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November 21, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 1, 2015
'Avengers: Age of Ultron' didn't need a director
How many superheroes does it take to make a movie? At this point, Marvel Studio's cinematic empire is getting so overpopulated that you'd need a spreadsheet to keep track of who everyone is. There are over a dozen comic-book characters vying for attention in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," — some who have...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2015
Turkey's master of slow-boil cinema keeps his characters simmering with tension in 'Winter Sleep'
This may seem an odd form of praise, but Nuri Bilge Ceylan does boredom awfully well. The Turkish director's last film, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" (2011), was a police procedural that had been denuded of the drama you'd normally expect from the genre. Yet as its protagonists trudged fruitlessly from...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2015
'Through a Lens Darkly' documents the immense power that images have in the African-American community
After the shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, news media briefly circulated a photo of the 18-year-old flashing a "gang sign," transforming him into a menace to society. Twitter users, many of them also young, black males, responded by posting side-by-side photos...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2015
Cult manga artist Tadao Tsuge's 'Trash Market' is filled with dark tales of misfits and lowlifes
"Too dark, won't sell, no commissions" — such was Tadao Tsuge's verdict on his oeuvre back in 1994. Though he was a noted contributor to alternative manga magazine "Garo" in its heyday during the late 1960s and early '70s, Tsuge remains a cult figure even in Japan, overshadowed by the reputation of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2015
'Mad Max: Fury Road' is so good at spectacular violence that it injures itself
If you want a vision of the future, at least from George Miller's perspective, picture a boot stamping on a human face for about two hours. Those in search of a bludgeoning good time will find it in his new scorched-earth action extravaganza, "Mad Max: Fury Road" — it's hard to remember the last time...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 10, 2015
Life inside a Nepalese cable car in 'Manakamana'
One summer in Tokyo, as I was unemployed and without any better ideas about how to occupy myself, I spent an entire day riding the Yamanote Line. It takes roughly one hour to complete a loop of the line and, in the course of the day, I managed 19 laps before having to stop and catch the last train home....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Jun 5, 2015
Zen and the delicate art of demitasse coffee
Shingo Naganuma isn't exaggerating when he compares the atmosphere of his coffee shop, Nejimakigumo, to a temple. Open the menu here and you'll find a list of rules, ranging from prohibitions (no smoking, no pets) to a requirement that laptop users buy extra drinks if they plan on occupying one of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2015
The 'Daughters of the Samurai' who changed the face of Meiji Era Japan
Tsuda College, occupying a leafy campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo, is a private college where female students are educated in languages and the liberal arts. In one corner of the site, overshadowed by the stately trees that surround it, lies the final resting place of Umeko Tsuda, an early pioneer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 9, 2015
The 'dwarf' architect of Japan's literary boom
With a chuckle, translator and literary critic Motoyuki Shibata recalls the way author Steven Millhauser once described him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
May 1, 2015
Arise Coffee Roasters claims a corner in Tokyo's caffeine epicenter
The much-ballyhooed Tokyo debut of Oakland's Blue Bottle Coffee Co. in February galvanized Kiyosumi-shirakawa's reputation as the city's coffee epicenter, turning the area into a magnet for caffeine-addled day-trippers. Taiju Hayashi certainly isn't going to complain about the extra business he's been...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2015
Cuushe dreams of perfect pop on 'Night Lines'
Where Japanese musicians used to move to Tokyo for a shot at the big time, these days it feels like increasing numbers of them are heading to Berlin instead. Mayuko Hitotsuyanagi, better known by her dream-pop alias Cuushe, was one of them. In 2012, the Kyoto native embarked on a yearlong working holiday...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2015
British filmmaker sounds out Japan
In 1996, the Environment Ministry unveiled a list of designated places and traditions around the country that demanded appreciation not for how they looked, but how they sounded.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Apr 3, 2015
Barista champ puts Fukuoka on the map
Yoshikazu Iwase has a tough act to top. As he heads to the World Barista Championship (WBC) in Seattle this month, he'll be following in the wake of Maruyama Coffee's Hidenori Izaki, the barista prodigy who last year became the first Japanese — and, indeed, Asian — competitor to win the title.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 13, 2015
Is virtual art as nourishing as a set meal?
You have to admit, it's all awfully clever. At "L'art de Rosanjin," which runs at Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall until March 24, visitors can sit in a virtual tempura restaurant, and gawp as images of the chef's hands at work are projected on the counter in front of them, accompanied by the sounds of sizzling...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Mar 3, 2015
Switch Coffee keeps the neighbors happy
"Sometimes people say you shouldn't make your hobby into your job," says Masahiro Onishi, the 28-year-old owner of Meguro roastery and coffee stand Switch Coffee. "I was concerned about that."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2015
Nujabes’ friends to pay tribute to the soulful hip-hop producer on the fifth anniversary of his death
When a traffic accident on Feb. 26, 2010, claimed the life of independent hip-hop auteur Jun Seba, who recorded and DJed under the name Nujabes, even some of his closest collaborators didn't find out until a few weeks later. The Japanese rapper Shingo Annen, better known by his professional name Shing02,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 10, 2015
Egyptology asks Japan: Can you spare a synth?
For many visiting musicians, a Japanese tour consists of a brief, meticulously coordinated onslaught of gigs, interviews and in-store appearances, possibly capped by a karaoke session with the record label's PR team. Few get to spend six weeks schlepping around the country on an old city bus, as Egyptology's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Feb 3, 2015
Blue Bottle Coffee offers a fresher brew
Whether by accident of fate or surfeit of real estate, Tokyo's Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood is turning into one of the most caffeinated corners of the capital. Already home to artisan roasters, including The Cream of the Crop and Arise Coffee, this district of galleries, parks and low-rise housing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 31, 2015
Dendera
Though there's still plenty of debate about whether it was ever common for Japan's rural communities to deal with elderly relatives by leaving them to die on a mountain, it makes for a great story. Depicted in Keisuke Kinoshita's 1958 period drama, "Narayama Bushiko" ("The Ballad of Narayama") — remade...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2015
Exodus: 'Verisimilitude alone doesn't make a story more engaging'
You could read the Book of Exodus in less time than it takes to watch Ridley Scott's provocatively pointless big-screen version, and it would probably be more entertaining. Even at 2½ hours, this biblical blockbuster feels rushed, as if the story has been shorn of all its connective tissue. Sweeping...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
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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