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August 15, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2019
Twenty years after frontman Shinji Sato's death, Fishmans is still walking in the rhythm
In the eternal present of modern listening, when the entire history of recorded sound is just a few clicks away, some music reverberates for longer. That's been the case with Fishmans, a cult Japanese act from the 1990s whose blend of dub rhythms and dream-pop reverie continues to lure new fans 20 years...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2019
Chai's 'Punk' is an irrepressibly upbeat victory lap
For a band that made its name by bucking kawaii conventions, Chai can be awfully cute. On its second album, misleadingly titled "Punk," the quartet takes the giddy sugar-rush of 2017's "Pink" and distills it into a mixture so potent, it should probably come with a health warning attached. They ought...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2019
'The Nikaidos' Fall': What's in a name? Everything.
The weight of tradition threatens to crush a once-great family in "The Nikaidos' Fall," a contemporary drama about people with an unhealthy fixation on the past. Iranian director Ida Panahandeh's film starts in a cemetery and never really leaves the realm of the dead. Its characters are so haunted by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2019
'His Lost Name': A lack of more than just a name
Cinema abounds with tales of imposters and con artists, but some of the most interesting stories are the ones where people get wise to a deception and decide to go along with it anyway. In "His Lost Name," a young drifter arrives in a rural backwater under a fake identity, only to get sucked into a relationship...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2018
'A Crimson Star': A taboo and toxic story of love
At a time when many aspiring Japanese filmmakers spend years working on other people's movies before having a chance to make one of their own, getting your first feature into cinemas at the age of 22 is no small achievement.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2018
YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi celebrates a pair of 40th anniversaries
The past few years have been a boom time for Japanese reissues, as labels dredge up everything from ambient obscurities to glossy disco-pop for the benefit of listeners who missed them first time around. For Yukihiro Takahashi, it's all a bit confusing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2018
'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald': Wizards and wands, but no magic
Quick: what's a good spell against boredom? After getting off to a nimble start with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" in 2016, J.K. Rowling's five-part prequel to the "Harry Potter" series is already starting to feel like an almighty slog. While its predecessor was a fleet and frothy caper,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2018
Tasuku Emoto talks about directing, acting in English and sounding like Tom Cruise
This has been a busy year for Tasuku Emoto. Long accustomed to appearing in colorful supporting roles, the 31-year-old actor has found himself starring in three films in 2018.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2018
The bold, the bracingly alive and the barely coherent: The Tokyo International Film Festival wraps up for another year
For once, the best film won. Though the jury at Tokyo International Film Festival has erred in the past, there could be few complaints about this year's choices. Mikhael Hers' "Amanda" was a worthy recipient of the Tokyo Grand Prix: An emotionally devastating portrait of ordinary people coping with a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2018
'The Gun': A blast of stylish nihilism
Chekhov's principle about how you can't introduce a gun in the first act of a story without using it later on might also apply to Toru (Nijiro Murakami).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Nov 1, 2018
SuperDeluxe provided a safe space for experimentation that Tokyo will miss
For the past 16 years, Tokyo's SuperDeluxe has been a place where it felt like almost anything could happen, and it quite often did. So when the venue announced a few weeks ago that it would be closing in January, after its building was earmarked for demolition, the news was akin to hearing that a close...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2018
Masaaki Yuasa: Anime for the discerning fan
Masaaki Yuasa is one of the most exciting directors working in Japanese animation today, with a three-decade career behind him. Yet until last year, you may not even have heard of him. Long the filmmaker of choice for discerning anime fans, the 53-year-old has had a significant profile boost over the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Oct 25, 2018
Amid Japan's multitude of music festivals, Frue is worth celebrating
As the opening set started at Festival de Frue last year, it was clear the organizers wouldn't be making a profit. Quirky J-pop act Wednesday Campanella, who had played to a capacity crowd at Fuji Rock Festival a few months earlier, kicked off its performance in front of an audience of just a few dozen...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 23, 2018
It's pop, but complicated: Tokyo Shiokouji takes minimalism in new directions
Fuji Rock Festival's Rookie A Go-Go stage has served as a springboard for bands from Asian Kung-Fu Generation to Chai, but each year it draws a few acts with rather less obvious commercial appeal. The most peculiar group to appear this year was Tokyo Shiokouji, an eight-piece ensemble featuring percussion,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2018
'It's Boring Here, Pick Me Up': A rural road movie with no destination
What passes for countryside in Japan is often a vast sprawl of low-rise development: chain restaurants, big-box stores, gas stations and pachinko parlors. While there's no shortage of films that have tried to capture the ennui of life in such areas, the results are often as uninspiring as the locations...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2018
'The Chaplain': Ren Osugi shines as a clergyman working on death row
The sudden death of Ren Osugi last February robbed Japanese cinema of one of its most dependable actors. That loss is rendered all the more acute by "The Chaplain," Osugi's final screen role, and his debut as producer. It's the kind of serious, intelligent drama that might struggle to get made without...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2018
'Music progresses when people make mistakes': Foodman favors taking risks on new album
Last month, the return of Ultra Japan to Tokyo provoked the usual eye-rolls with its parade of EDM superstars gallivanting onstage to obviously pre-recorded sets. But trust Takahide Higuchi — the Nagoya-based producer better known as Shokuhin Matsuri aka Foodman — to see the funny side.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2018
'Cafe Funiculi Funicula': Extra spoonfuls of sentimentality make this flick hard to swallow
An old-fashioned coffee house serves up a dash of mystery and a great dollop of sentiment in Ayuko Tsukahara's "Cafe Funiculi Funicula." Based on a pair of best-selling novels by playwright-turned-author Toshikazu Kawaguchi, this aggressively tear-jerky paean to life, death and past regrets plays like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2018
Electronic artist Tim Hecker delves into ancient Japanese court music and negative space on 'Konoyo'
For the first decade of his career, the Canadian composer and sound artist Tim Hecker specialized in transmuting digital audio into thick miasmas of sound that combined orchestral richness with the sensory assault of noise music. But after reaching an apotheosis — and his largest audience to date —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2018
In defense of difference: Hikaru Toda's 'Of Love & Law' showcases the efforts of two lawyers fighting discrimination in Japan
For all its many attractions as a place to live, Japan can be unforgiving for anyone who's perceived as different.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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