Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "japanese-history"
- Movies or TV
- Genres
- Keywords
- IMDb Rating
- Instant Watch Options
- In Theaters
- Release Year
51. The Emperor's Cook (2015)
54 min | Biography, Drama, History
A young man named Akiyama Tokuzo cannot find his passion for living. One day he tasted meat cutlet for the first time and have been absorbed to learn about Western style cuisine. He set out... See full summary »
Stars: Takeru Satoh, Haru Kuroki, Sei Ashina, Ryû Morioka
Votes: 734
52. Death of a Tea Master (1989)
107 min | Biography, Drama, History
Years after the death of legendary tea master Rikyu, his disciple Honkakubo attempts to resolve the mystery of the master's death.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Eiji Okuda, Toshirô Mifune, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Gô Katô
Votes: 382
53. Gô-hime (1992)
142 min | Drama, History
Chronicles the trials and tribulations of Oribe, the successor to tea-master Rikyu, Usu, his gardener, and Princess Goh, who attempt to balance artistic expression and duty amid political intrigue in feudal Japan.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Rie Miyazawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiya Nagasawa, Kôshirô Matsumoto
Votes: 273
54. Flame of My Love (1949)
96 min | Drama, Romance
A woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, ... See full summary »
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Kuniko Miyake, Ichirô Sugai
Votes: 481
55. Daredevil in the Castle (1961)
95 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Mohei is a wandering swordsman. He arrives in the city of Osaka, where the Toyotomi clan accepts him and comes to depend upon his courage and his battlefield skills. Those skills are sorely... See full summary »
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Kyôko Kagawa, Yuriko Hoshi, Yoshiko Kuga
Votes: 214
56. A Ghost of a Chance (2011)
142 min | Comedy, Crime
When a not-so-stellar lawyer is in need of something to help her case she has to rely on an unconventional witness for testimony. Will the court agree to hear testimony from and will the ... See full summary »
Director: Kôki Mitani | Stars: Eri Fukatsu, Toshiyuki Nishida, Hiroshi Abe, Kyôko Fukada
Votes: 1,252
57. Yoshitsune (2005– )
Action, Biography, Drama
Fictionalized account of the last years of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189), one of the great folk heroes of Japan, and the political intrigues that sealed his fate.
Stars: Hideaki Takizawa, Noriko Nakagoshi, Mutsumi Fujita, Tatsuo Ito
Votes: 100
58. Shinobi No Mono 4: Siege (1964)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
Tokugawa Ieyasu is the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle.... See full summary »
Director: Tokuzô Tanaka | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Saburô Date, Midori Isomura, Ganjirô Nakamura
Votes: 233
59. Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home (2012)
136 min | Drama
Based on the true story of the Hayabusa asteroid probe, which collected samples from the asteroid Itokawa in the world's first-ever sample return after landing on a solid-surfaced celestial body outside Earth's gravisphere.
Director: Tomoyuki Takimoto | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Yôsuke Eguchi, Yui Natsukawa, Yukiyoshi Ozawa
Votes: 84
60. Sword of Honor (1996 Video)
R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Officer Johnny Lee sets out to avenge his partner's mysterious death. With the help of his partner's sister and an ancient sword, Lee becomes a one man deadly strike force.
Director: Robert Tiffe | Stars: Steven Vincent Leigh, Angelo Tiffe, Sophia Crawford, Jerry Tiffe
Votes: 174
61. Battle of Okinawa in Color (2017)
Documentary, History, War
From white-knuckle, high-speed dogfights to brutal land combat, witness the Battle of Okinawa in vivid color.
Stars: Jeff Wilburn, Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., Chester W. Nimitz, Mitsuru Ushijima
Votes: 21
62. 3.11: Surviving Japan (2013)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary, History
The True Story of an American Volunteer that lived through and witnessed the 2011 Japanese Fukushima Nuclear disaster cover-up.
Director: Christopher Noland | Stars: Christopher Noland, Kouichi Oyama, Helen Caldicott, Mike Connolly
Votes: 93
63. Puraido: Unmei no toki (1998)
161 min | Drama, History, War
In 1946, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and twenty-seven other Japanese officials stood trial for war crimes at the Tokyo Trial. This is their story.
