[Sangetsu]

If you are in America, you can usually find "Kikujiro" at Blockbuster, it's a pretty good movie which shows an interesting side of Japan. Another movie which I like is called "Enlightenment Guaranteed". It's not a Japanese movie, but a German movie filmed in Japan. It's hilarious, I've watched it several times, and I still like to see it from time to time.

Otherwise, there aren't a great deal of good Japanese movies. I too enjoyed the Zatoichi films, and a couple of the other ones mentioned here, but the majority of Japanese films are too contrived, or bizarrely neurotic. Thankfully most theaters here show many western films, which are generally more popular than films produced in Japan.