author

 
Menu
Search
 
July 17, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2016
Yuki Tanada's new film sees the humor in societal changes
The Japanese women directors who have been gaining attention in the past two decades, beginning with frequent Cannes invitee Naomi Kawase, tend to be serious types, understandably. Their struggle for respect and recognition in a male-dominated industry is difficult enough — and goofy comedies are...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2016
'Someone's Xylophone': Yoichi Higashi hits an unusual tone
Yoichi Higashi has made everything from commercial hits to festival favorites in his five-plus decades as a director, while taking up politically sensitive subjects and unpopular issues. His 1992 smash "The Bridge with No River" ("Hashi no Nai Kawa") depicted the raw prejudice endured by burakumin outcasts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 14, 2016
Director Naomi Kawase celebrates her hometown with the Nara Film Festival
Film festivals can be the product of one person's passion, but that person is rarely a regular invitee to that most prestigious of festivals: Cannes. Director Naomi Kawase, who has both won Cannes prizes and sat on Cannes juries, fits that description as the executive director of the Nara International...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 10, 2016
Producer Christian Storms: 'The currency of my life is experiences, not money'
American actor/director on the differences between Japanese and Hollywood productions and working as a guide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016
The delicate notes of 'Someone's Xylophone'
Japanese directors now routinely do dozens of media interviews to publicize their new films, especially if they are on the indie end of the spectrum. The stars of said films also sit down with the press, if not as commonly, but though I have been writing about local film folk since 1991, an interview...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016
'Karate Kill': Kick back to a good old action film
Back in the 1990s, a British trade magazine sent me to Los Angeles every November to report on the American Film Market — then mostly an emporium of cheapo genre films, held at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. It was the heyday of the straight-to-video actioner and the doors of many sales suites were...
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 7, 2016
The Yufuin Film Festival: a movie paradise on Earth
Before attending my first Yufuin Film Festival, which was held Aug. 24-28 this year, I wondered what attracted Japanese film folk — from nationally known actors to directors of zero-budget documentaries — to this town in northern Kyushu.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2016
'Your Name.': Makoto Shinkai could be the next big name in anime
Japanese animators have good reason to hate the label "new Miyazaki," meaning successor to animation genius Hayao Miyazaki, who retired from feature filmmaking in 2013. First, it saddles them with fan expectations that their films will resemble — or imitate — the master's. Second, their box-office...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2016
'Black Widow Business': Never too old for the marriage con
"There's no fool like an old fool." Yasuo Tsuruhashi's comedy "Black Widow Business" is a feature-length illustration of this venerable saying, though it also reflects present-day trends in an aging Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 17, 2016
'Yell For the Blue Sky': High school drama never really changes
The seishun eiga or "youth film" is one Japanese genre that doesn't travel well abroad. With only a few exceptions, these films assume a familiarity with the insular world of the Japanese high school (or, once in a while, junior high school) that outlanders are unlikely to possess. They also follow certain...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2016
'Rudolph the Black Cat': Curiosity helps this little black cat
Many Japanese films for kids are entries in venerable anime series belonging to multiplatform franchises. To their target audience they are pre-sold and, in their formulas, pre-seen. And that audience is by and large domestic. One big exception is "Stand By Me Doraemon," a 3-D CG anime starring a blue...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 3, 2016
Momoi is on fire in her new indie film 'Hee'
In her four-decade acting career Kaori Momoi has always been a free-spirited stand-out, indifferent to convention. But beneath her easygoing attitude and signature drawling delivery (which used to make me wonder what she had been ingesting before the cameras started rolling) was a thorough professionalism...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 3, 2016
'Shin Godzilla': The metaphorical monster returns
Watching "Shin Godzilla," Toho's reboot of its signature monster series, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the non-Japanese fans forced to read a blizzard of subtitles for this extremely talky and densely populated film, with a break every 10 minutes or so for Godzilla rampages — the real reason...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2016
Our favorite monster returns to terrorize Japan in 'Shin Godzilla'
After 12 years in storage (or on Monster Island) a Japanese Godzilla is roaring again. Toho film studios has revived the world's favorite atomic-breathed monster in "Shin Godzilla," which is set for nationwide release today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2016
Crowdfunding offers freedom to filmmakers
It's not easy making indie movies in Japan. The big studios only want commercial projects with proven fan appeal, usually based on hit manga, novels or TV dramas. Given the need, government funding schemes are paltry, with much of the money going to films about safe, uncontroversial subjects.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2016
'The Dork, the Girl and the Douchebag': The hard-hitting brutality of gang life
Some filmmakers will go to any end for their art. Werner Herzog notoriously put cast and crew through hell in the making of "Fitzcarraldo" (1982) in the Peruvian jungle, with hundreds of indigenous people hired to drag a 320-ton steamship over a hill with real ropes and real injuries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 20, 2016
'Ken and Kazu': The yakuza isn't all guns and glamour
Most films about the yakuza depict its members as fully formed and distinctly different from the general run of humanity, somewhat like action figures just out of the box. The reality, as Hiroshi Shoji's "Ken and Kazu" shows us with a gritty directness and power, is more quotidian. For Shoji's title...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 20, 2016
Tai Kato: The too-often neglected samurai- and ganster-movie master
Tai Kato (1916-85) has long ranked high on critics' lists as a neglected director, and the neglect continues, especially overseas.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 13, 2016
'Ishibumi': Tragic history set in stone
An annual ritual on Japanese television on or around Aug. 6 is a number of special programs about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truth be told, after many years in this country I tune out more than I tune in. Just as the bombings were political acts, so are the many memorial programs...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2016
'Moriyamachu Driving School': Two teens behind the wheel of life
Learning to drive is a rite of passage that more Japanese men appear to be avoiding: The number of male drivers has been falling every year since 2009. The number of women drivers, by contrast, has been rising. Reasons for the drop include the decline of the car as a male status symbol. Back in the day,...
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.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
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.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER