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Mark Schilling
JAPAN / Media
Nov 1, 2009
It's big or bust in eyes of Japanese cinema
Now in its sixth year, the Japanese Eyes section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, has evolved from its beginnings as a showcase for the middle range of Japanese films — that is, ones not readily classifiable as hardcore indie or commercial mainstream, though made, in some cases, by well-known...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2009
'Watashi Dasuwa'
"A fool and his money are soon parted" and all its many variations is a common theme in films, from the heist-of-a-lifetime that ruins so many lives in "Goodfellas" to Gary Cooper handing out his inherited fortune to total strangers in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" and then coming to regret it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 23, 2009
'Shizumanu Taiyo'
"I am big. It's the pictures that got small," Gloria Swanson declaimed in "Sunset Boulevard." In the Japan film industry, though, the pictures are getting bigger — gargantuan, in fact. Examples include the "Death Note" duology, the "20-seiki Shonen" ("20th Century Boys") trilogy, and "Ai no Mukidashi"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2009
'Senritsu Meikyu 3-D'
3-D,we've been hearing for decades, is the future of movies. Finally, the future is here, with 7,000 3-D screens expected to be up and running worldwide by the end of the year and Hollywood frantically ramping up production of 3-D films, both animated and live-action.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2009
Osamu Dazai: genius, but no saint
Major Japanese cultural figures often become subjects of films when big birth or death anniversaries roll around. The hero (far more rarely, the heroine) is usually portrayed as a sainted genius, tragic or otherwise. Osamu Dazai, however, was one such figure who didn't fit the saint template.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2009
'Villon no Tsuma'/'Pandora no Hako'
Kichitaro Negishi's "Villon no Tsuma" ("Villon's Wife") is based on an Osamu Dazai short story with autobiographical overtones: An alcoholic writer steals a large sum of money from a small drinking establishment and, when he does a disappearing act, his wife offers to pay it back by working for the owners...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2009
A twisted path to true love
Born in Tokyo in 1950, Kichitaro Negishi got his start in the film industry making soft-porn movies for the Nikkatsu studio. He directed his first film, "Orion no Satsui yori: Joji no Hoteishiki" ("From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder") in 1978 and in 1981 made his straight-feature debut with "Enrai"...
CULTURE / Film
Oct 2, 2009
'Akumu no Elevator'
Movies are confidence tricks played on willing victims. The bullets are blanks and the sex is faked, but we usually want to believe, as long as the lights are down, that it's all real. Creating that belief — or rather, that suspension of disbelief — has long been Hollywood's goal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 25, 2009
'Air Doll'
Hirokazu Kore'eda is the most internationally acclaimed Japanese director of his generation, whose films are regularly invited to major world festivals and receive the sort of respectful attention from foreign scholars and critics usually accorded only to dead Golden Age masters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 18, 2009
'Kamui Gaiden '
Producers, both here and abroad, have been busy scouting film properties among the anime and manga of the 1960s and 1970s, from kiddie cartoon fluff such as "Yattaman" to the apocalyptic thriller "MW," created by manga maestro Osamu Tezuka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 11, 2009
'Symbol'
Every once in a while, a distributor will ask audiences not to reveal anything about a film's ending — a gimmick that became popular with "The Crying Game" (1992).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 4, 2009
'Killer Virgin Road'
Are most single women obsessed with marriage despite their protests to the contrary? Disappointed in love, do they fall to insecure pieces, taking solace in late-night cartons of ice cream?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2009
'Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta'
Takashi Yamazaki was known primarily as a computer-graphics whiz when he directed the ensemble drama "Always Sanchome no Yuhi" ("Always: Sunset on Third Street," 2005). True to form, the recreation of 1950s Tokyo by Yamazaki's team at the Shirogumi effects house was hyper-realistically detailed, while...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2009
'20-Seiki Shonen'
Yukihiko Tsutsumi's hit "20-Seiki Shonen" ("20th Century Boys") trilogy is based on one of those "what if" premises that may look almost childishly obvious, but, from a commercial standpoint, is simply brilliant.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2009
Indie hardman opens the tear ducts
Sion Sono is Japan's edgy indie director par excellence, whose internationally acclaimed films expose social ills and challenge taboos in a variety of genres and moods, from the death-trip chills of "Jisatsu Circle" ("Suicide Club," 2001) to the black-comic laughs of "Ai no Mukidashi" ("Love Exposure,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 14, 2009
'Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl'
Japanese filmmakers will almost always tell you that they make films for the domestic market first and foremost. If foreigners happen to like them too, that's a nice little bonus, like an after-dinner mint.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2009
'Summer Wars'
"Revenge," George Orwell once wrote, "is bitter," but it can also be sweet, can't it?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2009
'Yamagata Scream'
Japanese horror movies, under the label J-Horror, were once quite the international thing. Hollywood remade the shockers "Ring" (1998) and "Juon" ("The Grudge," 2002), while foreign video labels snapped up rights to the originals. All that is now a distant memory, though. Fantastic film festivals in...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 26, 2009
The quirky terrain of an otaku mind
"Otaku" is one of those Japanese words that has no precise equivalent in English. "Geek" translates the knowledgeability as well as the social ineptness of the stereotypical otaku, but not quite his (and, more rarely, her) intense interest in what so-called serious adults regard as trivial pursuits:...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2009
'Amalfi'
Films produced by Fuji TV — one of Japan's five national TV networks — have regularly hit the top of the box-office charts in the past decade. Fuji's biggest franchise started in 1998 with "Odoru Daisosasen The Movie" ("Bayside Shakedown"), a thriller starring Yuji Oda as a rambunctious detective...
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.

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