Director: Shun'ya Itô | Stars: Masahiko Tsugawa, Scott Wilson, Ronny Cox, Gitan Ôtsuru
Votes: 102
64. Shinobi no mono: Zoku Kirigakure Saizô (1964)
91 min | Action, Drama
In part five of the 8-part Shinobi No Mono Ninja film series the heroic ninja Kirigakure Saizo (Raizo Ichikawa, of Sleepy Eyes of Death fame) serves the daimyo Sanada, played by Lone Wolf ... See full synopsis »
Director: Kazuo Ikehiro | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Yukiko Fuji, Shiho Fujimura, Saburô Date
Votes: 151
65. Kurosawa's Way (2011)
52 min | Documentary
Eleven major filmmakers from Europe, Asia and America talk about Akira Kurosawa and explore some ways on which he influenced their own work.
Director: Catherine Cadou | Stars: Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bernardo Bertolucci, Clint Eastwood, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Votes: 152
66. Bakumatsu (1970)
120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of Ryoma Sakamoto, considered to be the architect behind the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was considered an outlaw by his own clan, hunted by his government, and was ... See full summary »
Director: Daisuke Itô | Stars: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Toshirô Mifune, Keiju Kobayashi, Tatsuya Nakadai
Votes: 142
67. Matsuchiyo - Life of a Geisha (2018)
69 min | Documentary, Biography, Family
The trials and tribulations of the ultimate Japanese cultural enigma that is - The Life of a Geisha.
Director: Ken Nishikawa | Stars: Chizuko Nishikawa, Ken Nishikawa, Mike 'in Tokyo' Rogers, Sheena Rogers
68. Shinobi no mono: Iga-yashiki (1965)
89 min | Action, Drama
The story of Saizo's son, Kirigakure Saisuke, who after seeing his father die at the Battle Of Shimabara, grows up to be an expert ninja.
Director: Kazuo Mori | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Kaoru Yachigusa, Isao Yamagata, Kenji Imai
Votes: 131
69. Shinobi no mono: Shin kirigakure Saizô (1966)
87 min | Action, Drama
The dream of Tokugawa Ieyasu has come true: together with his son Hidetada he rules all over Japan.
Director: Kazuo Mori | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Shiho Fujimura, Yûko Kusunoki, Takahiro Tamura
Votes: 139
70. MAGI Tensho Keno Shonen Shisetsu (2019)
Adventure, Drama, History
An Italian missionary arrived in Japan during the Middle Ages in order to proselytize, evangelize and recruit people to his religion. He instituted seminaries around the country and picked ... See full summary »
Stars: Fernando Gil, Simón Andreu, Kai Inowaki, Elena Martínez
Votes: 38
71. Byakkotai (2007– )
240 min | Drama, History
This TV-drama follows Sakai Shintaro, descendant of Sakai Mineji -a Byakkotai samurai-, and traces the tragedy of the Byakkotai, a military force composed of 340 16 to 17 years old boys during the Boshin War (Aizu war).
Stars: Shun Sugata, Tomohisa Yamashita, Meisa Kuroki, Yutaka Matsushige
Votes: 556
72. 1st to Fight: Pacific War Marines (2020)
60 min | Documentary, History, War
The Battle for Guadal Canal, as told by the men who were there. Narrated by Jon Seda, there are side-by-side images of the island today. A stirring documentary, told in real time.
Director: Tim Gray | Stars: Jon Seda, Bill Finnegan, Daniel Martinez, Lou Imfeld
Votes: 12
73. Bakumatsu jyunjyoden (1991)
105 min | Romance
In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was a cute warrior, Souji Okita, who belonged to the armed police of the shogunate in Kyoto. Very few knew that Souji was not a boy, but a ... See full summary »
Director: Mitsuyuki Yakushiji | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Riho Makise, Tetta Sugimoto, Masatô Ibu
Votes: 30
74. Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009)
90 min | Documentary
Untangling the web of cultural and historical ties underlying Japan's deep fascination with insects.
