Japanese Movie Archive Best New! May 2026
For those looking to explore the rich history of Japanese cinema, the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ)
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- What it is: The official governmental database of all theatrically released Japanese films from 1896 to present.
- Holdings: Metadata on over 60,000 films – cast, crew, release date, production company, and archival location.
- Key feature: It tells you where a print is preserved (e.g., NFAJ, Tokyo National Museum, private collector).
- Best for: Tracking down obscure films, verifying existence of lost films, and finding archival reference numbers for interlibrary loan requests.
- The Shochiku Studio Collection: Every Ozu film ever made available in 4K restoration.
- Samurai Brutality: Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Kobayashi’s Harakiri, and Okamoto’s Sword of Doom.
- Japanese Noir: The cold, wet streets of Stray Dog and High and Low.
- Kaiju Eiga: The original Godzilla (1954) minus the Raymond Burr footage.
This paper covers the history of archiving in Japan, the top institutions, and the challenges they face. For those looking to explore the rich history