Japan submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
A list of all the Japanese movies submitted to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956 (+ Honorary Awards).
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- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.1951 | Honorary Award
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMachiko KyôKazuo HasegawaIsao YamagataA samurai pursues a married lady-in-waiting.1954 | Honorary Award
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsToshirô MifuneMariko OkadaRentarô MikuniDepicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.1955 | Honorary Award
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsRentarô MikuniShôji YasuiTatsuya MihashiA conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.1956 | Nominated
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsHideko TakamineKen UeharaDaisuke KatôA woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper, only to find herself subordinated to his drive for success, takes up with a tailor who cannot console himself with her strong personality.1957 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaTeiji TakahashiYûko MochizukiA kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.1958 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsEiji FunakoshiMantarô UshioYoshihiro HamaguchiIn the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.1959 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraYôko TsukasaMariko OkadaA widow tries to marry off her daughter with the help of her late husband's three friends.1960 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineKeiji SadaTatsuya NakadaiA young woman is forced by circumstance into a loveless marriage while still in love with another. This episodic tale follows their story through three decades of bitter conflict which engulfs their children and those around them.1961 | Nominated
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsFujiko YamamotoHiroo SuzukiEiji FunakoshiHusband and wife Gorô and Chiyo, and their only offspring, an infant son named Tarô, go through the ups and downs of family life living in a cramped modern apartment building in suburban Tokyo. Their story is told in Tarô's second year of life. Many of their issues stem from both Gorô and Chiyo being unsure of themselves as parents, and being different in their perspectives of parenting, Gorô who believes in the traditional roles in which Chiyo is tasked with most of the child rearing responsibilities especially around the home. They also differ in the number of children they want, Gorô who believes Tarô is enough of a handful, while Chiyo really wants at least one more child in the general joy she feels in being a mother despite the problems. The unsurety that Gorô and Chiyo feel about their parenting is confirmed by Tarô, openly in his frequent crying fits when he is unhappy in what his parents or other adults around him have done wrong, and in secret as Tarô provides an inner voice narrative of what he wants and believes as a baby which is often contrary to what Gorô or Chiyo believe Tarô wants or needs. Their situation gets more complicated as Gorô's aged and thus stuck in her ways mother Ino gets directly involved in Gorô, Chiyo and Tarô's home life and thus Tarô's upbringing.1962 | Not Nominated
- DirectorNoboru NakamuraStarsShima IwashitaHiroyuki NagatoSeiji MiyaguchiTwo twin girls are separated at birth. One grows up in a loving family. The other one doesn't. They finally meet by complete accident on a town fair. No one ever told them about the other one so they begin familiarizing with each other.1963 | Nominated
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsEiji OkadaKyôko KishidaKôji MitsuiAn entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.1964 | Nominated
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.1965 | Nominated
- DirectorTomotaka TasakaStarsYoshiko SakumaKatsuo NakamuraGanjirô Nakamura1966 | Not Nominated
- DirectorNoboru NakamuraStarsTetsurô TanbaShima IwashitaTakamaru SasakiTakamura, poet and sculptor, is married to Chieko, who also has artistic desires. However, she is becoming increasingly aware that she can not match her husband's work.1967 | Nominated
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsToshirô MifuneYûjirô IshiharaOsamu TakizawaKitagawa is an engineer charged with construction of a gigantic tunnel through the Japan Alps for the transportation of equipment in the building of the massive Kurobe Dam. The tunnel crosses an earthquake fault and Kitagawa is beleaguered not only by cave-ins and flooding, but by strife between management and the workers's union. Adding to Kitagawa's stress is the knowledge that as his attention is pulled inexorably toward the tunnel construction, his youngest daughter is dying from leukemia.1968 | Not Nominated
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsRentarô MikuniChôichirô KawarasakiHideko OkiyamaAn engineer from Tokyo arrives on a drought-ridden tropical island to drill a well to power a nearby sugar mill. He meets the inbred Futori family, hated by the locals for breaking religious customs.1969 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsTatsuya NakadaiShima IwashitaShôichi OzawaAn outlaw pushes the residents of Edo's red light district to rebel against a growing number of stifling, moralistic laws.1970 | Not Nominated
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsYoshitaka ZushiKin SugaiToshiyuki TonomuraVarious tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.1971 | Nominated
