...and it's far from complete, so please contact us with any additions or corrections. Films marked with an * are already in digital form in the Bamboo Gods Collection.
1942 - Asia's Victory Song (feature-length documentary on Japan's victory in the Philippines, edited by Sawamura Tsutomu)
*1944 - Ano Hatte O Utte/Dawn Of Freedom/Tear Down The Stars And Stripes (co-directed by Gerry de Leon; Japanese propaganda drama on American "atrocities" in the Philippines, using American POWs in Manila)
1944 – Tatlong Maria (co-directed by Gerry de Leon and made during the Japanese occupation)
1953 - Nenita Unit (Filipino anti-Huk propaganda drama screened in Japan)
*1953 - Now And Forever (Filipino drama partly filmed in Japan)
1957 - Turista (Filipino/Japanese co-production filmed in Japan by LVN Pictures and Daiei Motion Picture Co)
1958 - Obra Maestra (People’s Pictures' portmanteau movie filmed in Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and the Philippines)
1959 - Fires On The Plain/Nobi (A Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa about the Japanese army's retreat, partly filmed in the Philippines)
1960 - Basta Pinoy (Premiere Productions' musical comedy filmed in Japan)
1961 - Tokyo Calling: Walang Ligtas (Leopoldo Salcedo spy movie filmed entirely in Japan)
1961 - Filipina actress Charito Solis stars in the Japanese production Buddha*
1962 - Charito Solis also stars in Japanese production Nessa No Tsuki/The Princess And I (Daiei Studios)
*1963 - Gojuman-Nin No Isan/Legacy Of The 500,000 (Toho, directed by Toshiro Mifune)
1970 - Nora Aunor and Manny de Leon shot scenes for two teenybopper musicals in Hong Kong and Japan for Tower Productions - Around Asia With Nora and The Golden Voice. The majority of scenes for the two features were filmed onboard the liner Ms President.
*1970 - 風の慕情 /Kaze No Bojo/The Wind Of Fate (Japanese production partly filmed in Manila and Sydney)
*1972 - The Evil Within (Philippines production partly financed by 20th Century Fox and filmed in 1970 in India, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines)
*1972 - Winter Holiday (Sampaguita/VP Pictures' musical comedy starring Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III, filmed in Japan)
1972 - Cherry Blossoms (Lino Brocka drama filmed in Japan)
*1983 - Tatak Ng Yakuza (Rudy Fernandez action movie partly filmed in Japan)
*1984 - The Miracle Of Joe Petrel/Umitsubame Jō No Kiseki (co-produced by Toshiro Mifune)
**1988 - Full Speed Run (Twins Japan Co. Ltd, stars Shinobu Sakagami, Seiji Matano and Natsuki Okamoto)
**1988 - Code Name K-9/KILL (Twins Japan Co. Ltd, stars Kimio Hara and Itsumi Osawa)
**listed on the Philippine Film Studios Inc website, but not mentioned elsewhere
1988 – Passage To Hell (Ken Watanabe - very few details available other than a brief listing on IMDB)
*1989 - Above the War/Search And Destroy/The B-Team (Ken Watanabe's Watanabe Film Co)
*1990 [released 1993] - マニラ・エマニエル夫人 危険な楽園/Manila Emmanuelle Fujin Kiken Na Rakuen/Manila Emmanuelle [2]: Dangerous Paradise (made by Ken Watanabe's Watanabe Film Company, and released by V-Erotica; dir. Ryōji Shinmura)
Romano Kristoff (from his Nanarland interview): "During the 80’s, I was the one who lent Ken Watanabe the money to establish Watanabe Film. In 1988 we shot Sando and the Diplomat's Daughter, in 1989 we shot a war movie named Above the War (a.k.a. The B-Team) with Richard Harrison and Kurata Yasuaki, and then these two erotic films. Ken and I were like brothers, until he betrayed me in 1991. The last film I did with him was Harimao, on which I was coproducer and also in charge of the shooting schedule. I really got mad at him because he became too greedy and wanted everything for himself. I left Watanabe Film and years later, he came to ask for pardon. He was diagnosed with cancer and shortly left for Japan. Later, I was told he had died. I didn’t know those erotic films had been released in Japan. Watanabe probably shelved them for years, till he sold them to Toei. Back then, I thought they were just a lost investment, and didn’t get a penny.
"With Watanabe Film, we made a movie for the Japanese called Harimao, the tiger of Malaysia. A big Siberian tiger was needed for the shooting, so we moved a 350 kilos female tiger to the Pagsanjan jungle. We let the tiger and two small cubs for a few days there, to acclimate and feel the area. When the shooting was over, the tiger refused to get into the track. No one would do anything to help, so the owner of the tiger asked me to jump into the big cage and help him. And there goes the idiot Romano again, jumping into the cage. The owner of the tiger started to pull the tiger, with a chain tied to its neck, while I was pushing the tiger from its ass. But the reluctant tiger made a strong pull, and the owner felt down. The tiger turned around, looked at me, made a big roar… and walked away.
"I opened a small film company, with a Japanese friend of mine by the name of Hiroshi Akanoma, and did some documentaries for Japan." [Nanarland: Hiroshi Akanoma had a Cie named Rodeo Motion Picture, he notably co-produced Blowback: Love and Death, with Mike Monty as the villain. You can learn more about this character, who took his own life in 2002, in this interview with scriptwriter Mike Cassey, conducted by Andrew Leavold]
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1991-1995 - Former Filipina dancer Ruby Moreno becomes a popular actress in a series of Japanese films - Asian Beat: I Love Nippon (1991), Afureru Atsui Namida (1992), Senso E Iko Yo!! Parts 1 & 2 (1994), Nanba Kin'yû Den: Minami No Teiô - Gekijô Ban Part VI (1995)
*1992 - フィリピナを愛した男たち/Firipina O Aishita Otokotachi/Men Who Love Filipinas (TV movie; Rodeo Films, line-produced by Hiroshi Akanoma)
Mike Cassey on Rodeo Films (from my 2009 interview): "[10 years ago] was around the time that Hiroshi Akanoma hanged himself in his apartment because of mounting debt and no movie deals. I live in the same building that Hiroshi lived in and was the first one to get to his body after his girlfriend found him. But he was already dead when I got there. hanged himself with his own underpants! Very sad...a really nice human being. I miss him a lot but his girlfriend is back here now after living in Japan for a while.
"I'm not sure of all the movies he produced here, but they were usually co-productions between Rodeo and various Japanese movie companies, usually with Japanese actors in the leads and the usual local kwailo crowd in support roles. Should be easy to check on imdb. The only title i can remember is one called Double Barrel with Mike Monty. Rom Kristoff (who introduced me to Akanoma) often played a key role in these movies."
*1992 - マニラ極道戦争/Ankokugai No Kunsho: Manila Gokudo Senso/Manila Gokudo Wars (V-Cinema from Toie; Japanese crime action shot entirely in the Philippines with Ken Watanabe as local producer)
*1993 - Southern Winds (trilogy of stories from Asian directors - Mike de Leon, Japan's Shôji Kôkami, and Indonesia's Slamet Rahardjo)
1994 - Wasurerareta Kodomotachi/Scavengers: Forgotten Children (feature-length documentary on Smokey Mountain directed by Hiroshi Shinomiya)
*1994 – 女ランボー/Onna Rambo/Lady Ramboh: Kill You! In My Justice (released by JVM's "V Theater"; dir. Ippei Suzuki)
*1995 - スコア/Sukoā/Score (Team Okuyama; dir. Atsushi Muroga, written by Toshimichi Ohkawa)
*1995 - 緊急呼出し エマージェンシー・コール/Kinkyû Yobidashi: Emergency Call (Filipino co-production starring Lorna Tolentino)
*1997 – 殺し屋&嘘つき娘/Koroshiya & Usotsuki Musume/Shoot My Darlin’ (dir. Hitoshi Ozawa)
*2000 - 天国から来た男たち/Tengoku Kara Kita Otoko-tachi/The Guys From Paradise (dir. Takashi Miike)
2001 - Bond Of Bloodshed: BROS (partly filmed in the Philippines, stars Hitoshi Ozawa)
*2001 - Blades Of The Sun (unreleased feature from disgraced Japanese businessman Genta Ogami's G.O. Group)
*2001 – Uniba-G Story/Uniba G Monogatari (“documentary” from disgraced Japanese businessman Genta Ogami's G.O. Group)
2002 - God's Children (second documentary - after 1994's Scavengers: Forgotten Children - by Hiroshi Shinomiya)
2003 - Abong: Small Home (dir. Koji Imaizumi)
2005 - Last Dance Of August 15th
2005 - Chateau de Roses
*2006 – Koisuru Tomato Kumainkanaba/Love Tomato "Middle-aged farmer Noda Masao (Daichi Yasuo) is a good, honest man, but his attempts for marriage have all met with failure. Through a friend, Masao meets Liberty (Ruby Moreno), a Filipino woman working in Japan. When they decide to get married, Masao borrows money from his Agricultural Association and travels to the Philippines for the wedding - only to discover that it was all a scam. Stranded in Manila with no money, Masao ends up staying to work. One day he meets a beautiful farmer's daughter, Christina (Alice Dixson), reawakening not only his chances for love, but also his love for farming."
