Alive as Always: 10 Great Japanese Movies You Might've Missed

Since as long as I can remember, Japan has always fascinated me. It has always been my dream destination, whose culture and people really intrigue me. For years I have been consuming Japanese entertainment—including animation and drama series—as well as learning their language from scratch—since I was 12. The love may not be all that apparent on this blog, but it is very, very real—and I'd like to talk more about it, if I may. Also, lately, that feeling of great hankering for Japanese movies have really clawed onto me, urging me to leaf through various titles of TV dramas and live action movies on the internet. It has also led me to feel like sharing top 10 Japanese movies you might've never heard of before. These are titles that are, in no way, related to a series of the same kind—nor very gimmicky, as far as anime goes.

Let Me Eat Your Pancreas

「君の膵臓を食べたい」

Japan is laden with drama movies about people with terminal illnesses—starting with 1 Litre of Tears—and the sick one is almost always a girl. This is one of those stories, but I feel like it is told in an entirely different perspective. The story starts with a young teacher named Shiga who is asked to take charge of the library committee, in lieu of the old building's demolition. It brings back memories of 12 years ago, when he was in the library committee himself with only one other student, Yamauchi. They became close, due to Shiga's accidental discovery of Yamauchi's deteriorating pancreas—practically a death sentence—and kept this secret together. It's a story about love and friendship, about what it means to be alive and somewhat reminds me of Me Before You.

My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday

「ぼくは明日、昨日のきみとデートする」

Have you ever felt like you found the right person at the wrong time? What if there will never be a right time? What if you only have the here and now, and nothing more? Well, this is more or less that kind of story. It all starts when Takatoshi finds himself falling in love at first sight with a woman he sees on a train called Emi. He goes after her when she gets off, they talk and she leaves him off with "See you tomorrow!" Afterwards, they start seeing each other everyday and start a relationship. But, apparently, Emi has a secret—her time moves backwards to Takatoshi's, making her yesterday his tomorrow and vice versa. It's a heartbreaking tale of time and fate, reminiscent of Benjamin Button and About Time. Also, Nana Komatsu—who plays Emi—is just incredibly beautiful and has wonderful acting skills, I love her so much!

Our Little Sister

「海街ｄｉａｒｙ」

A heartwarming tale of three sisters who adopt their half-sister, in the wake of their father's passing. The youngest daughter was the product of their father's affair with another woman, leaving his previous household in shambles. They live together in an old house in Kamakura, left by their grandmother. Suzu, the youngest, learns to live with three sisters of different personalities who sometimes fight with one another and have issues with their own mother. With the scenery of country life—including whitebait fish-drying and plum-fermenting—and the everyday antics of sibling love, this film really re-shapes what being a family means. The warmth, serene and sometimes conflict-ridden storyline remind me a great deal of Little Women.

If Cats Disappeared from the World

「世界から猫が消えたなら」

When a young postman has a minor accident while on the job, he finds out that there is a brain tumour inside his head, leaving him with only a few days to live. Upon coming home, he is met with a devil who looks exactly like him. The devil promises him an extra day to live, in exchange for something to be erased from the world—but the man doesn't get to choose what gets erased. Little by little, the young man recalls memories with his ex-girlfriend, best friend and family. If you ever feel like your life is insignificant or meaningless, this is probably the movie you should watch. When you really pay attention, it is amazing the kind of connection we make with people—and how that is achieved. It really gives our life a whole other perspective. Interestingly, only one character—and the cats—gets a name in this movie.

Survival Family

「サバイバルファミリー」

Now, let's change to this drama-comedy for a change. The story takes place in today's Japan, when suddenly all electrical appliances stop working all of a sudden—including battery-powered products. A family of four in Tokyo learns to survive as they move out of the city towards Kagoshima, where their extensive family lives. Unable to take any sort of public transport, they have to weather the distance on their bikes, battling through the struggle to survive and bonding over common difficulties. There is a feel similar to zombie apocalypse in this movie—the existence of zombie replaced with their impending doom, due to lack of electricity. These city folks are challenged when their comfort is taken away from them, especially since they got along so awfully previous to the disaster. It is really funny in parts, really heartbreaking in others. To me, there is an added element of spook when I see the deserted cities, the chaos and, well, the idea of having our comfort taken away so suddenly.

