List of foreign films set in Japan

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.

#
 * 3 Ninjas: Kick Back (1994) &mdash; directed by Charles T. Ganganis, starring Victor Wong and Max Elliot Slade
 * 47 Ronin (2013) &mdash; directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada

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

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

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

D

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

F
 * Fast & Furious 6 (2013) &mdash; directed by Justin Lin, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
 * The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) &mdash; directed by Justin Lin, starring Lucas Black and Bow Wow
 * Fear and Trembling (2003) &mdash; directed by Alain Corneau, starring Sylvie Testud and Kaori Tsuji
 * Flags of Our Fathers (2006) &mdash; directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Ryan Phillippe and Jesse Bradford

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

H
 * Hacksaw Ridge (2016) &mdash; directed by Mel Gibson, starring Andrew Garfield and Sam Worthington
 * The Handmaiden (2016) &mdash; directed by Park Chan-wook, starring Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri
 * House of Bamboo (1955) &mdash; directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Robert Ryan and Robert Stack
 * The Hunted (1995) &mdash; directed by J.F. Lawton, starring Christopher Lambert

I
 * Into the Sun (2005) &mdash; directed by Christopher Morrison, starring Steven Seagal and Matt Davis
 * Isle of Dogs (2018) &mdash; directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bryan Cranston and Edward Norton

J
 * Jack London (1943) &mdash; directed by Alfred Santell, starring Michael O'Shea
 * Japanil Kalyanaraman (1985) &mdash; directed by S.P. Muthuraman, starring Kamal Haasan and Radha
 * John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) &mdash; directed by Chad Stahelski, starring Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen

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

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

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

N
 * Navy Wife (1956) &mdash; directed by Edward Bernds
 * Nobody's Perfect &mdash; directed by Alan Rafkin

O
 * Okinawa Rendez-vous &mdash; directed by Gordon Chan
 * Oriental Evil &mdash; directed by George P. Breakston

P
 * The Pacific (2010), miniseries &mdash; starring James Badge Dale and Jon Seda
 * Pearl Harbor (2001) &mdash; directed by Michael Bay, starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett

Q

R
 * The Ramen Girl (2009) &mdash; directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, starring Brittany Murphy and Sohee Park
 * Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) &mdash; directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, starring Milla Jovovich
 * Rush (2013) &mdash; directed by Ron Howard, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl

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

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

U


 * Unbroken (2014) &mdash; 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) &mdash; directed by Gérard Krawczyk, starring Jean Reno and Ryōko Hirosue
 * The Wolverine (2013) &mdash; directed by James Mangold, starring Hugh Jackman and Hiroyuki Sanada

X

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

Z