Director: Jessica Oreck
Votes: 227 | Gross: $0.01M
75. War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: Herstory (2019)
22 min | Documentary, Short
"Herstory" is the 1st of 5 films that make up "War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory". Two historians discuss WWII Japanese war brides, how they survived the bombing of Japan, and met and married their former enemies during the US Occupation.
Director: Yayoi Winfrey | Stars: Regina F. Lark, Lily Anne Yumi Welty Tamai
76. Boy Soldiers: The Secret War in Okinawa (2018)
114 min | Documentary, History, War
Okinawa, the chain of islands at the southernmost tip of Japan that are currently tattooed by US military bases. These islands became the bulwark to protect the Japanese mainland toward the... See full summary »
Directors: Chie Mikami, Hanayo Oya | Stars: Chie Mikami, Hanayo Oya
77. Takeda Shingen (1990– )
Drama
During the 16th Century Japan was involved in the Sengoku Period, an era of Civil Wars and the powerful Warlords who fought them. One of the earliest and strongest of these men was the ... See full summary »
Stars: Shin'ichi Chiba, Mao Daichi, Shohei Hino, Kimiko Ikegami
Votes: 50
78. Children of Nagasaki (1983)
128 min | Drama, War
The atom-bombing of Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 is recalled by a survivor.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Gô Katô, Yukiyo Toake, Masatomo Nakabayashi, Mami Nishijima
Votes: 169
79. Welcome Home, Hayabusa (2012)
114 min | Drama
Director: Katsuhide Motoki | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kôsuke Toyohara, Anne Watanabe, Tomokazu Miura
Votes: 28
80. Samurai History - Kawakami Gensai Documentary the REAL Rurouni Kenshin (2018 Video)
Short, History
A short on Japanese assassin Gensai Kawakami.
Stars: Okada Izo, Soke Anshu Christa Jacobson, Gensai Kawakami, Sakuma Shozan
81. Wasurerarenu hitobito (2000)
121 min | Drama, War
The story of 3 men who served together in the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII. The story is told in flashbacks from modern day Japan to scenes on the island they are defending. In modern... See full summary »
Director: Makoto Shinozaki | Stars: Tatsuya Mihashi, Minoru Ôki, Tomio Aoki, Keiko Utsumi
Votes: 57
82. Sen-hime (1954)
95 min | Drama, History
During the Warring States era of early 17th century Japan, teenage princess Sen is besieged with other members of her family in Osaka Castle, by a rival force led by her grandfather.
Director: Keigo Kimura | Stars: Machiko Kyô, Kenji Sugawara, Shinobu Araki, Chieko Higashiyama
Votes: 9
83. Senkan Yamato (1953)
104 min | War
Director: Yutaka Abe | Stars: Tôru Abe, Minoru Arita, Hiroshi Ayukawa, Miyuki Chigira
Votes: 12
84. Behind 'The Cove' (2015)
110 min | Documentary, History
Negative media coverage on the never-ending whaling issue prompted first-time documentary filmmaker Keiko Yagi to find out more about the topic. With no budget, limited experience in ... See full summary »
Director: Keiko Yagi | Stars: David Hance, Katsunori Horihata, Joji Morishita, Hideki Moronuki
Votes: 270
85. Hayabusa (2011)
Adventure
Under the guidance of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) the Hayabusa 'Falcon' spaceship shoots for an asteroid in order to correct samples and conduct scientific studies and then ... See full summary »
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi | Stars: Yûko Takeuchi, Toshiyuki Nishida, Masahiro Takashima, Shirô Sano
Votes: 126
86. Sakurada Gate Incident (2010)
137 min | History
The Sakurada Gate Incident recounts the story of Mito Domain Samurai coming off house arrest named Seki Tetsunosuke (played by Osawa Takao). He along with other prominent Mito Clansmen are ... See full summary »
Director: Jun'ya Satô | Stars: Takao Osawa, Kyoko Hasegawa, Minosuke Bandô, Akira Emoto
Votes: 86
87. Manga Nihonshi (1983–1984)
24 min | Animation, History
A women tells the story of the history of Japan to two children.
Star: Kazuko Sugiyama
88. War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: The Brides (2019)
54 min | Documentary
"The Brides" is the 2nd of 5 films that make up "War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory". Asako-san ("The Best Ambassador") married a white GI while Fumiko-san ("Kitchens and a Priest") married a black one.
