Film
Kurosawa taking the Golden Lion in 1951 and being remade as westerns ever since; Ozu three feet off the tatami; a man in a rubber suit released nine years after Hiroshima and understood immediately. Then the New Wave, the horror, and Koreeda at Cannes.
Part of Japan
56 moments in this segment.
- - Nippon (1934) - Full Film. The 1934 documentary Nippon, produced by the Tokyo Nichi Nichi and Osaka Mainichi newspapers, published in full by Japan's national film archive as part of its historic film portal.
- - Rashomon - Original Theatrical Trailer. The original theatrical trailer for Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), the Akutagawa adaptation whose contradictory testimonies gave English the phrase 'the Rashomon effect'.
- - Tokyo Story - Trailer. Shochiku's trailer for Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953), the study of an ageing couple visiting their grown children that regularly tops critics' lists of the greatest films ever made.
- - Seven Samurai (1954) - Original Trailer. The original Toho trailer for Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, winner of the Silver Lion at Venice and the template for the ensemble action film worldwide.
- - Godzilla (1954) - Trailer. Toho's official trailer for Ishiro Honda's Godzilla, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the nuclear-allegory monster film that founded the kaiju genre in postwar Japanese cinema.
- - Castle of Sand - Trailer. Shochiku's trailer for Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand (1974), the Seicho Matsumoto adaptation regarded as a peak of the Japanese social-problem mystery film.
- - Akira Kurosawa Receives an Honorary Oscar (1990). George Lucas and Steven Spielberg present Akira Kurosawa with an Honorary Academy Award at the 1990 ceremony, an explicit acknowledgement of his influence on Hollywood.
- - Ringu (1998) - Original Trailer. The original trailer for Hideo Nakata's Ringu, the film that launched the J-horror wave and was remade in Hollywood as The Ring in 2002.
- - Ring - Japanese Trailer. KADOKAWA's Japanese trailer for Ring, the 1998 Nakata film adapted from Koji Suzuki's novel that made Sadako a global horror figure.
- - Nikkatsu at 100: A Century of Youth. Nikkatsu's official trailer for its centenary retrospective in 2012, surveying a hundred years of the studio that ran from silent cinema through the Roman Porno era.
- - Tokyo Story: New Digital Remaster Trailer. Shochiku's trailer for the digitally restored Tokyo Story, released for the 110th anniversary of Ozu's birth in 2013, an example of Japanese studio film restoration.
- - Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Feature documentary on Jiro Ono, the three-Michelin-star sushi master of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza, and his apprentice sons; covers the Edomae technique and Tsukiji sourcing.
- - MIT Lecture: Kurosawa and Rashomon. David Thorburn's MIT OpenCourseWare lecture on Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and the film's place in the emergence of cinema as a modern art form.
- - Takeshi Kitano on Teaching Film at Tokyo University of the Arts. Takeshi Kitano, former special professor, speaks for the tenth anniversary of the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts.
- - Ran in 4K - Restoration Trailer. KADOKAWA's trailer for the 4K restoration of Kurosawa's Ran (1985), the King Lear adaptation that was the most expensive Japanese film of its time.
- - Little Witch Academia Production Diary. Toho Animation's feature-length production diary following Studio Trigger through the making of the Little Witch Academia TV series.
- - Tadao Ando: Samurai Architect. Feature documentary on the self-taught Pritzker Prize architect, tracing his concrete work from the Row House in Sumiyoshi to the Naoshima museums.
- - Kurosawa's Message to Young Filmmakers. Rare footage of Akira Kurosawa addressing aspiring directors about how to learn the craft, write, read, and watch, rather than wait for inspiration.
- - Mifune: The Last Samurai - Trailer. Trailer for the documentary on Toshiro Mifune, with Koji Yakusho and Steven Spielberg speaking about the actor who fronted sixteen Kurosawa films.
