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April 01, 2025
 

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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2021
‘What She Likes …’: LGBTQ drama gets stuck on stereotypes
Shogo Kusano's film about the relationship between a closeted gay teenager and a girl obsessed with homoerotic manga has its heart in the right place, but gets everything else wrong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 2, 2021
‘Minamata Mandala’: An unfinished battle for accountability
Documentary film director Kazuo Hara chronicles the ongoing struggles of Minamata disease victims to hold the state responsible in one of Japan's worst cases of industrial pollution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Nov 25, 2021
‘Cowboy Bebop’: Live-action riff on beloved anime hits flat notes
John Cho turns out to be one of the best things in Netflix's good-looking but painfully square adaptation of the 1990s anime series about intergalactic bounty hunters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 13, 2021
TIFF and Tokyo Filmex shakeup gets conversations going
The 34th edition of Tokyo's annual film event marked the debut of a newly appointed programming director, an emphasis on female perspectives and the resurrection of the TIFF Times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2021
TIFF's Director in Focus Keisuke Yoshida makes a case for compassion
The underrated director of films such as “Himeanole,” “Blue” and “Intolerance” gets his due at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2021
‘Parasite in Love’: Pulpy drama has young love on the brain
Kensaku Kakimoto's moody romance has an interesting premise about the relationship between love and mental illness, but it doesn't quite settle on the right tone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2021
‘And So the Baton Is Passed’: No, these are not happy tears
Tetsu Maeda's melodrama about abandoned children and questionable parenting may bring on the waterworks, but the film's underlying message doesn't inspire much hope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2021
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings his golden touch to TIFF
The Conversation Series at Asia Lounge, a program of discussions that the director helps curate, gives Tokyo's annual film festival a philosophical boost.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 28, 2021
‘Unlock Your Heart’: Queen bee brings the sting of teen drama
Anna Yamada is captivating as a high school senior who seems to have it all — except the boy she likes — and comes up with a plan to win his affections in a teen drama from Rin Shuto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2021
‘Pretenders’: Much ado about altruism in the social media age
Izuru Kumasaka's film about the slippery slopes of tricking people into being good Samaritans and chasing internet fame combines a scrappy energy with guerilla-style shots of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2021
‘Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai’: A historical swashbuckler full of gusto
Director Masato Harada's period film focuses on the rise and fall of the infamous Shinsengumi samurai corps during the years of political tumult leading up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 7, 2021
‘In the Wake’: The trauma of 3/11 lingers, 10 years on
Takahisa Zeze's murder drama focuses on the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the survivors who have been neglected by the social welfare system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 30, 2021
‘Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots’: Giving adulthood the old college try
Yui Sakuma makes a quirky character relatable in Ryohei Yoshino's earnest coming-of-age drama about a college student who's out of touch with her peers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 23, 2021
‘First Gentleman’: Political romcom is an also-ran
Hayato Kawai's lightweight comedy imagines Japan getting its first female prime minister, but reality may have already caught up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 3, 2021
‘Moonlight Shadow’: Dream-like mood piece depicts grief with aching clarity
Nana Komatsu's performance as a woman mourning a lost love anchors Edmund Yeo's seductive adaptation of a Banana Yoshimoto short story.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 26, 2021
‘A Girl on the Shore’: A risque teen drama comes up empty
Atsushi Ueda's film adaptation of Inio Asano's manga stays true to its source material, but doesn't quite capture the messy emotions of adolescence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 19, 2021
‘Drive My Car’: Slow-burn drama does best when taking new routes
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's adaptation of a Haruki Murakami story, which won the award for best screenplay at this year's Cannes film festival, is a meta-drama on loss and breaking down barriers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2021
‘It’s a Flickering Life’: A heartfelt ode to golden oldies spread thin
Veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada's tribute to the film industry and the audiences who are keeping it alive is well-meaning but doesn't quite hit its mark.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 15, 2021
‘Tokyo Kurds’: A sobering look at lives in limbo
Fumiari Hyuga's documentary about asylum seekers in Japan is an intimate portrait of life with freedom hanging in the balance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 8, 2021
‘The Asian Angel’: A road movie with a touch of the divine
Two dysfunctional families from Japan and South Korea take a cross-country road trip in Yuya Ishii's “The Asian Angel.”
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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