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July 16, 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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 12, 2010
'Sherlock Holmes'
As with most other things in the modern world, "Sherlock Holmes" is kindly adapted to fit the "it's for everyone" format — you don't have to be an expert on Victorian London, on the whereabouts of Baker Street, on who Dr. John Watson was — or any of those elementary issues. (By the way, that...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 10, 2010
Wait long enough and daikon legs get fashionable
Bridget Jones said a woman starts to feel her age when the fashion of the times comes full circle and she witnesses the ghostly resurrection of all the stuff she wore in her youth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 5, 2010
'The Blind Side'
Sandra Bullock locates the finest groove of her career in "The Blind Side," a true-to-life story (based on a best seller of the same title) about a wealthy, saintly family in Memphis, Tennessee, who take in a homeless black 17 year old. Under their care the boy — Michael Oher — flourishes....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010
'Pour Elle'/'New York, I Love You'
A gorgeous wife, a beautiful baby son and an apartment in Paris. What more could a man possibly want, especially when he's a humdrum schoolteacher? But then one morning the placid life of Julien (Vincent Lindon) is blown to smithereens. His wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) is arrested for murdering her boss...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 19, 2010
'Rudo y Cursi'
It's probably just me, but when the economy's this bad, even the latest movies seem to be all about bankruptcy, conspiracy, mindless consumption, bad plumbing, etc. Even when a film is about multitudes of people falling in and out of love in sunny Los Angeles (See "Valentine's Day," well, then again,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2010
'It's Complicated'
In adolescence and a few years beyond that, many of us have rolled our eyes and pretended to vomit when on-screen couples over the age of 35 started kissing. Yucky, indecent, pathetic! — we didn't know where to look. But having gotten there myself and been informed that 40 is the new 20 and 50...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 10, 2010
Is your Valentine's Day going to be hot and spicy?
At this time of the year it seems inappropriate to talk about food that's not chocolate — but word is getting out that women have begun to regard the giving and getting of chocolate on you-know-what-day as, like, totally kakkowarui (カッコわるい, uncool). Which is why I feel justified in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 5, 2010
'Valentine's Day'
If nothing else, "Valentine's Day" shows you how to spend the romantic day with sanity and dignity and be in Los Angeles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2010
'The Private Lives of Pippa Lee'
What exactly does a woman want? Even a genius like Freud couldn't answer that one, but that doesn't stop Hollywood from gleefully pitching their own answers, time and time again. Sadly, they're almost always something routine and familiar, dribbling with prosaic food-court banality: a man, a family,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010
Hunting for strength
Quentin Tarantino pushed for "Frozen River" as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival two years back and was effusive in his praise. At first glance the film is as far from Tarantino turf as Alaska is from Tahiti, but rumors had it that the struggling single-mom factor got to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010
'Frozen River'
Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is not a pretty sight. One of the first shots of "Frozen River" shows her slumped in a chair in the early morning hours, and the camera moves slowly and meticulously over her features, ravaged by age and nicotine, the crisscross lines around her eyes testifying to what seems like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010
'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'
A French critic in Cannes once remarked that European horror movies are different from Hollywood products in that "they are properly horrific." And that certainly fits the bill for Swedish movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (released in Japan as "Millennium") — a brave undertaking by director...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 13, 2010
O-shōgatsu can really test a woman's endurance
Here's my take on the Japanese o-shōgatsu (お正月, New Year's) holiday week: I am, like, so ecstatic the whole thing is over.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 8, 2010
'(500) Days of Summer'
As a genre, the rom-com has all but died — what's a woman to do when at the end of a long working week she sits down in a theater hoping for solace and a thin but meaningful sliver of real romance and all that happens on-screen is a lot of preachy, self-helpy schlock? To all rom-com filmmakers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 25, 2009
'Old Partner'
"Old Partner" (Released in Japan as "Ushino Suzuoto") is one extraordinary film, breaking several laws of gravity, logic and marketing while being entirely unselfconscious about it. A South Korean documentary that features the three principles of an old, old man, an old, old ox and the old man's slightly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 18, 2009
French writer Claudel paints a not-too-pretty picture
Philippe Claudel is one of France's best known novelists who also defines himself as a teacher.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 18, 2009
'Il y a longtemps que je t'aime'
They say that losing a child is the greatest misfortune to befall anyone — at the beginning of "Il ya longtemps que je t'aime" that misfortune is already the defining element of Juliette's (Kristin Scott Thomas) life. The camera zooms in on her profile, the skin dry and wan, inhaling a cigarette....
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009
Let us celebrate the miracle of wondrously difficult movies
The more movies you watch the more you become convinced how they are wondrously difficult things to make. Billy Wilder didn't say that exactly, but he did say something about the job getting harder as he got older, so I figured it out. I'm always awed by the fact that so many incredibly watchable films...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009
'The Man from London'
Appropriate to the director's family name of Tarr, "The Man From London" is akin to walking on an endless runway strip of newly laid-on tarmac.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 9, 2009
Recession brings with it the 'loneliness of pockets'
"Two men on the subway, both middle-aged and a bit the worse for wear, were reminiscing about what it was like in the furuki yoki mukashi (古き良き昔, the good old days). It made me realize how rare it is to hear anything so positive today. "Yoruto sawaruto fukyōno hanashi (よるとさわると不況の話,...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
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