Movies Similar to Discoveries...Asia Japan: Tokyo & Central Honshu Island

Enter the Anime(2019)

What is anime? Through deep-dives with notable masterminds of this electrifying genre, this fast-paced documentary seeks to find the answers.

Tokyo Techno Tribes(2002)

Japanese cyber youth cultures have developed through the imaginative and novel use of technology. Underlying social, cultural and economic trends are examined such as Japan's unique, isolated island culture, the post-economic boom recession and changing attitudes towards the role of the corporation in work and career attitudes.

Paper City(2021)

Just after midnight on 10 March 1945, the US launched an air-based attack on eastern Tokyo; continuing until morning, the raid left more than 100,000 people dead and a quarter of the city eradicated. Unlike their loved ones, Hiroshi Hoshino, Michiko Kiyooka and Minoru Tsukiyama managed to emerge from the bombings. Now in their twilight years, they wish for nothing more than recognition and reparations for those who, like them, had been indelibly harmed by the war – but the Japanese government and even their fellow citizens seem disinclined to acknowledge the past.

A Day in Tokyo(1968)

A Day in TOKYO in 1968, Nostalgic bygone era. Planned by Japan National Tourism Organization. Produced by Koga Production. This film was produced to explain Tokyo for foreign tourists.

Attack! The Battle for New Britain(1944)

Actual footage by the United States Signal Corps of the landing and attack on Arawe Beach, Cape Glouster, New Britain island in 1943 in the South Pacific theatre of World War Two, and the handicaps of the wild jungle in addition to the Japanese snipers and pill-box emplacements.

Memoirs of a Geisha(2005)

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Japan und die Juden Zwischen Faszination und Terror(2020)

L'empire du sushi(2008)

Miss Hokusai(2015)

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

Two Portraits of MIYAGINO(2010)

In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.

Tora! Tora! Tora!(1970)

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

Heart of the Country(1997)

"Heart of the Country" is the story of Shinichi Yasutomo, the extraordinary principal of a rural elementary school in Kanayama, central Hokkaido, Northern Japan. Yasutomo is a man driven by his vision for learning and his passion for educating the heart as well as the mind. The film follows Yasutomo, his teachers and staff, students and their families over the course of one entire school year. The film is also the story of the families of Kanayama. Parents and elders of this once impoverished town embrace Yasutomo's vision, but not without wary glances back to the past. This small community, bound together by love for its children, is also defined by its journey through the cultural upheavals of postwar Japan.

The Making of a Japanese(2024)

Intimately following 1st and 6th graders at a public elementary school in Tokyo, we observe kids learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.

Men Behind the Sun(1988)

The film is a graphic depiction of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731, the secret biological weapons experimentation unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The film details the various cruel medical experiments Unit 731 inflicted upon the Chinese and Soviet prisoners at the tail-end of the war.

Violated Paradise(1963)

A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.

Inu-Oh(2022)

A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.

Music For Psychological Liberation(1994)

A 3 hour Japanese documentary & Live gig video of the Osaka Noise/Weirdo Rock scene in 1994. Includes Boredoms & side projects (UFO or DIE, Hanatarash, Concrete Octopus), Masonna, Incapacitants & lots more! Yamatsuka Eye gives an interview in his apartment and plays a toy guitar in his bath tub.

Cliff Walkers(2021)

In the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s, four Communist party special agents, after returning to China, embark on a secret mission. Sold out by a traitor, the team find themselves surrounded by threats on all sides.

Follow Me(1969)

Documentary about two boys and a girl who travel to surfing spots around the world.

Dream Girls(1994)

This film is about Japanese women, escape, glamour and dreams. The Takarazuka Revue is an enormously successful spectacular where the all-women cast create fantasies of erotic love and sensitive men. It is also a world for young girls desperate to do something different with their lives. In return for living a highly disciplined and reclusive existence, they will be adored and envied by many thousands of Japanese women. They will look, act and behave like young men while having no real men in their lives. Dream Girls explores the nature of sexual identity and the contradictory tensions that face young women in Japan today.