James Hadfield - The Japan Times

November 06, 2025

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James Hadfield

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.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 27, 2018

'Punk Samurai Slash Down': An audacious adaptation that may look better on paper

One of the frequent complaints lodged against the Japanese film industry is that producers are reluctant to bankroll anything that isn't based on an existing novel, manga or TV series. There's a lot of truth in the criticism, but not every screen adaptation of an existing property is a product of bet-hedging....

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 20, 2018

'The Cat in Their Arms': Forget the idol-pop plot points and stick with the pets

You probably know the type: lonely, maybe even a little antisocial and more comfortable talking to cats than people.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 13, 2018

Juliette Binoche gets to see the 'real' Japan in 'Vision'

"It's so warm in here!" exclaims Juliette Binoche. "You know in (Michael) Haneke's film, I have a scene where I kind of suffocate and I think that I'm going to die? It feels like that! Do you think you can open the window?"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 13, 2018

'Batman Ninja': The Caped Crusader's Japan jaunt is a missed opportunity

Following in the noble tradition of "Sharknado," "Snakes on a Plane" and "Sex and the City 2," this elaborately executed nonsense is the kind of project where you just know that the title came first. "Batman Ninja" (or "Ninja Batman" as it's being called here) answers the question nobody had thought...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 6, 2018

'50 First Kisses': Swipe left on this rom-com redo

An incorrigible playboy spots a young woman at a diner in Hawaii and is instantly smitten. After he plucks up the courage to talk to her, they hit it off and arrange to meet again at the same place the following day. But when he goes back, she treats him like a complete stranger. It turns out she has...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 30, 2018

'Deadpool 2': A tad tame but still a ton of fun

Blame it on the Bat. For a brief period, Deadpool seemed like the most subversive player on the cinematic superhero circuit, deflating the genre's pretensions with a barrage of self-referential humor and fourth wall-breaking asides. But after last year's "The Lego Batman Movie," he's starting to look...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 23, 2018

'Isle of Dogs': Mutt ado about nothing?

If you've ever flipped on a TV in a hotel room in a country whose language you don't understand, you'll know what it's like to try to grasp for meaning when all the usual semantic signposts are gone.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 17, 2018

'The Shoot Must Go On': Masayoshi Sukita captures some of rock music's most iconic figures

Even if you don't recognize the name, you probably know his shots. Photographer Masayoshi Sukita has captured images of rock gods and movie stars that deserve that most overused of epithets: iconic.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 10, 2018

Cero chooses a more complicated kind of pop on 'Poly Life Mutli Soul'

If you wanted to pinpoint the moment Cero broke the glass ceiling of Japan's indie music scene, it would be March 7, 2016. That's when the group — still cresting on the buzz generated by its "Obscure Ride" album the previous year — performed that record's signature singalong, "Summer Soul," alongside...

CULTURE / Music

May 9, 2018

'Amachan' star rebrands as Non and kicks out the jams on 'Super Heroes' debut

During the summer of 2013, when millions of viewers tuned in every morning to catch the latest installment of NHK's "Amachan," the show's sprightly 19-year-old star, Rena Nonen, seemed destined for big things. But her breakout role quickly became a cautionary tale about the perils of the entertainment...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 1, 2018

Hide: The musician whose death rocked Japan

On the evening of May 2, 1998, as most of Japan was basking in the annual Golden Week holidays, a few dozen young women had gathered outside an apartment building in Tokyo's Minamiazabu neighborhood.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 27, 2018

'Avengers: Infinity War': Bold, bombastic and a bit of a bummer

This review contains discussion of plot points that may be seen as mild spoilers for "Avengers: Infinity War."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 26, 2018

Back to square one in war on dancing

It has been nearly two years since Japan revised an archaic law banning late-night dancing, but don't expect any celebrations to mark the occasion. Over the past few months, the Metropolitan Police Department has quietly renewed its campaign against unauthorized boogying, because Lord knows there's nothing...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 11, 2018

'Liverleaf': Sadistic school bullies get their comeuppance in a bloody, bleak thriller

From "Battle Royale" to "The World of Kanako," the past 20 years of Japanese cinema have yielded countless examples of school kids behaving very, very badly. Director Eisuke Naito is a specialist in the genre: He started his career with the charmingly titled "Let's Make the Teacher Have a Miscarriage...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 4, 2018

'Saimon & Tada Takashi': High school drama with anime and sci-fi twists

The pangs of unrequited love are a familiar staple in high-school movies, but it's not often that they involve an altercation with a flying saucer. In his lopsided debut feature, "Saimon & Tada Takashi," writer-director Manabu Oda mixes sensitive teen drama with surreal humor and low-budget sci-fi schlock....

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 28, 2018

'Sakana Zukan': Sakanaction excels when it wades through shallow territory

Now that Spotify playlists have supplanted albums as the preferred method of consuming an artist's work, the concept of greatest-hits compilations feels both prescient and redundant, like releasing DJ mix albums in the era of SoundCloud. For the musicians themselves, though, such compilations can offer...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.

The second life of Japan's net cafes

By Alex K.T. Martin

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