First, let me get this out of the way: All the foreign nominations are American films, which includes Avatar, Toy Story 3, Hurt Locker, Inception and Invictus. Those along are a mixed bag for me xD Invictus was rather insipid, wouldn’t you say? And to include Avatar in the same list as Toy Story 3 is… hmm, rather a pity xD
The 34th Japan Academy Prize is led by Sang-il Lee’s Akunin (Villain) with 15 nods in 13 categories. Followed by Yoji Yamada’s Otouto (Yougner Brother/About her Brother) and Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins with 11 nods. Rounding up the best pictures is Izuru Narushima’s Kokou no Mesu (A Lone Scalpel) with 5 nods.
And forgive the bias, but Yu Aoi got a nod for Supporting Actress xD
Film
Akunin
Otouto
Kokuhaku
Kokou no Mesu
13 Assassins
Animated Film
Colorful
Karigurashi no Arrietty
Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Ningyo Daikaisen
Meitantei Conan: Tenkuu no Lost Ship
One Piece Film: Strong World
Director
Tetsuya Nakashima (Kokuhaku)
Izuru Narushima (Kokou no Mesu)
Takashi Miike (13 Assassins)
Yoji Yamada (Otouto)
Sang-il Lee (Akunin)
Screenplay
Masato Kato (Kokou no Mesu)
Daisuke Tengan (13 Assassins)
Tetsuya Nakashima (Kokuhaku)
Yoji Yamada / Emiko Hiramatsu (Otouto)
Shuichi Yoshida / Sang-il Lee (Akunin)
Lead Actor
Tsurube Shofukutei (Otouto)
Shinichi Tsutsumi (Kokou no Mesu)
Satoshi Tsumabuki (Akunin)
Etsushi Toyokawa (Hisshiken Torisashi)
Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins)
Lead Actress
Shinobu Terajima (Caterpillar)
Eri Fukatsu (Akunin)
Takako Matsu (Kokuhaku)
Hiroko Yakushimaru (Kondo wa Aisaika)
Sayuri Yoshinaga (Otouto)
Supporting Actor
Renji Ishibashi (Kondo wa Aisaika)
Akira Emoto (Akunin)
Masaki Okada (Akunin)
Masaki Okada (Kokuhaku)
Koji Kikkawa (Hisshiken Torisashi)
Supporting Actress
Yu Aoi (Otouto)
Kirin Kiki (Akunin)
Yoshino Kimura (Kokuhaku)
Yui Natsukawa (Kokou no Mesu)
Hikari Mitsushima (Akunin)
For the complete list of nominations check Tokyograph~
