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November 22, 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
Jan 10, 2008
The Renaissance Man
Peter Greenaway's first film in eight years is every bit as enigmatic and tantalizing as the painting it takes its name from, Rembrandt van Rijn's "The Night Watch." Completed in 1642, this work in oils is considered by many critics to be the Dutch master's greatest and most mysterious work.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 8, 2008
How to avoid an attack of the new year blues
For as long as I can remember, Oshogatsu (New Year's) and me just haven't gelled.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2008
A director's defense
Francois Girard, the Canadian filmmaker who brought to the screen such quirky masterpieces as "Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould" and "The Red Violin," changes his style and goes all out in the grandiose "Silk." His first feature project in 10 years, "Silk" is based on an Italian novel that explores...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2008
'Silk'
It took a long time for me to recover from the blast of bullsh*t Orientalism that was "Memoirs of a Geisha." There were the usual symptoms: nausea, shaky hands and an attack of shudders every time I passed by the Oriental Bazaar on Tokyo's Omotesando avenue, among others.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2007
'L'heure zero'
French filmmaker Pascal Thomas has a thing about Agatha Christie. "L'heure zero (Toward Zero)" is his second adaptation of a mystery by the "Queen of Crime" following "Mon petit doigt ma dit . . . (By the Pricking of My Thumbs . . .)," and he re-creates the Christie microcosm, as before, with the earnest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 14, 2007
In praise of Chinese women
Though novelist/filmmaker Sijie Dai resides in France and shot his latest movie in Vietnam, he says he will continue to make movies in China because, "I can't think of doing otherwise. It is after all, my country despite our differences."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 14, 2007
'Les filles du botaniste'
Banned in China as "unsuitable for viewing," "Les filles du botaniste (The Botanist's Daughters — released in Japan as 'Chugoku no Shokubutsugakusha no Musumetachi')" is a luscious, languid tale of forbidden love in 1980s China.
LIFE / Language
Dec 11, 2007
Yearend love stories cap a yucky 2007 for girls
Here's a toshinose renai hora banashi (yearend love relationship horror story) -- always a favorite topic of conversation during the season's more casual nomikai (drinking parties).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Dec 7, 2007
"Irina Palm"
Director: Sam Garbarski
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2007
'Angel'
Had filmmaker Francois Ozon ("Under the Sand," "The Swimming Pool") been around in Vienna at the same time as Freud, he would have put the good doctor out of business in a week; this is one man who really, truly understands women and what they want, seemingly without the mighty and constricted efforts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2007
He's in the realm of the senses
Francois Ozon is a filmmaker renowned for adopting a different style with every film — he has made scathing, pseudo-pornographic short features ("Sitcom," "See the Sea"), a rich, velvety musical ("8 Femmes"), and a restrained but sensual tale of bereavement ("Under the Sand"). His latest, "Angel,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007
'The Nativity Story'
Motherhood is a rum thing to begin with but motherhood in the mid-teens, in superconservative ancient Nazareth, engaged to a man you've never met and who is definitely not the father of the baby — well, then it would be time to hit the panic button, if only such a thing had existed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 23, 2007
'Grbavica'/'Children of Glory'
When the civil war broke out in Bosnia Herzegovina, Jasmila Zbanic was 17 years old.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2007
'Waitress'
Pie-making is a tricky business, as are most other things in life. In "Waitress," pie-maker (or rather, pie-genuis as she's known to her friends) and waitress Jenna's habitual reply to "How are you doing today?" is a rolling of the eyes and a quiet, heartfelt, "Same old shipwreck."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 13, 2007
Pick a charismatic kyara to sweeten up your life
"All my friends are characters" is a line from the Peanuts cartoon strip, but it seems that everyone in Japan, from friends to foes to family members — have turned into characters, or as people over here say, kyara.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2007
'Four Minutes'
"Four Minutes" was inspired by a single photograph of an 80-year-old woman who worked as a piano teacher in a women's prison. She sat at her instrument, her hands placed lightly on the keys, and filmmaker Chris Kraus was struck by the contrast between her old, ravaged face and youthful, elegant hands....
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2007
A guy and a girl
In "Once," the couple consisting of the Guy (Glen Hansard) and the Girl (Marketa Irglova) make sweet music but never get together.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2007
'Once'
The characters in "Once" don't even have names; it's just the Guy (Glen Hansard) and the Girl (Marketa Irglova), and the story spans about 10 days in their lives one autumn in Dublin. "Once" was a sleeper hit at the Sundance Film Festival — and it's like a small, shining halo of brightness that recalls...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2007
'Vitus'
How does the world (and a parent in particular) deal with a child prodigy? Though Swiss film "Vitus (Boku no Piano Concerto)" doesn't provide any definite answers, it parts the curtains on the mystery, letting us share a little in the experience of getting to know and learning to love an incredibly gifted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2007
'Scoop'
"Scoop" is not exactly Woody Allen back in top-notch comedy form, but there's a giddy, debonair humor to it that makes you think he was really happy when making this film. And that is probably due to the fact that he was working with Scarlett Johansson for the second time in a row after the dark, stylish...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
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.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

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

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