business,Shochiku supported almost solely by theOtoko wa tsurai yo films, andNikkatsu declining even further.
Of the older generation of directors, Akira Kurosawa directedKagemusha (1980), which won the Palme d'Or at the1980 Cannes Film Festival, andRan (1985). Seijun Suzuki made a comeback beginning withZigeunerweisen in 1980.Shohei Imamura won thePalme d'Or at theCannes Film Festival forThe Ballad of Narayama (1983).Yoshishige Yoshida madeA Promise (1986), his first film since 1973'sCoup d'État.
New directors who appeared in the 1980s include actorJuzo Itami, who directed his first film,The Funeral, in 1984, and achieved critical and box office success withTampopo in 1985.Shinji Sōmai, an artistically inclined populist director who made films like the youth-focusedTyphoon Club, and the critically acclaimed Roman pornoLove Hotel among others.Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who would generate international attention beginning in the mid-1990s, made his initial debut with pink films and genre horror.
During the 1980s,anime rose in popularity, with new animated movies released every summer and winter, often based upon popular anime television series.Mamoru Oshii released his landmarkAngel's Egg in 1985 whileHayao Miyazaki adapted hismanga series,Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, into afeature film of the same name in 1984.Katsuhiro Otomo followed suit by adapting his own mangaAkira into afeature film of the same name in 1988.
Eventuallythe home video made it possible to where the Japanese civilians, and eventually citizens in other countries, could watch these films individually. This would increase sales in thedirect-to-video film industry, allowing for further developments, such asDVD's and eventualstreaming services, to develop.
Mini theaters, a type of independent movie theater characterized by a smaller size and seating capacity in comparison to larger movie theaters, gained popularity during the 1980s.[58] Mini theaters helped bringindependent andarthouse films from other countries, as well as films produced in Japan by unknown Japanese filmmakers, to Japanese audiences.[58]
Because of economic recessions, the number of movie theaters in Japan had been steadily decreasing since the 1960s. The number of cinemas was under 2,000 in 1993 compared to more than 7,000 in 1960.[57] The 1990s saw the reversal of this trend and the introduction of themultiplex in Japan. At the same time, the popularity of mini theaters continued.[58][59]
Takeshi Kitano emerged as a significant filmmaker with works such asSonatine (1993),Kids Return (1996) andHana-bi (1997), which was given the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Shōhei Imamura again won the Palme d'Or (shared withIranian directorAbbas Kiarostami), this time forThe Eel (1997). He became the fifth two-time recipient, joiningAlf Sjöberg,Francis Ford Coppola,Emir Kusturica andBille August.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa gained international recognition following the release ofCure (1997).Takashi Miike launched a prolific career with titles such asAudition (1999),Dead or Alive (1999) andThe Bird People in China (1998). Former documentary filmmakerHirokazu Koreeda launched an acclaimed feature career withMaborosi (1996) andAfter Life (1999).
Hayao Miyazaki directed two mammoth box office and critical successes,Porco Rosso (1992) – which beatE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) as thehighest-grossing film in Japan – andPrincess Mononoke (1997), which also claimed the top box office spot untilTitanic (1997).
Several new anime directors rose to widespread recognition, bringing with them notions of anime as not only entertainment, but modern art. Mamoru Oshii released the internationally acclaimed philosophical science fiction action filmGhost in the Shell in 1996.Satoshi Kon directed the award-winning psychological thrillerPerfect Blue.Hideaki Anno also gained considerable recognition withThe End of Evangelion in 1997.
