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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2020
'Fictitious Girl's Diary: The Movie': An honest portrait of office minutiae
Comedian Bakarhythm brings his nameless female bank clerk character to the big screen and lovingly documents the trivial goings-on in the life of a Japanese office worker.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2020
'Beneath the Shadow': Too obscure for its own good
Keishi Otomo's latest film looks at two colleagues whose blossoming bromance threatens to turn into something more mysterious.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2020
'AI Amok': Futuristic flick rehashes old tech
In Yu Irie's sci-fi film set in 2030, Takao Osawa stars as a scientist who must save Japan from an artificial intelligence system he created.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2020
'Prison Circle': A rare look at life behind bars
Kaori Sakagami's feature-length documentary offers an intimate view of inmates going through the process of therapy in a Japanese prison.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2020
'Voices in the Wind': Loss and a haunting journey home
Serena Motola gives a raw performance as a young survivor of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 in Nobuhiro Suwa's latest film.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2020
'Last Letter': Love letter delivers sweetness and slush
Takako Matsu reunites with director Shunji Iwai to play a middle-aged woman who exchanges letters with her late sister's high school flame.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 9, 2020
Raving from the past into the future with WaqWaq Kingdom
Shigeru Ishihara and Kiki Hitomi release a second album, fusing an eclectic mix of genres with a deep and personal set of lyrics
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2020
'On-Gaku: Our Sound': Indie anime seven years in the making is a surefire classic
Director Kenji Iwaisawa's hand-drawn anime, with voice acting by former Yura Yura Teikoku frontman Shintaro Sakamoto, taps into the riotous power of music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / 2019 in Review
Dec 26, 2019
2019 served as a reminder of the importance of community in music
As music scenes fragmented, the year showed a renewal in community events for alternative music in Japan, with festivals and gigs taking to new venues and battling the weather
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 12, 2019
Free jazz veteran Yosuke Yamashita marks 50 years of his trio's 'reckless' playing
The pianist brings together past members of his Yosuke Yamashita Trio for celebratory Tokyo show.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2019
'Lupin III: The First': A 3D animation with a nostalgic heart
Master thief Lupin III returns to steal treasure — and a few hearts — in Takashi Yamazaki's take on the loveable rogue.
COMMUNITY / 2010s: Decade in Review
Dec 5, 2019
Trendy neighborhoods in Tokyo came and went during the 2010s, but did capitalist conformity move in for good?
The protester, the party animal, the professional millennial — it seems like the Japanese capital had a place for every foreign stereotype imaginable in the past decade. We look back on a few favorites.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2019
'My Girlfriend is a Serial Killer': A rom-com slasher for killing time
In this adapation of the lurid manga series 'Peephole,' Yosuke Sugino plays a suicidal shut-in who falls for his murderous neighbor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 22, 2019
Shintaro Sakamoto: The art of disappearing in plain sight
The former Yura Yura Teikoku frontman discusses his absence from the live music scene and how he feels singing in Japanese is no longer a barrier to international acclaim
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2019
'Earthquake Bird': A solid adaptation, but no high flyer
An adaption of a 2001 novel by Susanna Jones, 'Earthquake Bird' looks at Tokyo in 1989 and tells the story of an explosive love triangle
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2019
Japan's decade of 'closed country' cinema
As Japanese box office figures hit record highs in the 2010s, the country's film industry became increasingly insular
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2019
'i: Documentary of the Journalist': Japanese press freedom laid bare
Tatsuya Mori follows Tokyo Shimbun journalist Isoko Mochizuki as she attempts to get answers from government officials in this bleak look at press freedom and integrity in Japan
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2019
'One Night': A family drama both deep and dark
Kazuya Shiraishi's latest tells the story of three siblings whose mother kills their abusive father and then abandons them for 15 years, before returning to check on their progress in life
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2019
Shin Adachi's mission to bust the myth of marital bliss in 'A Beloved Wife'
Shin Adachi discusses his latest feature, 'A Beloved Wife,' which will be screened in the main competition at the 2019 Tokyo International Film Festival
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2019
'Family of Strangers': An admirable ode to the institutionalized
Hideyuki Hirayama's latest feature, filmed in a real psychiatric hospital in Nagano Prefecture, tells the story of three residents of an institution who form an unlikely bond

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