The following is a list of foreign films and television series set in Japan. Japan has provided an exotic and cosmopolitan backdrop to many international films set partially, 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.
Film Pre-1940 The Secret Game (1917) — directed by William C. de Mille, starring Sessue Hayakawa The Dragon Painter (1919) — directed by William Worthington, starring Sessue Hayakawa The Sea Wolf (1930) — directed by Alfred Santell, starring Milton Sills Yoshiwara (1937) — directed by Max Ophüls
1940–1949 Bombardier (1943) — directed by Richard Wallace, starring Pat O'Brien Jack London (1943) — directed by Alfred Santell, starring Michael O'Shea Destination Tokyo (1943) — directed by Delmer Daves, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) — directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Van Johnson and Robert Walker Blood on the Sun (1945) — directed by Frank Lloyd, starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) — directed by Allan Dwan, starring John Wayne and John Agar Tokyo Joe (1949) — directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Humphrey Bogart and Alexander Knox
1950–1959 Tokyo File 212 (1951) — directed by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan Oriental Evil (1951) — directed by George P. Breakston Geisha Girl (1952) — directed by George Breakston and C. Ray Stahl, starring Steve Forrest Back at the Front (1952) — directed by George Sherman, starring Tom Ewell and Harvey Lembeck House of Bamboo (1955) — directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Robert Ryan and Robert Stack Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) — directed by Michael Anderson, starring David Niven and Cantinflas Navy Wife (1956) — directed by Edward Bernds The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) — directed by Daniel Mann, starring Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford Escapade in Japan (1957) — directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Cameron Mitchell and Jon Provost Stopover Tokyo (1957) — directed by Richard L. Breen, starring Robert Wagner and Joan Collins Sayonara (1957) — directed by Joshua Logan, starring Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka Typhoon Over Nagasaki (1957) — directed by Yves Ciampi, starring Jean Marais and Danielle Darrieux Joe Butterfly (1957) — directed by Jesse Hibbs, starring Audie Murphy and Burgess Meredith The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) — directed by John Huston, starring John Wayne and Eiko Ando The Geisha Boy (1958) — directed by Frank Tashlin, starring Jerry Lewis and Marie McDonald Hiroshima mon amour (1959) — directed by Alain Resnais, starring Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada
1960–1969 My Geisha (1962) — directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Shirley MacLaine and Yves Montand Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966) — directed by Michel Boisrond, starring Frederick Stafford and Marina Vlady Love in Tokyo (1966) — directed by Pramod Chakravorty, starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh Walk Don't Run (1966) — directed by Charles Walters, starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton You Only Live Twice (1967) — directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Sean Connery and Akiko Wakabayashi Nobody's Perfect (1968) — directed by Alan Rafkin
1970–1979 Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) — directed by Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku, starring Martin Balsam and Soh Yamamura The Yakuza (1974) — directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura Mastermind (1976) — directed by Alex March, starring Zero Mostel and Keiko Kishi Seven Nights in Japan (1976) — directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael York and Hidemi Aoki The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978) — directed by John Berry, starring Tony Curtis and Jackie Earle Haley
1980–1989 Bushido Blade (1981) — directed by Shusei Kotani, starring Timothy Patrick Murphy and Frank Converse The Challenge (1982) — directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune Japanil Kalyanaraman (1985) — directed by S.P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan and Radha Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) — directed by Paul Schrader, starring Ken Ogata and Masayuki Shionoya The Karate Kid 2 (1986) — directed by John Avildsen, starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita Gung Ho (1986) — directed by Ron Howard, starring Michael Keaton Tokyo Pop (1988) — directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, starring Carrie Hamilton and Diamond Yukai Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989) — directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Charles Bronson and Perry Lopez Black Rain (1989) — directed by Ridley Scott, starring Michael Douglas and Ken Takakura
1990–1999 American Samurai (1992) — directed by Sam Firstenberg, starring David Bradley and Mark Dacascos Mr. Baseball (1992) — directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Tom Selleck and Ken Takakura Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) — directed by Stuart Gillard, starring Elias Koteas and Paige Turco 3 Ninjas: Kick Back (1994) — directed by Charles T. Ganganis, starring Victor Wong and Max Elliot Slade The Hunted (1995) — directed by J.F. Lawton, starring Christopher Lambert Cold Fever (1995) — directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, starring Masatoshi Nagase and Lili Taylor Madame Butterfly (1995) — directed by Frédéric Mitterrand, starring Ying Huang and Richard Troxell Tokyo Eyes (1998) — directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin, starring Shinji Takeda and Hinano Yoshikawa Enlightenment Guaranteed (1999) — directed by Doris Dörrie, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht
2000–2009 Okinawa Rendez-vous (2000) — directed by Gordon Chan Enlightenment Guaranteed (2000) — directed by Doris Dörrie, starring Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav-Peter Wöhler Pearl Harbor (2001) — directed by Michael Bay, starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett Wasabi (2001) — directed by Gérard Krawczyk, starring Jean Reno and Ryōko Hirosue Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) — directed by Jay Roach, starring Mike Myers and Beyoncé Knowles 2009: Lost Memories (2002) — directed by Lee Si-myung, starring Jang Dong-gun and Tōru Nakamura Fear and Trembling (2003) — directed by Alain Corneau, starring Sylvie Testud and Kaori Tsuji The Last Samurai (2003) — directed by Edward Zwick, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003) — directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu The Animatrix (Program) (2003) — directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri Lost in Translation (2003) — directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson Café Lumière (2003) – directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien The Day After Tomorrow (2004) — directed by Roland Emmerich, starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal Stratosphere Girl (2004) — directed by Matthias X. Oberg, starring Chloé Winkel The Grudge (2004) — directed by Takashi Shimizu, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) — directed by Rob Marshall, starring Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li Into the Sun (2005) — directed by Christopher Morrison, starring Steven Seagal and Matt Davis Initial D (2005) — directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, starring Jay Chou Babel (2006) — directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal Flags of Our Fathers (2006) — directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ryan Phillippe and Jesse Bradford Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) — directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) — directed by Justin Lin, starring Lucas Black and Bow Wow Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006) Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006) — directed by Phil Weinstein, starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair Silk (2007) — directed by François Girard, starring Michael Pitt and Keira Knightley Monster (2008) — directed by Eric Forsberg, starring Sarah Lieving and Erin Evans Tokyo! (2008) — directed by Michel Gondry, starring Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho iGo to Japan (2008) — directed by Steve Hoefer, starring Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) — directed by Chris Nahon, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Allison Miller The Ramen Girl (2009) — directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, starring Brittany Murphy and Sohee Park Enter the Void (2009) — directed by Gaspar Noé, starring Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009) — directed by Christopher Berkeley
2010–2019 Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) — directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, starring Milla Jovovich Cars 2 (2011) — directed by John Lasseter, starring Owen Wilson Tatsumi (2011) — directed by Eric Khoo, starring Tetsuya Bessho and Yoshihiro Tatsumi Emperor (2012) — directed by Peter Webber, starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones Skyfall (2012) — directed by Sam Mendes, starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem Karakara (2012) — directed by Claude Gagnon, starring Gabriel Arcand and Youki Kudoh Like Someone in Love (2012) — directed by Abbas Kiarostami, starring Rin Takanashi Dick Figures: The Movie (2013) — directed by Ed Skudder and Zack Keller The Wolverine (2013) — directed by James Mangold, starring Hugh Jackman and Hiroyuki Sanada Pacific Rim (2013) — directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba Rush (2013) — directed by Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl Fast & Furious 6 (2013) — directed by Justin Lin, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker 47 Ronin (2013) — directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada Godzilla (2014) — directed by Gareth Edwards, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ken Watanabe Big Hero 6 (2014) — directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, starring Scott Adsit and Ryan Potter Unbroken (2014) — directed by Angelina Jolie, starring Jack O'Connell and Domhnall Gleeson Tokyo Fiancée (2014) — directed by Stefan Liberski, starring Pauline Étienne and Taichi Inoue Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) — directed by David Zellner, starring Rinko Kikuchi The Sea of Trees (2015) — directed by Gus Van Sant, starring Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe Mr. Holmes (2015) — directed by Bill Condon, starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney Silence (2016) — directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver 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 The Last Princess (2016) — directed by Hur Jin-ho, starring Son Ye-jin and Park Hae-il The Great Sommer (2016) — directed by Stefan Jäger, starring Mathias Gnädinger and Loïc Sho Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) — directed by Travis Knight, starring Charlize Theron and Art Parkinson The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) — directed by Charlie Bean, starring Dave Franco and Michael Peña Kita Kita (2017) — directed by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, starring Alessandra De Rossi and Empoy Marquez Manhunt (2017) — directed by John Woo, starring Zhang Hanyu and Masaharu Fukuyama Oh Lucy! (2017) — directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi, starring Shinobu Terajima and Kaho Minami Fat Buddies (2018) — directed by Bao Bei'er, starring Bao Bei'er and Wen Zhang The Outsider (2018) — directed by Martin Zandvliet, starring Jared Leto and Tadanobu Asano Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) — directed by Steven S. DeKnight, starring John Boyega and Scott Eastwood Deadpool 2 (2018) — directed by David Leitch, starring Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin Batman Ninja (2018) — directed by Junpei Mizusaki, starring Kōichi Yamadera Isle of Dogs (2018) — directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bryan Cranston and Edward Norton Tomb Raider (2018) — directed by Roar Uthaug, starring Alicia Vikander and Dominic West Earthquake Bird (2019) — directed by Wash Westmoreland, starring Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough Spies in Disguise (2019) — directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, starring Will Smith and Tom Holland Family Romance, LLC (2019) — directed by Werner Herzog, starring Yuichi Ishii