Watch the BFI Japan 2020 trailer.
In this major season, we spotlight filmmakers who have inspired admiration and fascination around the world. We begin our story with Akira Kurosawa, and over the coming months we’ll present films from the Golden Age, a focus on Yasujiro Ozu, new wave rebels, the visionary creations of anime, the netherworlds of J-horror, and so much more from archive rarities to contemporary works and cult classics.
This landmark season will take place on BFI Player from 11 May, with new online collections released each month, and we expect to present it at BFI Southbank and cinemas nationwide later this year.
Blu-rays and books
Pre-order The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (Dual Format Edition)
Pre-order Funeral Parade of Roses (2-Disc Blu-ray)
The Japanese Cinema Book is out now, published by BFI and Bloomsbury to coincide with the season.
In partnership with
With special thanks to
With the kind support of
Janus Films/The Criterion Collection, Kadokawa Corporation, Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Kokusai Hoei Co., Ltd, Nikkatsu Corporation, Toei Co., Ltd
Image credits
Godzilla 1954 © Toho Co., Ltd.
Harakiri ©1962 Shochiku Co., Ltd.
Primers on Japanese cinema
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Where to begin with Studio Ghibli
As the Studio Ghibli back catalogue starts to land on Netflix, we suggest the best way for newcomers to pick their path from the company’s enchanting animated worlds.
Monday 3 February 2020 -
Where to begin with Kaneto Shindo
Your next obsession: Kaneto Shindo, the director behind some of Japan’s creepiest ghost stories.
Monday 22 April 2019 -
Where to begin with Japan’s kaiju monster movies
Your next obsession: getting to grips with Godzilla and co
Monday 18 November 2019 -
Where to begin with Japanese musicals
Your next obsession: the hidden history of Japanese musicals
Monday 21 October 2019 -
Where to begin with Japanese cyberpunk
Your next obsession: the visionary techno-futurism of Japanese cyberpunk
Monday 1 April 2019 -
Where to begin with Kon Ichikawa
Your next obsession: versatile Japanese master filmmaker Kon Ichikawa
Wednesday 2 May 2018 -
Where to begin with Takeshi Kitano
Your next obsession: the idiosyncratic cinema of Japanese megastar ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano
Wednesday 18 January 2017 -
Your next obsession: the taboo-breaking avant-garde films of Yoko Ono
Monday 18 February 2019
Lists
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Machiko Kyo: five essential films
We remember the Japanese star, who has died at the age of 95, with a look at five of her greatest performances.
Wednesday 15 May 2019 -
Yasujiro Ozu: 10 essential films
Your 10-film introduction to the Ozu Cinematic Universe… from Tokyo Story to An Autumn Afternoon.
Thursday 12 December 2019 -
10 great Japanese films of the 1990s
The 1990s were a transitional decade for Japanese cinema, in which new auteurs, including Hirokazu Kore-eda and Takeshi Kitano, first came to prominence.
Thursday 25 April 2019 -
Five masterpieces of Japanese widescreen... and how they use the frame
How Japanese mastery of the widescreen image was rooted in the country’s artistic and theatrical heritage.
Thursday 22 March 2018 -
10 great anime films of the 21st century
From Spirited Away to Your Name… here are some of the greatest Japanimation films of the century so far.
Thursday 10 May 2018 -
Five iconic Japanese actresses of the golden age
Much of the power and potency of the great films of Japan’s postwar golden age comes from their luminous stars. With our celebration of Japanese melodrama playing at BFI Southbank, here’s your introduction to five of the finest actresses of the period.
Tuesday 24 October 2017 -
100 years of Japanese animation: One great film per decade
Enter a world beyond anime as we celebrate the centenary of animation in Japan by exploring some less familiar corners of this rich history.
Friday 23 June 2017 -
10 great Japanese films of the 21st century
To celebrate a bumper year for Japanese cinema at the BFI London Film Festival, we look out some of the best movies to come out of Japan since the turn of this century.
Thursday 10 September 2015 -
Akira Kurosawa: 10 essential films
Akira Kurosawa redefined the action film with his samurai epics set in Japan’s medieval past. Here are 10 of his best movies.
Monday 23 March 2015 -
Kenji Mizoguchi: 10 essential films
Some must-see titles from the long career of one of the great masters of Japanese cinema, famed for his exquisite travelling shots and fierce critiques of his country’s patriarchal inequality.
