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April 13, 2025
 

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CULTURE

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Bickering siblings Sota (Masaaki Nakano, left) and Akira (Hirota Otsuka) attempt to dispose of their father’s body in “The Brothers Kitaura.”
CULTURE / Film
‘The Brothers Kitaura’: A sordid tale of filial impropriety
Masaki Tsujino’s dark comedy of errors unpacks family dysfunction and middle-class mediocrity.
CULTURE / Film
‘Ghost Killer’: Spirited action and sharp humor make for deadly fun combo
“Baby Assassins” collaborators Yugo Sakamoto and Kensuke Sonomura team up again for an action-packed comedy with Akari Takaishi.
CULTURE / Film
‘Unreachable’: An attractive but half-baked fantasy
The combined talents of Suzu Hirose, Hana Sugisaki and Kaya Kiyohara can’t save this flimsy fantasy drama.
Goro Miyazaki joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed films including 2006's "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill."
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2025
AI may be coming for anime, but Hayao Miyazaki is irreplaceable, son says
By Natsuko Fukue
Goro Miyazaki says that though nothing can replicate the depth of his father's work, new technology brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge."
Mitsuko Kusabue plays the feisty proprietor of a ramshackle drinking establishment in “Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2025
‘Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar’: A granny like none other
By Mark Schilling
Acting veteran Mitsuko Kusabue brings wisdom and wit to Yurugu Matsumoto’s lighter-than-air comedy.
A figurine of the character Link from the Nintendo video game series The Legend of Zelda is displayed inside the Nintendo Tokyo store in the Japanese capital in November 2019.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2025
Nintendo announces Legend of Zelda film for 2027
Nintendo made the announcement on "Nintendo Today!", a new app for fans that was launched on Thursday.
Tadanobu Asano plays real-life photographer Masahisa Fukase in “Ravens,” which follows the artist’s life from his professional beginnings to the accident that ended his career.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025
‘Ravens’: Tadanobu Asano plays troubled photographer with scapegrace charm
By Mark Schilling
Mark Gill’s visually lush film subverts the realism of Masahisa Fukase’s life story by introducing a human-sized raven as an imagined antagonist.
Sixteen-year-old Jun’s (Katsuya Kobayashi) life spirals downward after his refusal to stand and sing the national anthem is misconstrued as a political statement in “Boy.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025
‘Boy’: An ambitious portrait of alienated youth
By James Hadfield
Director Yuji Dan brings a decades-old project to a close with his portrayal of a young man coming of age amid turmoil in the late 1990s.
A college student (Mizuki Yamashita, right) falls hopelessly in love with a stoic yet kindhearted high school student (Ryuto Sakuma) in “My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2025
‘My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999’ shows that even stoic gamers can fall in love
By Mark Schilling
Yuka Yasukawa’s sweet rom-com with feather-light comedy offers more than a pastel-hued romantic fantasy.
The film to beat for the Niigata International Animation Film Festival’s top prize seems to be Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back,” one of the two Japanese features in competition.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2025
Indie films vie for views at Niigata animation festival
By Matt Schley
From Satoshi Kon tributes to indie gems, this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival continues its dedication to feature-length animation.

Japan and U.S. to hold joint patrol after Okinawa sexual assaults
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki may participate in a joint patrol in the prefecture by Japanese and U.S. officials, an official in the area said.
Can anyone deal with Trump better than Ishiba?
Having had two meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is slowly building a personal relationship with him, which matters greatly to the U.S. president and in resolving bilateral issues.
Ishiba warns of divided world at futuristic Osaka Expo opening ceremony
The opening ceremony for the Osaka Expo on Saturday.
Why Trump’s dream of made-in-the-USA iPhones isn’t going to happen
U.S. President Donald Trump wants Apple to begin building iPhones in the United States. But Apple is unlikely to move production to the country in the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons.
A trip to remember: Japan answers the demand for curated luxury travel
Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture in 2017. Travel agencies catering to luxury tourists often include areas outside well-known cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto in their itineraries offered.
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
A trip to remember: Japan answers the demand for curated luxury travel
Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture in 2017. Travel agencies catering to luxury tourists often include areas outside well-known cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto in their itineraries offered.
Can anyone deal with Trump better than Ishiba?
Having had two meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is slowly building a personal relationship with him, which matters greatly to the U.S. president and in resolving bilateral issues.
After two years in top job, BOJ's Ueda faces his biggest challenge yet 
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda at a news conference in January. He has been in the top position for two years.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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