Best movies like Japan's Longest Day
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 989
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: political
Best tv shows and movies like Japan's Longest Day (1967):
Similar in 79%
The Highest Honor (1982)
Plot Summary:
On 11 September 1944, a squad of 23 Australian and British soldiers lead by Lieutanant-Colonel Ivan Lyon leave Fremantle bound for Indonesia as part of Operation Rimau, an attempted repeat of the highly-successful Operation Jaywick the previous year in which nearly sixty ships in Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour were destroyed.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, Japan
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: independent film
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Similar in 78%
The Eight Hundred (2020)
Plot Summary:
In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspense, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 75%
Into the Darkness (2020)
Plot Summary:
Karlskov is a self made, successful owner of a large electronics factory, has a wife and five children. They live the good, privileged upper-class life on Strandvejen north of Copenhagen when the Nazis occupy Denmark in April 1940. Karl struggles to continue production at the factory, but to protect his family and employees he reluctantly begins to produce for the German market. It brings him into a controversial collaboration with the occupying power and causes painful breaks in the family.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, suspense, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Burmese Harp (1985)
Plot Summary:
In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: odd
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Similar in 83%
For Those We Love (2007)
Plot Summary:
In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 402
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 88%
Wife of a Spy (2020)
Plot Summary:
It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Everlasting Glory (1976)
Plot Summary:
A Chinese national policy film.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 41
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 81%
Pride: The Fateful Moment (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East of 1946–48, depicts Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo (played by Masahiko Tsugawa) as a family man who fought to defend Japan and Asia from western colonialism but was ultimately hanged by a vengeful United States.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Great Battle of the Japan Sea (1969)
Plot Summary:
Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 263
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
The Imperial Japanese Empire (1982)
Plot Summary:
Story of three people, a barber, a Christian and a graduate of the Tokyo Military Academy during the 2nd World War.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 53
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags:
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Similar in 78%
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)
Plot Summary:
A war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after the war, she seeks out four survivors of her husband's garrison. Each tells a dramatically different story about her husband's conduct, but she is determined to learn the truth.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, disturbing, captivating, emotional, sincere, atmospheric, bleak, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Caterpillar (2010)
Plot Summary:
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1940, Lieutenant Kurokawa returns home as a honored and decorated soldier but deprived of his arms and legs lost in battle. All hopes, from the villagers and women to close family members, turn to Shigeko, the Lieutenant's wife. She must honor the Emperor and the country in setting an example for all by fulfilling her duty and taking care of the 'god soldier'. Kurokawa prior to leaving to fight in the war regularly beat and berated his wife for her barrenness and inability to bring him a son. When he returns home as an amputee with no hearing and no speech, his wife dutifully attends to him, even though he shows little appreciation for her dedicated care. His main concerns are getting fed and getting sex. Even in his own degraded condition, he manages to berate his wife. Eventually, though, his own memories infiltrate and he is haunted by his horrible, sadistic deeds, performed while in the duty of the Japanese military.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, emotional, atmospheric, realistic, scary, depressing, contemplative, avant garde
Similar in 89%
Black Rain (1989)
Plot Summary:
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: depressing, political, disturbing, psychological, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 75%
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Plot Summary:
His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: existential, art house, poetic, atmospheric, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, cynical, gloomy
Similar in 80%
The Shadow in My Eye (2021)
Plot Summary:
On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Belgium
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
Tenko (1981)
Plot Summary:
Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, period drama
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Similar in 81%
Oba: The Last Samurai (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1944, the American military lands on the shores of Saipan. Refusing to commit suicide with his superiors or be forced into camps for prisoners of war, Captain Oba Sakae leads a group of his men and other similarly minded local residents into the mountains. Even after hearing reports of the Japanese military's surrender, Oba dismisses the reports as propaganda and continues to launch guerilla attacks against the American soldiers, earning him the nickname "The Fox". Soon, even the American commander who's charged with the task of capturing Oba comes to admire his persistent enemy.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
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Similar in 79%
Death and Glory in Changde (2010)
Plot Summary:
Directed by Shen Dong and starring Ray Lui, An Yixuan and Yuan Wenkang, Death and Glory in Changde recalls one of the most cruel and controversial battles during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), Changde Battle, in November 1943.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 283
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: China
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing
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Similar in 78%
Yamato (2005)
Plot Summary:
Directed by Junya Sato and based on a book by Jun Henmi, "Yamato" has a framing story set in the present day and uses flashbacks to tell the story of the crew of the World War II Japanese battleship Yamato. The film was never released in the United States, where reviewers who have seen it have compared the military epic to "Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan.".
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, exciting, serious, touching
Similar in 90%
Churchill and the Generals (1979)
Plot Summary:
The complicated relationship between Winston Churchill and the leaders of the British army during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: historical drama
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Tokyo Trial (2016)
Plot Summary:
In the wake of World War II, 11 Allied judges are tasked with weighing the fates of Japanese war criminals in a tense international trial.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada, Japan, Netherlands
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, tense, captivating, disturbing, political, historical drama
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Similar in 79%
April 9th (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the early morning of April 9th 1940 the Danish army is alerted. The Germans have crossed the border; Denmark is at war against Europe's strongest army. In Southern Jutland Danish bicycle- and motorcycle companies are ordered out, to against all odds, hold back the forces until the Danish reinforcements can be mobilized. In the fatal hours, we follow second lieutenant Sand and his bicycle company - they will as the first Danish soldiers meet the enemy in combat on April 9th 1940.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Road to Berlin (2015)
Plot Summary:
A story about two young men during the last days of WWII.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 901
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet (2011)
Plot Summary:
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943) was the Japanese Naval commander who was given the order to attack Pearl Harbour, an order he was duty bound to obey which went against his own personal beliefs. While this infamous attack is a low point in Japanese and US history it wouldn’t have happened if the Japanese government had listened to Yamamoto in 1939 and searched for a more peaceful way to end their war campaign, proving his many ominous presages of the outcomes of the attack to come true.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: touching
Similar in 84%
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Plot Summary:
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: epic, factual, talky, intense, serious, exciting, suspenseful, realistic, political, patriotic
Similar in 77%
The Battle of Okinawa (1971)
Plot Summary:
The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 450
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Emperor (2012)
Plot Summary:
As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, sincere, thought provoking, retro, epic, social, sex comedy, patriotic, historical drama
Similar in 89%
Hiroshima (1995)
Plot Summary:
Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese / Canadian film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. Except as actors, no Americans took part in the production. The three-hour film was made for television and evidently had no theatrical release, but is available on DVD for home viewing. A combination of dramatisation, historical footage, and eyewitness interviews, the film alternates between documentary footage and the dramatic recreations. Both the dramatisations and most of the original footage are presented as sepia-toned images, serving to blur the distinction between them. The languages are English and Japanese, with subtitles, and the actors are largely Canadian and Japanese.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 968
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada, Japan
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic
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Similar in 76%
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)
Plot Summary:
Well-intentioned history lesson; the decision to drop the atom bomb, the secrecy surrounding the mission, and the men who flew it.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 156 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic
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Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 168000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: emotional, bleak, realistic, epic, disturbing, contemplative, touching, bloody, dramatic, black and white