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November 22, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2019
Telling the story of Japanese rugby's miracle match
As the 2019 Rugby World Cup kicks off in Japan, 'The Brighton Miracle' takes a look at the Brave Blossoms' 34-32 defeat of South Africa in the 2015 competition, a game which signified Japan had become a force to be reckoned with.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 18, 2019
'No Longer Human': A biopic with no decent biography
Mika Ninagawa's 'No Longer Human' tells the story of celebrated Japanese author Osamu Dazai, with a particular focus on his turbulent love life
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 12, 2019
With 'The Naked Director,' Japan scores a global Netflix hit
Netflix series 'The Naked Director' has been a runaway hit, with a second series announced shortly after the first began streaming. But not everyone is a fan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 11, 2019
'Hit Me Anyone One More Time': A return to form for comedy stalwart
Koki Mitani's latest comedy feature follows the life of a Japanese prime minister trying to make good as he deals with memory loss
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 4, 2019
'Stormy Family': Dysfunctional family, dysfunctional film
Masahide Ichii delivers a drama about family members dealing with their own long-standing resentments while facing an impending typhoon
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2019
Haruhiko Arai: Still pushing boundaries after 40 years in film
In a four-decade career, Haruhiko Arai has become an acclaimed scriptwriter with credits that include "Vibrator" (2003), "It's Only Talk" (2005) and "Kabukicho Love Hotel" (2014), three of the best films by his frequent collaborator, the director Ryuichi Hiroki.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2019
'Mugen Foundation': When adolescence becomes too much
The seishun eiga (youth film) is not exclusive to Japan — plenty of films from elsewhere deal with the joys and agonies of adolescence — but this popular genre has acquired certain only-in-Japan quirks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2019
'Dance With Me': A homegrown Japanese musical has landed
Genres never really die, but they often mutate into something different on foreign soil. John Ford's cowboys became Akira Kurosawa's samurai, and Kurosawa's samurai became Sergio Leone's serape-clad, cigarillo-chewing "The Man With No Name." And the list goes on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2019
'Dance With Me': Short on laughs, but big on energy
The Japanese film industry has made many musical films, but almost no Hollywood-style musicals. One reason why is Eizo Sugawa's "You Can Succeed, Too" (1964), a singing, dancing salaryman musical inspired by the Broadway hit "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." Billed by the Toho studio...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 15, 2019
How to sell your film abroad
As a reviewer, reporter and programmer, I go to six or seven film festivals a year. This is nothing compared to some colleagues, who trudge the festival circuit in a never-ending loop, but it's enough to give me a heap of festival badges.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 14, 2019
'Aesop's Game': Ueda follow-up is neither tortoise nor hare
Last year, Shinichiro Ueda made Japanese film history with "One Cut of the Dead," a zombie comedy he scripted and directed. Opening in just two Tokyo theaters in June, 2018, the film ended up earning ¥3.21 billion — or more than 1,000 times its ¥3 million budget.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 8, 2019
Marking 30 years since Takeshi Kitano's debut feature, 'Violent Cop'
On Aug. 12, 1989, "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's debut as a director, "Violent Cop," was released in Japan. Kitano was already famous here as a TV comic and emcee, and was known abroad for his role as a brutal POW camp guard in Nagisa Oshima's 1983 World War II drama "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence."
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 7, 2019
'The Naked Director': A story of naked ambition and dubious morals
Since it launched here in September 2015, Netflix has built a long list of Japanese programming, from the hit reality series "Terrace House" to the manzai (comic duo) drama "Hibana: Spark." Mostly, though, it's the sort of fare you can find on network TV or in your local multiplex.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2019
'Paradise Next': When the music is better than the story
The lone, wandering gangster is as standard a figure in Japanese cinema as the lone, wandering samurai. Traditionally, both fought out of a self-imposed sense of duty and obligation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2019
'Melancholic': When cleaning the tub brings dirtier jobs
Almost every year at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) at least one film by a new Japanese director gets talked up by visiting programmers, journalists and critics as a find.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2019
'A Girl Missing': You can run, but you can't hide
Mariko Tsutsui already had many stage, TV and film credits when she appeared in Koji Fukada's 2016 drama "Harmonium." But her performance as a woman whose life is destroyed by Tadanobu Asano's seductive ex-con was a revelation. She made the leap from the naive and sexually starved wife of the film's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2019
'Tokyo Ghoul "S"': A college, a cafe and a cannibal
Big pop-culture franchises generate movie sequels as naturally as chickens lay eggs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 11, 2019
Tomorrow's film legends descend on Saitama
Launched in 2004 to promote digital cinema, the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival (July 13-21) in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, has become a showcase for emerging filmmakers. Among the Skip City alumni who have gone on to thriving careers are Cannes Palme d'Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan ("Winter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 10, 2019
'Tourism': Not quite the trip of a lifetime
Taking a pleasure trip abroad used to be a big, once-in-a-lifetime event for the average Japanese. The No. 1 dream destination was Hawaii, since it was seen as glamorous and exotic, yet safe and familiar. A view of Diamond Head out the hotel window and miso ramen on the restaurant menu, in kanji yet....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2019
'Diner': Maybe find another place to eat
The aesthetic of photographer and director Mika Ninagawa is gaudy to the nth degree. She crowds blood-red roses into her frame like crammed commuters in a rush-hour train. When she makes it rain, her actors may as well be standing under Niagara Falls.
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.
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.
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

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