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December 22, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 20, 2024
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
International collaborations and indie risk-takers steered the film industry in a fresh direction in 2024.
An entanglement between club hostess Rie (Sakurako Konishi, left) and TV writer Takuya (Kou Maehara) lies at the center of Takashi Watanabe’s “More Than Words.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2024
‘More Than Words’: A morally gray melodrama about sexual assault
Takashi Watanabe’s film concerns the plight of a bumbling TV writer whose entanglement with a club hostess leads to his downfall.
“Ainu Puri” is a nuanced portrait of Shigeki Amanai (left), a modern Ainu man who strives to uphold his culture and heritage in daily life.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2024
‘Ainu Puri’: A vital portrait of indigenous culture in contemporary Japan
Takeshi Fukunaga’s documentary is an engaging examination of the life and community of a Hokkaido man devoted to his Ainu heritage.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024
Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling
"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
“A Big Home” offers a sincere portrait of the vulnerable youth who live in more than 600 group homes across Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024
Vulnerable youth look for sense of belonging in ‘A Big Home’
Ryo Takebayashi’s documentary profiles the residents of a group home, but shies away from making emphatic statements about the circumstances that brought them there.
Hiroshi Kurosaki’s Netflix series “Beyond Goodbye” centers on a woman (Kasumi Arimura, left) who discovers her dead lover’s heart saved the life of a quiet pianist (Kentaro Sakaguchi).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Nov 29, 2024
Hiroshi Kurosaki looks beyond Japan for heart-wrenching drama
The director’s Netflix series relies on lush visuals and truths about love and loss to appeal to an overseas audience.
Eriko Nakamura (left) and Ryo Narita play star-crossed lovers in Shinzo Katayama’s hallucinatory romp through past and present, dreams and reality.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2024
The mind-bending melancholy of ‘Lust in the Rain’
Shinzo Katayama’s hallucinatory film boldly explores both the absurdities of wartime violence and the erotic psyche.
A failed actor (Koji Seki, left) revisits memories of his ex-wife (Kano Ichiki) after learning about her unexpected death in “Performing Kaoru's Funeral.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024
‘Performing Kaoru's Funeral’: Ambitious drama reflects on love that doesn’t die
Koji Seki brings gravitas to his role as a man tasked with serving as chief mourner for his dead ex-wife in Noriko Yuasa’s drama.
A socially awkward janitor (Haruka Ayase, left) hits the road to pick up a dying woman’s daughter (Kana Osawa) in “Route 29.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2024
‘Route 29’: Misfits come together in touching road movie
Though the protagonists spend more time on their feet than in a car, Yusuke Morii’s feature about two strangers hitting the road is picaresque and borderline precious.
Daihachi Yoshida receives the Tokyo Grand Prix award for his film, “Teki Cometh,” at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Nov. 6.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 8, 2024
Festival glory for a dark Japanese comedy
With sold-out screenings, international stars and an increase in guests, this year's Tokyo International Film Festival revived its rep as a global cinematic gathering.
Sakuya Ishikawa (Sosuke Ikematsu) wakes up from a coma to find his mother gone and decides to virtually re-create her with harvested data in “The Real You.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2024
‘The Real You’: Provocative dystopia combines sci-fi concerns with melodrama
In Yuya Ishii’s drama, a young man’s existential crisis amid the rise of artificial entities feels very much of the present moment.
Eight warriors fight to end a curse placed on a samurai clan in “Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2024
‘Hakkenden’ has fun with Edo-era pulp fiction
The film presents both a bio of Takizawa Bakin, whose writing had a large impact on Japanese pop culture, and a snazzy live-action digest of his influential novel.
Kazuhiro Soda’s “The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” follows not only the felines that live on the grounds of the title shrine in Ushimado, Okayama Prefecture, but also the local community members, many of whom are of retirement age.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2024
‘The Cats of Gokogu Shrine’: Documentary paints intimate portrait of a community in decline
While stray cats that inhabit the grounds of a local shrine take center stage, the film also celebrates the aging humans doing their best to preserve their neighborhood.
Kazuya Shiraishi's "11 Rebels," a period actioner based on a long-forgotten script by Kazuo Kasahara, will open this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2024
Tokyo International Film Festival boasts strong line-up of Japanese fare
An excellent chance to see films from Japan, Asia and around the world, the annual event will kick off with Kazuya Shiraishi's gritty action feature "11 Rebels."
A young woman named “Chacha” (Marika Ito) defies the rules of Japanese society in the romantic drama “Cha-Cha.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2024
‘Cha-Cha’: Romantic drama doesn’t take itself too seriously
Mai Sakai’s twisty and quirky film features a protagonist who is about as untethered from conventional roles and rules as it is possible to be in Japanese society.
Two childhood friends (Hayato Kurihara, left, and Yukito Hidaka) living in a near-future Japan see a rise in student protests against oppressive surveillance in “Happyend.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2024
‘Happyend’ tests teen friendship with authoritarian dystopia
Neo Sora’s ambitious coming-of-age film follows a group of friends attempting to disrupt a surveillance society with something less than life-or-death urgency.
A talented photographer (Makoto Tanaka, left) can’t help outshining her tight-knit circle of art school friends in “See You Tomorrow.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2024
‘See You Tomorrow’: A pursuit of passion grounded in reality
Saki Michimoto's stylish and accomplished debut feature centers on a gifted photographer, her art school friends and their uncertainty about what comes next in life.
A small-time online hustler (Masaki Suda) moves to the countryside after a big score but soon finds his enemies closing in in “Cloud.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2024
‘Cloud’: Dangers of the internet deliver full-throttle action
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's masterful psychological thriller features the director's signature creepy vibe as well as blazing guns and falling bodies.
Marina Tsukada got the idea for her anthology “Mitsuki, Sekai” from her acquaintance with the two young lead actors, whom she first met at a video workshop she conducted in Nagano Prefecture.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2024
Marina Tsukada lets local lives shape her work
The director’s latest, “Mitsuki, Sekai,” is part of an ongoing project that traces the lives of Nagano Prefecture-based children for a decade until they reach adulthood.
Marina Tsukada’s “Mitsuki, Sekai” features young nonprofessional actors in the director’s native Nagano Prefecture as their characters mature from childhood to adulthood.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024
Intimate and revelatory, ‘Mitsuki, Sekai’ explores the quiet trials of girlhood
Marina Tsukada’s anthology feature containing two unconnected short films lays bare the inner lives of young Japanese women in unexpected ways.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Ride-hailing restrictions to be eased during 2025 Osaka Expo
A venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka
Foxconn's interest in Nissan said to be on hold amid Honda merger talks
Foxconn’s pause in its pursuit of Nissan is the latest development in the unexpected emergence of two suitors for the ailing Japanese carmaker.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

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