For many, this is the motherload of the strange.  I am not so sure though.  I suspect that many people confuse simple cultural difference with ‘strangeness’.  For this reason, I am quite selective in terms of Japanese and Korean films, only picking the ones that really stand out against the general backdrop of Japanese film and culture. Likewise, the extremely interesting world of animation could go on forever here, so i have only selected a few of the most important ones so far.

Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu - Takashi Miike

Marvelously weird tricksterish romp - Miike at his best and displaying the purest essence of his jokester soul. An insane trip that actually manages to surprise and leaves you wondering how the hell you go to where you get to.

964 Pinocchio - Shozin Fukui

Unique 'underground' film filled with absurdism, remarkable surreal imagery and madcap performances

Stacy – Naoyuki Tomomatsu

Tongue in cheek zombie movie that really manages to pull off some crazy social satire.  A heavy dose of J-pop culture and genuinely inventive film making going on in here.  Very silly film and very haunting in some unexpected ways, which is a weird mix.

Tokyo X Erotica - Takahisa Zeze

Beautiful, quietly psychedelic and surreal erotic film with very innovative storytelling.  Exquisitely shot.

Jisatsu Sâkuru (Suicide Circle / Suicide Club) – Sion Sono

Superb Japanese horror film that is not supernatural, not slasher or crazy psycho.  Instead it is that super-rare type of horror that manages to be something else entirely and becomes an important allegory about life as we know it. 

Hatsujô kateikyôshi: sensei no aijiru / The Glamorous Life of Satchiko Hanai - Mitsuru Meike

One totally bonkers Pink film with one of the most outrageous plots i have ever seen. A cheerful call girl, the disembodied finger of George W Bush and a North Korean agent - plus lots of sex of course. And somehow it all works.

EXTE: Hair Extensions - Sion Sono

Totally whacked out horror comedy about hair and hairdressing - as lunatic a film as they come and filled with both laugh out loud and cringe-worthy moments.

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge - Shōhei Imamura

Delicate and charming love story with touches of magic realism and one very strange slant that only the japanese could have come up with.

Gusha no bindume /Hellevator: The Bottled Fools - Hiroki Yamaguchi

The ultimate trapped elevator fantasy as a lurid dose of Japanese Cyberpunk ultraviolence.  A seriously weird and hallucinatory trip with superb visuals and some of the very worst of human nature and human society in glorious detail.  In short – it’s a freakin’ nightmare in every respect.

FLCL - Yōji Enokido, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Gainax, Production I.G, etc.

Quite possibly one of the weirdest, cleverest trips ever created by the mind of humanity. This is one of the reasons Japanese Animation shakes the world.

Executive Koala - Minoru Kawasaki

Hallucinatory and taut horror film – trippy in the extreme and utterly terrifying . . . well, it would be if it wasn’t a screwy comedy featuring a man in a Koala suit.  My head hurts . . .