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April 01, 2025
 

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James Hadfield
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2022
'Tokyo Side A': Making sense of the 'pandemic Olympics'
Official Olympics documentaries can be as triumphant as a gold-medal performance or they can end up in infamy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 26, 2022
'Inu-Oh’: A rock musical that won't be headlining anytime soon
While 'Inu-Oh' contains good insights into how folk traditions are born, the visuals and music could've benefited from more variety.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 12, 2022
‘Drive Into Night’: Middle age doldrums take a turn toward the bizarre
Dai Sako's offbeat drama involving a corpse in a car trunk is a wild ride to remember, even if its characters' memories and morals are suspect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 6, 2022
Emma Kawawada's humane portrayal of the Kurdish diaspora
'My Small Land,' which centers on young girl and her family seeking asylum in Japan, is based on extensive interviews that the director conducted over the space of nearly two years.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Podcast

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

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
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