List of foreign films and TV series set in Japan
(Redirected from List of films set in Japan)
The following is a list of foreign films and television series set in Japan. Japan has provided an exotic and cosmopolitan backdrop to many international films set partially, mostly or entirely in Japan. A common theme of western films set in Japan is the differences between Japanese and Western culture and how the characters cope with their new surroundings.
Film
[edit]Pre-1940
[edit]- The Secret Game (1917) — directed by William C. de Mille, starring Sessue Hayakawa
- The Sea Wolf (1930) — directed by Alfred Santell, starring Milton Sills
- Yoshiwara (1937) — directed by Max Ophüls
1940–1949
[edit]- Jack London (1943) — directed by Alfred Santell, starring Michael O'Shea
- Destination Tokyo (1943) — directed by Delmer Daves, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) — directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Van Johnson and Robert Walker
- Blood on the Sun (1945) — directed by Frank Lloyd, starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney
- Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) — directed by Allan Dwan, starring John Wayne and John Agar
- Tokyo Joe (1949) — directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Humphrey Bogart and Alexander Knox
1950–1959
[edit]- Tokyo File 212 (1951) — directed by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan
- Oriental Evil (1951) — directed by George P. Breakston
- Back at the Front (1952) — directed by George Sherman, starring Tom Ewell and Harvey Lembeck
- House of Bamboo (1955) — directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Robert Ryan and Robert Stack
- Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) — directed by Michael Anderson, starring David Niven and Cantinflas
- Navy Wife (1956) — directed by Edward Bernds
- The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) — directed by Daniel Mann, starring Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford
- Escapade in Japan (1957) — directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Cameron Mitchell and Jon Provost
- Stopover Tokyo (1957) — directed by Richard L. Breen, starring Robert Wagner and Joan Collins
- Sayonara (1957) — directed by Joshua Logan, starring Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka
- Typhoon Over Nagasaki (1957) — directed by Yves Ciampi, starring Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux
- Joe Butterfly (1957) — directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Audie Murphy and Burgess Meredith
- The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) — directed by John Huston, starring John Wayne and Eiko Ando
- The Geisha Boy (1958) — directed by Frank Tashlin, starring Jerry Lewis and Marie McDonald
- Hiroshima mon amour (1959) — directed by Alain Resnais, starring Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada
1960–1969
[edit]- My Geisha (1962) — directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Shirley MacLaine and Yves Montand
- Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966) — directed by Michel Boisrond, starring Frederick Stafford and Marina Vlady
- Love in Tokyo (1966) — directed by Pramod Chakravorty, starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh
- Walk Don't Run (1966) — directed by Charles Walters, starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton
- You Only Live Twice (1967) — directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Sean Connery and Akiko Wakabayashi
- Nobody's Perfect (1968) — directed by Alan Rafkin
1970–1979
[edit]- Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) — directed by Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku, starring Martin Balsam and Soh Yamamura
- The Yakuza (1974) — directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura
- Mastermind (1976) — directed by Alex March, starring Zero Mostel and Keiko Kishi
- Seven Nights in Japan (1976) — directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael York and Hidemi Aoki
- The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978) — directed by John Berry, starring Tony Curtis and Jackie Earle Haley
1980–1989
[edit]- Bushido Blade (1981) — directed by Shusei Kotani, starring Timothy Patrick Murphy and Frank Converse
- The Challenge (1982) — directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune
- Japanil Kalyanaraman (1985) — directed by S.P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan and Radha
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) — directed by Paul Schrader, starring Ken Ogata and Masayuki Shionoya
- The Karate Kid 2 (1986) — directed by John Avildsen, starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita
- Gung Ho (1986) — directed by Ron Howard, starring Michael Keaton
- Tokyo Pop (1988) — directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, starring Carrie Hamilton and Diamond Yukai
- Black Rain (1989) — directed by Ridley Scott, starring Michael Douglas and Ken Takakura
1990–1999
[edit]- American Samurai (1992) — directed by Sam Firstenberg, starring David Bradley and Mark Dacascos
- Mr. Baseball (1992) — directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Tom Selleck and Ken Takakura
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) — directed by Stuart Gillard, starring Elias Koteas and Paige Turco
- 3 Ninjas: Kick Back (1994) — directed by Charles T. Ganganis, starring Victor Wong and Max Elliot Slade
- The Hunted (1995) — directed by J.F. Lawton, starring Christopher Lambert
- Cold Fever (1995) — directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, starring Masatoshi Nagase and Lili Taylor
- Tokyo Eyes (1998) — directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin, starring Shinji Takeda and Hinano Yoshikawa
- Enlightenment Guaranteed (1999) — directed by Doris Dörrie, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht
2000–2009
[edit]- Okinawa Rendez-vous (2000) — directed by Gordon Chan
- Enlightenment Guaranteed (2000) — directed by Doris Dörrie, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav-Peter Wöhler
- Pearl Harbor (2001) — directed by Michael Bay, starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett
- Wasabi (2001) — directed by Gérard Krawczyk, starring Jean Reno and Ryōko Hirosue
- Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) — directed by Jay Roach, starring Mike Myers and Beyoncé Knowles
- 2009: Lost Memories (2002) — directed by Lee Si-myung, starring Jang Dong-gun and Tōru Nakamura
- Fear and Trembling (2003) — directed by Alain Corneau, starring Sylvie Testud and Kaori Tsuji
- The Last Samurai (2003) — directed by Edward Zwick, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe
- Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003) — directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu[1]
- The Animatrix (Program) (2003) — directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- Lost in Translation (2003) — directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson[1]
- Café Lumière (2003) – directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien[1]
- Stratosphere Girl (2004) — directed by Matthias X. Oberg, starring Chloé Winkel
- The Grudge (2004) — directed by Takashi Shimizu, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr
- Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) — directed by Rob Marshall, starring Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li
- Into the Sun (2005) — directed by Christopher Morrison, starring Steven Seagal and Matt Davis
- Initial D (2005) — directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, starring Jay Chou
- Babel (2006) — directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal
- Flags of Our Fathers (2006) — directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ryan Phillippe and Jesse Bradford
- Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) — directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) — directed by Justin Lin, starring Lucas Black and Bow Wow
- Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006)
- Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006) — directed by Phil Weinstein, starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair
- Silk (2007) — directed by François Girard, starring Michael Pitt and Keira Knightley
- Monster (2008) — directed by Eric Forsberg, starring Sarah Lieving and Erin Evans
- Tokyo! (2008) — directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho
- Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) — directed by Chris Nahon, Jun Ji-hyun and Allison Miller
- The Ramen Girl (2009) — directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, starring Brittany Murphy and Sohee Park
- Enter the Void (2009) — directed by Gaspar Noé, starring Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta
- Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009) — directed by Christopher Berkeley
2010–2019
[edit]- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) — directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, starring Milla Jovovich
- Cars 2 (2011) — directed by John Lasseter, starring Owen Wilson
- Tatsumi (2011) — directed by Eric Khoo, starring Tetsuya Bessho and Yoshihiro Tatsumi
- Emperor (2012) — directed by Peter Webber, starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones
- Skyfall[2] (2012) — directed by Sam Mendes, starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem
- Karakara (2012) — directed by Claude Gagnon, starring Gabriel Arcand and Youki Kudoh
- Like Someone in Love (2012) — directed by Abbas Kiarostami, starring Rin Takanashi
- Dick Figures: The Movie (2013) — directed by Ed Skudder and Zack Keller