Friday 15 May 2015 -
Mikio Naruse: 10 essential films
As highly regarded as Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu by many, director Mikio Naruse is far less well known in the west. These 10 films offer the perfect introduction.
Thursday 20 August 2015 -
Studio Ghibli: five essential films
We pick out five must-see titles from Japanese animation giants Studio Ghibli.
Wednesday 26 March 2014 -
Studio Ghibli and beyond: 10 classics from the fantastic and wildly popular world of anime.
Thursday 1 May 2014 -
10 great gay films from east and south-east Asia
Take a look at the best gay films from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Friday 29 August 2014 -
Gleaming, neon-lit and futuristic, Tokyo is not just one of the world’s great capitals, but also one of the great cinematic cities. Here are 10 tantalising Tokyo stories.
Thursday 13 June 2013 -
With Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai fighting its way onto Blu-ray, we delve into Japan’s heroic past with 10 classic tales of swords and chivalry.
Thursday 17 October 2013 -
10 great Japanese gangster movies
Journey deep into Tokyo’s cinematic underworld with 9 of the best Japanese mobster and yakuza movies – and a killer trilogy.
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Features
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The enigmatic ‘pillow shots’ of Yasujiro Ozu
Why we’ve got a soft spot for pillow shots – those short, place-setting moments between scenes that pervade the films of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu.
Monday 12 December 2016 -
Family foods: How Hirokazu Koreeda serves drama at the dinner table
From sumptuous feasts to a simple cup of coffee, food in Hirokazu Koreeda’s films fuels the story as much as his characters. Here’s six examples of how the Japanese writer-director uses food to feed plot.
Monday 29 April 2019 -
30 years of Akira – teenage kicks, anime-style
How manga master Katsuhiro Otomo imagined a dystopian 2019 with inspiration from the biker gangs that rode riot through 1980s Japan.
Monday 16 July 2018 -
How Akira Kurosawa films command the weather
Rain, wind, fog and heatwaves – few directors command the weather like Akira Kurosawa commands the weather.
Wednesday 16 August 2017 -
Seven Samurai: The rocky road to classic status of Akira Kurosawa’s action masterpiece
We chart the wavering critical standing of Akira Kurosawa’s all-time classic action film, Seven Samurai.
Tuesday 15 April 2014 -
With the new Godzilla film and our rerelease of Yasujiro Ozu’s An Autumn Afternoon out in cinemas on the same day, UK audiences are presented with a choice that is decades old in Japanese cinema: arthouse humanism or action and spectacle?
Friday 16 May 2014 -
Isao Takahata on the film that inspired Studio Ghibli
In an exclusive extract, Studio Ghibli master Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) tells us about the film that opened his eyes to the possibilities of animation: pioneering French classic The King and the Mockingbird.
Wednesday 30 April 2014 -
Kenji Mizoguchi’s masterpiece Sansho Dayu turns 60 years old
It’s 60 years since the premiere of the heartbreaking historical tragedy Sansho Dayu, revered by critics as one of the world’s greatest films.
Friday 30 May 2014 -
Top trumps: the giants of Japan’s monster movies
With Godzilla: King of the Monsters smashing its way into cinemas, we run through 10 of the film’s monstrous antecedents, the Japanese goliaths that paved the way for Stateside reincarnation.
Friday 12 July 2013 -
In focus: Mika Ninagawa on Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter is a bold and colourful glance at Japan’s teen idol industry. Here director Mika Ninagawa talks film festivals and her love of anime.
Tuesday 9 October 2012
Video
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Video: Hirokazu Kore-eda on Still Walking
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda visits the BFI Southbank to talk about his 2008 family drama, the screening of which was a central part of the BFI’s recent celebration of the Japanese director’s work.
Tuesday 19 November 2019 -
Video: Ryuichi Sakamoto on his soundtrack work
The experimental musician and composer behind the soundtracks for Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence, The Last Emperor and The Revenant visited the BFI to talk about Coda, a documentary about his life and work directed by Stephen Nomura Schible.
Thursday 19 July 2018 -
Video: How to be an anime voice actor, with Your Name stars Stephanie Sheh and Michael Sinterniklaas
The English-language stars of Makoto Shinkai’s bodyswap adventure talk about the intricacies of dubbing Japanese animation, from interpretation, to scripting, to the picking the right kind of gasp for any occasion.
Wednesday 16 May 2018
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