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November 23, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2014
'Tomodachi to Aruko (Walking With a Friend)'
Akira Ogata's "Tomodachi to Aruko (Walking with a Friend)," which screened in the Japanese Cinema Splash section of last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, is one of many recent Japanese films about the problems of the elderly in this rapidly graying country. Unlike nearly all these films, its...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2014
Kaidan Nobori Ryu (Blind Woman's Curse)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 13, 2014
'Idai Naru, Shurara-bon (The Great Shurara-bon)'
Superheroes by definition have super powers. In Japan, instead of leaping tall buildings with a single bound, these heroes often shoot energy projectiles from their hands — easy and effective, save when your opponent has more wattage. This may seem childish, but it can be fun, as shown by all those...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 13, 2014
Kids Return: Saikai no Toki (Kids Return: The Reunion)
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014
Live-action Ghibli remake delivers a new Kiki
When is a remake not a remake? Arguably, Takashi Shimizu's "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" is less a reworking of the Hayao Miyazaki animation classic (which this reviewer praised on this page in 1989) than his own interpretation of the 1985 Eiko Kadono fantasy novel on which the Miyazaki...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014
'Ieji (Homeland)'
Many documentaries have been made about the nuclear-plant disaster in Fukushima and its aftermath, but relatively few feature films. One reason could be seen in the rough handling local critics gave "Kibo no Kuni (The Land of Hope)," Sion Sono's 2012 film set in a near-future Japan that has again experienced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014
'Ai no Uzu (Love's Whirlpool)'
Sex and love — can the twain ever meet? In the world of fūzoku, a euphemism for Japan's enormous sex industry, that question is usually answered in the negative.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014
'Futaba Kara Toku Hanarete (Nuclear Nation)'
Director: Atsushi Funahashi
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
Debate still rages over Abe-endorsed WWII drama
Takashi Yamazaki's World War II drama "Eien no Zero (The Eternal Zero)," whose pilot hero joins the tokkōtai (kamikaze) suicide squadron in the closing days of the war, has soared to the box office heights since its Dec. 21 release. After ranking No. 1 in the charts for eight weeks in a row, the film...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
'Tokyo Nanmin (Refugee in Tokyo)'
It can be easy to fall through the cracks of many societies, even one like Japan's that seems to have a wide safety net, beginning with Mom and Dad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
'Manatsu no Houteishiki (Midsummer's Equation)'
Director: Keigo Higashino
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014
'Iya Monogatari: Oku no Hito (The Tale of Iya)'
Cycling in the mountains near Tokyo, I often have two thoughts: First, I feel sorry for big-city denizens missing all the natural beauty so near. Second, I wonder how the locals can wrest a living from their tiny fields and orchards, perched precariously on the slopes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014
'Color 4 Ozu: Eien Naru Ozu Color (Color 4 Ozu: Forever Ozu Color)'
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014
'Mogura no Uta: Sennyu Sosakan Reiji (The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji)'
Directors in a profitable rut often feel the urge to try something new, even though the box office tells them to keep making the same old. Sometimes a change of genre can work wonders. After grinding out 48 episodes of the "Tora-san" dramedy series, Yoji Yamada ventured into the feudal past for the first...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014
'R100'
Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014
'Dakishimetai: Shinjitsu no Monogatari (I Just Wanna Hug You)'
Of Japanese medical melodramas there is no end. Targeted largely at the female audience, they appear on the lineups of Toho and other major distributors with the regularity of cherry blossoms in April.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014
'Kuroyuri Danchi' (The Complex)
Director: Hideo Nakata
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014
Actress Nikaido sets her own agenda
Many young Japanese film actors start as models or pop stars and then, as they accumulate magazine covers or CD sales, move into TV and films. Many also play versions of themselves again and again on screen, which may suit their fans just fine, but makes for repetitive viewing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014
'Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)'
Several veterans of Japan's old studio system are still working, but Yoji Yamada is the only one still directing for the studio he started out with, back in 1954. He has directed 81 films for Shochiku; his extraordinary box-office success with the "Tora-san" series, 48 films from 1969 to 1995 about the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014
Joze to Tora to Sakana-tachi (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish)
Director: Isshin Inudo
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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

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