The Anthem of the Heart

「心が叫びたがってるんだ」

When Jun Naruse was little, she learnt that there can be consequences to her words when she unknowingly blurted out about her father's affair to her mother. Her world came crashing down and everyone blamed her. Since then on, she became afraid of speaking. Fast forward years later when she's in high school and is basically forced to organise a play for her class. Forming new friendships with Takumi, Natsuki and Daiki, Jun learns that music can set her free. At first, I thought this would be another story of romance, but turns out to be more about overcoming fears, friendship and, well, music. I think it's the kind of story that every teenager can relate to, at some level. It has twists and turns that I didn't expect, making it wholly unpredictable. The character designer, Masayoshi Tanaka, is one of my favourites.

A Letter to Momo

「ももへの手紙」

After the death of her father, Momo and her mother moves out of Tokyo to the more rural Seto Inland Sea. Her father left her with an unfinished letter, containing only "Dear Momo." While exploring her new attic in the old house, Momo finds a strange book about youkai (spiritual creatures) that changes her life. She is suddenly faced with three youkai that only she can see. Adjusting to her life in the countryside—at first very difficult for her city-bred heart—Momo slowly comes to terms with her father's passing, especially since her last memory of her father was rather unkind. This is a story about family that is coloured with Japanese belief. Set in a rural environment, it gives a wholly traditional Japanese feel about the story. The production is very well done and the relationship between Momo, her father and the three youkai is very fascinating.

Miss Hokusai

「百日紅ｍｉｓｓｈｏｋｕｓａｉ」

Even if you don't know who Hokusai is, you must've seen some of his paintings before. He is a legendary Japanese painter of the pre-Meiji era. Now, this film is the story of his daughter, Oei. It only covers a small portion of her life, presumably less than a decade. However, it manages to show us the resentful relationship and professional rivalry between her and her father. It also brings up her love for her blind younger sister, Onao, who seems to be a taboo topic for her father. The film depicts rather well slices of their lives, with a touch of the strong Japanese belief for the spiritual, including youkai, spirits of the dead and dragons. It is so quintessential, that parts of their job revolve around this topic. Oei also seems like a very modern woman for her time, giving a fresh perspective of Japanese women of this era.

A Silent Voice

「声の形」

Bullying has always been a kind of elephant in the room in Japan. Everyone in Japan knows—and everyone who's dabbed even a little bit in the Japanese society, really—that it is quite a common occurrence, especially in schools. When people think of bullying, it often paints the perpetrator in a bad picture—but this movie will change your mind. In elementary school, when a deaf girl named Shoko transferred in, Shoya starts to bully her. One day, it went too far, that resulted in Shoko's transferring away. Since then on, everyone in class starts bullying Shoya, even though he wasn't the only culprit. In high school, by pure chance, Shoko and Shoya are reunited. They start to form a strange friendship coloured with repentance. It's a very real depiction of bullying and life as a student. I know this isn't in any way underrated, but I want to include it in this list. A word of warning: within the first 15 minutes, you might be needing a tissue already.

In This Corner of the World

「この世界の片隅に」

Suzu is a girl who grows up in the early Showa period. She loves to daydream and paint. She lives in Eba, Hiroshima, until she moves to Kure at 19, when she marries a man there. This movie tells the story of her childhood, adolescence and—finally—emphasising on her marriage during the last years of World War II. It shows life during the war, through its thick and thin, in bad and good times—because those existed then too. Coloured with wartime struggles, such as rations, air raids and, later on, the atomic bombs, it tells a heartwarming story of family and heartbreak. Sometimes we get to see Suzu's surroundings and situations through her painter's eyes—softly coloured in watercolour and splashed with imagination. So much so, sometimes, that it's hard to tell where reality ends and imagination begins.