Welcome to Japanuary 2023! This is my third year putting together a list, so many of you probably know the drill by now. However, for those who do not, the challenge is quite simple... Watch some Japanese movies throughout January! If you do not know where to start, that is where this list comes in handy.
This list includes 31 of the most important and exciting Japanese directors—one director for each day of January. Of course, the directors on this list are not the only notable filmmakers or the only ones worth checking out. I chose the 31 directors based on their influence, significance, their works' availability, and my interests. So, if you do not see a director you love…
Welcome to Japanuary 2023! This is my third year putting together a list, so many of you probably know the drill by now. However, for those who do not, the challenge is quite simple... Watch some Japanese movies throughout January! If you do not know where to start, that is where this list comes in handy.
This list includes 31 of the most important and exciting Japanese directors—one director for each day of January. Of course, the directors on this list are not the only notable filmmakers or the only ones worth checking out. I chose the 31 directors based on their influence, significance, their works' availability, and my interests. So, if you do not see a director you love represented, do not take it personally. Instead, I encourage you to check out whatever Japanese directors and movies you desire!
Furthermore, the films listed here for each director are meant to give you some ideas of what you could choose to watch. There are five placeholder films for each director represented. They do not represent what I deem best or anything of that nature. If you are interested, you can click on each of their names listed in this description, which will direct you to their full filmographies if you want to explore more.
If you wish to watch a particular number of Japanese films throughout the month, I say aim for ten films, each from a different director. I tend to watch movies based on the order of the line-up, but feel free to watch in whatever order you want. I noted birthday and passing away dates where applicable in case anyone would like to honor those filmmakers on those days by watching their works. In years past, I watched at least one movie from all 31 directors or categories throughout the month, but that is by no means necessary. However, if you seek to immerse yourself fully, you have 31 different filmographies represented and ready to be experienced.
Lastly, I have brought back bonus categories if anyone has completed any of these filmographies or is interested in exploring a particular genre. The parentheticals note the list positions of the categories. The links for those categories will take you to awesome, useful lists created by other Letterboxd users.
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Happy viewing!
Line-up:
1. Shinya Tsukamoto (1/1/1960)
2. Takashi Miike
3. Akira Kurosawa
4. Masaki Kobayashi
5. Hayao Miyazaki (1/5/1941)
6. Satoshi Kon
7. Hirokazu Kore-eda
8. Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
9. Nobuhiko Ōbayashi (1/9/1938 — 4/10/2020)
10. Ishirō Honda
11. Keisuke Kinoshita
12. Kinji Fukasaku (7/3/1930 — 1/12/2003)
13. Miwa Nishikawa
14. Yukiko Mishima
15. Nagisa Ōshima (3/31/1932 — 1/15/2013)
16. Gakuryū Ishii (1/15/1957... A belated birthday celebration!)
17. Toshiaki Toyoda
18. Takeshi Kitano (1/18/1947)
19. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
20. Kenji Mizoguchi
21. Hiroshi Shimizu
22. Masahiro Shinoda
23. Yoshishige Yoshida
24. Shunji Iwai (1/24/1963)
25. Shinji Aoyama
26. Seijun Suzuki
27. Shōhei Imamura
28. Hiroshi Teshigahara (1/28/1927 — 4/14/2001)
29. Kon Ichikawa
30. Mikio Naruse
31. Yasujirō Ozu
Bonus categories:
32. Animated film (156-180)
33. Pinku/Pink Violence film (181-190)
34. Samurai film (191-200)
35. Japanese Horror (201-220)
36. Directed by Women (221-250)
37. Kaiju film (251-260)
38. Short film (261-270)
39. Documentary (271-280)
40. Recommendations from Ben (281-300)
New additions:
Satoshi Kon
Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Yukiko Mishima
Masahiro Shinoda
Shinji Aoyama
Featured as categories in Japanuary 2021 or Japanuary 2022 but do not for Japanuary 2023:
Kaneto Shindō: If only there were more days in January... still, do check out Kaneto Shindo's work. Lots of great movies. Phenomenal filmmaker.
Katsuhito Ishii: Ishii is a fun filmmaker who ultimately has a smaller, harder-to-access body of work. Watch his movies if you can!
Yasuzō Masumura: Again... If only there were more days in January. Yasuzō Masumura's films are well worth checking out.
Kōji Wakamatsu: The Godfather of Pink Cinema. Unfortunately, many of his films are harder to access, but I recommend that those who can find his movies check them out.
Sion Sono
Naomi Kawase
