National Film Archive of Japan Audio Guide

National Film Archive of Japan: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to National Film Archive of Japan

   Welcome to the National Film Archive of Japan, known in Japanese as Kokuritsu Eiga Akaibu. You are in Kyobashi, in Tokyo's Chuo ward, a short hop from both Tokyo Station and the Ginza district. This guide follows the story of the institution and its collections: what it keeps, how it began, and what you can experience when you step inside. Here is the headline. This is Japan's only national institution devoted entirely to film. It collects, preserves, restores and studies films, along with posters, scripts and books about cinema, and then it opens them up to the public through screenings, exhibitions and a library. So think of the place as part vault, part laboratory and part neighborhood cinema. Over the next few minutes, we will look at the archive's origins, some of the most precious films in its care, and the unusual ways it brings very old movies back to life in front of an audience.

2. 02

   From a Museum Film Library to a National Institution

   Every national institution has an origin story, and this one starts small. In 1952, the archive was founded as the film library of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. For decades, Japan's film heritage was looked after as a department inside an art museum, a quiet recognition that moving images belong alongside paintings and sculpture. Then came a big change. In 2018, the film library became independent from the museum and took the name National Film Archive of Japan. It now stands as the sixth national museum of art within the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art, which means film sits on equal footing with the other national art museums. That independence matters because film is a demanding thing to keep. Reels need specialist storage, restoration and research, and the archive's mission covers all of it: collecting, preserving and restoring films from Japan and abroad, including digital works, and studying them academically. It is a long road from a museum library to a full national institution, and you are standing at its latest chapter.

3. 03

   Treasures of the Collection

   Now let us talk about what the archive actually holds. As of 2017, the collection included around 80,000 films, alongside a great many posters, scripts and books about cinema. Most of the films are Japanese, though the collection also includes works from abroad. Among them is Momijigari, which means Maple Viewing, the oldest surviving Japanese film. It was shot in 1899, and the government has designated it an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Imagine that: a film made at the very dawn of cinema, still in the hands of caretakers more than a century later. Another designated treasure is Shigeki: Nanko ketsubetsu, or The Farewell Scenes of Kusunoki Masashige and His Son. The archive keeps the 35 millimeter nitrate original negative of this film, which is also a National Important Cultural Property. Nitrate film is famously fragile material, so seeing the archive show a positive image made from that negative gives you a sense of the care involved. There is also a lighter gem: The Dull Sword, an animated film released in 1917, which has appeared in the archive's exhibitions among some of Japan's oldest films.

4. 04

   Theaters, Gallery and Library: Films You Can Meet

   A film archive could easily be a locked vault, but this one is built to be visited. The Kyobashi main building has two theaters, an exhibition room and a library. That means you can watch a film, see the objects around it, and then dig into books about cinema, all in one place. The programming can be wonderfully inventive. In the summer of 2025, a Kids' Cinema event screened Japanese silent films for young audiences, with live music and a benshi. A benshi is a live narrator who tells the story aloud as the silent picture plays, a distinctly Japanese performance tradition. Among the titles shown were The Dull Sword in its longest version and Onsen Hiwa: Misasa Kouta, with narration by Naohyo Oda and live music by Mari Sakamoto. It is a lovely reminder of what an archive is for. These reels were never meant to sit in the dark. When a century-old film meets a live voice and a live musician, it stops being a relic and becomes an evening out.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you move on, notice how well placed this archive is. Kyobashi sits close to Tokyo Station and the Ginza district, so a film program here pairs easily with a walk, a meal or some shopping nearby. You could arrive by taking the train to Tokyo Station and continuing on foot or by the Marunouchi subway line to Ginza. What will you look for next? Perhaps the current program of screenings, or an exhibition in the gallery that puts old film materials side by side with posters and scripts. You might even catch a silent film accompanied by live narration and music. And as you leave, here is something to carry with you. Somewhere in this institution's care are films from 1899, 1917 and beyond, still waiting for audiences. Which era of Japanese cinema will you want to meet first?