"Summer Time Machine Blues" is really funny.  The premise is that it is a hot summer day, and someone breaks the remote for the air conditioning unit in the science fiction club room.  As there is no switch on the unit itself (so true for those Asian style AC units!), they sit in agonizing heat until a time machine appears in their room, and they come up with the brilliant idea to go into the past and recover the "yet-to-be-broken" AC remote.  I saw it on an airplane and liked it so much I ordered it online (expensive that way though).

I also reccomend summer time blues machine. My roomate brought it over from Japan.

I also reccomend "Linda! Linda! Linda!"

Thora wrote:

For anyone in Vancouver (Canada), Pacific Cinematheque is showing a retrospective of Oshima's work from Jan 16 - Feb 16. Some not available on DVD. Pretty incredible collection.

http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/realm-oshima

Also, the Japanese consulate presents Japanese films at PC somewhat regularly, I think.

It's too bad I don't have the money to take off here for a few days, my wife has been bugging me to visit Vancouver and I am only a few hours away now ( Kelowna, BC )

Hopefully I can catch something when I DO visit there, would be interesting.

Ah Japanese films, I used to watch a lot of those. That's how I got interested in Japanese.
I think I have over 500 in my home country, thanks to the golden days of edonkey networks. I wonder if people still use them.

I think the best website about asian cinema is http://www.midnighteye.com
They have good reviews, and not only about extremely violent flicks. They even have interviews with directors.

I think the Snowblood Apple site looks like a myspace page and is interesting to people who are solely into the gore extreme violent stuff (like me when I was 16). To each his own.

A few random favorites in English (at the time of watching I didn't know any Japanese), all set in contemporary Japan.

The Eel (unagi, original story)
Drunken Angel (Yoidore Tenchi, by Kurosawa, great acting)
Survive Style 5+ (very funny!)
Happyness of the Katakuris
Go-con, japanese love culture (actually not so interesting, but it explains about go-con, and i think it's good for learning Japanese, because the guys repeat their stories to each girl)
Bounce, Kogalls (Kogalls = Call girls, surprizingly good)
Tampopo (makes you love ramen if you didn't already)
Blue Spring (cool music and images)
Ping Pong
Go
Monday
The Taste of Tea (cha no aji, this one is the king of Japanese sunday afternoon movies, funny relaxed and beautifull)
Picnic (by Shunji Iway)
All about Lily Chou Chou (beautifull music and images, one of the first fully digitally shot mainstream movies in Japan)
Audition (this one is gory, but not your average horror movie)

As you will notice there isn't anything from the last couple of years. After I moved to Japan, I pretty much stopped watching them!

Anything by Tak Sakaguchi. Anything. Versus especially if you're into RADICAL ZOMBIE-FIGHTING ACTION. Which, naturally, I am.

Also, I saw someone recommend Mimi o Sumaseba, to which I have to say YES. VERY YES. One of my top two favorite movies ever, and I don't even like romance.

zwarte_kat recommended midnight eye, and i second that - great site.

I think the state of Japanese cinema is the same as everywhere: between the extremely arty and the mainstream are the good ones.

Ozu Yasujiro is top choice, but the pace might be too slow for people coming from anime and such.
I personally like Kitano Takeshi's style. This is a trailer for one of his latest, Kantoku Banzai!, a mish-mash of pastiches celebrating Japanese cinema.

Recent good ones: I Just Didn't Do It/それでもボクはやってない - social commentary

Drifting around Tokyo 「転々」 - one of those weird, fun films that everyone falls for

A psychedelic typhoon: Throw Away Your Books, Rally In The Streets by Terayama Shuji 
*slightly NSFW trailer