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April 01, 2025
 

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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 9, 2023
‘God Bless You’: A hastily made yet surprising debut
Keisuke Sakurai’s offbeat crime drama, made in a flurry of productivity during the pandemic, has heart and a striking visual aesthetic that shines despite its truncated storytelling.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 2, 2023
‘Tea Friends’: Sex positivity for the older crowd
Bunji Sotoyama’s film about a call girl service for senior citizens is elevated by its frank depictions of elder sex.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2023
‘Bad City’: A V-Cinema hero comes out swinging
“Bad City” boasts some bone-crunching action, but seems more interested in proving the awesomeness of producer-star Hitoshi Ozawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2023
Yukihiro Takahashi: Style, substance and the knack for a beat
Yellow Magic Orchestra's principal vocalist and rhythmic linchpin was a leading figure in Japan's music scene, inspiring musicians the world over with his collaborative spirit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 20, 2023
Mao Fujita makes Mozart's sonatas his own
The 24-year-old concert pianist adds flourish to familiar melodies ahead of his debut recital at New York’s hallowed Carnegie Hall.
Japan Times
Film / Reviews
Jan 19, 2023
‘And So I’m at a Loss’: Cautionary tale turns meta
Daisuke Miura’s drama about a habitual shirker isn’t quite as outrageous as it thinks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 12, 2023
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House’ is light and dusted with sugar
The Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker acts as showrunner and co-writer on this Netflix series that peacefully drifts through a year in a shared residence for apprentice geisha in Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2023
‘Angry Son’: A sensitive portrayal of modern youth
Kazuki Horike gives a standout performance as a gay biracial teen in Kasho Iizuka's flawed but heartfelt coming-of-age tale.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2022
‘Old School’: A sloppy fun time in the criminal underworld
Yukiya Kitamura brings some hard-knock swagger as a private sleuth trawling Japan's seedy underbelly in Kotaro Ikawa's film noir throwback.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2022
Sho Miyake's ‘Small, Slow but Steady’ brings audiences into a silent ring
Rather than try to beat the 'Rocky' movies at their own game, the director subverts tropes and focuses on the beauty of boxing in his film about a deaf pro fighter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2022
‘Fragments of the Last Will’: You’ll need tissues for this WWII tearjerker
Takahisa Zeze's period drama about the true-life story of a Japanese soldier's fight for survival in a Soviet camp aims for the heart.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Dec 4, 2022
Ryuichi Sakamoto keeps the music going with a 'profound' concert
The upcoming “Playing the Piano 2022” concert will showcase a musician still exploring new horizons while contemplating the finiteness of life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2022
‘First Love’: More of a fling than a true romance
A Netflix series inspired by two Hikaru Utada pop songs is frivolously entertaining but doesn't carry much weight.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 24, 2022
‘Motherhood’: More soap opera than psychological thriller
Erika Toda and Mei Nagano offer contrasting perspectives on a frosty parent-child relationship in Ryuichi Hiroki's “Motherhood.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 17, 2022
‘Remember to Breathe’: Tensions simmer in mother-daughter drama
Mao Inoue gives a subtle but poignant performance as the long-suffering adult child of an aging single mother in Masakazu Sugita's muted sophomore feature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2022
'By the Window' offers a cinematic lesson in taking your time
Director Rikiya Imaizumi throws convention aside to focus on complex characters that audiences can relate to in his new film, which won the Audience Award at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2022
Tokyo International Film Festival sees welcome uptick in crowds
The 35th edition of the major movie event struck a noticeably different tone after relocating from Roppongi Hills to its new home in one of the more scenic areas of central Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 3, 2022
‘The Zen Diary’: Simple life lessons to feed the soul
Yuji Nakae's foodie drama, adapted from a 1978 book by the late Tsutomu Mizukami, plays out like a feature-length episode of “Chef's Table.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 27, 2022
‘Goodbye, Bad Magazines’: A sympathetic eulogy to adult entertainment
Shoichi Yokoyama's lighthearted romp offers an inside view of the collapse of Japan's pornography industry, but sidesteps some of the trickier ethical issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 20, 2022
‘Journey Beyond the Night’: A bad trip worth savoring
Takayuki Kayano's genre-switching drama starts slow but delivers a one-way ticket to weirdness.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
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.
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.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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

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