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November 21, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
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 Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 6, 2022
'Mondays: See You “This” Week!’: Zany office comedy gets stuck on repeat
Ryo Takebayashi's film about coworkers caught in a time loop is packed with knowing winks and references to the highs and lows of corporate culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2022
‘I Am Makimoto’: Sadawo Abe isn't what this ‘Still Life’ remake needed
Sadawo Abe plays a lonely, eccentric bureaucrat assigned with tracking down the relatives of those who have died alone in Nobuo Mizuta's remake of a British drama by Uberto Pasolini.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2022
‘Drifting Home’ gets marooned in a sea of allegory
Hiroyasu Ishida's magical realist tale about learning to let go of the past is poignant — until it loses its moorings.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 8, 2022
‘Love Life’ tells a meandering story about grief
Koji Fukada's drama about a married couple hit by tragedy is a little too oblique for its own good.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 1, 2022
'A Hundred Flowers': A sumptuous drama of forgiving and forgetting
Genki Kawamura's debut feature about a strained mother-son relationship is a richly cinematic experience.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 25, 2022
Eiji Uchida loses the rhythm with ‘Offbeat Cops’
Director Eiji Uchida's musical police procedural, starring Hiroshi Abe as a detective who is relegated to play the drums in the force's band, is corny and predictable pro-cop propaganda.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 25, 2022
‘Bullet Train’ proves that Hollywood hasn’t lost its knack for topsy-turvy visions of Japan
David Leitch's hyper-violent comedy may be the least authentic screen depiction of the country since “Austin Powers,” but it's hardly the first Western movie to take such liberties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2022
‘Sabakan’: A whimsical throwback to the halcyon days of childhood
Director Tomoki Kanazawa revisits his own boyhood growing up in Nagasaki Prefecture with a light and sentimental drama about two youngsters finding friendship during a summer road trip.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 11, 2022
‘Tang’: The future is bright, bland and low on surprises
Kazunari Ninomiya and his CGI co-star are full of pep, but Takahiro Miki's “Tang” is not.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 4, 2022
‘Torao’: A striking foray into true crime
Fact and fiction blur but justice remains elusive in Kazuya Murayama's debut feature, centering on an unsolved murder and the real-life detective who worked the case.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2022
‘Yokaipedia’: Fantasy flick takes a page out of ‘Harry Potter’
Takashi Yamazaki's supernatural adventure film will cast a spell on younger viewers, but parents should find it entertaining, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2022
‘Dawning on Us’: Kenji Yamauchi’s pandemic drama contains some home truths
Kenji Yamauchi's drama about a family on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the wake of the pandemic hits a few snags but also offers wry observations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 7, 2022
‘Believers’ is explicit but has nothing to say
Hideo Jojo's cult caper is a kinky, flimsy throwback to the turn of the millennium when the Japanese public was still reeling from attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 30, 2022
‘Kami wa Mikaeri o Motomeru’: YouTuber drama leaves a nasty aftertaste
Director Keisuke Yoshida wades into morally gray territory in his film about a middle-aged man with a vendetta against an aspiring influencer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2022
‘Plan 75’: A chilling look at a callous future society
Chie Hayakawa's haunting dystopian drama about a government-sponsored euthanasia program to address Japan's aging society almost hits too close for comfort.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2022
‘Soup and Ideology’: A touching family portrait that feeds the soul
Director Yang Yonghi comes to terms with her mother's past trauma and animosity toward South Korea in the moving final chapter of her documentary trilogy on familial ties.
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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