- - Japan Opens Its Only National Film Archive. Tokyo MX reports on the April 2018 elevation of the Film Center in Kyobashi into the National Film Archive of Japan, holding some 80,000 titles.
- - Koreeda's Press Conference After the Palme d'Or. Hirokazu Koreeda holds a full press conference at Tokyo's Foreign Correspondents' Club in June 2018 after Shoplifters won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
- - Shoplifters - Official Trailer. Gaga's trailer for Hirokazu Koreeda's Shoplifters, the study of a makeshift Tokyo family that won the Palme d'Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.
- - Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Koji Yakusho on Cure. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and actor Koji Yakusho take questions on Cure (1997) at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival, a founding text of modern Japanese psychological horror.
- - Restoring Tora-san in 4K. Shochiku shows before-and-after comparison footage from the 4K digital restoration of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series, the 48-film Tora-san run that anchored the studio for decades.
- - Kenji Mizoguchi and Kinuyo Tanaka. NHK arts lecture by film critic Yuichiro Nishimura on Kenji Mizoguchi and actress Kinuyo Tanaka, who joined Shochiku at fifteen and starred in Japan's first talkie.
- - Anatomy of Ju-On: Takashi Shimizu's Four Films. A long-form Japanese breakdown of Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On series, from its V-cinema origins to the theatrical films that carried J-horror to Hollywood remakes.
- - Hamaguchi's Oscar Backstage Speech for Drive My Car. Ryusuke Hamaguchi speaks backstage at the 94th Academy Awards after Drive My Car won Best International Feature, the second Japanese film to take the award in the modern category.
- - How the National Film Archive of Japan Restores Film. The National Film Archive of Japan explains what it collects, how prints are stored, and the technical process by which deteriorated Japanese films are restored.
- - Tokyo Story Enters the BFI Greatest Films Top Ten. Japanese news report on the 2022 edition of the British Film Institute's once-a-decade Greatest Films of All Time poll, in which Ozu's Tokyo Story placed in the top ten.
- - The Crucified Lovers in 4K - Daiei Film Festival. KADOKAWA's feature on the 4K restoration of Mizoguchi's The Crucified Lovers (1954), part of the Daiei 4K film festival restoring the studio's back catalogue.
- - Rashomon in 4K - Daiei 4K Film Festival. KADOKAWA's special feature for the Daiei 4K Film Festival, presenting the 4K restoration of Kurosawa's Rashomon, the film that won the Venice Golden Lion in 1951 and opened Japanese cinema to the West.
- - Ugetsu in 4K - Daiei Film Festival. KADOKAWA presents the 4K restoration of Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953), the ghost story that won the Silver Lion at Venice and is a benchmark of long-take Japanese cinema.
- - Preserving Is Showing: The National Film Archive of Japan. Japan's national film archive sets out its history and its reason for being an archive rather than a museum, why keeping film means projecting it.
- - Kiyoshi Kurosawa Master Class at the Cinémathèque française. Following a screening of Cure, Kiyoshi Kurosawa gives an hour-long master class on the film and his whole career, hosted by Jean-François Rauger.
- - Kitano's Kubi Premieres at Cannes. TV Asahi reports from the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where Takeshi Kitano's Sengoku-era film Kubi received a five-minute standing ovation.
- - Godzilla Minus One - Trailer. Toho's trailer for Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One, the 70th-anniversary Godzilla film set in a ruined postwar Japan, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
- - Takashi Miike on Learning Film Under Shohei Imamura. Director Takashi Miike recalls training under Shohei Imamura, his start in V-cinema and his view of Takeshi Kitano, a first-hand account of Japan's straight-to-video pipeline.
- - Ryusuke Hamaguchi on Drive My Car. TBS culture programme interviews director Ryusuke Hamaguchi about Drive My Car, the Murakami adaptation that took four prizes at Cannes in 2021 including Best Screenplay.
