has anyone here studied it?
is the grammar of it closer to japanese, or to other sign languages? i've noticed the 指文字 are heavily influenced by ASL, but I've no idea when it comes to grammar.

does anyone know any good reasources to learn it?
any movies/shows with mild/heavy usage of 日本手話 would be awesome as well.

Have you seen "Babel"?

If you live in japan, its on tv like everyday......

There's a drama called Orange Days that features lots of sign language.

Also:

The other popular "deaf girl" drama was "Hoshi no Kinka" and "Zoku Hoshi no Kinka".
The most tragedy I've ever seen in a single drama. Rips your heart in so many ways.
Great show to watch though.

Hoshi no Kinka was an alternate story in a different world and really sucked. So don't get that one.

Also, I think NHK has a show for shuwa ("sign language") and you can even buy the DVDs and textbooks.　It's called Minna no Shuwa (みんなの手話).

Here's the homepage:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=we...5G8kcXLZmg

Babel: Somewhat interesting movie, though not a lot of 手話 in it, as far as I can remember.
Orange Days: I'm pretty sure that's not 手話, it seems more like a pidgin, or manually coded Japanese (The signs fit too much with the words, and a complete lack of facial expression, which would make any kind of sign language grammar difficult.) Fun drama though.
The みんなの手話 seems interesting, thanks for the link!