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February 21, 2025
 

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CULTURE

TV & Streaming

Film
Books
Art
Music
TV & Streaming
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Entertainment news
Netflix reality series “Offline Love” follows five men and five women as they spend 10 days in Nice, France, finding romance.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
‘Offline Love’ ditches digital dating and puts old-school romance to the test
Netflix Japan's new reality series whisks its participants to a picturesque seaside city in France and leans into nostalgia for a simpler time.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations
While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
‘The Hot Spot’: Close encounters of the mundane kind
Japanese dramas have been taking bolder risks recently, and Bakarhythm’s new sci-fi series surprises by centering its high-concept ideas on trivial occurrences.
Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama "Meteor Garden," died from a respiratory illness during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 3, 2025
Taiwan's 'Meteor Garden' star Barbie Hsu dies at 48
The actor, who rose to fame as the romantic lead in a 2001 television drama based on a manga series, died from a respiratory illness during a family holiday in Japan.
Players in Jakarta, Indonesia, take part in the “Red Light, Green Light” game from the Netflix series “Squid Game.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 30, 2025
'Cute and murderous': How the iconic killer doll in 'Squid Game' came to life
By Minwoo Park and Hyunsu Yim
Young-hee, the innocent-looking robotic doll who has a deadly role in the mega-hit Netflix series, is partly inspired by the production designer's daughter.
Animated series “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi” premiered on Cartoon Network on Nov. 29, 2004, and ran for three seasons. The show is based on real-life J-pop band Puffy.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 24, 2025
The cartoon chaos of ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ was ahead of its time
By Patrick St. Michel
Love for the J-pop duo’s zany Cartoon Network series has endured online for over 20 years since its premiere.
“The Elephant Man” and “Twin Peaks” director David Lynch became a favorite among Japanese moviegoers who flocked to new arthouse cinemas (known as “mini theaters”) popping up around the country in the 1980s and ’90s.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 23, 2025
How 'Twin Peaks' turned David Lynch into Japan's favorite weirdo
By James Hadfield
The director’s work thrived in the early days of arthouse “mini theaters,” and cherry pies and canned coffee fueled the nation's "Twin Peaks" mania.
In season two of "Squid Game," protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returns to put an end to the deadly competition.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 12, 2025
The unnervingly timed return of ‘Squid Game’
By Erik Augustin Palm
The show’s themes of wealth disparity and exploitation of power resonate far beyond South Korea, tapping into a universal vein of unease about the unstable systems we live under.
“The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic” centers on three teenage protagonists who are transported into a fantasy world where they must grapple with a foreign culture.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 11, 2025
Isekai anime offers a key to understanding globalization
By Stevie Suan
The fantastical genre wherein characters are dropped into unlikely worlds — and sometimes bodies — can be read as an allegory for the structure of the contemporary anime industry.
NHK’s latest taiga period drama, “Unbound,” centers on Tsutaya Juzaburo (Ryusei Yokohama), a commoner who becomes a successful bookseller and publisher.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 10, 2025
‘Unbound’ breaks NHK period drama tradition with a hero of the common folk
By Mark Schilling
Public broadcaster NHK marks its 100th anniversary by flipping the script on its long-running period drama series.

IPhone parts maker Murata eyes supply chain shift toward India
Murata Manufacturing President Norio Nakajima
Monthly number of visitors to Japan hit record high in January
A visitor feeds the deer at Nara Park in Nara on Jan. 27. The monthly number of foreign visitors to Japan hit a record high in January.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
Arsenal defender Tomiyasu undergoes knee surgery
Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu celebrates scoring against Everton on May 19, 2024.
Mets owner says he overspent to get 'best team I can'
Mets owner Steve Cohen (left) speaks next to general manager David Stearns during a press conference to introduce right fielder Juan Soto at Citi Field on Dec. 12, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
Nielsen eyes mentality shift in first outing as Nadeshiko boss
Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita (front left) and defender Saki Kumagai (center) in action against the United States during the Paris 2024 Olympics on Aug. 3
Can Ishiba's 'joyful Japan' policy revitalize the nation's rural regions?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba receives fruit from tangerine farmers of Shizuoka Prefecture in Tokyo on Jan. 22. The government's new regional revitalization plan focuses on convincing younger workers to choose a career and life somewhere other than a major urban center such as Tokyo.
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history
By Alex K.T. Martin

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