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March 15, 2025
 

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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2010

'The Wolfman'

"The Wolfman" stars Benicio Del Toro, which normally means I would readily suffer pain and humiliation and even demonstrate some nonexistent rock- climbing skills if need be, just to see my beloved. It's a lonely quest in Japan, where Del Toro doesn't have quite the following he deserves: He's too craggy,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 25, 2009

' Higanjima'

Hollywood likes its action movies fast and furious, their plot lines reducible to a phrase.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

In praise of films that refuse to follow formulas

After jostling through a metal detector, having my bag searched and my mobile confiscated by stern-faced blue meanies, I slump in my cinema seat, enduring head-exploding levels of volume from the coming attractions, and unwanted infrared scrutiny from guards patrolling for video-heads looking for their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 20, 2009

'2012'/'Infestation'

The new-agers have been talking for ages about the magic year 2012, which is both the end of the Mayan calendar (ooooh!) and the end of psychedelic guru Terence McKenna's "timewave zero" (aaaah!). The idea is that humanity will shift to some vague higher consciousness, though whether Wall Street is considered...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 27, 2009

Standard of living meets house of correction

Recently I had coffee in the Ginza with a friend from abroad, a Japanese gentlemen making a rare pilgrimage back to the land of his upbringing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2009

'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Director David Fincher is probably best known for his films "Seven" and "Fight Club." His star in both was Brad Pitt, whose iconic turn as an anticonsumerism terrorist in "Fight Club" was so sensational that it inspired an entire generation of men to go out and by maroon faux-leather jackets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2009

The battle for 2009's box office starts here

The Japanese film industry — particularly at the top, where Toho and the TV networks dwell — had a terrific 2008. Boosted by Hayao Miyazaki's animation "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" ("Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"), which earned a splendiferous ¥15 billion, Toho passed the ¥70-billion box-office mark...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 25, 2008

Dueling with a rare Japanese superhero

Japanese pop culture, by and large, doesn't do human superheroes. Super-powered robots (Atom Boy, aka Tetsuwan Atom), monsters (Godzilla) and aliens (Ultraman) exist in abundance, but it's harder to find the local equivalents to Spider-Man or Batman, especially on the big screen.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

'1408'/'Diary of the Dead'

"1408" is the latest story by Stephen King to make it to the big screen, and it's quite similar to one of the first King movies, "The Shining." There's a cynical writer — John Cusack this time, instead of Jack Nicholson — who goes to stay at a spooky hotel, but it's OK, because he doesn't believe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2008

'The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes'

The films of the Brothers Quay often seem less like movies in the conventional sense and more like half-remembered nightmares from the depths of the subconscious. Their films are quintessentially "not for everybody," in the same way that absinthe, fetish, and tantra aren't: You have to accept going "out...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2008

'The Fall'

Director Tarsem Singh has been blessed with a successful career in commercials, but when it comes to the cinema, he's suffered the curse of bad timing. His debut feature, "The Cell" (2000), came out as the serial killer boom was starting to tank. His new film, "The Fall," is told through the eyes of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2008

'The Dark Knight'

Like a plague of locusts, the superhero movies descend on us this summer. August brings us "Hancock," with Will Smith as an alcoholic, irresponsible and quite unfunny superhero; "The Incredible Hulk," which is practically a remake of 2003's "Hulk (presumably Ang Lee's version wasn't stupid enough); and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

'Speed Racer'

Here at The Japan Times, my job is officially that of "reviewer," but some days I feel more like the guy whose job it is to taste the king's food for poison. If the taster doesn't drop dead, the king digs in. Similarly, if I emerge from the latest Hollywood popcorn flick without having suffered severe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2008

'Speed Racer': drawing on an anime legend

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2008

'Jumper'

"Jumper" is one of those films that feels like it was a marketing strategy before it was a script. Or maybe it was one of those films where they had a cool new special effect and just needed to throw together something resembling a story to showcase it in. Or maybe it was both: create one shot of star...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2008

'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'

