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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2011
Director Ishii brings style to family drama
Japanese directors with any kind of ambition usually end up making a family drama, which is to Japanese cinema what the Western used to be to Hollywood: the core national genre.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2011
'Saya Zamurai (Scabbard Samurai)'
of manzai comedy duo Downtown, Hitoshi Matsumoto has sat atop the slippery pole of popularity on Japanese television for nearly two decades. He has also directed two films, 2007's "Dai-Nipponjin (Big Man Japan)" and 2009's "Shinboru (Symbol)," that have screened widely abroad, while occasioning some...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 27, 2011
'My Back Page'
The Japanese student-protest movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s had much in common with its American counterpart, from its massive street demonstrations to its taste in music (The Beatles and Bob Dylan) and movies (anything with Dustin Hoffman or Jack Nicholson).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2011
'Three Points'
Japan's indie film sector, never terribly robust financially, is now fighting for its life. Technically, of course, it has never been easier to make indie films. The problem is the lack of theaters willing to screen them and fans willing to see them. Even one-time indie stalwarts such as Sion Sono, Ryuichi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 13, 2011
'Okike no Tanoshii Ryoko: Shinkon Jigoku-hen (The Oki Family's Fun Trip: Newlywed Hell)'
What is marriage, anyway? Whatever it is for you personally, it traditionally starts with that brief delirium of carefree joy and erotic delight called a honeymoon. But these days, with more couples marrying after years of living together, honeymoons are becoming just another excuse for a trip, exotic...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
May 1, 2011
Kyoto comedy theater returns — and with English subtitles
Foreign tourists to Kyoto often end up in a bubble of tour buses and traditional culture shows (five minutes of bunraku, five minutes of flower arranging, etc.), while those looking to break out and entertain themselves like the locals can run into language barriers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 29, 2011
'Kantai (Hospitalite)'
When Koji Fukada's "Kantai (Hospitalite)" won the Best Picture Award in the Japanese Eyes section of last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, I wasn't surprised: It's brand of black comedy is funny in smart, original ways. Many reviewers have since compared it favorably with Yoshimitsu Morita's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 22, 2011
'Gantz: Perfect Answer'
Reviewing a two-part movie is an awkward business. For part one, I end up writing a midterm progress report, with no thumbs up or down for whole shebang. Part one may be bad, but prejudging part two would be wrong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 15, 2011
'Dancing Chaplin'
Comic W.C. Fields once said of Charlie Chaplin: "He's the best ballet dancer that ever lived, and if I get a good chance I'll kill him with my bare hands." Fields, who started his career as a vaudeville juggler, knew something about movement. He was also, perhaps only half-jokingly, envious of Chaplin's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 8, 2011
'Koko Debyu (High School Debut)'
I was on my way to a screening of Tsutomu Hanabusa's teen romcom "Koko Debut (High School Debut)" when the March 11 earthquake struck. Luckily, the Oedo subway train I was riding made it, slowly, to the next station and, instead of catching this adaptation of a hit girls' comic by Kazune Kawahara, I...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 1, 2011
'Kigeki Konzen Tokkyu (Cannonball Wedlock)'
Hollywood screwball comedies have long been favorites of Japanese filmmakers, with many listing such genre masters as Frank Capra, Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder as influences. Screwball comedy heroines, however, are usually self-centered, hard-headed types, while the local feminine ideal on screen is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2011
'Kamifusen (Paper Balloon)'
Omnibus films must have a unifying theme, however loose or gimmicky; otherwise, they're a collection of shorts. And while there's nothing wrong with shorts as such, when packaged as a feature film, they are, as all distributors know, box-office suicide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 24, 2011
Laughs, tears at comedy film fest
The third Okinawa International Movie Festival held its opening ceremony on Tues., March 22, after going through a traumatic week in Japan and coming out of it dramatically changed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011
Japan's film industry faces quake fallout
The Japanese entertainment industry is reacting to the massive disaster caused by the March 11 earthquake much the way it reacts to any major national tragedy — by observing jishuku (self-restraint).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011
'Manzai Gyangu (Manzai Gang)'
Manzai acts — comedy duos consisting of a boke (goofball) and tsukkomi (straight man) — are ubiquitous on Japanese television, but the form has relatively few foreign fans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2011
'Rakugo Monogatari (Rakugo Story)'
Rakugo, which might be described as traditional Japanese sit-down comedy, once had a certain snob appeal among foreigners here. If you could boast that your hobby was rakugo, as either a fan or participant, you were saying you had summited the Mount Fuji of the Japanese language. (The Everest to me was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011
'Wasao'
Japan is now a country with more dogs and cats (23 million in 2009) than children under 16 (17 million, same year). As both a parent and a dog owner here, I understand why: Kids are enormously expensive to raise in Japan and, given the current grim employment situation, often live off Mommy and Daddy's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2011
' Taiheiyo no Kiseki — Fokkusu to Yobareta Otoko (Oba: The Last Samurai)'
Japanese mass-audience movies about the country's military during World War II are usually melodramatic, sentimental or blatantly nationalistic. But their pure-hearted tokkotai (suicide squad) pilots flying to certain death are hardly representative of the typical Japanese soldier who, as the war entered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2011
'Gakko wo Tsukuro (Let's Create a School)'
The Japanese audience has long loved period dramas, including ones based on the lives of real people, generally men wearing topknots. And usually, at some point, the swords come out, as in the story of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai) who in 1703 attacked a shogunate official in revenge for his role...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2011
'Yogashiten Koan do Ru (Patisserie Coin de Rue)'
The Japanese foodie movie is an offshoot of the gurume (gourmet) boom of the 1980s bubble years. Back then, urban trendies began exploring the farther reaches of French cuisine, expense be damned — or as Juzo Itami's seminal foodie movie "Tampopo" (1985) comically examined, obsessing over the perfect...
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.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
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.

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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