Before assigning movie titles to a given theme/category, how about first making a list of some features of Japanese society, culture, values to show and discuss. Then the possible scenes or full-length movies can be selected. Joy Hendry's book,
Understanding Japanese Society, has been an important overview to life and language on the islands. She is revising the 2012 edition now for reprinting.
The ToC would give a list of themes to examine through film. Some contexts would include, for example,
Home culture
School culture
Workplace culture
Counter-culture like citizen movements, protests, non-salaryman lives
Combinations of traditional and modern/Western practices
The land - before massive consumer economics, livelihoods were tied to coast, paddy, urban/merchant, and mountain conditions
Life events, life cycle, religion and ceremony
One big consideration is the teen audience, since some movie scenes or situations might not be suitable.
Rich sources of social observation or commentary are the 1980s, 90s films directed by
Itami; more recently the ones by
Kore-eda.
imdb.com and wikipedia sometimes give enough detail to make a decision about a film title, too.
A great documentary from 1995 that shows how foreign ideas come to Japan and acquire local uses, meanings, and expression is "
The Japanese Version" from
www.cnam.com They make a full version (includes a chapter on love hotels) and a high school version (no love hotels).
There is also this project with a dozen short conversations in English with Japanese residents in rural Fukui-ken from 1998:
Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:36 pm (PDT) . Posted by"Derek Chin"
Here are some movies I came up with. The titles marked with a (?), I wasn't able to confirm myself:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
On confronting death/the deceased:
Departures / おくりびと
After Life /ワンダフルライフ
On dealing with suicide: [see also the documentary, "Saving 10,000" at tinyurl.com/saving10000 ]
The Cross / 十字架 (?)
On career/career change:
Railways / 49歳で電車の運転士になった男の物語
On parenthood/family:
Like Father, Like Son /そして父になる (?)
On school bullying / disability:
A Silent Voice /聲の形
On depression:
My SO Has Got Depression / ツレがうつになりまして。
On international cooperation:
We Can't Change the World. But, We Wanna Build a School in Cambodia /僕たちは世界を変えることができない 