Flags of Our Fathers

There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.

Throne of Blood

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji

Set in 900AD and tells the story of a famous female writer of the time, Murasaki Shikibu. Her story begins from the death of her husband, a Japanese noble, then moves on to her recruitment to train the Prince's young 'wives in waiting'. It is dotted throughout and actually composed mainly of one of the fictional stories she wrote, the tale of Genji. Genji is a rich playboy who falls in love and has a son to his stepmother. He falls in love often and has many wives whom are all completely subservient to him.

The Shogun’s Guard: Valor in Turbulence

The stormy tale of the Shinsengumi is told from its birth by master filmmaker Sasaki Yasushi, with an all-star cast based on the original story by Shirai Kyoji. The battles between the royalists and Shogunate supporters come to a fever pitch during the Gion Festival as the exclusionists plot to burn Kyoto and kidnap the Emperor. From its earliest beginnings as a group of ronin brought from Edo to protect the Shogun when he is in Kyoto to see His Imperial Highness, the group had to face difficulties both from within and without. Commander Serizawa Kamo's corrupt practices threaten the group's very existence, as they try to recover from the bad reputation he left them with. Their redemption comes when they learn of Katsura Kogoro plans to gather men at Kyoto's Ikedaya Inn for his attack on the city. Along with Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Soji, Kondo leads the group in an attempt to save Japan from the rebels.

They Saw Japan at War

The story of a Franco-Belgian family living in Japan from 1927 to 1947, a time of prosperity and fortune, but also of political turbulence and war.

Basara: The Princess Goh

Furuta Oribe is ordered to become tea master under Toyotomi Hideyoshi after his teacher Sen no Rikyū, the former tea master, was ordered to commit suicide. Princess Goh, daughter of the lord but adopted by Hideyoshi, is outraged when Rikyū's severed head is thrown in the Nijo River. She sends Usu, Oribe's servant, to retrieve the head and deliver it to Rikyū's adopted daughter.

The Last Samurai

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Letters from Iwo Jima

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Bushido

Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) was a samurai, but he was forced out of the Han due to a false accusation. He then lived in poverty with his daughter Kinu (Kaya Kiyohara). Despite being poor, he never gave up his pride and honor that he held as a samurai. Even when playing the board game Go, which is his hobby, he always plays in a fair manner. Because of a case, the truth behind the false accusation is revealed. Kakunoshin Yanagida is shaken and filled with rage. He decides to take revenge, even if it means he will be torn from his daughter.

Le Japon, l'empereur et l'armée

Memoirs of a Geisha

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Nobody's Perfect

This military service comedy chronicles the misadventures of the U.S.S. Bustard in Japan. The crew has stolen a Buddha statue from a Japanese village, which if discovered missing would threaten Japanese/American relations. Doc Willoughby is the ship's petty officer, whose antics are constantly getting him into trouble with his captain. On shore leave, Willoughby falls for a seemingly demure Japanese girl in a kimono shop, who actually turns out to be a Japanese/American nurse in the US Navy, Lt. Tomiko Momoyama. However, it turns out she was betrothed as a child to a traditional Japanese man named Toshi, who fully intends on enforcing tradition. Willoughby divides his time between trying to return the Buddha statue back to the Japanese village it rightfully belongs to, and trying to woo Tomiko from the traditional Japanese man she rightfully belongs to.

Kagemusha

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

Sandakan No. 8

A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.

Windtalkers

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

Kokoda

A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.