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August 15, 2024
 

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Kaori Shoji
Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 8, 2008
Fasting is Hefty's secret way of escaping metabo
I t's not often I get to watch my brother seethe and fume and look thoroughly uncomfortable — and I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2008
'Cloverfield'
An old gripe of Woody Allen was that America hated New York ("The rest of the country looks upon New York like we're leftwing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers!" he rails in "Annie Hall"). For most of his life he had stuck staunchly by his city, showing the rest of America just what "leftwing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 28, 2008
'Hitman'
Saying that you enjoy watching the film "Hitman" is like admitting to an affinity for consuming spicy chicken wings while chain smoking. Or dating acne-ridden criminals on parole. To say that "Hitman" is bad is way off the mark; it's worthier of adjectives like "god-awful" and "puke-provoking." The truth...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2008
'Jellyfish'
War and its implications are the first things one tends to associate with Israeli cinema, perhaps because those kind of films are the ones that make it to the film festivals and get international releases (most notable are the works of director Amos Gitai).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 18, 2008
Hey grandma, thanks for all your genmai grub
'Shoku wa inochi! (Food is life itself)' was one of my grandmother's maxims, which when I was growing up, I was never able to fathom.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2008
'The Darjeeling Limited'
As an American filmmaker with no particular pedigree (like the Coppolas or Hustons), Wes Anderson's penchant for exclusiveness could have put him in a precarious position in the aggressively democratized world of Hollywood cinema. As it turns out, he occupies a not unenviable niche, probably because...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2008
'4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days'
A young woman is about to get an abortion. On the morning of the crucial day, what's on her mind and how does she deal with it?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 29, 2008
'The Golden Compass'
The moral to "The Golden Compass" — a coming-of-age tale that takes place in a parallel, rockin' kind of universe where there is no God and people's souls are embodied by animals that frolic at their side and accompany them wherever they go and the general wardrobe scheme is too cool for words —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2008
'Evening'
Lest we forget what it is to be a woman, there's always the chick flick to remind us exactly what this may imply. In the case of "Evening," the implying rather has the effect of a tidal wave. There they are, all the usual suspects: love (unrequited and otherwise), weddings, marriages, careers, motherhood,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 15, 2008
'Sisters'
"Sisters," the remake of the 1973 cult movie by Brian de Palma, is living proof of the culinary adage that fresh is always better. There's so much here that's just been scooped out of the can and nuked in a microwave — most of what had made the original "Sisters" compelling and scary has been reheated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008
Harmony (in his head)
An eight year hiatus is a long time for a filmmaker, especially for someone as iconic in indie film as Harmony Korine.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008
'Mister Lonely'
Intentionally or not, Harmony Korine built his reputation on being the enfant terrible of American art-house cinema, the impish prankster whose art seemed to draw on charm rather than hardened professionalism. This put him in a different league to that other film-buff-turned-indies wunderkind, Quentin...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 5, 2008
Choose the right 'bite' for Valentine's manhunt
Has anyone noticed in recent years how the whole concept of Valentine's Day in Japan isn't what it used to be?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2008
Amalric's mind's-eye view
Mathieu Amalric is best known outside France for his role in Steven Spielberg's "Munich," but in his own country he has been one of the best-loved actors since the mid 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2008
'Le scaphandre et le papillon'
Jean-Dominique Bauby (Jean-Do to his friends) could hardly complain. He enjoyed a successful career (editor of Elle France magazine), had three cute kids, his relationship with his separated wife was amiable, and his mistress had recently moved in to live with him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2008
'American Gangster'
According to gangster-cinema logic, a gang boss wallows in crime and murder largely because he feels obligated (often willingly so) to look after the people on his turf: to keep the streets safe, his family well-fed and his business thriving. The contradiction is, of course, that by doing so a gang boss...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2008
'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2008
Depp: "If you ate me I would taste of deep-fried frog's legs"
Despite the gore depicted in trailers aired on screens, the atmosphere was nothing short of festive as director Tim Burton, actor Johnny Depp and producer Richard Zanuck entered the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo's Roppongi district last week to promote "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2008
'Le Faute a Fidel!'
Children are often much more conservative than adults give them credit for. Many prefer orderliness over chaos, predictability over confusion, and custom over trends that come and go.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2008
Passing politics from generation to generation
'La Faute a Fidel!" is, in a sense, a project engineered by daughters. Director Julie Gavras' father is the famed prorevoltionary director Costa Gavras, its lead actress Julie Depardieu is the daughter of Gerard, France's most treasured actor. And Nina Kervel, who was age 9 when the film was made, comes...
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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