Our challenge this week is thus: Is it possible for a director to make a historical film and not have it wind up either: A) totally boring like "The Sun," Aleksandr Sokurov's film about Emperor Hirohito, or B) completely over-the-top and ludicrous like "300"?
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 19, 2007

Transformers: more than meets the ear

Since 1984, Transformers has proven an immensely enduring toy brand, spawning a hugely popular TV series (which in turn spawned even more spinoff TV series), a couple of movies and ever more toys, right up to the present day. In fact, the toys have their roots in the 1970s Japanese toy lines Microman...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2007

'Planet Terror'/'Death Proof'

With their double-feature project "Grindhouse," directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez seek to revive a bit of cinematic history, namely the grindhouse: the flea-pit inner-city theaters of the 1970s (think NYC's old Times Square), with dodgy clientele, that inevitably had a double-feature of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 3, 2007

'Transformers'

A drinking bet made the other night involved me writing an entire review in verse. "Transformers" seemed a likely candidate, and while still nursing a good buzz, I plunged into it . . .
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 20, 2007

Futuristic film screens as part of youth conference

Game over. Those words would erase the smile off the face of any video-game fanatic. But in Oshii Mamoru's 2001 film "Avalon," those could be the very last words you ever hear. This futuristic sci-fi film about a perilously addictive virtual-reality game — where a "death" can result in you meeting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2007

'Mushishi'

Katsuhiro Otomo once had a reputation as a genius anime auteur -- a younger, hipper version of Hayao Miyazaki. His 1988 SF hit "Akira" was unlike anything coming out of the Hollywood animation industry in its dark vision of an atomic-blasted Neo-Tokyo, with its multilayered story of lawless young bikers...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 2, 2006

Quiet on the set. Ready . . . Action!

"All I need is the backing," says the man. "Then I've got a surefire hit."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 28, 2004

Boating, studying and moving to Japan

The last column of the year! Where did the weeks go?
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2004

Weir's far from all at sea

Russell Crowe never made it to the press conference for "Master and Commander," apparently due to an injury suffered on the set of his current film. On the plus side, the usual slack-jawed celeb-oglers were nowhere to be found and a number of interesting questions were put to director Peter Weir, himself...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 22, 2003

Make space, shock value and J-culture

Family line Karen writes in response to Linda Croissant's question in Lifelines (June 10) about how to get rid of stuff she doesn't want.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Jun 14, 2001

Going somewhere?

www.orbitz.com The five biggest U.S. airlines got together on Orbitz to offer cut-rate fares and other travel specials. But since United, American, Northwest Delta and Continental don't belong to any of Asia's ticket cartels, you're not gonna get a discount if you're living in Japan (the regulations...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 2, 1999

But are you experienced?

Remember how online art used to be one of ballyhooed features of our new and improved lives on the Internet? We talked of visiting faraway museums, browsing rarely seen masterpieces, hyper-annotated with curatorial notes and historical contexts. Similarly enticing was the promise of new media and art...
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
Man arrested in Tokyo stabbing tracked victim through livestream
Kenichi Takano leaves a police station in Tokyo on Thursday to be sent over to prosecutors.
U.S. steered Syrian Kurds toward Damascus deal, sources say
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (right) and Syrian Democratic Forces commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in Damascus on Monday.
Concerns grow over possible U.S. tariffs on Japan's auto sector
Toyota vehicles are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Nagoya in June last year.
Swiatek and Medvedev book spots in Indian Wells quarters
Iga Swiatek hits a shot as she defeats Karolina Muchova during their fourth-round match at Indian Wells on Wednesday.
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.
How Upper House pressure led to Ishiba's stunning reversal on medical cost caps
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends an Upper House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan’s No. 2 diplomat seeks higher-level ‘unofficial’ Japan meetings as ties grow
Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu told The Japan Times in an interview last week in Taipei that he hopes with the island democracy can strengthen ties with Japan and other like-minded nations “at every level.”
14 years after 3/11 disasters, Fukushima vies to become a startup hub
Aizawa Concrete employees work in the Namie factory in Fukushima Prefecture in January.
Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene’
Rintaro Sekizuka runs a record store in both London and Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.

Podcast

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

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly
By Tomoko Otake

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