The 97th Academy Awards are coming up this weekend with three films by Japanese directors in contention for an Oscar. Among them is Shiori Ito’s Black Box Diaries, which is up for a Best Documentary Feature Film gong. It’s the first ever Japanese movie to be nominated in the category.
To honor Ito’s achievement, we thought we’d look at some of the best ever Japanese documentaries for our latest List of 7. For this list we are featuring only movies made by Japanese directors, so highly-rated documentaries about Japan by foreign filmmakers, such as The Cove and Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan, are not included.
Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
Described by BBC journalist James Balmont as the “greatest film about sport ever made,” Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad is an intimate and compelling documentation of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Released a year after the Games, Ichikawa’s film focuses on showing a stylized and artistic interpretation of the events, rather than just looking back at the winners.
Akira Kurosawa was originally hired to direct the film, but was later dropped after insisting on having creative control over the opening and closing ceremonies as well. The Olympic Organizing Board turned to Ichikawa instead. He was determined to express the beauty of the Games as the athletes pushed themselves to the limit.
The board, however, wasn’t impressed. It was hoping for something more straightforward, with an emphasis on the gold medalists and Japanese contestants. Critics, on the other hand, loved the film, particularly its use of zoom lenses and close-ups. It’s arguably up there with Ichikawa’s finest movies, including the likes of The Burmese Harp and An Actor’s Revenge.
A Man Vanishes (1967)
Shohei Imamura’s groundbreaking pseudo-documentary, A Man Vanishes, starts off as an investigation into the disappearance of Tadashi Oshima, a 32-year-old salesman, who has been missing for two years. Every year, thousands of people vanish without a trace in Japan. Imamura wanted to take on what he called the “most ordinary” case.
The director and his crew, including interviewer Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, aim to discover what happened to Oshima by speaking to his relatives, friends and former colleagues. As the film progresses, though, the line between fact and fiction becomes hazier. Yoshie, Oshima’s wife, is suspected of acting out a plot and Imamura declares several times that “This is fiction.”
Widely regarded as one of the most distinguished filmmakers to emerge from the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, Imamura often stated, “If my films are messy, it is probably because I don’t like too perfect a cinema.” Despite this, he remains the only director from this country to win two Palme d’Or awards.
Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971)
Included in Mark Cousins’ list of “Ten Documentaries that Shook the World,” Noriaki Tsuchimoto’s Minamata: The Victims and Their World is a devastating and extremely valuable film that explores one of the worst cases of industrial poisoning in modern times. The cause was methylmercury that chemical company, Chisso Corporation, began dumping in the water of Minamata Bay in 1932.
Around two decades later, cats started foaming at the mouth and having convulsions before throwing themselves in the bay. The first human to display symptoms was a 5-year-old girl in 1956. In May of that year, Minamata disease was officially recognized. Premiering 15 years later, Tsuchimoto’s film shows the impact the neurological disease had on victims and family members.
It’s also a story of their fight for justice against Chisso. Tsuchitomo, who released several other films dedicated to their cause, was described as “one of the two figures [that] tower of the landscape of Japanese documentary.” The other was Shinsuke Ogawa, who was best known for his films about the protests against the construction of Narita International Airport.
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987)
Included in The New Republic’s list of “The 100 Most Important Political Films of All Time,” Kazuo Hara’s The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is a complex, powerful and, at times, harrowing documentary focusing on 62-year-old war veteran Kenzo Okuzaki, who tracks down former military leaders he held responsible for the mysterious deaths of two soldiers in his unit.
Okuzaki, who once fired three pachinko pinballs with a slingshot at Emperor Hirohito, is on a single-minded crusade to get veterans to confess to the atrocities they committed in New Guinea. In one scene, Okuzaki physically attacks Yukio Seo in his home when the veteran dismisses his questions. Hara doesn’t get involved or provide any commentary.
The documentary ends with a newspaper clipping, which states that Okuzaki was sentenced to 12 years in prison after shooting and injuring the son of a former colonel. It’s a shocking finish to what is an uncompromising and extremely confrontational documentary. Micheal Moore is a known admirer of the film, stating that it left him feeling “inspired” and “exhilarated.”
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)
Essential viewing for fans of Studio Ghibli, Mami Sunada’s The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness provides a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the renowned animation studio as it aims to release two movies simultaneously: The Wind Rises, which was originally intended to be Hayao Miyazaki’s final feature film, and Isao Takahata’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
The latter was, during filming of Sunada’s documentary, running behind schedule. “He’s not even trying to finish it,” said Miyazaki. “He’s never delivered a film on time or on budget,” added Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki during a press conference. The Tale of Princess Kaguya was released a week after Sunada’s documentary and was later nominated for an Academy Award.
The Wind Rises, released in 2013, was also nominated for an Oscar. Of course, it wasn’t Miyazaki’s last film. He returned to make The Boy and the Heron a decade later. Kaku Arakawa’s documentary, Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron, which chronicles the acclaimed director’s six-year journey crafting the Academy Award-winning animated feature, is another documentary that’s well worth watching.
Me and the Cult Leader (2020)
Getting on the Hibiya Line train at Roppongi Station, Atsushi Sakahara was about to sit down when he noticed a folded newspaper on the floor with liquid leaking out of it. Feeling uneasy, he decided to move carriages. It was this decision that probably saved his life. Inside the newspaper was a bag containing sarin gas.
That morning — March 15, 1995 — 13 people died and thousands were injured after five members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo dropped sarin packs at prearranged stations in Tokyo. Sakahara, who has suffered from post-traumatic stress since the attack, confronts his emotional scars from that day in his riveting documentary, Me and the Cult Leader.
He goes on a trip to Kyoto with Hiroshi Araki, the painfully shy PR manager of Aleph, Aum’s successor organization. He’s a renunciate who’s devoted his adult life to serving the ideals of Shoko Asahara, the cult’s partially blind guru who was executed in 2018. Sakahara’s purpose is not to confront him, but to better understand why he still believes in Asahara.
Black Box Diaries (2024)
In April 2015, Shiori Ito turned up for a meeting at a sushi restaurant with TBS news executive Noriyuki Yamaguchi. She thought she was there to discuss a potential job opportunity. Later that night, an inebriated Ito ended up in a hotel room with Yamaguchi. She claims he raped her; an accusation Yamaguchi has continued to deny.
Four years later, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Ito, awarding her ¥3.3 million in compensation. In Black Box Diaries, we learn of the obstacles she faced in getting to that point due to Japan’s archaic sex crimes laws. Discouraged by the authorities and her family from taking things further, she refused to comply.
“Close your eyes and take a deep breath if you need to.” This is the trigger-warning at the start of the film, which Ito directed and produced herself. It’s a courageous documentary that deserves its Oscar nomination. According to lawyers, though, Ito broke a pledge to protect sources by using unauthorized footage and audio. As a result, it has yet to be shown in Japan. Ito recently said that she is now reediting it.
