Movies like A Geisha's Diary (1961)
The best movies like A Geisha's Diary (1961) are Sisters of the Gion (1936), A Geisha (1953) and Zatoichi (2003). If A Geisha's Diary hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLady Snowblood (1973)7.5/10 from 449 votes
- NewestDREAM LIGHTS ~DDT What Do You Think on Wednesday?~ (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseSisters of the Gion (1936)Also in Japanese
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
A geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto feels obliged to help her lover when he asks to stay with her after going bankrupt and leaving his wife. However, her younger sister opposes this, thinking that they should both find wealthy patrons to support them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Geisha (1953)
Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi (2003)
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSakuran (2006)
Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Decadence (1992)
A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Family (2013)
An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them preoccupied and self-involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFemale Yakuza Tale (1973)
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntentions of Murder (1964)
The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIrezumi (1966)
Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngel Guts: Red Classroom (1979)
A porn magazine editor stumbles upon an amateur gang rape film and, struck by the girl's acting, decides to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Snowblood (1973)
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove & Pop (1998)
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrimes of Passion (1984)
Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest in possession of a murderous sex toy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarmonium (2016)
Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCafé Lumière (2004)
In a distinctly contemporary Tokyo that looks backwards to the city’s disappearing past, Yoko is a writer investigating the life of a modernist composer of the 1930s. She is pregnant by a man she does not want to marry and has found a kindred spirit in a used bookstore owner who aids her research.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOsaka Elegy (1936)
Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss in order to pay her father's debt and prevent him from going to prison for embezzlement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisICHI (2008)
Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFemale Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)
After being cruelly set up and deceived by Sugimi, a detective in cahoots with the mob with whom she was whole-heartedly in love, Matsushima’s desire for revenge knows no bounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDREAM LIGHTS ~DDT What Do You Think on Wednesday?~ (2026)
DREAM LIGHTS ~DDT What Do You Think on Wednesday?~ was a professional wrestling event promoted by DDT Pro-Wrestling, held on April 5, 2026 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event, Yuki Ueno defended the KO-D Openweight Championship against Yuki Iino.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
TJPW Warm Spring Pro Wrestling in Ueno (2026)
Warm Spring Pro Wrestling in Ueno was a professional wrestling event promoted by Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW), held on April 8, 2026 at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarrie (1952)
In the late 1890s, the ambitious, innocent Carrie arrives in Chicago’s South Side and stays with her nagging, dullish married sister. She then runs for help to traveling salesman Charles Drouet. She soon becomes his mistress, but falls in love with married restaurant manager George Hurstwood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStreet of Shame (1956)
Follows five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProminence Risa Sera's Retirement ~ Soen Banjo (2026)
Prominence Risa Sera's Retirement ~ Soen Banjo was a professional wrestling event promoted by Prominence, held on January 12, 2026, at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It served as Prominence founder and modern joshi legend Risa Sera's retirement from professional wrestling, with her facing long-time ally Suzu Suzuki in the main event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SENJO 20th Anniversary Tour in Korakuen Hall ~REIGN OF QUEENS~ (2026)
SENJO 20th Anniversary Tour in Korakuen Hall ~REIGN OF QUEENS~ was a professional wrestling event promoted by Sendai Girls' Pro-Wrestling, held on April 12, 2026, at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yasukuni Shrine Dedication Pro Wrestling ~ Marigold Yamato Shinshu Women's Festival (2026)
Yasukuni Shrine Dedication Pro Wrestling ~ Marigold Yamato Shinshu Women's Festival was a professional wrestling event promoted by Dream Star★Fighting Marigold. It took place on March 29, 2026 at Yasukuni Shrine Sumo Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemembering Every Night (2024)
A visit to the employment office, practicing dance steps, making music with friends: several women’s everyday lives are captured in long shots and with a superb sense of place. A film like a summer's day, bright, friendly, with the occasional chill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like A Geisha's Diary and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Geisha's Diary?
The closest matches to A Geisha's Diary are Sisters of the Gion (1936), A Geisha (1953) and Zatoichi (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Geisha's Diary?
Start with Sisters of the Gion (1936), the closest match to A Geisha's Diary.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Geisha's Diary?
Lady Snowblood (1973), rated 7.5/10 by 449 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Geisha's Diary?
DREAM LIGHTS ~DDT What Do You Think on Wednesday?~ (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like A Geisha's Diary?
Yes: Sisters of the Gion (1936), A Geisha (1953) and Zatoichi (2003).
How are movies similar to A Geisha's Diary chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Geisha's Diary, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.