"The World Sinks Except Japan" is set in the near future. It begins with the United States being destroyed by Earthquakes and floods--and millions of refugees pour into Europe, Australia and Asia. Then, one-by-one, the rest of the nations of the world suffer the same fate...except for Japan. As a result, the country is inundated with immigrants--and the Japanese soon get sick of all these poor freeloaders.After having seen "The World Sinks Except Japan", I think it was a comedy--a parody of sorts. However, I am not really sure. Does it make fun of the old xenophobic Japan of the WWII era or is it really just a nasty xenophobic flick? I am not sure...and that alone make this a movie that isn't super-satisfying. However, whether it's a joke or not, you really can't help but notice that it's incredibly poorly made. Now part of this could be part of some joke (that I didn't at all understand) but seeing incredibly broad overacting, 'American' actors who can barely speak English at all (you'd think they'd hire more real Americans or actors who could at least approximate the language) and some tacky references (such as making Chinese and Korean leaders lapdogs of the Japanese in the movie--pretty tacky when you think about history and the 1930s) all made me just think the film was bad...and a bit dull to boot.

This is the kind of movie I would have liked to have written myself about Japan and the foreigner experience. This is a well-written, original, totally tongue-in-cheek farce. Foreigners living in Japan spend all of their time talking about the strangeness of the experience, but it had yet to be made into good literature. It's hard to be funny (as a comedy or satire) for the full duration of a movie, and also all movies, in general, tend to founder and become clichéd in the second half, after their structural pretexts have been presented. But this one continues to deliver and be trenchantly funny and topical and original all the way through. That is rare for a comic piece. Highly recommended if you can get your hands on it, especially for anyone who has lived as a foreigner in Japan, or any Japanese who have had close relations with foreigners in Japan. People who don't know Japan will not understand the farce, and will not like this movie. People who know Japan will be rolling in the aisles.

I read a brief description of this film and thought it sounded like an excellent premise for a hilarious comedy. Unfortunately, the first time I started watching it I gave up after about ten minutes. After I finally watched the film I wondered I why I'd tortured myself.The films suffers from four major flaws: 1. Production values are non-existent. 2. It has an awful script without a coherent plot where all the characters are underdeveloped. Instead we get cheap gags that rarely raise a laugh because no empathy has been built up. 3. The Japanese actors are OK, but the foreign actors are awful and barely watchable. 4. The 'social commentary' is largely superficial and even where interesting issues are brought they swiftly disappear and get ignored.It's a shame the film is so poor. With such an interesting premise a brilliant film could have possibly been made. Instead we get a truly bad film.

A hilarious film adaptation by Kawasaki Minoru of a parody of the famous 1970s novel Nihon Chinbotsu. Nihon Chinbotsu is the story of the Japanese people losing their homeland and being dispersed throughout the world. Nihon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu is the opposite: the whole world sinks except Japan. The world's survivors all scramble on the small little archipelago occupied by the xenophobic Japanese. With Team America-like line of characters, all extreme stereotypes of their nation, you can't stop laughing. No one escapes the directors critique, from the traditional Japanese guy (who takes advantage of the situation and eats whale), to the Chinese/Korean leaders who suck up to Japan's Prime Minister, to the American Secretary of Defense who regrets not having started a coup d'etat in Japan, and etcetera.Of course, the story is just incredible. Of course there are going to be those who are going to criticize this movie saying the science behind the disaster is unrealistic, the economic situation of the foreigners would not happen, and that's fine. People who are going to criticize this movie for reasons like that just don't get that they need to suspend their disbelief when watching comedies like this one who's primary focus is not to tell a believable story but a ridiculously funny one.Then there may be those who claim this is a nationalistic film, but again, those people are the same people who thought Team America was a nationalistic film. They just didn't get the masochistic humor. This movie is critical of not just its own nationality but even the movie itself ("I don't like Japanese movies, they look so cheap").Finally, this movie will shock you with a surprisingly funny, yet touching end (well, as touching as a comedy can get). I wouldn't say it's a must watch, but it's a good complement to Nihon Chinbotsu as well as being a good stand alone film as well.