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November 21, 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 10, 2004
Apply Botox before viewing
Gothika Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Mathieu Kassovitz Running time: 97 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] It was sad, but it had to be done. After a steady diet of horror films throughout my, uh, youth, I went through a voluntary detox/rehab...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2004
Hard to the theater, landlubbers
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Peter Weir Running time: 135 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] In these days of cinematic sensitivity, men just aren't afforded the opportunity to run the...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 26, 2004
Getting underneath the language of skin
"Obsessed" is probably the right word to describe the Japanese's woman's relationship with her hada (skin). From her earliest years, she is exhorted by her elders to look after her skin -- scrub, cleanse, moisturize -- to achieve that tsuru-tsuru (polished) texture and shittori (moist) feel. If a young...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2004
Funny how things work out
Uptown Girls Rating: * * 1/2(out of 5) Director: Boaz Yakin Running time: 92 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Living isn't worth it if you're not gonna have fun!" declares bubbly 22-year-old Molly. "Fundamentals are the building blocks of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2004
Don't get stung by this one
Confidence Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: James Foley Running time: 97 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Confidence" is the cinematic equivalent of a dream date that's really a nightmare: gorgeous, stylish and utterly insincere. You know...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 17, 2004
Enduring life in the Japanese company
It's probably just as difficult to find a happily employed Westerner in a Japanese company as it is to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 12, 2004
'Iyashi': relief for tired Japanese salarywomen
It's widely assumed that whatever their station in life, most Japanese women over the age of 24 are tsukarete iru (tired). This has less to do with modern living than something ingrained in the Japanese tradition that tires women out before their time -- namely, the emphasis on shigoto (work). Women...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004
Ah, that's Dogma amore
Italian for Beginners Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Shiawase ni naru tame Itariagokoza Director: Lone Scherfig Running time: 97 minutes Language: Danish, Italian Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Italian for Beginners" is a sweet, unpretentious love story...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2004
My unlikely valentine
Love Actually Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Richard Curtis Running time: 135 minutes Language: English Opens Feb. 7 [See Japan Times movie listings] Love, love, love. Given how movies are pretty indiscriminating when it comes to strewing that word around, there's a positive recklessness...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2004
A lesson on how to waste one's life
Pinero Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Leon Ichaso Running time: 103 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 31 [See Japan Times movie listings] One pitfall of artist biopics is the genre's tendency to select those artists whose lives were of the wrecked and splashy variety. It's extremely...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 22, 2004
The 'shitagidorobo': from criminal to fashion critic
It's not something that's widely advertised, but Japan is home to a massive shitagi-bunka (underwear culture). The most demure and modest of women will often be the owners of a collection that would put Frederick's of Hollywood to abject shame. And it's no secret that lan-pabu ("lingerie pubs," in which...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2004
Hong Kong action ends up on the wrong flight
Bulletproof Monk Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Paul Hunter Running time: 104 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Hollywood takes a shot at B-grade Hong Kong action in "Bulletproof Monk." The difference between this picture and the hundreds...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 20, 2004
Don't mention the L-word
There you go again. That trick of saying "I love you!" just before hanging up the phone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2004
A fail-safe genre that rarely misfires
Hollywood Homicide Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Ron Shelton Running time: 111 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 24 [See Japan Times movie listings] It's interesting to see the different fates allotted to those stars who've entered what used to be termed their "twilight years."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2004
Enrolled in the Pacino Academy
The Recruit Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Roger Ronaldson Running time: 105 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 17 [See Japan Times movie listings] The Next Big Thing meets with the Last Big Thing in "The Recruit." The former is Colin Farrell, Hollywood's hottest wonder-boy and...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 25, 2003
Be good to your rice and your rice will be good
"Aaaaah. Nihonjin dana . . . (Ahh, isn't this what being Japanese is all about?)"
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 23, 2003
At home in japan without the kinks
So is this what they mean by globalization?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 4, 2003
Learning the finer points of this, that and 'nani'
Like the Japanese economy, the Japanese conversation has dwindled. Our words have lost their luxurious sheen, our sentences have been reduced to short strings of blah. We no longer need the metaphors of Osamu Dazai to convey our emotions, since a handful of familiar phrases have been encoded to cover...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 13, 2003
The indispensable vagueness of 'domo-domo'
It's when I'm away from Japan and forced to speak in another language (in this case English) that I realize just how vague Japanese can get. At home, it's possible to go through a whole day without uttering one coherent sentence built on spontaneous thought and logic.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 23, 2003
Forget Starbucks, we're doing the ocha thing
Do you have a little time? If so, then "ocha shimasho (Let's do tea, or take a break over something to drink)." This is one of Japan's most favored phrases and oldest customs. A breaking of the ice and shortening of the distance between people, the little ritual of ocha is to the Japanese what mealtimes...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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’

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