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November 22, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2020
For filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi, freedom was the most important thing of all
Director Nobuhiko Obayashi, who died on April 10 at the age of 82, was incredibly prolific during his six-decade career. A pioneering experimental filmmaker in the 1960s, he went on to direct 2,000 television commercials (by his own estimate; no exact count exists) and 43 theatrical features.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2020
Shochiku celebrates a century of Japanese cinema hits
Despite setbacks caused by COVID-19, film studio Shochiku is determined to go ahead with its program of anniversary events and releases where possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 9, 2020
Japan’s film and TV industries soldier on despite coronavirus
The death of comedian Ken Shimura on March 29 due to pneumonia caused by COVID-19 sent a shock wave throughout the country. A star on Japanese TV for decades, he was the first major celebrity here to pass away after contracting the virus.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2020
'Step': Parenthood drama that tugs at the heartstrings
By now there are many films about single fathers, but for me the eye-opener was 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer.” In it, Dustin Hoffman plays a workaholic adman who struggles to raise his young son after being abandoned by his wife (Meryl Streep), but resists giving up the boy when she returns to claim...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2020
'Not Quite Dead Yet': A feeble take on two days of death
Ghosts that haunt the living for laughs have been Hollywood staples going back to at least “Topper.” In this 1937 comedy, a feckless young couple (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) die in a car crash and, as ghosts, decide to bring fun to the life of their stuffy older pal, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 19, 2020
'Extro': A Japanese mockumentary that works
I was once an extra for film being shot in the dead of winter in Nagano Prefecture, playing a member of a media pack running down a snow-covered slope to an ambulance. To stand out, I kept a step behind the others through retake after frigid retake. Naturally, I was edited out.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 13, 2020
How the Japanese film industry is coping with the COVID-19 crisis
From cinema closures to business as usual, the film industry in Japan is employing its own methods to keep people safe and still watching films across the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 12, 2020
'A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad's an Alcoholic': An addict's tale with honesty on tap
Honoka Matsumoto stars as a daughter working through issues stemming from her father's alcoholism in a film based on manga artist Mariko Kikuchi's autobiographical web comic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 7, 2020
What ‘Fukushima 50’ can teach us about crises
Author and journalist Ryusho Kadota on how the nation's handling of the 3/11 triple disaster bodes for its ongoing response to COVID-19.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 5, 2020
'Fukushima 50': A disaster film with real-life roots
Ken Watanabe and Koichi Sato star in the first film dramatization of the meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2020
'First Love': A heartfelt throwback to the golden age of yakuza flicks
Masataka Kubota plays a doomed boxer who takes on the yazuka in Takashi Miike's newest film.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2020
'Shape of Red': A torrid but ultimately unsatisfying affair
Kaho plays a frustrated housewife who engages in a passionate tryst with a former boyfriend in Yukiko Mishima's latest film.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 19, 2020
How to navigate social media and a social city with Netflix's 'Followers'
Artist and director Mika Ninagawa launches new streaming about the lives of Tokyo's bright young things and their quest for recognition
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2020
'37 Seconds': A woman's journey of self-discovery
In Hikari's debut feature, first-time actor Mei Kayama plays a woman determined to become a manga artist, but who must overcome her lack of life experience, her physical disability and her contolling mother.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2020
'Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku': A musical take on an otaku romance
This film adaptation of a web comic by single-named artist Fujita has the central couple dancing and singing their way to love.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2020
'We Make Antiques! Kyoto Rendezvous': Kansai caper revisits old tricks
Kiichi Nakai and Kuranosuke Sasaki reprise their roles as scammers in Masaharu Take's sequel to 2018's 'We Make Antiques!'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2020
'Romance Doll': A mature take on guys and dolls
The premise for Yuki Tanada's film about a sex doll designer gets laughs, but also offers sharp insights into human issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2020
'Romance Doll' shows there's a fine line between sex and love
Yuki Tanada's latest film, an adaptation of one of her own novels, looks at the use of dolls as substitutes for humans in relationships.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2020
'Bad Poetry Tokyo': Indian director's first feature reveals major talent
Anshul Chauhan's woman-in-crisis drama has won prizes at festivals in Japan and abroad, despite the director having never attended film school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2020
'Complicity': Heartfelt film serves up food for the soul
Indie director Kei Chikaura's first feature — and winner of the Audience Award at Tokyo Filmex — avoids cliches in its realistic portrayal of Japan-China understanding.
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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