Japan Synopsis
A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
Audience Engagement
464 audience reviews — more than 93% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (93th percentile) outruns trending popularity (75th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Howards End. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Merchant Ivory Productions
Drama + Romance in Japan
270 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Romance genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Howards End itself).
The 1991–1993 Japan Window
Howards End holds position #40 of 109 Japan films in the 1991–1993 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1Slam Dunk
★ 8.6 · 1993
#2Yu Yu Hakusho
★ 8.6 · 1992
#3Tokyo Love Story
★ 8.6 · 1991
#4Sailor Moon
★ 8.4 · 1992
#5Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War
★ 8.3 · 1993
#6Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai
★ 8.2 · 1991
#7Ranma ½: The Movie 2 — The Battle of Togenkyo: Rescue the Brides!
★ 8.1 · 1992
#8Ziggy: Soreyuke! R&R Band
★ 8.1 · 1991
The 1990s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Japan, 447 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Howards End premiered alongside 36 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 22m runtime, production spent $56K per minute on screen and earned $184K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 36 other Japan films in 1992.
The 881st Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Howards End, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- wealthy family · 4
- sister sister relationship · 4
- empowerment · 2
- turn of the century · 2
- english countryside · 1
- edwardian england · 1
- england · 21
- london · 17
- sister · 12
- 1900s · 8
- class differences · 7
- based on novel or book · 288
- sibling relationship · 38
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,086 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (54th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #924 of 1,933 (top 48%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | English, German |
| Production Companies | Merchant Ivory Productions, Film4 Productions, Japan Satellite Broadcasting (JSB), IMAGICA, Sumitomo Corporation |
| Runtime | 2h 22m |
| Release Date | March 13, 1992 |
| IMDb | tt0104454 |