Short answers, pulled from the story.
The kinetoscope first appeared in Japan in November 1896. This technology arrived through businessmen like Inabata Katsutaro who brought Vitascope and Lumière Brothers Cinematograph to Japanese audiences in early 1897.
Matsunosuke Onoe became Japan's first film star appearing in over 1,000 films between 1909 and 1926. He worked with Shōzō Makino to pioneer the jidaigeki genre while Tokihiko Okada served as a popular romantic lead during this era.
The 1950s became widely considered the Golden Age of Japanese cinema when three films from this decade appeared in top ten lists of Sight & Sound critics' polls for best films of all time in both 2002 and 2012. Tokyo Story released in 1953 dethroned Citizen Kane at the top of the 2012 directors poll while Seven Samurai topped BBC's 2018 survey of the 100 Greatest Foreign-Language Films.
Godzilla became the first ever Japanese film given wide release throughout the United States where it was heavily re-edited with new footage added featuring actor Raymond Burr for its 1956 distribution as Godzilla King of the Monsters. The original film was directed by Ishirō Honda and featured award-winning effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
Anime films accounted for 60 percent of Japanese film production during the early 21st century making Japan one of world's leading producers of animated cinema. As of 2025 the top 16 highest-grossing Japanese films worldwide are all anime with the top 10 including four from Studio Ghibli all released in the 21st century.