Feature Image: Poster for “The Bad Kids’ Love Quest”. Online TV streaming services

Netflix has a bunch of binge-worthy Japanese-language shows with English subtitles. Read on for our latest favorites. And please note that several of these titles rotate in and out by region. Some are available only in Japan, and some are available internationally in certain times of the year.

If you need slightly more justification that you’re absolutely not vegging out in front of the TV, you are absorbing a new language, add the LLN Google Chrome extension. It allows you to see the Japanese and English side by side. You can hover over a word to pause it, see how to pronounce it, and add it to your vocab dictionary.

Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back

Hands-down the best Shin-Chan film out there (in our opinion). A production about a crudely animated five-year-old with zero verbal filter, which somehow masterfully brings you to tears over the complex, bittersweet nostalgia for your own youth. Aptly released in 2001, the Kasukabe family parents, Hiroshi and Misa,e are trapped inside an artificial 20th century. Stuck in the bodies and minds of their child selves, they have fully regressed back to the nostalgia of their childhood lives. It’s up to Shin-Chan and his friends to save them and, quite literally, their futures. 

大豆田とわ子と三人の元夫 Omameda Towako and Her Three Ex-husbands 

Life seems good for Omameda Towako. The 40-year-old single mom has started her new role as president of the construction company Shirokuma Housing and her relationship at home with her teenage daughter is going well. There’s just one problem. Well, three. Each of her troublemaking ex-husbands is still entangled in her life. Inevitably, a series of awkward moments and classic rom-com situations ensue. This reverse-harem series is written with wit and is a relaxing, lighthearted show to switch on when you don’t need something heavy. 

If you’re into Japanese music, watch out for the ending songs. Each episode’s credits are accompanied by beats by STUTS, joined by different rappers such as KID FRESINO, NENE, BIM and so on.

Sanctuary

If you want something louder, messier, and aggressively modern, Sanctuary is it. Set in the world of professional sumo, this series follows an unlikable, desperate antihero clawing his way through a rigid hierarchy that has no patience for outsiders. The dialogue is rough, fast, and often crude, making it less “study-friendly” but perfect for exposure to real, contemporary Japanese. Plus, it’s a good watch—one of Netflix Japan’s most internationally successful originals to date, to be precise.

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House

Following two girls living in a Kyoto maiko house, The Makanai is slow, tender, and deeply domestic. The language is clear and repetitive, the pacing is unhurried, and the cultural context is rich without being overwhelming. It’s one of the best Japanese-language Netflix titles for learners who want to get cozy and absorb rhythm, politeness levels, and everyday expressions without stress.

ゴッドファーザーズ Tokyo Godfathers 

Without a fantastical anime elf, epic robot battle or school uniform-clad romance in sight, “Tokyo Godfathers” is grounded in a gritty realism as it dives into the underbelly of Tokyo society. Gin, a middle-aged gambling addict and alcoholic, transgender woman Hana and teenage runaway Miyuki have banded together as a makeshift family since finding themselves homeless in the capital. When the oddball trio finds an abandoned baby on a snowy Christmas Eve, an adventure unfolds as they try to trace the parents. A truly poignant story about the journey to recovery, the immorality of prejudice and the pain of regret, this movie points to cracks in Japan’s increasingly fragmented and isolating modern society.

新聞記者 The Journalist (Check if it’s available in your region!)

Broadsheet reporter Anna Matsuda settles for nothing but the truth. Based on the true Moritomo Gakuen scandal, in which the Abe government suspiciously carried out a massively discounted sale of state-owned land to a private educational institution, Matsuda seeks to bring nationwide attention to the corruption of Japanese politics. The focus, however, is not on the political big fish, but on the ordinary guys in the office blocks, and how far they are required to sacrifice their morals, health and lives in order to serve the powers above them. A quick-moving political thriller, you’re left questioning the limits of power — be it the media, the little guy or bureaucratic rule.  

ヤクザと家族　Yakuza and the Family 

The media has built an image of yakuza culture as a brotherhood of loyalty and luxury — living an adrenaline-rushed highlife steeped in a strict code of tradition, but the reality is that the modern-day yakuza’s power is weakening, their numbers are diminishing and society is turning its fear into ostracism. “Yakuza and the Family” follows the life of yakuza defector Kenji Yamamoto, who, forever stigmatized by society for his past association with a criminal gang, struggles to live amongst his local community and erase the reputation of his former self. A sad exposure into Japanese gang culture, “Yakuza and the Family” blends action with reality and delivers a hard look at the truth behind “manners maketh man.”

Badly in Love

Badly in Love is one of Netflix Japan’s most confronting reality shows, precisely because it refuses to sanitize its cast. The series follows men with openly troubled pasts, including former gang members and long-time delinquents, as they attempt to form romantic relationships while reckoning with the emotional damage they carry with them.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop 

Vibrantly animated in candy colors, this teen romance packs a lot into its 1.5 hours. An introverted boy who can only express himself through haiku poetry and a bubbly but self-conscious influencer share a whirlwind summer on a heartwarming adventure to locate a record. It’s a fun visual ride that’s an homage to the joy of the 1980s aesthetic. You can’t go wrong with director Kyohei Ishiguro’s work. 

浅草キッド Asakusa Kid

Dive into the youth of Takeshi Kitano in “Asakusa Kid,” and follow the beginnings of his career towards becoming the legendary director, actor and comedian that he is today. The story largely takes place in France-za, a failing theater-slash-burlesque house where Kitano works at the bottom of the food chain as an elevator boy. 1970s dandy vibes, new-wave manzai, straight-talking strippers and Kitano’s mentor Senzaburo Fukami mingle in a cocktail of burnt-out and freshly kindled dreams. It’s a biographical drama brought beyond life with playful bursts of magical realism and the thrill of good ol’ fashioned showbiz.