Best Japanese movies of 2000s

Actors : Ayu Kitaura, Kyôko Kishida, Sayuri Fujii, Kazuko Yoshiyuki,
Directors : Mai Tominaga,

A pair of elderly junk collectors find their lives turned upside down when their latest procurement brings them into contact with an obsessive young knitter in the hallucinogenic feature debut of prominent short filmmaker Mai Tominaga.

Actors : Nao Ohmori, Riho Makise, Jun Murakami, Shinobu Terajima,
Directors : Ryuichi Hiroki,

(Japanese with English subtitles) After meeting a handsome truck driver (Nao Omori) in the midst of an urban mini-mart, a 30-something freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima) embarks on a ...

Actors : Tôma Ikuta, Manatsu Hayashi, Yui Aragaki, Arata Iura,
Directors : Nobuhiro Doi,

Sae (Yui Aragaki) is a high school student who is studying hard for her college entrance exams. She lost her father when she was very young and so lives her mother Ryoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru...

Actors : Luci Christian, Yutaka Aoyama, Igor Chapurin, Susumu Chiba,
Directors : Shinji Takamatsu,

The silver-haired samurai Sakata Gintoki investigates the disappearance of a legendary sword named Benizakura while his partners Kagura and Shimura Shinpachi try to find out what has happened to Gintoki's friend, Kotaro Katsura.

Actors : Mirai Moriyama, Yû Aoi, Pierre Taki, Terunosuke Takezai,
Directors : Yuki Tanada,

A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.

Actors : Yûki Amami, Eugene Harada, Shiho Fujimura, Atsuro Watabe,
Directors : Masato Harada,

Akira, the young new schoolteacher in town falls for secretive Miki, an older woman who takes care of her family's urn that supposedly holds a forest wolf-spirit, inugami. People soon start disappearing and the town blames Akira.

Actors : Kiriko Nananan, Chizuru Ikewaki, Noriko Nakagoshi, Yûko Nakamura,
Directors : Hitoshi Yazaki,

Strawberry Shortcakes (2006) is a Japanese film by director Hitoshi Yazaki. The film, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Kiriko Nananan, concerns the life of four girls, as ...

Actors : Arata Furuta, Akiko Suzuki, Shôko Takada, Urara Takano,

A series of short animations by some of Japan's best animators comments to life in this collage of beautiful works of art.

Actors : Sayaka Yamaguchi, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Makoto Togashi, Ken'ichi Endô,
Directors : Tomijiro Mitsuishi,

A young girl looking through her father's notes finds something written about the last experiment he worked on before he went insane. Everything looks ordinary until the name "Tomie" begins appearing throughout the notebook.

Actors : Yûta Hiraoka, Yoshikuni Dôchin, Mutsutoshi Furuhata, Mitsuru Fukikoshi,
Directors : Tetsuo Shinohara,

World War II story alternates between the past and present, linked by a fateful song. Japanese sub I-77 battles an American destroyer off the coast of Okinawa. Before heading to war, the ...

Actors : Masaaki Akahori, Tamae Andô, Lily Franky, Tae Kimura,
Directors : Ryosuke Hashiguchi,

In 1993 Kanao and Shoko are a Tokyo couple awaiting the arrival of their first child. Although both have studied art, Kanao works as a shoe repairman which doesn't stretch his rather ...

Actors : Tadanobu Asano, Yuka Itaya, Kaori Fujimitsu, Eri Ishida,
Directors : Shinji Aoyama,

Kenji, abandoned by his mother, scrapes out a meager existence doing odd jobs including driving bar hostesses and their customers home. Besides this he takes care of the sister of an old ...

Actors : Kanata Hongô, Rin Takanashi, Kunihiko Ida, Mika Kamiya,
Directors : Gen Takahashi,

Morino and Kamiyama share a morbid fascination with cruelty and murder in this horror. Together they track down a brutal serial killer to find the latest two victims - not necessarily to ...

Actors : Masatoshi Nagase, Keisuke Horibe, Yoshinori Okada, Akemi Kobayashi,
Directors : Katsuhito Ishii,

Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive ...

Actors : Seishirô Katô, Tetsuya Bessho, Kappei Yamaguchi, Tomoyo Harada,
Directors : Masaya Fujimori,

A Tyrannosaurus named Heart was brought up by a herbivorous dinosaur. Heart grew up being scared of other dinosaurs. One day, Heart meets a baby Ankylosaurus and he names the Ankylosaurus "...

Actors : Satoshi Tsumabuki, Kumiko Endô, Masaya Kikawada, Miki Sakai,
Directors : Takashi Shimizu,

An art student disappears after murdering his model. Now his friends and family are being haunted by the resurrected woman, Tomie.

Actors : Kei Tanaka, Kyôsuke Yabe, Shun Oguri, Yuki Shibamoto,
Directors : Hiroyuki Nakano,

TAJOMARU is the famous 'bandit' of the forest from RASHOMON. Whoever kills Tajomaru inherits his name, status and sword. A royal brother leaves his kingdom to protect the princess he loves,...

Actors : Hiroshi Mikami, Maho Toyota, Shûji Kashiwabara, Yukiko Ikari,
Directors : Shinji Aoyama,

Nagai, a software industry expert is an absolute slave to his work. It is no wonder that his personal life is a complete mess. His wife and daughter left him but he has kept a camera with him to preserve their memory.

Actors : Christopher Bevins, Ayumi Asakura, Clint Bickham, Ryan Bijan,

The Axis Powers must band together to save the world from aliens who are painting everything white.

Actors : Kenji Yamauchi, Kiki Sugino, Bryerly Long, Kanji Furutachi,
Directors : Kôji Fukada,

The film follows the follies that ensue when a man and his wife shack up with a family that owns a printing press in their building, the husband takes it over, and the couple begin inviting a motley crew of friends.