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July 17, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 22, 2015
Surviving the night of the long tentacular knives in 'Parasyte: Part 2'
When we left Shinichi (Shota Sometani) and his inseparable parasite companion Migi at the end of Takashi Yamazaki's 2014 sci-fi/horror hit "Kiseiju" ("Parasyte: Part 1"), the space-alien organisms who had found human hosts in the city of Higashi Fukuyama were not only slaughtering humans for food —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 15, 2015
Adaptation of Banana Yoshimoto's 'Asleep' is heavy with depression and Eros
Sleep is the great restorer, one we frazzled moderns eternally need, desire and lack. But for Terako (Sakura Ando), the sleepy-eyed heroine of photographer and director Shingo Wakagi's "Shirakawa Yofune" ("Asleep"), the bedroom is a battleground of the spirit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 15, 2015
Jidaigeki revival?
The jidaigeki (samurai period drama) genre, whose films and TV series featuring sword-swinging samurai once dominated popular culture here, has long since fallen on hard times. In contrast to its 1950s peak, when jidaigeki accounted for nearly half the films in theaters, the genre has become something...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 8, 2015
How do you cure an allergy to money?
When is a "multitalented" person too "multi"? Where is the line between extending your creative energies in new directions and spreading yourself thin?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2015
'April Fools' gets the wrong end of the practical-joke schtick
The Japanese film industry has themed many movies around that imported holiday, Christmas, or, more specifically, Christmas Eve, which has become Japan's date night of date nights. Even those outside the local film industry now celebrate special days that originated elsewhere, including Halloween, Valentine's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2015
When the burden of surviving an earthquake is too much for a child to bear
Survivor guilt is a common outcome of war, natural disasters or anything that produces victims and survivors linked by blood, friendship or other ties. Why did you die but not me? Why couldn't I save you? The questions gnaw, and outsiders have no real answers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2015
Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru (The Liar and His Lover)
Director: Norihiro Koizumi Language: Japanese (subtitled in English)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2015
Is Asian cinema caught in a festival feeding frenzy?
On March 5, tickets went on sale for Joe Hisaishi's concert at a 1,200-seat theater in Udine, Italy — and they were sold out in less than a week. In Japan, where Hisaishi is well known as a composer for his soundtracks to films by Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Kitano and many others, this rush for tickets...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2015
Forget Me Not: Falling in love is hard when no one remembers you
'I will never forget you," lovers say to each other. The truth is that sooner or later, almost everyone is forgotten. In fact, many people you've met, from your kindergarten classmates to that sloshed guy at the bar last night, have forgotten you already. If you ran into them on the street today, they...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2015
Omoide no Marnie (When Marnie Was There)
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi Language: Japanese (subtitled in English)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2015
Can idol group Momoiro Clover Z learn to act?
The typical Japanese movie about the travails and triumphs of a high school club follows an upward arc, as the audience cheers on the heroes to their foregone triumph over setbacks and defeats. The actualities of how they become more accomplished swing musicians, as in "Swing Girls," or choral singers,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2015
Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo-hen (Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends)
Director: Keishi Ohtomo Language: Japanese (subtitled in English)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2015
In the cinematic wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster
In January 2013 Eiga Geijutsu magazine released its annual "Best 10 and Worst 10" lists. The two worst films of 2012, as chosen by the magazine's panel of critics, were Sion Sono's "Himizu" and "Kibo no Kuni (Land of Hope)." The former is about a teenage boy (Shota Sometani) driven to violence by his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2015
The End of the World and the Cat's Disappearance: A post-pandemic tale of a heroic webcam idol
At their best, films about the future — sci-fi, fantasy and anything in between — offer up mind-expanding speculations and deep-drilling allegories, if not necessarily accurate predictions. Hardly anything in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" came to pass by 2001, but its vision of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2015
Mujin Chitai (No Man's Zone)
Director: Toshi Fujiwara Language: Japanese (subtitled in English)
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2015
'Kuchibiru ni Uta wo' plays with school-club subgenre, but winds up at the same destination
Japanese movies about school clubs gunning for regional or national glory in everything from synchronized swimming to shodō (calligraphy) now constitute a distinct, well-trodden sub-genre. Based on a novel by Eiichi Nakata, Takahiro Miki's "Kuchibiru ni Uta wo" ("Have a Song on Your Lips") gives...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2015
Japan's Academy Prizes — the fix is in?
Comedian, actor and director Takeshi Kitano had some scathing things to say about the Japanese film industry at last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, where he was given a career achievement award. One target he singled out was the Japan Academy Prizes — the local equivalent of the Oscars —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2015
Waking up and smelling the roasted coffee
Thomas Wolfe's posthumous novel "You Can't Go Home Again" was published in 1940, and critics and readers have been debating the truth of its title ever since. Wolfe himself had no doubt: His autobiographical writings, with their biting, thinly disguised portraits, made him persona non grata in his hometown...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2015
Kaguyahime no Monogatari (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)
Director: Isao Takahata Language: Japanese (subtitled in English)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2015
The mysterious attraction of an aging, domineering chauvinist
Love never was and never will be logical. Your 20-year-old daughter rolls her eyes at May-December romances in the movies — until she gets engaged to a 50-year-old guy. And you will declaim loud and long against her choice, until you start dating a 20-year-old yourself. I am speaking in a general...
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

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