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTetsurô TanbaSachiko HidariShinjirô EbaraOne woman's search to find the truth about her husband's death in World War II.1972 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsRentarô MikuniYasuo MiyakeAkiko KuranoA freestyle biopic of Ikki Kita, the ultranationalist intellectual whose ideas inspired the failed military coup in 1936.1973 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsShin SaburiMayumi OgawaKeiko KishiA detailed look at a Tokyo business tycoon (played by Shin Saburi) given a diagnosis of terminal cancer who must now re-assess his life and values.1974 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsKomaki KuriharaYôko TakahashiKinuyo TanakaA journalist interviews an old woman who was forced into prostitution, just like many other Japanese women working in Asia outside of Japan during the first half of the 20th century. She worked in a Malaysian brothel called Sandakan 8.1975 | Nominated
- DirectorShirô MoritaniStarsShôgo ShimadaKen TakakuraHideji ÔtakiTwo infantry regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army tackled Mount Hakkoda in the winter of 1902 to prepare for war with Russia.1977 | Not Nominated
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiKazuko YoshiyukiTakahiro TamuraA married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well. After a while, his ghost comes to haunt them while the local gossip grows stronger.1978 | Not Nominated
- DirectorTetsutaro MuranoStarsHisashi IgawaYuko KatagiriAtsuko Kawaguchi1979 | Not Nominated
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.1980 | Nominated
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTakahiro TamuraMariko KagaNobutaka AsaharaIn post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.1981 | Nominated
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsTatsuya NakadaiMasako NatsumeAkiko NakamuraA yakuza melodrama, covering decades in the lives of Boss Onimasa, his adopted daughter Matsue, and his biological daughter Hanako.1982 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKoreyoshi KuraharaStarsKen TakakuraTsunehiko WataseEiji OkadaTwo Japanese scientists, Ushioda and Ochi, develop a bond with their sled dogs while on an expedition in Antarctica. Ushioda and Ochi eventually leave Antarctica, only to return to search for the dogs inadvertently marooned there.1983 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsTakaya YamauchiYoshiyuki ÔmoriShiori SakuraIn this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village must come to terms with their nation's defeat and the sudden occupation of General MacArthur and his troops.1984 | Not Nominated
- DirectorShun'ya ItôStarsYukiyo ToakeMinoru ChiakiTeruhiko SaigôGrandfather Fuyukichi Takano, a former university professor, gets fired from his museum job when he is affected by Alzheimer's disease, but his affliction serves to deepen family ties.1985 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKiyoshi AtsumiKiichi NakaiNarimi ArimoriThis is Japanese melo-dramatist director Yoji Yamada's ode to 1930s film production during the transition from silent film to talkies. With many loose associations we can see the rise of a young star Koharu Tanaka for the big New Year release entitled Floating Weeds.1986 | Not Nominated
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsKen OgataMitsuko BaishôChun-Hsiung KoA Japanese immigrant in 1901 Hong Kong wishes to become a simple shopkeeper. Fate soon intervenes, allowing him to mix adventure and fervent patriotism with greed.1987 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroko YakushimaruHashinosuke NakamuraToshirô Yanagiba1988 | Not Nominated
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsRentarô MikuniYoshiko MitaTsutomu YamazakiLegendary tea master Sen no Rikyu is faced with his warmongering lord's unrealistic pretensions.1989 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsKeiko MatsuzakaIttoku KishibeMidori KiuchiPeriod drama set in the 1950's about a couple isolating themselves from the outside world as they attempt to salvage their faltering marriage, no matter what the costs, after the husband has an affair.1990 | Not Nominated
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsSachiko MuraseRichard GereHisashi IgawaThree generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.1991 | Not Nominated
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsKanako HiguchiMiwako FujitaniShin'ichi TsutsumiA young man's frequent patronage of a prostitute leads to debt.1992 | Not Nominated
- DirectorAkira KurosawaIshirô HondaStarsTatsuo MatsumuraHisashi IgawaGeorge TokoroFollowing World War II, a retired professor approaching his autumn years finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war-torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.1993 | Not Nominated
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsShinchô KokonteiMakoto NonomuraYuriko IshidaA community of magical shape-shifting raccoon dogs struggle to prevent their forest home from being destroyed by urban development.1994 | Not Nominated
- DirectorKei KumaiStarsKumiko AkiyoshiEiji OkudaHisashi IgawaThree Japanese tourists - a soldier, a divorced woman, and a salaryman - make a pilgrimage to the Ganges River in India, each in hopes of finding some spiritual release or meaning in life.1995 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsToshiyuki NishidaHidetaka YoshiokaAyumi HamasakiTwo teachers at a special high school must deal with the fact that two of their learning impaired students have just disappeared. After searching for both students everywhere, the teachers are amazed to see them flying over in the balloon.1996 | Not Nominated
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYôji MatsudaYuriko IshidaYûko TanakaOn a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.1997 | Not Nominated
