19 Comments
User's avatar
Circé's avatar

Such a lovely read, thank you.

I don’t know if you’ve seen perfect days by Wim Wenders, that film captures the essence of Japanese culture so beautifully.

Expand full comment
agus's avatar

love this 🫶 also there's two playlists that are private and won't let me open 🥲

Expand full comment
noodle soup's avatar

Little forest is korean but it does have that vibe yes! It’s one of my favourite movies for this reason

Expand full comment
Charlotte's avatar

I echo every sentiment in this piece, Caitlyn. While Japan has it's fair share of social issues still to this day, there's many aspects of their culture that are so admirable, and so much incredible art comes forth from it.

And my favorite japanese director is Hirokazu Kore-eda, with my most loved works by him being the netflix show The Makanai: cooking for the Maiko house. I also just yesterday watched his movie Our Little Sister. I highly recommend his films to anyone. I haven't watched Nobody Knows yet but it's on my list for sure. I admire how he portrays conflict and drama in such a calm and oddly comforting way.

Expand full comment
Lynn Chen's avatar

Adding so many of these Japanese books/fims to my queue! Also, if you haven't seen it yet I would recommend "Warm Water Under a Red Bridge" (2001) which is currently streaming on Kanopy (don't let the thumbnail deter you into thinking it's a different type of film)

Expand full comment
Ri's avatar

Not sure if you gave read Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi but I think you would enjoy it! Thanks for all of the recommendations!

Expand full comment
Tashi_3093's avatar

I recently finished reading, “the miracles of Namita general store”, and like every other Japanese literature it didn’t disappoint me.

Expand full comment
Patricia M.'s avatar

This post was amazing, it warmed my heart and soul. I watched my first Studio Ghibli movie yesterday (My Neighbor Totoro) before reading this. Love all the book recs too!

Expand full comment
MJ Bel's avatar

Japan is on my bucket list and this list will help me learn more about the culture before I visit. Thank you! 🙏

Expand full comment
Caroline Beuley's avatar

This was so beautiful!! Really makes me want to visit Japan!

Expand full comment
Adaeze Ejim's avatar

This was a warm read 😍

Expand full comment
sameh rida's avatar

Lots of great recommendations! Super fun read :)

Expand full comment
Anfisa Nikitina's avatar

Whisper of the heart changed my life 😭

Expand full comment
ryan elizabeth peete's avatar

i'm going to japan soon and this post showed up right on time. this is lovely.

Expand full comment
ashnoor's avatar

Made me so happy to see Whisper of the Heart included in the list, thank you for this read <3.

Expand full comment
Paola Mendez Garcia's avatar

i love this soooo much! thank you for such a lovely, relatable read💌

Expand full comment