In the beginning of 21st century, Japan has been referenced numerous times in popular culture, which was a relatively successful one for Japanese film industry, returning to the idea of a second Japanese New Wave” in their cinematic releases. The country has appeared as a setting and topic multiple times in film, poetry, television, and music. The number of films being shown in Japan steadily increased, with about 821 films released in 2006. Films based on Japanese television series were especially popular during this period. Anime films now accounted for 60 percent of Japanese film production and would become one of the world’s leading producers of animated cinema.[14] The 1990s and 2000s are considered to be "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age", due to the immense popularity of anime, both within Japan and overseas.[43]
Although not a commercial success,All About Lily Chou-Chou directed byShunji Iwai was honored at the Berlin, the Yokohama and the Shanghai Film Festivals in 2001. Takeshi Kitano appeared inBattle Royale and directed and starred inDolls andZatoichi. Beginning in the late 1990s, theJ-horror film genre began to boom, as films such asRingu,Kairo,Dark Water,Yogen,theGrudge series andOne Missed Call met with commercial success.[14] In 2004,Godzilla: Final Wars, directed byRyuhei Kitamura, was released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Godzilla. In 2005, directorSeijun Suzuki made his 56th film,Princess Raccoon.Hirokazu Koreeda claimed film festival awards around the world with two of his filmsDistance andNobody Knows. Female film directorNaomi Kawase's filmThe Mourning Forest won theGrand Prix at theCannes Film Festival in 2007.Yoji Yamada, director of theOtoko wa Tsurai yo series, made a trilogy of acclaimed revisionist samurai films, 2002'sTwilight Samurai, followed byThe Hidden Blade in 2004 andLove and Honor in 2006. In 2008,Departures won the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
In anime,Hayao Miyazaki directedSpirited Away in 2001, breaking Japanese box office records and winning several awards—including theAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003[60]—followed byHowl's Moving Castle andPonyo in 2004 and 2008 respectively. In 2004, Mamoru Oshii released the anime movieGhost in the Shell 2: Innocence which received critical praise around the world. His 2008 filmThe Sky Crawlers was met with similarly positive international reception. Satoshi Kon also released three quieter, but nonetheless highly successful films:Millennium Actress,Tokyo Godfathers, andPaprika.Katsuhiro Otomo releasedSteamboy, his first animated project since the 1995 short film compilationMemories, in 2004. In collaboration withStudio 4C, American directorMichael Arias releasedTekkon Kinkreet in 2008, to international acclaim. After several years of directing primarily lower-key live-action films,Hideaki Anno formedhis own production studio and revisited his still-popularEvangelion franchise with theRebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, a new series of films providing an alternate retelling of the original story.
Some Hollywood directors have turned to Tokyo as a backdrop for movies set in Japan. Post-war period examples includeTokyo Joe (1949),My Geisha (1962) and theJames Bond filmYou Only Live Twice (1967). Recent examples includeLost in Translation (2003),The Last Samurai (2003),Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2004),Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004),The Day After Tomorrow (2004),Memoirs of a Geisha (2005),The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006),Babel (2006),The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008),2012 (2009),Inception (2010),Emperor (2012),Pacific Rim (2013),The Wolverine (2013),Geostorm (2017), andAvengers: Endgame (2019).
Since February 2000, the Japan Film Commission Promotion Council was established. On November 16, 2001, the Japanese Foundation for the Promotion of the Arts laws were presented to theHouse of Representatives. These laws were intended to promote the production of media arts, including film scenery, and stipulate that the government – on both the national and local levels – must lend aid in order to preserve film media. The laws were passed on November 30 and came into effect on December 7. In 2003, at a gathering for the Agency of Cultural Affairs, twelve policies were proposed in a written report to allow public-made films to be promoted and shown at the Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art.
Japanese cinema has always been perceived as either having feminist male directors as well as female directors, furthering the notion of the importance of women in Japanese cinema. This is proven most profusely in 2009, where a symposium for the Nippon Connection Festival was held, which the entire meeting was devoted to women: as a subject, as female directors, and as their importance to Japanese cinema.[61] The impact of women is seen in various film festivals, including ‘Peaches,’ where Japanese women graduates were allowed to display their achievements in the cinematic field willingly.[62] Through these interpretations and diverse views of males in cinema, women have a major impact on Japanese cinema, about politically and socially: they themselves are a part of the Japanese narrative and their stories need to be studied in films for audiences to fully grasp their stories.
Four films have so far received international recognition by being selected to compete in major film festivals:Caterpillar byKōji Wakamatsu was in competition for the Golden Bear at the60th Berlin International Film Festival and won theSilver Bear for Best Actress,Outrage byTakeshi Kitano was In Competition for the Palme d'Or at the2010 Cannes Film Festival,Himizu bySion Sono was in competition for theGolden Lion at the68th Venice International Film Festival.
In March 2011, Japanese film and television industry was afflicted by theTohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequentFukushima nuclear disaster, which was greatly suffered due to ongoing triple disaster.[63] However, many Japanese studios were officially closed or reorganized to prevent the triple disaster. As of result, many of Japanese studios began to reopen and production rates have increased.
