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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 28, 2009

'Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta'

Takashi Yamazaki was known primarily as a computer-graphics whiz when he directed the ensemble drama "Always Sanchome no Yuhi" ("Always: Sunset on Third Street," 2005). True to form, the recreation of 1950s Tokyo by Yamazaki's team at the Shirogumi effects house was hyper-realistically detailed, while...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Dec 16, 2015

Moviegoers suffering from motion sickness not enamored with CGI effects

Once upon a time, cinemas screening "The Exorcist" handed out barf bags to their patrons as a cheap gimmick. (The movie was so "sick" it would make you sick.)
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2023

Faulty credits tarnish billion-dollar carbon offset seller

Recent financial details released by South Pole make these flawed credits even more troubling to some customers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 12, 2013

Preserving a classic Japanese art form: tokusatsu magic

Our monster is scaly, spiky, reptilian — a cross between a dinosaur and an irradiated insect that shrieks like an angry bird. Our hero is lean, faintly muscular in a rubbery skintight suit with inscrutable praying-mantis eyes. They face one another, stomping left to right like sumo wrestlers, posing...
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2001

Pixels can't really tell the whole story

Final Fantasy Rating: * * * Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Running time: 106 minutes Language: English Now showing
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2021

China quietly and deftly shapes international discourse

China is increasingly growing confident and capable in propagating terminology and vocabulary that carry normative impact. Simply put, Beijing's discourse power shows signs of growth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2017

Shinobu Yaguchi can make sparks fly, even off the grid

When I met Shinobu Yaguchi at a Chicago sushi restaurant on March 1, I made my usual mistake with well-known directors: mention that I had interviewed him before. He, understandably, blanked, since the interview was 20 years ago for his 1997 indie comedy "My Secret Cache" ("Himitsu no Hanazono")
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2016

Our favorite monster returns to terrorize Japan in 'Shin Godzilla'

After 12 years in storage (or on Monster Island) a Japanese Godzilla is roaring again. Toho film studios has revived the world's favorite atomic-breathed monster in "Shin Godzilla," which is set for nationwide release today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2014

The man who lives for the art of dying

Interviewing Seizo Fukumoto, the star of Ken Ochiai's backstage drama "Uzumasa Limelight," I wished I had brought a video camera, instead of my voice recorder and notepad. As he talks, this veteran kirare-yaku — an actor whose forte is being cut down with a sword in jidaigeki (samurai period dramas)...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 25, 2013

U.S. health site tests 'began too late'

Private contractors in charge of building the federal online health insurance marketplace testified Thursday that the administration went ahead with the Oct. 1 launch of HealthCare.gov despite insufficient testing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 6, 2013

How Marvel's film magic made us true believers

Marvel Comics revolutionized the superhero genre in the 1960s with comic book characters such as Spider-Man, Thor, Iron-Man and The Hulk. Colorfully costumed adventurers who fought criminals and alien monsters primarily on the streets of New York City, and who, despite their incredible superpowers, struggled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2022

‘Yokaipedia’: Fantasy flick takes a page out of ‘Harry Potter’

Takashi Yamazaki's supernatural adventure film will cast a spell on younger viewers, but parents should find it entertaining, too.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2022

Marubeni expects up to $3.5 billion from Gavilon sale to Viterra

Marubeni will transfer shares of Gavilon to Viterra following a reorganization of Gavilon's structure, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 13, 2021

Kengo Kuma on the future of urban architecture … and cats

The architect's first major solo exhibition showcases 74 public spaces and facilities, and an installation featuring CGI cats that reveals a deeper contemplation of urban landscapes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2020

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia lineup delivers despite COVID-19

Other than delaying the festival from its usual June starting date, things are on track for the event, which will screen more than 200 films at venues around Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 10, 2018

'Akira' inspires generations of foreign animators

Enthusiasts pour their souls into labors of love honoring Otomo's classic anime film and manga series.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 31, 2016

