JAPAN

ENTERTAINMENT

Japan’s entertainment world is one of the world’s biggest and most technologically innovative. Despite the culture and language barrier, several forms of Japanese entertainment are immensely popular around the world today. 

MOVIES

Thanks to the groundbreaking work of Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and others, Japanese cinema has long influenced film worldwide. The classic example is The Magnificent Seven, a clear tribute to Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Fast forward to today, and many films (like Spirited Away) are instant big hits worldwide.

Both local and international releases run at movie theatres in shopping centers, malls, and multiplexes. Western movies are usually shown with subtitles or dubbed. Tokyo also sports more than a dozen Art House cinema

J-POP

Japanese pop entered Japan’s musical mainstream in the 1990s. Modern J-pop owes its roots to the ’60s music of bands like the Beatles and replaced kayokyoku (lyric-signing) in the local music scene. Today, Japanese pop artists like the Southern All Stars, Mr. Children, and Ayumi Hamasaki are very popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.