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April 01, 2025
 

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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2022
‘Bubble’: A thin plot brings down exciting visuals
Tetsuro Araki's film about teenage parkour practitioners living in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo has some exhilarating action sequences, but its jumble of genre elements falls flat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2022
‘Tsuyukusa’: A charming second shot at love and life
Satomi Kobayashi gives an endearing performance as a single woman whose life takes an unexpected turn after a close call with a meteorite.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2022
‘Tombi: Father and Son’: Showa nostalgia misses the mark
Takahisa Zeze's decades-spanning family drama is sentimental and unintentionally silly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 8, 2022
'Tokyo Vice' steps into the capital's criminal underworld
Ken Watanabe and Hideaki Ito star alongside Ansel Elgort in the cross-cultural series that brings to life an American reporter's memoir about investigating Japan's yakuza in the 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2022
‘One Day, You Will Reach the Sea’: A haunting ode to those who couldn’t say goodbye
Yukino Kishii gives a controlled performance as a woman struggling to deal with the disappearance of a former friend in Ryutaro Nakagawa's drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2022
How well do you know Japan's Oscar history?
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “Drive My Car” is nominated in four categories at the 94th Academy Awards, but win or lose, the film joins an exclusive club for cinematic greats.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2022
Eiko Ishibashi’s score sets the scene in Oscar-contender ‘Drive My Car’
The composer and musician's body of work spans from abstract art pop to experimental electronics, with her love for cinema serving as a major source of inspiration.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2022
‘Kappei’: The end can’t come soon enough
Even a perfectly cast Hideaki Ito can't save this limp, low-calorie comedy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2022
‘Tamaran Hill’: A playful literary journey to get lost in
In Tadasuke Kotani's heartfelt adaptation of Senji Kuroi's short story, a young woman's exploration of Tokyo's hidden memories leads her down a path of self-discovery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2022
‘The Last 10 Years’: Keep a hanky handy for this weepy romance
Michihito Fujii's splashy terminal illness drama can't help succumbing to the usual genre tropes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 24, 2022
‘Chronicle in the Ruins’: An intimate look at a family’s rise from the ashes
Masato and Maori Hara's documentary poignantly captures the weight of memory and loss by incorporating footage recovered in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed their family home.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2022
‘The Takatsu River’: A homey hometown drama
Yoshinari Nishikori offers a relatively upbeat take on a well-worn story of a rural Japanese community in decline.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2022
Oscars nod launches director Ryusuke Hamaguchi into the global spotlight
Ryusuke Hamaguchi landed four major Oscar nominations this week, a phenomenal achievement for a filmmaker who is still really just hitting his stride.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2022
‘What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?’: Satoshi Miki’s inverted monster movie bites off more than it can chew
Satoshi Miki's disaster film about what happens after a monster attack sounds good on paper, but it's an almighty mess.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2022
‘Pure Japanese’: Dean Fujioka’s passion project is a fascinating muddle
A typical genre-movie premise gets complicated in director Daishi Matsunaga's film about a stuntman living out his fantasies of old-school heroism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2022
‘Missing’: Shinzo Katayama delivers a twisty thriller
Aoi Ito and Jiro Sato give standout performances in Shinzo Katayama's drama about a teenager trying to unravel the mystery of her father's sudden disappearance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 13, 2022
‘The Journalist’: A wake-up call that feels more like a lecture
Netflix's six-episode political drama series expands on Michihito Fujii's 2019 film of the same title, giving a detailed fictionalized account of a real-life scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 6, 2022
‘Haruhara-san’s Recorder’: A story of grief told with the lightest of brushstrokes
Kyoshi Sugita's resonant drama captures the process of mourning with restrained cinematography and subtle performances.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2021
‘Underdogs’: It’s a colorful life in Manila’s underbelly
Tsuyoshi Kumeta's documentary captures the bustle and squalor of the capital of the Philippines as it follows four Japanese men living in the city's slums over the course of seven years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2021
‘Shrieking in the Rain’: Frothy fun, good for a night in
Eiji Uchida's lighthearted ode to 1980s moviemaking treads similar territory as “The Naked Director,” but instead focuses on the film industry from a female perspective.
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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