Books & Films about Japan

We recommend watching a film or two before you travel to set the scene, and taking a book to read whilst you travel, to enhance your understanding and enjoyment of Japan. 

Here is a list of books, films and TV documentaries which we have found both informative and entertaining. 

Books

• The Inland Sea and Tokyo: a View of the City – both by Donald Ritchie
• The Roads to Sata – Alan Booth
• The Chrysanthemum and the Sword – Ruth Benedict
• Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
• Eat, Sleep, Sit – Kaoru Nonomura
• Lost Japan – Alex Kerr
• Hokkaido Highway Blues – Will Ferguson
• Shogun – James Clavell
• The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore – both by Haruki Murakami
• Samurai William – Giles Milton 

Film

• Lost in Translation (2003)
• Godzilla (1954)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
• The Last Samurai (2003)

TV

• Japan: Earth's Enchanted Islands (Wild Japan)
• James May: Our Man in Japan
• Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
• Wild Hokkaido