Actors seek posthumous protections after big-screen resurrections

Tuesday's death of actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in "Star Wars," set off waves of remembrance among fans — but also speculation over her character's return in yet-to-be-filmed episodes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 25, 2015

Japan: surprisingly, sensibly and endearingly low-tech

The common image of Japan abroad as a high-tech country is severely out of step with the everyday experience of those of us who live here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 19, 2015

Animated antidotes to Pixar-Disney eye candy

Children's animated films, like just about everything else these days, are mostly created by a couple of mega-corporations. Some days it seems like the only animations out there are digitally rendered, hyperactive "Pix-ney" flicks filled with pop-culture wisecracks and supported by a $100 million budget....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2014

Heaven is for Real: 'But why is it crazy-talk to say you've been there?'

The main point of "Heaven is for Real" is contained in its title, so you know where you're going with this one before you even buy the ticket. The film is based on the best-selling nonfiction book by Todd Burpo, a Nebraska pastor whose 4-year-old son, Colton, had a near-death experience during emergency...
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 7, 2014

Internet users called to answer to system's ills

Responding to a dizzying array of issues that threaten to break the Internet, from privacy to tax dodging to cybercrime, a group of the world's leading governance organizations say greater user involvement, not top-down control, is needed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014

Godzilla: the monster with multiple personalities

"Godzilla" was the first Japanese movie I saw. It was also the first for many other American baby boomers, though we did not view Ishiro Honda's 1954 original, but a version that had been heavily edited and dubbed for the U.S. market, with additional footage featuring Raymond Burr as an intrepid American...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 4, 2014

Japanese game developers create immersive virtual worlds with Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift is the true people's choice in the virtual-reality community. From its grassroots upbringing through crowdfunding to its multibillion dollar buyout by Facebook last week, Palmer Luckey's immersive headset, which tracks the head movements of the wearer to plunge them into virtual environments,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

Live-action Ghibli remake delivers a new Kiki

When is a remake not a remake? Arguably, Takashi Shimizu's "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" is less a reworking of the Hayao Miyazaki animation classic (which this reviewer praised on this page in 1989) than his own interpretation of the 1985 Eiko Kadono fantasy novel on which the Miyazaki...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014

Debate still rages over Abe-endorsed WWII drama

Takashi Yamazaki's World War II drama "Eien no Zero (The Eternal Zero)," whose pilot hero joins the tokkōtai (kamikaze) suicide squadron in the closing days of the war, has soared to the box office heights since its Dec. 21 release. After ranking No. 1 in the charts for eight weeks in a row, the film...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2014

Our movie highlights of the coming year

Another year, another raft of unmissable movies. Here are the most hotly anticipated releases for JT film critics Mark Schilling, Kaori Shoji and Giovanni Fazio — get them in your diary now.
“The First Slam Dunk” was animated in a style known as 3DCG anime, which combines the hard outlines and flat planes of traditional 2D animation with 3D models and movement.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2024

Anime is going digital. Fans are wary.

As the industry continues to embrace computer-generated work, some audiences struggle to accept the change.
The film character Godzilla poses on the red carpet during a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California, in November 2004.  
COMMENTARY
Nov 6, 2024

After nearly three-quarters of a century, Godzilla’s monstrous empire is thriving

The famed Japanese monster went from serious metaphor for nuclear destruction to a kitschy pop culture icon.
“Light Court” (2024) is based on the “Lightcourt” space at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by metabolist architect Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007).
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2025

Yuki Harada's contemplative artworks ponder vanishing

The artist spent time researching Japanese migrants who left Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures for Hawaii, and the U.S. island state often features in his art.
Ken Kutaragi, the creator of Sony's PlayStation, speaks at the annual Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2024

Father of PlayStation says 'everyone told us we would fail'

With revolutionary 3D graphics and titles like "Tomb Raider" and "Metal Gear Solid," the device first hit shelves on Dec. 3, 1994.

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