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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.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2009
Arta Dobroshi: A role model
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2009
'Revolutionary Road'
There's something about American suburbia that American cinema loves to hate, or at least give a dig in the ribs. The camera will pan in on the clean, airy spaciousness and obvious signs of prosperity, but the next minute, terrible things are always happening in the burbs: man-eating houses ("Amityville...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 14, 2009
'Change' is for the better in year's kanji highlights
The most popular kanji in headlines, blurbs and slogans last year had to do with disasters. Hen (変, to change, or metamorphose) was the most used character, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, beating out close second and third choices kin (金 gold) and raku (落, to drop, or...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009
'Lads and Jockeys'
Life as a 14-year-old jockey apprentice at France's sole equestrian academy, Le Moulin N'Avon, starts off resembling a romantic period piece in "Lads and Jockeys," set as it is to the strains of jazz and lit like a moody Parisian bar. But as the camera zooms in on slender, barely pubescent boys lugging...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2008
'The Day the Earth Stood Still'
The Earth continues to turn as the characters in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a tailored-for- blockbuster remake of the 1951 classic of the same name, remain eerily immobile
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2008
The top movies of 2008
In carefully ordered rankings for Japanese films and no particular order for the rest, we bring you the best films of a year that is steadily drawing its curtains closed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2008
Top movies of 2008
In carefully ordered rankings for Japanese films and no particular order for the rest, we bring you the best films of a year that is steadily drawing its curtains closed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2008
'Lars and the Real Girl'
If 27-year-old Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) in "Lars and the Real Girl" had lived in another community, perhaps life would have been easier for him. As it is, the citizens of a friendly little town located in the American Midwest look upon Lars with protective tenderness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2008
'Alatriste'
Touted as the most expensive Spanish production ever made, the $28 million swashbuckler "Alatriste" refrains from flaunting its price tag.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 9, 2008
At the heart of Japan rests the ‘reverent middle'
Elsewhere in the world, the heart lies pretty much in its correct anatomical place. But in Japan, it has traditionally been located mid-torso, or more precisely in the hara(腹, belly). For the Japanese, the belly has always been the vessel of emotions. It's where rage festers, love burns or fades away;...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2008
Jiri's on track again
Forty years after he won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture with "Closely Watched Trains," Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel proves that his trademark deadpan humor and mischievous, satirical wit are still intact with "I Served the King of England."
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2008
'I Served the King of England'
Watching Czech waiter Jan Dite in "I Served the King of England" traipse through some of the most tragic years his country had ever known (Nazi intervention, Soviet invasion), you're reminded of another Czech cinema antihero: Tomas (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008
'Broken English'
Zoe Cassavetes' first feature film, "Broken English," hovers expertly between the realm of total credibility and urban fairy-tale for chicks, the kind of story you're likely to hear from a girlfriend over lunch about someone in her office who hasn't had a date in two whole years and wham! She met THE...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2008
'Exiled '
In a Hong Kong diner several months before the peninsula was to be handed back to mainland China in 1997, I witnessed a scene between a portly local businessman and a suited gaijin. They were discussing a deal over a plastic table groaning with food — the gaijin had no appetite, but the Hong Kong...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2008
'Blindess'
When chaos hits, no one is morally or philosophically unscathed. Such is the moral of "Blindness," based on Portuguese author Jose Saramago's 1995 best seller and adapted to the screen by Brazil's Fernando Meirelles ("City of God").
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 11, 2008
To go naked in autumn, you've gotta have yu
As soon as the weather starts to get chilly in this country, it seems that peoples' minds turn to two things: yu (湯, hot water) and nabe (鍋, hot pot). Anyone staying in Japan longer than a year will have noticed it — as a nation, Japanese are hopelessly samugari (寒がり, prone to being cold)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2008
'Leatherheads'
George Clooney's well-groomed, pedigreed charm hits the screen full-force in "Leatherheads" — the impact of which leaves you slightly reeling. How can one, sole guy be so enchanting?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2008
War as wisdom and gore
A prominent example of how modern technology altered the world is seen in the way men wage war. In John Woo's battle extravaganza "Red Cliff," set in China in 208, armies fight with spears and shields and bare hands; they traverse deserts and treacherous mountain paths on foot and subsist on little more...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2008
'Boy A'
When a 10-year-old commits a horrendous crime, whose fault is it? "Boy A" addresses the question but offers no easy answer in this painful portrayal of the repercussions of a childhood gone terribly awry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2008
'Deception'
There's a certain anachronistic value system at work in "Deception" that's both quaint and slightly annoying. So many things about this film seem so outlandishly yesterday as to prompt the sotto voce notion, "Are you guys for real?"
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
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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