Movies like Tokyo On The City (1986)
The best movies like Tokyo On The City (1986) are Café Lumière (2004), Sweet Bean (2015) and Love & Pop (1998). If Tokyo On The City hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPerfect Days (2023)7.8/10 from 2,157 votes
- NewestPerfect Days (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseCafé Lumière (2004)Also in Japanese
Café 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Bean (2015)
The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnbroken (2014)
A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTokyo! (2008)
Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKedi (2017)
A profile of Istanbul and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the Cat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarthquake Bird (2019)
Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEyes of Laura Mars (1978)
A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisBerlin Syndrome (2017)
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in an abandoned Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRepast (1951)
In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPerfect Days (2023)
Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace (2016)
Based on the story of Jesse Owens, the athlete whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Forest: Summer/Autumn (2014)
Fleeing heartbreak in the big city, Ichiko returns to Komori, her rural hometown. She battles summer's rain and humidity, bakes her own bread, grows hothouse tomatoes and tills the fields. During autumn, the time for pickling and preserving fish and sweet potatoes, Ichiko begins reaping rice and recalls her departure five years before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStep Up All In (2014)
All-stars from previous installments convene in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTokyo Olympiad (1965)
This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweet and Lowdown (1999)
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Letter (1953)
Five years after the end of the Second World War, Reikichi, a repatriated veteran, translates love letters for Japanese women to American GIs, while searching for his lost love, Michiko.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Tokyo On The City and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Tokyo On The City?
The closest matches to Tokyo On The City are Café Lumière (2004), Sweet Bean (2015) and Love & Pop (1998). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Tokyo On The City?
Start with Café Lumière (2004), the closest match to Tokyo On The City.
What is the highest-rated movie like Tokyo On The City?
Perfect Days (2023), rated 7.8/10 by 2,157 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Tokyo On The City?
Perfect Days (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Tokyo On The City?
Yes: Café Lumière (2004), Sweet Bean (2015) and Love & Pop (1998).
How are movies similar to Tokyo On The City chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Tokyo On The City, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.