This page lists Japanese-language films that AATJ members and other teachers recommend for use in middle- and high-school classrooms. They have been selected not primarily for language teaching purposes, but for the window they offer into Japanese society and everyday life, and for the potential they offer for discussion in the classroom of differences and commonalities among cultures.
- Fiction Films
- Documentary Films
- Teacher-Created Resources
- Video Clips and Other Shorts
- Other Visual Resources
Please send suggestions for inclusion to Lisa Berkson, who teaches in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is curating this page. Her email address is mugimura@gmail.com
| FICTION FILMS | ||||||
| Film title (alpha. by English title) |
Director | Year released |
Viewer level | Availability | Duration/ subtitles/ Trailer |
Synopsis |
| American Pasttime | Desmond Nakano | 2007 | High school | Probably need to purchase | 1hr. 45 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=f5rk cIl0LEA |
Live action; set in the Topaz War Relocation Center, a Utah prison camp which held thousands of people during the WW2 internment of Japanese Americans. |
| BALLADE : Namonaki Koi no Uta BALLADE 名もなき 恋の歌 | Takashi Yamazaki | 2009 | Middle school and high school | No longer available on YouTube. | 132 minutes; Trailer (no subtitles): https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=vL ZcSEYXaJg |
Live action love story between a sengoku general and a princess, with help from a young boy. |
| A Boy and His Samurai ( ちょんまげプリン) |
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura | 2010 | Possibly on YouTube under “Chonmage Purin” | 108 minutes | Life action. Time travel comedy. | |
| Handsome Suit ハンサムスーツ |
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa; starring Tsukajo Muga and Kitagawa Keiko | 2008 | https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=C_9J 3rGrq_w&t=28 8s |
115 minutes; trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=Fmbi3 quFZ3E |
Live action. Akuro, a talented-yet-unattractive chef, heads to a local tailor to pick out a tuxedo for a friend’s wedding, when he gets fitted with a magical suit. | |
| Happy Hour ハッピーアワー |
Ryusuke Hamaguchi |
2015 | 5 hr 17 minutes (3 parts); trailer (no subtitles) https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=vk8 K_t8xr1M |
Live action. Three women search for their missing friend. Set in Kobe, regional dialect. | ||
| Her Sketchbook (世界は今日から君のもの) |
Masaya Ozaki | 2017 | 106 minutes/in Japanese, with subtitles; trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjHkzDP-XWo | Live action. Mami, who rarely leaves home since she dropped out of middle school, spends time copying her favorite manga. Her worried father finds her a job as a video game tester. Mami tries to step out into a new world. | ||
| Honnōji Hotel 本能寺ホテル |
Masayuki Suzuki |
2017 | High school | Netflix | 120 minutes; Trailer (no subtitles): https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=V 5qpvsAmAVY&lis t=PLuu_Eqg0_8fJ7 cw1_dLgpF7_W8 QSCXH6a |
Live action time travel comedy involving a woman travelling to Kyoto, a magic hotel, and Oda Nobunaga. |
| Letter to Momo ももへの手紙 |
Hiroyuki Okiura |
2012 | High school | 120 minutes; Trailer (no subtitles): | 141 minutes; trailer: | Animation. After her father’s death, Momo and her mother move to a remote island. Useful for regional dialect. |
| Linda Linda Linda リンダリンダ リンダ |
Nobuhiro Yamashita |
2005 | Middle school and high school | 114 minutes; Trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=n NEeKAJQ-qY w Spanish subtitles: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=7 Pdfky5If3w |
Live action rock-and-roll teen comedy, as a girls’ high school band gives themselves the goal of being able to play “Linda Linda Linda,” a hit for the Japanese pop-punk band the Blue Hearts, in just 2 days. | |
| Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (さよならの朝に約束の花をかざろう) |
Mari Okada. Directorial debut. | 2018 | 115 minutes; in Japanese with subtitles; trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi1gmq0CwcA | Animation that. depicts the “eternal moment” of a boy and girl who meet amidst the passage of time. | ||
| Mom Thinks I’m Crazy to Marry a Japanese Guy ママは日本へ嫁に行っちゃダメと言うけれど。 |
Akihisa Yachida, director; Japan/Taiwan collaboration; Jian Man-shu co-stars with model-turned-actor Yuta Nakano |
2017 | High school | 94 minutes; in Mandarin, Japanese and Taiwanese with English subtitles; trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=p39Qpy voqQU |
A live action film adapting the Facebook page of a Taiwanese woman and a Japanese man as they become acquainted. | |
| Reaching You (君の届け) |
Naoto Kumazawa | 2010 | High school | Not available on YouTube. | With English subtitles 128 minutes; Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WGfgPql78c | Live action version based on the manga of the same name. Sawako, a girl feared by the other students is befriended by a popular boy. |
