Menu
Search
 
January 18, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

CULTURE

Film

Film
Books
Art
Music
TV & Streaming
Stage
Entertainment news
Filmmaker David Lynch at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles in 2002. The painter turned avant-garde film artist, whose fame, influence and distinctively skewed worldview extended far beyond the movie screen, died on Thursday at 78.
CULTURE / Film
David Lynch, maker of florid and unnerving films, dies at 78
A painter turned artist whose films included “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” Lynch also brought his visionary view to the small screen with “Twin Peaks.”
CULTURE / Film
‘Muromachi Outsiders’: Yo Oizumi commands attention in rebellion tale
The actor convincingly breaks the mold of his comedy persona to inhabit the role of a sword-wielding folk hero in Yu Irie’s period epic.
CULTURE / Film
‘The Solitary Gourmet’: Palatable movie adaptation may leave you wanting more
Lead actor Yutaka Matsushige’s film directing debut offers ambient pleasure for fans of the long-running TV series.
Hisao Kurozumi (left) and Kazuki Nagaya (the film’s director) play brothers with a strained relationship in “Mending Cracks.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2025
‘Mending Cracks’: A muddled drama about brotherly discord
By Mark Schilling
Kazuki Nagaya’s directorial debut has its charms, but doesn’t offer enough substance to engage the audience.
Despite impressive visuals that hark back to Peter Jackson’s live-action trilogy from the early 2000s, Kenji Kamiyama’s “The War of the Rohirrim” falls flat in its storytelling as a standalone film.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2024
‘The War of the Rohirrim’: Striking visuals, insipid storytelling
By Matt Schley
Kenji Kamiyama's anime addition to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" universe has impressive qualities, but lacks the magic of Peter Jackson's film adaptations.
Tomoko Tabata brings verve and emotion as 11-year-old Renko in “Moving,” Shinji Somai’s forgotten classic from 1993.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2024
‘Moving’: A profound, poetic coming-of-age masterpiece restored in 4K
By Mark Schilling
The 1993 film by Shinji Somai is rekindling interest in the late director as a generational talent.
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 / 2024 in Review
Dec 20, 2024
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
By Mark Schilling
International collaborations and indie risk-takers steered the film industry in a fresh direction in 2024.
Kenichi Takito (left) and Non play literary nemeses working in close quarters in Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s lukewarm comedy, “The Hotel of My Dream.”
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2024
‘The Hotel of My Dream’: A literary comedy that never really gels
By James Hadfield
Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s adaptation of Asako Yuzuki’s novel promises a festive treat, but casting and cadence prevent it from realizing its full potential.
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
By Mark Schilling
Takashi Watanabe’s film concerns the plight of a bumbling TV writer whose entanglement with a club hostess leads to his downfall.
In a year of anime hits, Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back” stood out from the bunch.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 13, 2024
Big franchises and bold voices dominated anime in 2024
By Matt Schley
In a year of major box-office hits such as “Conan” and “Haikyu!!,” smaller animators used nontraditional tools to stand out from the rest.

Possibility of Nankai Trough megaquake now 80%, government panel reports
A map of the hypocentral region of an anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake
Crashed Jeju jet’s black box failure shows decadeslong gap in power rules
The flight data recorder retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216, which crashed killing 179 people in December. Black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the flight stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea's transport ministry said Saturday.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Tokyo police arrest dentists and others over ¥20 million medical fraud
According to Tokyo police, a group of seven people, including dentists, submitted falsified claims in June 2023 for the treatment of 62 foreign students and technical trainees from Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, fraudulently obtaining around ¥2.87 million ($18,500) in medical fees.
30th anniversary of Hanshin quake marked with desire to pass on lessons
Children pray for the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake during an early morning ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the quake, in Kobe on Friday.
A slow dive into ‘a moment and an eternity’ with Ryuichi Sakamoto
From the mid-2000s onward, Ryuichi Sakamoto created a number of installation works, often in collaboration with Shiro Takatani, of multimedia art collective Dumb Type.
The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
Japan looks to up the ante with more money and partners in military aid program
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo hold a joint news conference in Taguig City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on Wednesday.
Possibility of Nankai Trough megaquake now 80%, government panel reports
A map of the hypocentral region of an anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake
With new regional party, Shinji Ishimaru touts rebirth
Shinji Ishimaru announces details of his new regional party at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers
mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

Latest News

Japan Coast Guard launches emergency video reporting system
2 hours ago
Chinese buyer of Okinawa Island to make visit in summer
2 hours ago
Once an interloper, Trump returns to White House more powerful than before
4 hours ago
TikTok’s fate rests on Trump after U.S. Supreme Court upholds law
4 hours ago
China court to sentence man over Japanese school bus stabbings
6 hours ago