2006 - Kamikaze (Toei) IS THIS "FOR THOSE WE LOVE"???
2006 - Katana-Man (stars Ruby Moreno - was it filmed all or in part in the Philippines?)
2007 - Ore Wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku/For Those We Love (war film made partly in the Philippines)
*2009 – Pandemic (partly shot in Banaue and Bacolod)
2009 - Basura (third documentary by Hiroshi Shinomiya)
*2014 – 野火/Nobi/Fires In The Plain (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto)
*2014 - Lupin The Third (dir. Ryuhei Kitamura; live-action manga shot partly in the Philippines)
2015 – Blanka (dir. Kohki Hasei; stars Don Gordon Bell)
2015 – Crossroads (dir. Junichi Suzuki; partly filmed in Baguio)
2015 - Mozu The Movie (Wowow/TBS Japan)
2016 - High And Low: The Red Rain (Image Field Inc)
2019 - Tears Of Malumpati (dir. Keita Meguro)
2020 - DitO (Kuruwa LLC Japan)
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2023 - Kodomo No Hitomi O Mitsumete/YIELD Final Version (documentary feature)
2024 - Crosspoint (A modern Filipino-Japanese action-drama starring Carlo Aquino and Takehiro Hira)
Honey I Love You (details unconfirmed, with Hong Kong star Daniel Wu)
Bayside At Midnight (details unconfirmed)
Excel 3 (details unconfirmed; TV show, 3 episodes only)
Sharing Through The Silver Screen: Exchanging Japanese and Philippine Culture Through Cinema
Words by Mon Garilao
As the world continues to globalize, gradually removing barriers to people-to-people exchanges and trade of international goods and services, and as the digital revolution connects the whole world, the Philippine film industry saw itself growing alongside these rapid developments within its immediate environment.
We’ve seen the rise of international co-productions in the past two decades bringing the Philippines to the global arena of motion pictures. We saw the rise of Japan as a favorite film production partner and film destination for many local Filipino movies with the likes of “In the Name of Love” (2011), a film by Olivia M. Lamasan, and “Sid and Aya” (2018), directed by Irene Villamor, both mainstream films which featured Tokyo, Japan as their backdrop. Other Filipino films shot in Japan include “Between Maybes” (2019) by Jason Paul Laxamana; and “The Missing” (2020) by filmmaker Easy Ferrer with immense support from the Saga Film Commission.
The independent cinema sector also showcased its ingenuity by presenting various stories on Filipinos in Japan in the films like “Blue Bustamante” (2013) by Miko Livelo, “Imbisibol” (2015) and Kintsugi (2020) by Lawrence Fajardo, and “Kita Kita” (2017), a film shot in Sapporo and other locations in Japan by Filipino film director Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo, which soared to become the highest-grossing independent Filipino film in 2017. Consequently, there are several Filipino films with Japanese elements screening at the 2021 Tokyo International Film Festival such as “Gensan Punch” (2021) by filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, and “Arisaka” (2021) by cult filmmaker Mikhail Red.
Other interesting variations where we could see Japan and the Philippines’ film relations include short films such as “Encounters with Silence” (2016) which was produced during director Janus Victoria’s fellowship at the Japan Foundation Asia Center; also “Kodokushi” which is Victoria’s current feature film in development; “Come on, Irene” (2018) a Japanese production directed by Keisuke Yoshida starring Filipina actress Nats Sitoy; and “Onoda: – 10,000 Nights in the Jungle” (2021), a French, German, Belgian, Italian, and Japanese co-production about the Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda who stayed in the Philippines islands until 1974 to fight even after World War II ended. The film opened Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section and stars Japanese actors, Yuya Endo and Kanji Tsuda, with a cameo of award-winning Filipina actress Angeli Bayani.
