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December 21, 2024
 

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JAPANESE FILM

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
Dec 20, 2024
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
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
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
Takashi Watanabe’s film concerns the plight of a bumbling TV writer whose entanglement with a club hostess leads to his downfall.
A poster for Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "The Boy and the Heron" (in the foreground) is displayed at a theater screening the film in Beijing.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024
Japanese films tug at Chinese moviegoers' heartstrings
Most of the Japanese movies making waves in China are anime titles capable of making solid profits.
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
In a year of major box-office hits such as “Conan” and “Haikyu!!,” smaller animators used nontraditional tools to stand out from the rest.
AE3803 (Mei Nagano, left) and U-1146 (Takeru Satoh) are the red and white blood cell protagonists of “Cells at Work!,” Hideki Takeuchi’s quirky film about the human body.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2024
‘Cells at Work!’: Cellular shenanigans make for a fantastic voyage
Spirited performances by Mei Nagano and Takeru Satoh bolster Hideki Takeuchi’s quirky and stylish film.
“Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" provides an in-depth look into the octogenarian auteur’s creative process and personal reflections.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2024
‘Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron’ documentary meditates on auteur's creativity and legacy
Filmed with unparalleled access to Studio Ghibli, director Kaku Arakawa captures the vulnerability and genius behind master animator Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024
Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling
"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
“A Big Home” offers a sincere portrait of the vulnerable youth who live in more than 600 group homes across Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024
Vulnerable youth look for sense of belonging in ‘A Big Home’
Ryo Takebayashi’s documentary profiles the residents of a group home, but shies away from making emphatic statements about the circumstances that brought them there.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “The Making of a Japanese” is an even-handed portrait of elementary school in Japan, where the citizens of tomorrow are forged.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024
‘The Making of a Japanese’: A warm and engaging portrait of Japanese schoolchildren
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary is a candid and heartfelt glimpse of elementary school in Tokyo.
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for “Godzilla Minus One,” while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in “Shogun.” Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.
CULTURE / 2024 in Review
Dec 4, 2024
Japan's soft power soared to new heights in 2024
From Oscars and Emmys to a Nobel Peace Prize, it was a year of awards and triumphs in key cultural fields.
Keiichi Kaburagi (Ryusei Yokohama) goes on the run after being sentenced to death for a triple murder he insists he didn’t commit in Michihito Fujii’s “Faceless.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2024
‘Faceless’: Fugitive thriller turns a blind eye to hard truths
Michihiro Fujii’s latest offers stylistic flourishes while treading the familiar terrain of the fugitive film.
Eriko Nakamura (left) and Ryo Narita play star-crossed lovers in Shinzo Katayama’s hallucinatory romp through past and present, dreams and reality.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2024
The mind-bending melancholy of ‘Lust in the Rain’
Shinzo Katayama’s hallucinatory film boldly explores both the absurdities of wartime violence and the erotic psyche.
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
Junichi Yasuda’s film about a time-traveling warrior is a loving tribute to the “jidaigeki” (period drama) genre and its practitioners.
Daihachi Yoshida receives the Tokyo Grand Prix award for his film, “Teki Cometh,” at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Nov. 6.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 8, 2024
Festival glory for a dark Japanese comedy
With sold-out screenings, international stars and an increase in guests, this year's Tokyo International Film Festival revived its rep as a global cinematic gathering.
An AI robot is cast into a wild environment and forced to adapt to her surroundings in “The Wild Robot.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 8, 2024
TIFF’s animation entries rediscovered the art of the fable at this year's festival
This year’s animated lineup championed nature, connection and simplicity through stories that revel in the beauty of coexistence.
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.
A woman walks past a poster with an image of Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi for the 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which is currently underway through Nov. 6.
CULTURE
Nov 2, 2024
Spend Culture Day weekend in Ginza with TIFF and Yuko Mohri
The Tokyo International Film Festival is great chance to see noteworthy films, while the Artizon Museum presents playful art installations by Yuko Mohri.
Studio Ghibli’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service” draws inspiration from Sweden’s medieval town of Visby as well as Stockholm for its vibrant setting of Koriko, a fictional city where the film’s titular character decides to use her powers as a witch to benefit the inhabitants of her new home.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 27, 2024
The Swedish heart of Hayao Miyazaki's ‘Kiki's Delivery Service’
Inspiration for the 1989 Studio Ghibli classic is still very evident in Visby, a picturesque town that captivated the animator on his first trip abroad in 1971.
Andrijana Cvetkovikj is the senior programmer for the Women’s Empowerment section at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The former ambassador also works to promote young filmmakers in Japan’s film industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 24, 2024
Andrijana Cvetkovikj: ‘We have to create more opportunities for women to be playing on equal ground’
The former Macedonian ambassador to Japan is also playing a part in promoting younger film directors in the country's movie industry.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
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.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

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By Alex K.T. Martin

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