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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
May 12, 2005
Middle-aged men seek reconciliation with wives
Oh boy. It's happened at last: the junai (pure love) boom of last year that changed even the behavioral patterns of Sentagai no Jyoshikousei (the high school girls of Center-Gai, Shibuya) has reached the last and most difficult segment of the Japanese populace: the over-45 salaryman.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 21, 2005
For a life less ordinary, try marrying an otaku
Wedding bells rang for my friend Yoshika six months ago and last night a bunch of us got together over drinks to hear all about it -- her new life as a wife to a genuine, full-fledged ota-yome (wife of an otaku or "nerd").
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 31, 2005
Shonan Beach mystique evaporates upon arrival
It's here: the season of mizu nurumu (water loosening) when one's thoughts turn to things ocean-like: surf and sand and this year's ichiban kawaii mizugi (the cutest bathing suit).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 10, 2005
Japan's spartan home remedies short on comfort, ice cream
It's that time of year again, when "kaze (colds)" and " infuruenza (influenza)" merge with the "sugikafunsho (hay fever)" to generate and spread that oh-so-miserable feeling.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 10, 2005
Learning how to make the most of middle age
It's widely acknowledged that the Japanese not only tend to look younger than people in the West, some think and behave that way too. After all, this is a nation fostered on kodomo bunka (kiddie culture), visible in everything from fashion to architecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2005
Gosling plays it straight
He's not "Ryan-san" but "Gos-sama" to his Japanese fans, and the tall, lanky 25-year-old from Canada is fast on his way to becoming the next Hollywood sensation ("the next River Phoenix!" gush the Japanese movie magazines). However, in person, Ryan Gosling is an unassuming, laid-back kind of guy who...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 20, 2005
Examining the exotic ins and outs of marrying a foreigner
...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 30, 2004
Japan gripped by obsession with pure love
2004 was the year of jun-ai (pure love), epitomized by the huge popularity of Yon-sama (the reverential nickname for Bae Yong Joon, star of the hit Korean drama "Winter Sonata") and a craze for sentimental love stories that gripped the nation from Hokkaido to the Okinawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 29, 2004
Come back for more
Upon seeing this list the editor of this page expressed "dismay" that it hadn't included movies that I had raved about, and that instead I included those with a less-than four-star rating. Call me contradictory, if you like. The fact is the obvious choices were so praised and dissected and analyzed to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 22, 2004
Mission of self-destruction
Sylvia Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Christine Jeffs Running time: 110 minutes Language: English Opens Dec. 25 [See Japan Times movie listings] "A writer should be remembered for his writing," Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote, but in the world of movies many writers tend to be remembered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2004
It's a mad, mad, triple-mad world
Les Triplettes de Belleville Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Belleville Rendex-vous Director: Sylvain Chomet Running time: 80 minutes Language: French Opens Dec. 18 [See Japan Times movie listings] It's in sepia and scarred with soft, silvery needles, like interference on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2004
Larger than life
Director and animator Sylvain Chomet had a different childhood (in Maison-Laffitte, in France) from the little boy in "Les Triplettes de Belleville," but the two had some things in common.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 9, 2004
Confessions of a biker girl -- those were the days!
Despite my current overworked, wage-slave status, I still remember when I was able to wield some power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2004
Cheer and moaning in L.A.
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog Rating: * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Butai Yori, Sutekina Seikatsu Director: Michael Kalesniko Running time: 98 minutes Language: English Opens Dec. 11 [See Japan Times movie listings] Kenneth Branagh once said in a movie many years back: "There is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004
Fun with a gentleman
Kevin Kline is every inch the professional. Unlike many other Hollywood notables he arrived on the dot for the press conference to promote "De-Lovely." He answered each question with succinct sincerity and was dressed in an immaculate suit very much like the ones he wore as Cole Porter (designed by Giorgio...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004
Mixing madness with magic music
De-Lovely Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Gosenfu no Love Letter Director: Irwin Winkler Running time: 126 minutes Language: English Opens Dec. 11 [See Japan Times movie listings] "You have a dazzling talent and a life to go with it. What can you possibly be afraid of?" says...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 28, 2004
A clotheshorse for all seasons
"What will she be wearing?"
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 18, 2004
Something meaningful to sink your teeth into
If nothing else, the Japanese are food snobs.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 28, 2004
For Japanese, family names are the worst growing pains
Japanese family relationships have never been simple.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 7, 2004
A woman's happiness is in the home . . . huh?
The term "shufu (main woman of the house, or housewife)" has shifted from derogatory to almost exalted.
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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