Director: Yayoi Winfrey | Stars: Fumiko Kiyamura Caine Alderman, Myokei Caine-Barrett, Asako Sakaguchi Miller Kimes, Diane Caine Shirey
89. Admiral Yamamoto and the Allied Fleets (1956)
101 min | Biography, War
Director: Toshio Shimura | Stars: Shin Saburi, Kusuo Abe, Minoru Takada, Ureo Egawa
90. War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: BFF's; Buddhist Friends Forever (2019)
34 min | Documentary, Short
"BFF's: Buddhist Friends Forever" is the 5th of 5 films that make up "War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory". Two families and the daughter of a Japanese war bride are all linked through their Buddhist religion.
Director: Yayoi Winfrey | Stars: William Michael Factory Jr., Doris Factory, Kim Farrison, Mihoko Yoshihara Farrison
91. Hijikata Toshizô - Shiro no Kiseki (2004 Video)
32 min | Animation, Short, Action
A biographical sketch of the life and ideals of Hijikata Toshizô, Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi, fighting to uphold the Shogunate during the Meiji revolution.
Director: Chie Uratani | Stars: Tomohisa Asô, Yukitoshi Hori, Naoki Imamura, Tetsu Inada
Votes: 10
92. Pearl Harbor: The View from Japan (1994 Video)
Not Rated | 70 min | Documentary, History, War
Analyzes the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese point of view and focuses on Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese military mastermind who (though bitterly opposed) planned the attack on the U.S. fleet anchored in Hawaii.
Director: Kunio Kurita | Stars: Eric Conger, Peter Davis, Mizuho Suzuki
93. Général Ishiwara - L'homme qui déclencha la guerre (2012 TV Movie)
52 min | Documentary, Biography, History
From 1889 to 1949, General Ishiwara's military, ideological and political career took in the key moments of Japanese History, in a most spectacular way: the forced opening to the West, Hiroshima, the China war and Pearl Harbour.
Director: Paul Jenkins | Stars: Luce Mouchel, Frédéric Pellegeay, Ikuhiko Hata, Yôichi Higuchi
Votes: 26
94. Handmade in Japan (2017)
90 min | Documentary
A look at traditional Japanese crafts and craftspeople. Each edition of the series follows the work of those making a culturally important product in the time-honoured way.
Votes: 46
95. Mibu gishi den: Shinsengumi de ichiban tsuyokatta otoko (2002 TV Movie)
498 min | Drama, War
The story of a man who was feared by Isami Kondo, respected by Toshizo Hijikata, admired by Soji Okita, and loved by everyone.
Director: Shingo Matsubara | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Naoto Takenaka, Reiko Takashima, Takashi Naitô
96. War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: The Culture (2019)
58 min | Documentary
"The Culture" is the 4th of 5 films that make up "War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory". M. Fumie, Diana and Sophia (Yoshi), discuss their Japanese heritages. Michelle, Stephanie, and Hannah talk about being 3rd generation "quapa".
Director: Yayoi Winfrey | Stars: Yoshi Childs, M. Fumie Craig, Michelle Craig, Hannah Martinez
98. War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: The Kids (2019)
49 min | Documentary
"The Kids" is the 3rd of 5 films that make up "War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory". Roleta, Andy, Elaine, Naomi, Joan and Jean are all adult children of Japanese war brides, but each has their own unique story about growing up mixed-race.
Director: Yayoi Winfrey | Stars: Elaine Ambrose, Andy Campbell, Naomi M. Herrera, Jean H. Lahn
99. Kyoiku terebi no gyakushu: Yomigaeru kyosho no kotoba (2009 TV Special)
119 min | Talk-Show
Directors: Hideki Jô, Ken'ichi Yamanaka | Stars: Yûji Tanaka, Hikari Ôta, Taro Okamoto, Hideki Yukawa
100. The Samurai (2003 TV Movie)
Documentary, History, War
Director: Tony Long | Stars: Edward Herrmann, Toshishiro Obata, Michael Shu, James Wong
Votes: 19