Kurosawa’s terrifying tale of a haunted website, that reveals ghosts to those who dare to browse, articulates a growing wariness of invasive new technologies, and remains as defiantly nihilistic as ever.

3. Visitor Q (dir. Takashi Miike, 2001)

Miike’s astonishingly prolific career has explored every conceivable genre, but nothing comes close to the taboo-shattering exploits of this extreme reworking of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem.

The home of a shockingly dysfunctional family is invaded by a violent loner, who unearths a microcosm of incest, murder and mayhem.

4. Spirited Away (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

This Oscar-winning blend of magic and mythology brought the animated delights of Studio Ghibli to a global audience.

Miyazaki’s dazzling fairy tale follows 10-year-old Chihiro, who stumbles mistakenly into a mystical world governed by elemental forces and populated by dragons, witches and other fantastical beasts.

5. All About Lily Chou-Chou (dir. Shunji Iwai, 2001)

By turns achingly beautiful and shockingly brutal, Iwai charts the collapse of a friendship between two troubled teenagers.

As one devolves into a vicious bully, the other retreats into an introverted existence, made bearable only by the ethereal music of singer Lily Chou-Chou.

6. Dark Water (dir. Hideo Nakata, 2002)

Nakata has never recaptured the chilling success of Ring, though he came closest with this genuinely unsettling story of a young divorcee (Hitomi Kuroki) who moves into a new apartment with her young daughter, only for the growing damp patch on the ceiling to trigger all manner of supernatural shenanigans.

7. The Twilight Samurai (dir. Yoji Yamada, 2002)

8. Zatoichi (dir. Takeshi Kitano, 2003)

Eschewing the minimalist style of his yakuza dramas, writer-director-editor-star Kitano resurrects the iconic blind samurai for a shamelessly entertaining jidaigeki adventure.

Gorgeous period detail and a series of dazzling sword fights build to an all-singing, all-dancing musical finale that is pure cinematic joy.

9. The Taste of Tea (dir. Katsuhito Ishii, 2004)

Echoing the surrealism of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s films, Ishii’s delightfully quirky drama observes an ordinary rural family as they navigate romantic pitfalls and vocational challenges at a languid, unhurried pace.

Elements of the absurd linger persistently on the fringes, infusing their lives with a dreamlike innocence.

10. Linda Linda Linda (dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005)

Few songs are as infectious as the Blue Hearts’ Linda Linda, especially when performed by an all-girl teenage rock band, featuring Bae Doona’s Korean exchange student on vocals, who have just three days to rehearse before performing for the entire school. A feel-good masterpiece.

11. Paprika (dir. Satoshi Kon, 2006)

Broaching several themes later explored in Christopher Nolan’s Inception , Kon’s mind-bending science-fiction masterpiece follows a police officer and a psychologist through a network of intertwining psychedelic dreams.

They attempt to solve a murder and retrieve a stolen piece of experimental technology before it triggers a neurological Armageddon.

12. The Magic Hour (dir. Koki Mitani, 2008)

Mitani struck gold with this star-studded farce about gangsters, dames and filmmaking. Koichi Sato dazzles as a struggling actor, conned into playing a legendary assassin in what he believes to be a new movie. Little does he realise the other hoodlums are the real deal.

13. Love Exposure (dir. Sion Sono, 2008)

A misguided attempt to appease his father sees a troubled teenager (Takahiro Nishijima) embark on a quest to discover new ways of sinning, bringing him into contact with thieves, pornographers, a sinister religious cult and the girl of his dreams in Sono’s blistering four-hour gonzo epic.

14. Fish Story (dir. Yoshihiro Nakamura, 2009)

Can punk rock save the world? In Nakamura’s expertly crafted shaggy dog story, intertwining the lives of record store clerks, taxi drivers, terrorists and astronauts across four decades, a dusty recording of an obscure rock track might prove pivotal in saving Earth from a giant asteroid.

15. Symbol (dir. Hitoshi Matsumoto, 2009)

Matsumoto’s comedy genius is on full display in this brilliantly ridiculous exercise, intercutting the struggling career of a Mexican luchador with the efforts of a pyjama-clad man to escape from a seemingly featureless room.

A masterclass in physical absurdity that crescendos to an almost transcendental epiphany.

16. Confessions (dir. Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010)

Nakashima’s stylised story of grief and revenge is as shocking and confrontational as it is visually audacious.

Takako Matsu is electrifying as the young teacher and grieving mother who vows bloody vengeance on her own students, whom she believes are responsible for the death of her infant daughter.

17. Kotoko (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto, 2011)

Musician Cocco wrote, designed and stars in this relentlessly unforgiving and divisive tale of a young mother whose internal demons see her separated from her baby.

Double vision, a nervous breakdown, and a violent sadomasochistic relationship all conspire to send Kotoko insane, with music her only escape.

18. Wolf Children (dir. Mamoru Hosoda, 2012)

Hayao Miyazaki’s heir apparent wears his influences proudly on his sleeve in this beautiful salutation to the struggles of motherhood. After her werewolf lover is killed, a young woman is left to raise her litter of two half-wolf children alone, in a dangerous and unforgiving world.

19. The Story of Yonosuke (dir. Shuichi Okita, 2013)

Humble, unassuming and helplessly naive, the perpetually dishevelled Yonosuke (Kengo Kora) brings happiness and warmth into the lives of everyone he encounters.

These meetings, friendships and romances are remembered in a collection of heart-warming reminiscences in Okita’s delightful adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s bestselling novel.

20. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (dir. Isao Takahata, 2013)

In what would be his final film, Takahata adapts The Tale of the Wood Cutter into a heartbreaking masterpiece, illuminated by startling watercolour animation. Discovered by destitute farmers, Kaguya’s magic brings them wealth, but she soon falls prey to the rich and powerful.

21. Wood Job! (dir. Shinobu Yaguchi, 2014)

In this classic rural vs urban drama, Shota Sometani’s university dropout impulsively enrols in a forestry training programme after seeing Masami Nagasawa’s face on a poster. At first regretful, he eventually grows to love his new vocation, the close-knit community and even their bizarre festival rituals.

22. 100 Yen Love (dir. Masaharu Take, 2014)

A knockout performance from Sakura Ando propels Take’s inspirational drama, with her slobbish thirty-something vowing to turn her life around by joining a boxing gym.

What follows is an exhilarating roller-coaster, inside and outside the ring, as we witness the actress’ incredible physical and emotional transformation.

23. I Am a Hero (dir. Shinsuke Sato, 2015)

Proving there’s still life in the zombie genre, Sato’s riotously entertaining adaptation of Kengo Hanazawa’s manga perfectly balances its laughs and scares, as a reclusive comic book artist (Yo Oizumi), prone to flights of heroic fantasy, finds his true calling when the undead overrun Tokyo.

24. Your Name (dir. Makoto Shinkai, 2016)

After years languishing in obscurity, Shinkai’s indisputable genius was finally recognised with this box office behemoth.

An apocalyptic love story stretched across time and space, his vividly realised rural vs urban body-swap fantasy dazzles with photorealistic animation and an infectious soundtrack from boy band Radwimps.

25. Shoplifters (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018)

From its faultless ensemble cast to its exploration of nature vs nurture, Shoplifters never puts a foot wrong.