author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 23, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 13, 2012
High price of the most gorgeous show in town
Note to self: Never be a young woman in Japan. It's just too harrowing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2012
'United'
In "United," soccer is described as "beautiful" — a wondrous amalgam of a simple ball, freshly mown grass and men doing godlike things with their feet. Set in Manchester, England, in the 1950s, "United" pays full tribute to this beauty with loving attention to the details of the sport.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 29, 2012
'The Amazing Spider-Man'
One telling scene in "The Amazing Spider-Man" is also the movie's defining moment. A high school English lit teacher explains to her class the premise of fiction and she gives it in three short words: "Who am I?" That's the question Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, struggles with in this reboot to the famed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2012
'One Day'
They say that the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. "One Day" is all about that need, and how two people (subconsciously and otherwise) hold on to that for 23 long years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 18, 2012
The truth about Japanese love: We just don't get along
One of my younger cousins, aged 23, managed to pull off what he calls the kotoshino igyō (今年の偉業, the great accomplishment of this year).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012
'Snow White & the Huntsman'
A classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale undergoes an intriguing overhaul in "Snow White & the Huntsman," a femme-centric, Gothic action thriller strewn with ravens' feathers and dripping with blood. Disney never put that sweet princess through such muck, but director Rupert Sanders has no qualms about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2012
'Michi' actors Yoshizawa and Bae learn from their characters that experience is key to understanding
It's been a long while since the Korean Wave first washed through the Japanese entertainment industry and altered the landscape forever. Not a day goes by without a Korean star making an appearance in the Japanese media. DVD rental stores devote huge sections of floor space to hanryū productions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2012
'We Bought a Zoo (Japan title: Shiawase e no Kiseki)'
The latest on the Japanese dating-scene bulletin says ikumen are it. And what exactly are ikumen? These are men (perhaps the first in the history of this nation) willing to nurture and raise children, and actually profess to enjoy it. Coming from a family whose male members would have all chosen ritual...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2012
'I Don't Know How She Does it'
Here's what I hope is a dusty, totally passe concept: the supermom. You know, those women who juggle a million tasks before 8 a.m., then go for a 10 km jog, then strap their kids into hybrid SUV car seats, check them into day care and depart for an important, high-paying career in the finance sector....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 25, 2012
'Men in Black 3'
How do you feel about men in black suits? Black shoes? Narrow (but not too narrow) black ties? Call me strange, but I've always had a weakness for that look, ever since Jake and Elwood Blues of "The Blues Brothers" perfected the mode in 1980. Always trust the guy in the suit, as my granny used to say....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2012
'The Muppets'
The Muppets franchise gets a thorough dusting off and a major makeover in "The Muppets," but it's probably the parents, and not the kids, who will most appreciate the effort. This is the first Muppets movie to come out since "Muppets From Space" in 1999, and such a lot of water has gone under the bridge...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 14, 2012
How living can kill you, and other inconvenient truths
It's around this time of year that many Japanese turn their thoughts away from Golden Week escapades (if indeed, there were any. This year, according to a survey by Sankei Shimbun, a good bulk of Tokyoites stayed in and laid low during the holidays) and to the kenkō shindan (健康診断, health examinations),...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2012
'The Descendants'
If you were an actor, middle-aged or older and looking to revamp your career, landing a role in an Alexander Payne movie could be just the thing. On the other hand, collaborating with the man who brought to the world the twin masterpieces of midlife pathos "About Schmidt" and "Sideways" may mean that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012
'Faces in the Crowd'
Here's something you don't see often: Milla Jovovich not battling zombies, and not wielding some impossibly menacing piece of artillery. In "Faces in the Crowd," we see Jovovich in a rare mode of vulnerability and fragility (in spite of those muscular shoulders) — even giving the impression that she...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 27, 2012
'Last Night (Japan Title: Koi to Ai no Hakarikata'
You know how it goes: An attractive married couple go out to a party one night wreathed in smiles but return some hours later in stony silence. The shot of the two of them in bed, backs turned toward each other and mutual profiles radiating dissatisfaction in the dark as sirens blare from the street,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012
'Le Havre'
Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki has always been free from a particular pressure of the modern world: the pressure to grow and change. You know, the one where we have to make more money, be better looking and forever fit, and go on better vacations than the Joneses (or Suzukis) and post the pictures...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 16, 2012
Could happiness be the new frontier?
Bookstore shelves all over Tokyo are stacked with shiawase hautsū bon (幸せハウツー本, how-to-be-happy books), which, surprisingly perhaps, outnumber the dire-prediction books that spin tales about what's ailing the global economy and how Japan will chinbotsu (沈没, sink) in five years or less....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012
Asano goes for an A-1 hit with 'Battleship' film
History often repeats itself in the most interesting ways. In 1945, principal members of the Japanese government signed an agreement for total surrender of the country's armed forces to the United States atop the famed USS Missouri battleship, also known as the "Mighty Mo." Sixty-seven years later, audiences...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012
'Texas Killing Fields'
Having an iconic Hollywood filmmaker for a dad isn't always a cool thing. The dad in question: Michael Mann, the guy who brought us such notable gangster tales as "Public Enemies," produced the gritty, testosterone-infused "Heat" and has more than a dozen blockbusters to his name. Granted, Michael Mann...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2012
'Oranges and Sunshine'
Decency is often much harder to swing than heroism or conventional success. And to keep plugging away at it without recognition or reward is not just awe-inspiring but truly humbling. "Oranges and Sunshine" highlights such an act of decency.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER