Japanese cinema is one of the richest in the world, and Netflix has become one of the easiest places to explore it. Alongside acclaimed dramas and classic animation, the service now produces its own Japanese films, from big-budget action to quiet coming-of-age stories. This list covers the best Japanese movies on Netflix in 2026, grouped by mood so you can pick something that suits the evening.
Every title below was checked against the Netflix catalogue in the United States in September 2026. Netflix licenses films country by country, so availability can differ where you live, and licensed titles can leave the service when their contracts end. If a film is missing in your region, search for it by its original Japanese title as well as its English one.
Award-Winning Dramas
Shoplifters (2018)
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film follows a family in Tokyo that survives on low wages and petty theft, and quietly takes in a young girl they find alone in the cold. What begins as a warm portrait of an unusual household becomes a searching question about what makes a family. Shoplifters won the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. If you only watch one film on this list, make it this one.
37 Seconds (2019)
Written and directed by Hikari, 37 Seconds tells the story of Yuma, a young woman with cerebral palsy who works as a ghost artist for a popular manga creator while longing for a life of her own. Lead actress Mei Kayama, who has cerebral palsy herself, gives a remarkable debut performance. The film won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and is funny, frank and moving in equal measure.
Little Miss Sumo (2018)
Directed by Matt Kay, this short documentary follows Hiyori Kon, a young sumo wrestler who fights against the rule that bars women from competing professionally in Japan’s national sport. It is an intimate look at tradition, ambition and what it costs to challenge a centuries-old institution. At well under an hour, it is an easy and rewarding watch.
Monsters, Action and Thrillers
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Takashi Yamazaki returned Godzilla to its roots: postwar Japan, a country already in ruins, and a former kamikaze pilot haunted by the day he chose not to die. The human story is as strong as the monster scenes, which is rare for the genre. Godzilla Minus One won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, the first Godzilla film ever to win an Oscar, achieved on a budget far below a typical Hollywood blockbuster.
Bullet Train Explosion (2025)
Directed by Shinji Higuchi, the co-director of Shin Godzilla, this Netflix film is a new take on the 1975 thriller The Bullet Train. A bomb is planted on a Shinkansen and will detonate if the train slows below a set speed, forcing the crew and railway staff into a race against time. It is a tense, well-crafted disaster movie with a deep respect for Japanese rail engineering.
City Hunter (2024)
Based on Tsukasa Hojo’s classic manga, City Hunter stars Ryohei Suzuki as Ryo Saeba, a gifted sweeper in Shinjuku who is as good with a gun as he is bad with women. Directed by Yuichi Satoh, the film balances slapstick comedy with slick action and is a fun entry point for anyone who grew up with the anime.
Demon City (2025)
Toma Ikuta plays a former hitman who is framed for the murder of his own family and returns years later to take revenge on the masked men who run his city. Directed by Seiji Tanaka and adapted from a manga, Demon City is violent and stylish, closer to a Japanese answer to John Wick than to a drama. Not one for the squeamish.
The Forest of Love (2019)
Sion Sono’s Netflix film is a dark, disturbing thriller inspired by real crimes, about a charismatic con man who draws a group of young filmmakers and two women into his orbit. It is long, extreme and deliberately uncomfortable, and it shows the side of Japanese cinema that has little interest in politeness.
Samurai and Historical Epics
Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)
Keishi Otomo’s live-action Rurouni Kenshin series is one of the most successful manga adaptations ever made, and The Final is its high point. Takeru Satoh returns as the wandering swordsman Kenshin Himura, who faces his brother-in-law Enishi, played by Mackenyu, in a story of revenge and guilt. Its companion film, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, tells the origin story and is also on Netflix.
Kingdom (2019)
Set during China’s Warring States period, Shinsuke Sato’s adaptation of the hugely popular manga stars Kento Yamazaki as Shin, a war orphan who dreams of becoming a great general, and Ryo Yoshizawa as the young king he swears to serve. It is a large-scale epic with impressive battles and was a major box office hit in Japan.
Animation
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Isao Takahata’s Studio Ghibli masterpiece follows two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, struggling to survive in and around Kobe in the final months of the Second World War. It is one of the most powerful anti-war films ever made and one of the saddest. Watch it when you are ready for it.
Suzume (2022)
From Makoto Shinkai, the director of Your Name, Suzume follows a high school girl who travels across Japan closing mysterious doors that release disasters into the world. It is funny, beautiful and quietly about grief and the memory of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It was the first anime in two decades to compete for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Blue Giant (2023)
Directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, Blue Giant follows Dai Miyamoto, a young saxophonist from Sendai who moves to Tokyo determined to become the world’s greatest jazz player. The concert sequences, with music composed by jazz pianist Hiromi, are the real stars. You do not need to love jazz to enjoy it, but you might afterwards.
The Imaginary (2023)
Studio Ponoc, founded by former Ghibli staff, made this story of Rudger, an imaginary friend who must survive on his own after the girl who dreamed him up disappears. Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, it is imaginative, heartfelt and suitable for older children and adults alike.
Drifting Home (2022)
Directed by Hiroyasu Ishida of Studio Colorido, this Netflix original sees a group of children carried away on an old apartment building that is somehow floating across a vast sea. It is a gentle adventure about growing up and letting go of places we love.
Something Different
10DANCE (2025)
Keishi Otomo, of Rurouni Kenshin, directs this Netflix adaptation of the manga about two rival competitive dancers who share the same first name, one a Latin champion and the other a ballroom champion, who agree to teach each other their specialities for the demanding ten-dance event. Stylish, emotional and full of dance.
Village (2023)
Michihito Fujii’s drama follows a young man trapped in a rural village dominated by a giant waste facility, where tradition, Noh theatre and local power structures leave little room for escape. It is a bleak but gripping portrait of small-town Japan.
Where the Classics Have Gone
Some favourites from earlier versions of this list now stream elsewhere in the US. Your Name and Spirited Away are on HBO Max, and Sunao Katabuchi‘s wartime drama In This Corner of the World streams on Crunchyroll and Prime Video. Outside the US, Canada and Japan, Netflix carries most of the Studio Ghibli catalogue, so viewers in many countries can still watch Spirited Away there.
How to Choose
- For a first taste of Japanese cinema: Shoplifters or Godzilla Minus One.
- For action: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, City Hunter or Bullet Train Explosion.
- For animation fans: Suzume, Blue Giant and Grave of the Fireflies.
- For something darker: The Forest of Love, Demon City or Village.
Whichever you pick, try watching with Japanese audio and subtitles. Dubs have improved a lot, but the original performances carry much of what makes these films special.