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December 21, 2024
 

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CULTURE

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“Shogun,” created by American channel FX and made by a joint American-Japanese team, utilized the strengths of both Japan and Hollywood to create a bona fide smash that critics adored. 
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / 2024 in Review
2024 was the year Japanese TV found its prestige
The triumph of “Shogun” at the Emmys served as an exclamation point for an industry taking big swings and opening up to trans-Pacific partnerships.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
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.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Amazon’s ‘Like a Dragon: Yakuza’ pulls its biggest punch
Amazon’s new series based on the long-running Ryu Ga Gotoku games flattens the quirkiest elements of the Kamurocho red-light district for a run-of-the-mill crime drama.
Comedian Yuriyan Retriever takes on the role of Japan’s most hated heel, Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, in “The Queen of Villains.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 20, 2024
Yuriyan Retriever is Japan's biggest heel — and proud of it
By James Hadfield
The comedian takes on the role of Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, a real-life rule-breaking brawler in women’s professional wrestling, in Netflix's “The Queen of Villains.”
Anna Sawai (left), winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award, and Hiroyuki Sanada, outstanding lead actor in a drama series for "Shogun," at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 18, 2024
Japanese are jubilant over 'Shogun' — even without having watched the series
By Natsuko Fukue
"Shogun" is only available via Disney's streaming platform, which is relatively new in Japan. Nonetheless, people are buzzing with excitement over the show's Emmy wins.
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2024
‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’
By Thu-Huong Ha
The Emmys-sweeping period drama went to great lengths to achieve historical accuracy — but that's just one piece of a bigger puzzle.
Japanese actress Anna Sawai, winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award for "Shogun," and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for the show, pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 16, 2024
'Shogun' becomes first non-English-language winner of best drama Emmy
By Alyssa I. Smith
Veteran leading man Hiroyuki Sanada and co-lead Anna Sawai also took home acting awards for their roles in the show.
"Shogun" star Hiroyuki Sanada attends the premiere for "John Wick: Chapter 4" in March 2023.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 15, 2024
Hiroyuki Sanada: the actor and producer driving TV's 'Shogun'
By Natsuko Fukue
Having started his acting career in Japan at the age of 5, the actor, now 63, is seeing decades of hard work pay off in the U.S. TV series "Shogun."
The team behind "Shogun" sought out the advice of Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns for the hit TV series.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 15, 2024
'Groundbreaking' realism key to 'Shogun' success
By Natsuko Fukue
The cast of the hit TV show learned how to walk without swinging their arms and rise from a seated position without crouching first.
"Shogun" actors (from left) Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and Tadanobu Asano are all up for Emmys at this year's awards show.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 10, 2024
'Shogun' clinches record-breaking 14 Creative Arts Emmys
The FX network series set in feudal Japan claimed some of the highest honors at the awards show, including those for costumes, makeup and cinematography.

Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
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.
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.
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

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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