List of foreign films set in Japan explained

The following is a list of foreign films set in Japan. Japan has provided an exotic and cosmopolitan backdrop to many international films set 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.

• (1994) - directed by Charles T. Ganganis, starring Victor Wong and Max Elliot Slade
• 47 Ronin (2013) - directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada

A

• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) - directed by Michael Anderson, starring David Niven and Cantinflas
• Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966) - directed by Michel Boisrond, starring Frederick Stafford and Marina Vlady

B

• Babel (2006) - directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal
• Back at the Front (1952) - directed by George Sherman, starring Tom Ewell and Harvey Lembeck
• The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978) - directed by John Berry, starring Tony Curtis and Jackie Earle Haley
• The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) - directed by John Huston, starring John Wayne and Eiko Ando
• Batman Ninja (2018) - directed by Junpei Mizusaki, starring Kōichi Yamadera
• Big Hero 6 (2014) - directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, starring Scott Adsit and Ryan Potter
• Black Rain (1989) - directed by Ridley Scott, starring Michael Douglas and Ken Takakura
• Blood on the Sun (1945) - directed by Frank Lloyd, starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney
• Bullet Train (2022) - directed by David Leitch, starring Brad Pitt
• Bushido Blade (1981) - directed by Shusei Kotani, starring Timothy Patrick Murphy and Frank Converse

C

• Café Lumière (2003) – directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien^[1]
• Cars 2 (2011) - directed by John Lasseter, starring Owen Wilson
• The Challenge (1982) - directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune
• Cold Fever (1995) - directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, starring Masatoshi Nagase and Lili Taylor

D

E

• Earthquake Bird (2019) - directed by Wash Westmoreland, starring Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough
• Emperor (2012) - directed by Peter Webber, starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones
• Enlightenment Guaranteed (2000) - directed by Doris Dörrie, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav-Peter Wöhler
• Enter the Void (2009) - directed by Gaspar Noé, starring Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta
• Escapade in Japan (1957) - directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Cameron Mitchell and Jon Provost

F

• Fast & Furious 6 (2013) - directed by Justin Lin, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
  • (2006) - directed by Justin Lin, starring Lucas Black and Bow Wow Fear and Trembling (2003) - directed by Alain Corneau, starring Sylvie Testud and Kaori Tsuji
• Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ryan Phillippe and Jesse Bradford

G

• Godzilla (2014) - directed by Gareth Edwards, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ken Watanabe
• The Grudge (2004) - directed by Takashi Shimizu, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr
• Gung Ho (1986) - directed by Ron Howard, starring Michael Keaton

H

• 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
• House of Bamboo (1955) - directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Robert Ryan and Robert Stack
• The Hunted (1995) - directed by J.F. Lawton, starring Christopher Lambert

I

• Into the Sun (2005) - directed by Christopher Morrison, starring Steven Seagal and Matt Davis
• Isle of Dogs (2018) - directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bryan Cranston and Edward Norton

J

• Jack London (1943) - directed by Alfred Santell, starring Michael O'Shea
• Japanil Kalyanaraman (1985) - directed by S.P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan and Radha
• (2023) - directed by Chad Stahelski, starring Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen

K

• The Karate Kid 2 (1986) - directed by John Avildsen, starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita
• Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003) - directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu

L

• The Last Samurai (2003) - directed by Edward Zwick, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe
• Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) - directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya
• Lost in Translation (2003) - directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson

M

• Mastermind (1976) - directed by Alex March, starring Zero Mostel and Keiko Kishi
• The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - directed by Lana Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss
• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - directed by Rob Marshall, starring Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li
• Minamata (2020) - directed by Andrew Levitas, starring Johnny Depp and Hiroyuki Sanada
• (1985) - directed by Paul Schrader, starring Ken Ogata and Masayuki Shionoya
• Mr. Baseball (1992) - directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Tom Selleck and Ken Takakura
• Mr. Holmes (2015) - directed by Bill Condon, starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney
• Monster (2008) - directed by Eric Forsberg, starring Sarah Lieving and Erin Evans
• Mortal Kombat (2021) - directed by Simon McQuoid, starring Lewis Tan and Jessica McNamee
• My Geisha (1962) - directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Shirley MacLaine and Yves Montand

N

• Navy Wife (1956) - directed by Edward Bernds
• Nobody's Perfect - directed by Alan Rafkin

O

• Okinawa Rendez-vous - directed by Gordon Chan
• Oriental Evil - directed by George P. Breakston

P

• The Pacific (2010), miniseries - starring James Badge Dale and Jon Seda
• Pearl Harbor (2001) - directed by Michael Bay, starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett

Q

R

• The Ramen Girl (2009) - directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, starring Brittany Murphy and Sohee Park
• (2010) - directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, starring Milla Jovovich
• Rush (2013) - directed by Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl

S

• Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) - directed by Allan Dwan, starring John Wayne and John Agar
• Sayonara (1957) - directed by Joshua Logan, starring Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka
• Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword - directed by Christopher Berkeley
• The Sea of Trees (2015) - directed by Gus Van Sant, starring Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe
  • • The Sea Wolf (1930) - directed by Alfred Santell, starring Milton Sills The Secret Game (1917) - directed by William C. de Mille, starring Sessue Hayakawa Shōgun (1980), miniseries - directed by Jerry London, starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshirō Mifune
• Shōgun (2024), miniseries - starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis
• Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021) - directed by Robert Schwentke, starring Henry Golding and Andrew Koji
• Stopover Tokyo (1957) - directed by Richard L. Breen, starring Robert Wagner and Joan Collins
• Stratosphere Girl (2004) - directed by Matthias X. Oberg, starring Chloé Winkel

T

• The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) - directed by Daniel Mann, starring Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford
• (2006)
• Tokyo! (2008) - directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho
• Tokyo Eyes (1998) - directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin, starring Shinji Takeda and Hinano Yoshikawa
• Tokyo Fiancée (2014) - Belgian film written and directed by Stefan Liberski
• Tokyo Joe (1949) - directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Humphrey Bogart and Alexander Knox
• Tokyo Pop (1988) - directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, starring Carrie Hamilton and Diamond Yukai
• Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) - directed by Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku, starring Martin Balsam and Soh Yamamura
• Typhon sur Nagasaki (1957) - directed by Yves Ciampi, starring Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux

U

• Unbroken (2014) - directed by Angelina Jolie, starring Jack O'Connell and Domhnall Gleeson

V

W

• Walk Don't Run (1966) — directed by Charles Walters, starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton
• Wasabi (2001) - directed by Gérard Krawczyk, starring Jean Reno and Ryōko Hirosue
• The Wolverine (2013) - directed by James Mangold, starring Hugh Jackman and Hiroyuki Sanada

X

Y

• The Yakuza (1975) - directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura
• Yoshiwara - directed by Max Ophüls
• You Only Live Twice (1967) - directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Sean Connery and Akiko Wakabayashi

Z

Notes and References

1. Book: Wada-Marciano, Mitsuo . Reorienting Ozu: A Master and His Influence . 2018 . Oxford Academic . Choi . Jinhee . 4 A Dialogue with “Memory” in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumière (2003) . 10.1093/oso/9780190254971.003.0005.