In October 2011 (after fully reopening of Japanese film and television industry),Takashi Miike'sHara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai was In Competition for the Palme d'Or at the2012 Cannes Film Festival, the first3D film ever to screen In Competition at Cannes. The film was co-produced by British independent producerJeremy Thomas, who had successfully broken Japanese titles such asNagisa Oshima'sMerry Christmas, Mr Lawrence andTaboo,Takeshi Kitano'sBrother, and Miike's13 Assassins onto the international stage as producer.
In 2018,Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d'Or for his movieShoplifters at the71st Cannes Film Festival, a festival that also featuredRyūsuke Hamaguchi'sAsako I & II in competition.
The 2020 Japanese epic disaster drama filmFukushima 50, released on March 6, 2020, directed by Setsurō Wakamatsu and written by Yōichi Maekawa. The film is based on the book by Ryusho Kadota, titledOn the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi, and it is the first Japanese film to depict the disaster.
In early 2020, the Japanese media industry was afflicted by theCOVID-19 pandemic, which greatly suffered due to health requirements. This gave the nation its worst day of film and television industry impacted by health crises since the end of World War II. From the first (of many) 'health lockdowns' until the end of September 2021, many Japanese studios were closed or reorganized to suit the legal requirements for spread prevention which ultimately resulted in the suspension of filming for many movies, however, it did not stop from people wanting to see movies.[64] Despite this pandemic occurring, many films were slowly being reintroduced to Japanese cinemas, which changed how Japan would approach cinema within the following years. From 2021-2022, there was the reinstating of Japanese cinema to Japanese audiences, as theater attendance had increased from the original 54.5% from 2020,[64] to about 78% by 2022.[65] In 2022 alone, though there was a significant decrease from 2019’s numbers, there were 590 movie theatres that were open and available to the public, allowing for the public to reengage with normal activities while being amid the pandemic.[66]
In October 2020 (after the reopening film industry), a Japanese anime filmDemon Slayer: Mugen Train based on theDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga series broke all box-office records in the country, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time and the highest-grossing film of 2020.
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In October 2021, a Japanesedrama-road filmDrive My Car wonBest Foreign Language Film at the79th Golden Globe Awards and received theAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film at the94th Academy Awards.[67][68]
In May 2023, a Japanesedrama filmPerfect Days wonBest Actor andEcumenical Jury at the76th Cannes Film Festival.[69] Besides that a Japanesepsychological dramaticmysterythriller filmMonster wonBest Screenplay as well as theQueer Palm at the same festival.[70]
In September 2023, a Japanesedramamystery filmEvil Does Not Exist wonGrand Jury andFIPRESCI Award at the80th Venice International Film Festival and also awarded Best Film at the2023 BFI London Film Festival.[71][72]
Hayao Miyazaki'sThe Boy and the Heron andTakashi Yamazaki'sGodzilla Minus One (both released in 2023) each won an award at the96th Academy Awards and garnered critical acclaim.[73][74]The Boy and the Heron also wonBest Animated Feature Film at the81st Golden Globe Awards, the first non-English-language animated film to do so.[75] Likewise,Godzilla Minus One became the first foreign-language film to win theAcademy Award for Best Visual Effects.[73]
In July 2025, a Japanese anime filmDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle based on theInfinity Castle arc ofDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga series broke all box-office records in the country, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. It is a direct sequel to thefourth season of theanime television series as well as the manga fourth, fifth, and sixth adaptations, following the filmMugen Train (2020) and the feature-length compilationsTo the Swordsmith Village (2023) andTo the Hashira Training (2024).[76][77]
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| Year | Gross (in billions of yen) | Domestic share | Admissions (in millions) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 206 | 57% | 169 | [78] |
| 2010 | 221 | 54% | 174 | [78] |
| 2011 | 181 | 55% | 144.73 | [79][80] |
| 2012 | 195.2 | 65.7% | 155.16 | [80][81] |
| 2013 | 194 | 60.6% | 156 | [82][83] |
| 2014 | 207 | 58% | 161 | [84][85] |
| 2015 | 217.119 | 55.4% | 166.63 | [1] |
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