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsMieko HaradaMaho NonamiFumiyo KohinataA woman with an abusive childhood travels back to taiwan from japan with her daughter in order to find her father's missing ashes, confronting her past along the way, discovering many secrets that were hidden from her throughout her life.1998 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYasuo FuruhataStarsKen TakakuraShinobu ÔtakeRyôko HirosueThe touching reminiscing of an elderly railroad-station manager is interrupted by the sudden appearance of some good-natured girls.1999 | Not Nominated
- DirectorTakashi KoizumiStarsAkira TeraoYoshiko MiyazakiShirô MifuneDuring a downpour, a generous ronin and his supporting wife are stranded at a country inn. The ronin comes to the attention of a lord who wants to hire him as an instructor for his men, who treat the ronin with disrespect.2000 | Not Nominated
- DirectorIsao YukisadaStarsYôsuke KubozukaKô ShibasakiTarô YamamotoSugihara, born in Japan but with North Korean parents, falls in love with a Japanese girl after changing from a North Korean school to a Japanese school. His boxer dad teaches him boxing - skills used a lot.2001 | Not Nominated
- DirectorHideyuki HirayamaStarsMieko HaradaMitsuko BaishôShigeru MuroiFour down on their luck housewives murder their husbands and find whacky ways to hide the bodies!2002 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsHiroyuki SanadaRie MiyazawaNenji KobayashiAs the feudal Japan era draws to a close, a widower samurai experiences difficulty balancing clan loyalties, 2 young daughters, an aged mother, and the sudden reappearance of his childhood sweetheart.2003 | Nominated
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsYûya YagiraAyu KitauraHiei KimuraIn a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.2004 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôichi SaiStarsTakeshi KitanoHirofumi AraiTomoko TabataIn 1923, the Korean teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees. He makes fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, having many mistresses and children and showing no respect to anybody. Later he closes the factory, lending the money with high interests and becoming a loan shark. His hatred behavior remains until his last breath, alone in North Korea.2005 | Not Nominated
- DirectorSang-il LeeStarsYasuko MatsuyukiEtsushi ToyokawaYû AoiYoung women in a small Japanese town look to revive their home's declining fortunes by building a Hawaiian village tourist attraction.2006 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMasayuki SuôStarsRyô KaseAsaka SetoKôji YamamotoA young man is falsely accused of molesting a high-school girl on a train. He is arrested and charged, and goes through endless court sessions, all the while insisting that he is innocent.2007 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.2008 | Won
- DirectorRyôichi KimizukaStarsKôichi SatôMirai ShidaRyûhei MatsudaRyoichi Kimizuka's riveting exploration of the Japanese media's feeding frenzy focuses on a15-year-old girl forced into police protection to escape from the journalistic hordes after her brother is arrested for murder. It plays out like a propulsive edge-of-your-seat thriller that's sure to leave you breathless.2009 | Not Nominated
- DirectorTetsuya NakashimaStarsTakako MatsuYoshino KimuraMasaki OkadaA psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.2010 | Shortlist
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsEtsushi ToyokawaShinobu ÔtakeNaomasa MusakaToward the end of World War II, middle-aged soldier Keita is entrusted with a postcard from a comrade who is sure he will die in battle. After the war ends, Keita visits his comrade's wife Yuko and bears witness to the tragic life she has led. This year's Oscar entry from Japan finds SHINDO in top form and his 49th and reportedly last film as fresh and poignant as ever.2011 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYong-hi YangStarsSakura AndôArata IuraYang Ik-joonBased on the director's own experience, Our Homeland follows a Korean family living in Japan, of which the father (Masane Tsukayama) decided to take North Korean nationality because of his strong belief decades ago. In 1997, Sonho (Arata Iura), the son of the family who was sent to North Korea under a "repatriation program" with the promise of a "paradise" free of discrimination, returns to Japan for the first time in 25 years to seek treatment for his brain tumor due to the difference in medical technology between the two countries. Allowed to stay for only three months and closely monitored by a North Korean officer (Yang Ik-Joon), Sonho is welcomed and embraced by his family and old friends but his father, who is still sticking to the belief but also feeling guilty about sending his son to North Korea at the same time, while Sonho's younger sister Rie (Sakura Andô) develops the aversion to North Korea and its political ideas.2012 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYûya IshiiStarsRyûhei MatsudaAoi MiyazakiJoe OdagiriMajime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will 'The Great Passage' ever be completed?2013 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMipo OhStarsGô AyanoChizuru IkewakiMasaki SudaTwo troubled souls living on the fringes of a port town fall in love, but their trials are far from over.2014 | Not Nominated
- DirectorMasaharu TakeStarsSakura AndôHirofumi AraiYôzaburô ItôA 32-year-old woman living with her parents meets a boxer and finally starts a life.2015 | Not Nominated
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsSayuri YoshinagaKazunari NinomiyaHaru KurokiA midwife in Nagasaki is stunned when she is suddenly visited by her son, whom she thought had died when an atomic bomb fell on the city.2016 | Not Nominated
- DirectorRyôta NakanoStarsRie MiyazawaHana SugisakiAoi ItôA strict, but caring mother has an awakening when she is told she has cancer and it is terminal. She has a few months. She needs to complete her tasks in that short time frame.2017 | Not Nominated