| Shall We Dance? | Masayuki Suo | 1996 | full movie with English subtitles also on Youtube | 136 minutes; Trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=zQWE hPYwuY4 |
Live action; a lonely accountant gets involved with a beautiful ballroom dancer, hoping to liven up his life. | |
| Swing Girls スウィングガールズ |
Directed and co-written by Shinobu Yaguchi |
2004 | Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxtiF3Fs6c | Live action comedy; a group of inept high school girls form a big band orchestra. | ||
| Train Man 電車男 |
Shosuke Murakami | 2005 | High school | 102 minutes; trailer w subtitles: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=m dW6V40E1SQ |
Live action romance, supposedly based on a true story, of a nerdy engineer who helps a girl in trouble; a relationship ensues. | |
| Waterboys ウォーターボーイズ |
Written and directed by Shinobu Yaguchi |
2001 | 90 minutes | Live action Japanese sports comedy about five teenagers who must overcome obstacles in order to become a champion team of synchronized swimmers. | ||
| Yoko the Cherry Blossom | Gen Takahashi | 2015 | 115 minutes; Trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=9b E1HCU03bA |
A stubborn farmer creates a new type of cherry blossom to commemorate the spirits of his students who died in the war. | ||
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| DOCUMENTARY FILMS | ||||||
| Film title (alpha. by English title) |
Director | Year released |
Viewer level | Availability | Duration/ subtitles/ Trailer |
Synopsis |
| Finding Fukue | CBC Short Docs | Youtube | 21 minutes; in English and Japanese | Almost 30 years after receiving the last letter from her pen-pal, Jessica Stuart returns to Japan to try and solve the mystery of her long-lost friend, Fukue. | ||
| The Japanese Version | Andrew Kolker and Louis Alvarez |
1989 | High school (h/s version w/o love hotels) | English | 38 minutes (h/s edition) trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?time_con tinue=253&v=upaO Kam-W1I |
How Japanese culture integrates Western influence; a bit dated, but entertaining |
| Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball | Kenneth Eng | 2006 | Middle school and high school | Japanese; English subtitles |
1 hour? ; Trailer: https://vimeo.com/5666 4227; website: http://ww w.pbs.org/pov/kokoy akyu/ |
A sports documentary that follows two schools striving to reach the championship game. |
| Over the Sky | Toko Shiiki (email to get access tokophoto@ gmail.com) |
Middle school and high school | Japanese w/subtitles | 40 minutes; Trailer: https://vimeo.com/255100 875 |
Follows a Fukushima-ken middle school music teacher from 3.11 through her retirement in 2017. | |
| Yagi no sanpo やぎの散歩 |
仲村颯悟監督 | 2009 | 10 minutes; Japanese, with English subtitles trailer: https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=b ljVGLn456Q&list=P LPqT9ZZbqs7F9a0 qOMjrZyZtnqp9uX NvC&index=40 |
A short film made by Okinawan middle school students that captures traditional Okinawan life. | ||
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| TEACHER-CREATED RESOURCES | ||||||
| Witteveen sensei | Social sketches of Japan | http://bit.ly/clips2018jp | https://www.youtu be.com/playlist?li st=PLfc4C_JsrO 37Rl2NBi6fJci09 ls_478u3 | Video clips of Fukui-ken and Kii Peninsula and Kansai, and interviews from 2018 and 1998. | ||
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| VIDEO CLIPS AND OTHER SHORTS | Topic | Lan- guage |
Length | YouTube link | Summary | |
| 交番 Koban | English | 1′ 42″ | https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=a 3BICcQbe-E |
Use of koban by police in L.A. | ||
| わさび Wasabi | Japa- nese, with English subtitles |
6’41” | https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=f hlklE9wBSY&fea ture=youtu.be |
Wasabi farming by a family that has grown wasabi near Izu and Shizuoka for generations. | ||
| Japanese moving company | Japa- nese and English |
14′ 52″ | https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=ynE jnebw8LA&t=41s | A couple’s experience hiring a Japanese moving company. Note use of keigo by the movers, as well as other services offered. | ||
| Urbanization of Japan | English | 13′ 28″ | https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=xJc-lBbZ_Ao &feature=youtu.be | Pros and cons of urban vs. rural living in Japan, using Matsuyama and Tokyo as examples. | ||
| Lead with Languages | English | 4′ 2″ | https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=7Mk 3YC3Wwpc&featur e=youtu.be |
Useful for Lead with Languages and other promotional work. Interviews with professionals who use the language daily. See https://w ww.lead wi thlanguag es.org | ||
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| OTHER VISUAL RESOURCES | ||||||
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