- Rush (2013) — directed by Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl
- 47 Ronin (2013) — directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013) — directed by Justin Lin, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
- The Wolverine (2013) — directed by James Mangold, starring Hugh Jackman and Hiroyuki Sanada
- Godzilla (2014) — directed by Gareth Edwards, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ken Watanabe
- Big Hero 6 (2014) — directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, starring Scott Adsit and Ryan Potter
- Unbroken (2014) — directed by Angelina Jolie, starring Jack O'Connell and Domhnall Gleeson
- Tokyo Fiancée (2014) — directed by Stefan Liberski, starring Pauline Étienne and Taichi Inoue
- The Sea of Trees (2015) — directed by Gus Van Sant, starring Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe
- Mr. Holmes (2015) — directed by Bill Condon, starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney
- Silence (2016) — directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver
- Hacksaw Ridge (2016) — directed by Mel Gibson, starring Andrew Garfield and Sam Worthington
- The Handmaiden (2016) — directed by Park Chan-wook, starring Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri
- The Last Princess (2016) — directed by Hur Jin-ho, starring Son Ye-jin and Park Hae-il
- Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) — directed by Travis Knight, starring Charlize Theron and Art Parkinson
- The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) — directed by Charlie Bean, starring Dave Franco and Michael Peña
- Batman Ninja (2018) — directed by Junpei Mizusaki, starring Kōichi Yamadera
- Isle of Dogs (2018) — directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bryan Cranston and Edward Norton
- Tomb Raider (2018) — directed by Roar Uthaug, starring Alicia Vikander and Dominic West
- Earthquake Bird (2019) — directed by Wash Westmoreland, starring Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough
- Spies in Disguise (2019) — directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, starring Will Smith and Tom Holland
2020-2029
[edit]- Fukuoka (2020) — directed by Zhang Lü, starring Yoon Je-moon and Park So-dam
- Minamata (2020) — directed by Andrew Levitas, starring Johnny Depp and Hiroyuki Sanada
- Detective Chinatown 3 (2020) — directed by Chen Sicheng, starring Wang Baoqiang and Turbo Liu
- Mortal Kombat (2021) — directed by Simon McQuoid, starring Lewis Tan and Jessica McNamee
- Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021) — directed by Robert Schwentke, starring Henry Golding and Andrew Koji
- Kate (2021) — directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Woody Harrelson
- The Matrix Resurrections (2021) — directed by Lana Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss
- People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan (2021) — directed by Jack Clough, starring Alan Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin
- Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022) — directed by Rob Minkoff, starring Michael Cera and Ricky Gervais
- Bullet Train (2022) — directed by David Leitch, starring Brad Pitt
- John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) — directed by Chad Stahelski, starring Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen
- When I Met You in Tokyo (2023) — directed by Rado Peru and Rommel Penesa, starring Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon
- Ultraman: Rising (2024) — directed by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, starring Christopher Sean
- Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (2025) — directed by Junpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi, starring Kōichi Yamadera
- Predator: Killer of Killers (The Sword) (2025) — directed by Dan Trachtenberg, starring Lindsay LaVanchy and Louis Ozawa
Television
[edit]- Shōgun (1980), miniseries
- The Ginger Tree (1989), miniseries
- Samurai Jack (2001–2004, 2017)
- The Pacific (2010), miniseries
- Ninjago (2011–2022)
- The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)
- Giri/Haji (2019)
- Star Wars: Visions Volume I (The Duel) (2021)
- Hit-Monkey (2021–2024)
- Invasion (2021–present)
- Pachinko (2022–present)
- Tokyo Vice (2022–2024)
- Ninjago: Dragons Rising (2023–present)
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023–present)
- Blue Eye Samurai (2023–present)
- Shōgun (2024–present)
- Like a Dragon: Yakuza (2024–present)
- Sunny (2024)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Wada-Marciano, Mitsuo (2018). "4 A Dialogue with "Memory" in Hou Hsiao-hsien's Café Lumière (2003)". In Choi, Jinhee (ed.). Reorienting Ozu: A Master and His Influence. Vol. 1. Oxford Academic. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190254971.003.0005.
- ^ "Hashima Island, Japan". Bond Lifestyle.