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November 22, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
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 Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2018
'Come On Irene': You can't buy love ... or a decent protagonist
In the late 1980s, Japanese media ran a flurry of reports on an alarming shortage of brides in the country's rural areas. Unable to find potential partners at home, bachelors in farming villages were searching for wives in mainland Asia — sometimes with support from their local governments, and often...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2018
'And Your Bird Can Sing': A vague take on the complexities of youth
The work of the late novelist Yasushi Sato, who took his own life in 1990, has been enjoying a minor cinematic renaissance over the past decade. Starting with Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's "Sketches of Kaitan City" in 2010, the author's stories have spawned four films to date.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 31, 2018
More hip-hop, more J-pop and a typhoon: Fuji Rock 2018 was full of new energy
Nothing encapsulated the strangeness of this year's Fuji Rock Festival than the spectacle that unfurled on the main Green Stage on Saturday night. After delivering what was already one of the silliest sets of the weekend, EDM producer Skrillex returned for his encore, accompanied by a surprise guest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2018
Fuji Rock sees a slow pivot to a more Japanese lineup
When Fuji Rock Festival started in late 1990s, the principal attractions were invariably imported. Although the event also featured plenty of Japanese bands, even in the early years, it was Westerners that exerted the biggest draw — from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters to Bjork, Aphex Twin and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2018
'Shino Can't Say Her Name': A teenage struggle that speaks to everyone
There's a point in many teenagers' lives where few things are more mortifying than the prospect of having to speak in public. High school freshman Shino (Sara Minami) has it worse than most. When she's by herself, she can talk perfectly fine, even play-acting the conversations she wishes she was having...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2018
Hikaru Utada learns to accept heartbreak on 'Hatsukoi'
It's the title that grabs you first. Hikaru Utada's seventh album makes a conspicuous nod to her 1999 debut, but the preternaturally mature teen of "First Love" is now a twice-divorced mother with ample life experience to draw on.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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