- - The Cinema of Mikio Naruse. A detailed Japanese analysis of Mikio Naruse's shooting method and his collaborations with screenwriter Yoko Mizuki on Floating Clouds and Mother.
- - The VFX of Godzilla Minus One. Toho's making-of on the visual effects of Godzilla Minus One, narrated by director Takashi Yamazaki himself, who also supervised the VFX on a budget a fraction of Hollywood's.
- - Yamazaki and Takeshi Yoro on Godzilla as an Idea. Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki talks with anatomist Takeshi Yoro about what Godzilla means, for the GODZILLA THE ART exhibition.
- - Godzilla Minus One Wins the Visual Effects Oscar. Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima accept the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Oscars, the first Japanese film to win the category.
- - Takashi Yamazaki on Winning the Oscar. Nippon TV's news zero interviews Takashi Yamazaki in his first television appearance after Godzilla Minus One took the visual-effects Oscar.
- - Hirokazu Koreeda on Directing Children. TBS hosts Shoplifters director Hirokazu Koreeda for a long conversation about the films he admires for their direction of child actors.
- - Exploring Japanese Film History: Shintoho and Kindai Eiga Kyokai. The National Film Archive of Japan introduces its 2025 exhibition tracing Shintoho, Kokusai Hoei and the Kindai Eiga Kyokai, the smaller companies outside the big five.
- - Seven Samurai in New 4K - Cinema Festival Trailer. Trailer for the new 4K remaster of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai screened at Japan's Asa Ju-ji no Eigasai revival festival, where it remains the highest-ranked Japanese film.
- - Kiyoshi Kurosawa on Violence in Cloud. Criterion interviews Kiyoshi Kurosawa about how he stages violence in Cloud (2024), his thriller about an online reseller pursued by strangers.
- - Tsuburaya Productions: 35 Years of Special Effects. A subtitled Japanese documentary on Tsuburaya Productions, founded by Eiji Tsuburaya, and the practical tokusatsu craft, miniatures, suits and optical work, behind Godzilla and Ultraman.
- - Kodo play Shake in the harbour at Ogi, Sado Island. Vincent Moon films Kodo at close quarters at the end of a public performance in the small harbour of Ogi on Sado Island, the ensemble's home.
- - Three Japanese Films in Competition at Cannes 2026. TBS reports from Cannes as Koji Fukada's film starring Takako Matsu screens in competition, one of three Japanese titles in the 2026 main selection alongside Koreeda and Hamaguchi.
- - Koreeda's New Film Gets Nine Minutes of Applause at Cannes. Nippon TV reports from the official Cannes screening of Hirokazu Koreeda's Palme d'Or contender in May 2026, with lead Haruka Ayase in attendance.
- - Tao Okamoto Wins Best Actress at Cannes. Nippon TV reports the first Japanese win of the Cannes best-actress prize, awarded to Tao Okamoto and her co-stars for Ryusuke Hamaguchi's latest film in May 2026.
- - Why Every Showa Studio Was Its Own World. An overview of Japan's five-studio system, Toho, Shochiku, Nikkatsu, Daiei and Toei, and how each company produced a distinct film culture rather than merely distinct films.
- - How Toho Became the Mainstream of Japanese Cinema. A history of Toho from Ichizo Kobayashi's theatre empire and the PCL studios through the Toho labour dispute to the Kurosawa, Naruse and Tsuburaya years.
- - Ten Events That Changed Japanese Film History. A survey of the turning points of the Japanese industry, the Toho dispute, the five-company agreement that bound stars, Daiei's bankruptcy, Nikkatsu's turn to Roman Porno, and Kurosawa's departure from Tora! Tora! Tora!
- - Mizoguchi at 70 Years After His Death - Broadcast Season. Japanese satellite channel Eisei Gekijo announces a Mizoguchi retrospective marking 70 years since his death, including the first television broadcast of Fujiwara Yoshie no Furusato, Nikkatsu's first talkie.
