author

 
Menu
Search
 
April 05, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 8, 2011
'Fuyu no Kemono (Love Addiction)'
The once-thriving Japanese indie scene is in trouble , nearly everyone who has anything to do with it agrees: Its core young audience has been seduced by the dubious delights of the multiplex, while the "mini theaters" (art houses) and small distributors that could once count on the occasional indie...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 1, 2011
'Ogawa no Hotori (On the Bank of the Stream)'
When I saw Yoji Yamada's "Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai)," a lyrical, low-key 2002 drama about a low-ranking, family-loving samurai forced to kill for his clan, it struck me as a throwback to the genre's 1950s Golden Age. But this, I later discovered, was the first feature based on the fiction...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2011
'Tokyo Koen (Tokyo Park)'
Shinji Aoyama might be described as a Japanese arthouse version of Quentin Tarantino: A smart, dedicated cinephile who works his influences into his films while experimenting with various genres, from the gangster film ("Chinpira," 1996) to mystery ("Lakeside Murder Case," 2004). But whereas Tarantino's...
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.
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...
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER