Top 44 Documentaries in Japan
This curated ranking covers the 44 largest documentaries in Japan, ordered by estimated audience size from Rascasse's anonymized search-behavior signals. Anime club, POV (TV series) and Vice (TV series) lead the list with a combined estimated audience of 1,623,314 people. Across all 44 entries the average audience size is 50,740, and the largest, Anime club, reaches around 754,217 people in Japan. Audience size is the estimated number of unique people in Japan who actively engage with each documentary, derived from search demand signals. Rankings reflect search-behavior signals collected across Japan and are refreshed weekly.
Ranking
| Rank | Name | Audience size | Country share | Subtype | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Anime club |
754,217 | 26.6% | Documentary | Literature |
| 2 |  POV (TV series) |
555,235 | 6.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 3 |  Vice (TV series) |
313,862 | 10.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 4 |  Yves Saint Laurent (film) |
224,872 | 1.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 5 |  Pina (film) |
73,266 | 8.7% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 6 |  Walking with Dinosaurs |
62,776 | 5.8% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 7 |  FRONTLINE |
57,868 | 0.9% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 8 |  Silent Voices (2005 film) |
35,055 | 3.0% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 9 |  Blue Planet |
28,449 | 6.0% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 10 |  Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner |
17,815 | 2.4% | Documentary | Literature |
| 11 |  Earthling |
16,430 | 3.5% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 12 |  Pumping Iron |
13,665 | 1.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 13 |  Roadkill (Internet show) |
11,332 | 1.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 14 |  Aluna |
8,229 | 3.9% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 15 |  Oddities (TV series) |
7,322 | 1.1% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 16 |  Bowling for Columbine |
5,820 | 1.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 17 |  Restrepo (film) |
4,970 | 0.3% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 18 |  Hard Knocks |
4,593 | 1.0% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 19 |  Inside Edition |
3,941 | 0.3% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 20 |  Hail Satan |
3,054 | 2.9% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 21 |  What the Bleep Do We Know!? |
2,731 | 1.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 22 |  The Thin Blue Line (1988 film) |
2,629 | 0.5% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 23 |  Scared Straight! |
2,342 | 2.1% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 24 |  Frozen Planet |
2,226 | 0.9% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 25 |  Man on Wire |
2,056 | 0.7% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 26 |  Vegucated |
2,016 | 5.0% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 27 |  March of the Penguins |
1,668 | 0.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 28 |  The Original Kings of Comedy |
1,618 | 0.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 29 |  I-Witness |
1,584 | 1.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 30 |  The Acting Class |
1,581 | 7.8% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 31 |  Finding Your Roots |
1,470 | 0.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 32 |  Land and Sea |
1,334 | 0.3% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 33 |  The Blue Planet |
919 | 0.3% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 34 |  American Experience |
890 | 0.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 35 |  Deadly Women |
696 | 0.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 36 |  Seconds From Disaster |
683 | 2.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 37 |  Living with Wolves |
635 | 3.8% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 38 |  The Story of Stuff |
489 | 0.4% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 39 |  GMO OMG |
419 | 3.4% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 40 |  Extreme Engineering |
405 | 0.9% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 41 |  Miss Representation |
402 | 0.3% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 42 |  A Football Life |
376 | 0.4% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 43 |  Light Fantastic (TV series) |
350 | 1.6% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
| 44 |  Living Proof (film) |
299 | 0.2% | Documentary | Movies & TV |
Frequently asked questions
How is this Top 44 list compiled?
Rascasse aggregates anonymized search-behavior signals across Japan and ranks each documentary by its estimated audience size. Only entries with at least 5 measured entities are listed.
How often is the list updated?
The ranking is refreshed weekly from the latest search-behavior data and re-published as a static page.
What is the largest documentary in Japan?
Anime club currently leads with an estimated audience of 754,217 people in Japan.
Methodology
Audience sizes are estimated from anonymized search-behavior signals across Japan. Lists below 5 entries are not published. See methodology for full details.