Japan and the Philippines’ diplomatic relationship is now 65 years strong. However, our actual encounters with one another stem years way back. This deep history and friendship fostered by the memories of war, mutual understanding, trust, and solidarity are well-represented in the various films produced in both countries. Landmark films in the 21st century from the bemedalled “Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal Kita” (2004) directed by Joel Lamangan to “Tanabata’s Wife” (2018) by Lito Casaje, Charlson L. Ong, and Choy Pangilinan were all representations of the two countries’ strong connections rooted deep in their consciousness.
Cultural content in the form of mass media such as films are very effective in bridging cultures between and among nations. Films, when exported in particular, are quite easier to be understood than other forms of media as language barriers are solved through the availability of subtitles and closed captioning. As moving images bring viewers to various places and allow them to experience diverse emotions within the comfort of their homes — now thanks to streaming sites like Netflix and online film festivals such as the Japanese Film Festival Online (JFF), the global audiences are able to build an affinity and familiarity with the cultures that they are being presented with.
In 2016, Japanese director Makoto Shinkai’s animated film “Your Name” (2016) became a huge hit in the Philippines and around the world. The director is known for his intelligent use of real-life locations in Tokyo as inspirations for his animations. With his films rising into popularity, it then became a pilgrimage by Japanese film lovers around the world to visit the locations showcased in his animated films and take real-life interpretations of each iconic scene.
Data from Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Manila office emphasized that there was a 7.1% increase in Filipino tourists to Japan in the first half of 2019, a year before the pandemic, compared to the same months in 2018. It could be assumed that a huge part of its increase is due to the fact that Japanese tourist spots and locations were given more exposure in Filipino blockbuster films.
As global tourism took a worldwide pause due to COVID-19, Film Tourism might be a potential force that could entice people-to-people exchange and revitalize travel in the future. We’ve seen Japanese cinema flourish in this aspect with films like “Spirited Away” (2001) boosting the tourism of Taiwan’s Jiufen Old Street where the film was supposedly inspired from. However, with director Hayao Miyazaki clarifying that the film was not inspired by just one place, it was revealed that the success of an earlier Taiwanese film “A City of Sadness” (1989) reinvigorated interest in this historic destination.
Other examples of successful film tourism include Sukibayashi Jiro in Roppongi, renowned as the first sushi restaurant spot owned by sushi master Jiro Ono which rose to fame internationally due to the documentary film “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” (2011), and Jinpukaku in Tottori a French Renaissance style residence which was featured in the blockbuster film “Rurouni Kenshin” (2012).
While there are several Filipino films about Japan that were shot in various Japanese locations, only a few Japanese film productions have utilized the Philippines as their cinematic mise-en-scène in the past two decades. To name some Japanese titles filmed in the Philippines: “Crossroads” (2015) by director Junichi Suzuki shot in Baguio with the Rice Terraces as backdrop; “Blanka” (2015), a film by Kohki Hasei which was part of the Biennale College of the Venice Film Festival; the blockbuster film “Lupin the 3rd” (2014) by Ryuhei Kitamura; “Tears of Malumpati” (2019) by director Keita Meguro; and “Abong: Small Home” (2003) by Koji Imaizumi starring National Artist for Cinema Kidlat Tahimik.
While Filipino film productions have actively engaged in shooting local films in Japan, more Japanese film productions have yet to experience and integrate the wonders of the Philippines in their moving images. There is a need to fortify film collaborations between both countries and at present, The Japan Foundation, Manila has been at the forefront of this endeavor. Through JFM’s grants, support programs, and several exciting projects, more Japanese filmmakers and film professionals are being invited to encounter and be introduced to Philippine cinema and culture.
Just recently, JFM hosted the film “Passage of Life” (2017) by award-winning filmmaker Akio Fujimoto at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. This became an opportunity for the Filipino audiences and Director Fujimoto to get to know each other’s cinematic cultures. The pandemic might still hinder physical co-productions but through JFM’s initiatives, there is the confidence that we can expect more amazing collaborative Japan-Philippines films in the near future.
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