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Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” follows a young boy who enters a strange realm on a quest to find his missing stepmother.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 4, 2023
‘The Boy and the Heron’ hype ramps up ahead of English release
Pairs of tickets to the Hayao Miyazaki film’s international debut at the Toronto International Film Festival are reselling for as much as ¥45,000.
A woman carries food to customers at a Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 27, 2023
Hong Kong turns to tycoons to get party scene back on track
The government is urging major property groups to help boost the nighttime economy via drink coupons, free events and later shopping hours.
Bob Barker, host of the television game show "The Price is Right," in December 2006
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 27, 2023
Beloved U.S. game show legend Bob Barker dies age 99
Barker was a prominent animal activist, once donating $5 million to the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, which named a vessel after him.
A woman stands on one side of the wall texting in front of a nightclub while, on the other side of the wall, a man works in an izakaya.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 24, 2023
One night out in Tokyo
As the last trains leave the central hubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya for the suburbs, much of the city heads home. However, Tokyo never sleeps.
An Air Koryo plane is reflected in a glass structure of the airport in Pyongyang in April 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 22, 2023
North Korea sees first passenger flight in three years
An Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing early Tuesday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began in 2020.
Reader opinions have been mixed on Haruki Murakami's latest novel, “The City and Its Uncertain Walls.”
CULTURE / Books
Aug 20, 2023
Haruki Murakami’s latest has readers and reviewers perplexed
Following the arrival of the renowned author’s first full-length novel in six years, critics and readers have been left scratching their heads.
Fans in Tokyo take pictures of the poster for "The Boy and the Heron."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 18, 2023
Hayao Miyazaki's final film to open San Sebastian festival
Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" will open two film festivals in September, a rare feat for any director.
Michael Oher (left) has accused Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy of cheating him out of earnings from "The Blind Side," a film based on his life story.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 17, 2023
'Blind Side' couple responds to Michael Oher's lawsuit
Oher, whose life story was the subject of the film "The Blind Side" accused the pair of tricking him into signing away control of his financial affairs.
In 'Ooku: The Inner Chambers,' a secretly female shogun rules Japan and is attended to by a group of male concubines.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 17, 2023
'Ooku: The Inner Chambers': Alternative history explores gender norms
The Netflix anime tells a complex love story in an alternate-reality Edo Japan in which an illness upends gender roles.
Michael Oher (right) was drafted in 2009 by the Baltimore Ravens, with whom he won the Super Bowl in 2013.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Aug 16, 2023
Former NFL 'Blind Side' star sues over 'adoption'
Former Raven Michael Oher is also seeking to receive a share of profits he claims not to have been paid in addition to financial and compensatory damages.
Sendai Station is one of the train stations to see the biggest gains in foot traffic compared to pre-pandemic levels.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2023
30% of Japan prefectures see crowds surpass pre-COVID levels
Based on an analysis of major train stations, 13 locations, or 28%, recorded more people than during the same period in 2019.
Chihiro Okada (right), a representative of Animal Rights Center, during a news conference at the Okinawa Prefectural Government building on July 10
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Aug 7, 2023
Confrontations deepen over duck-catching event in Okinawa
Animal rights groups say the event constitutes animal abuse.
A highway runs through Saudi Arabia's arid landscape. A new horticulture project marks the biggest food-tech investment for the country, whose extreme summer temperatures have long left it reliant on food imports.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2023
Saudi city of future enlists Dutch help to grow crops in desert
The Netherlands is now the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter after the U.S., despite being one of Europe’s smallest nations.
The protagonist of Yu Miri’s “The End of August” is a fictionalized version of the author’s maternal grandfather, a long-distance runner who lived in Japanese-occupied Korea.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2023
Yu Miri’s new book is a bleak, dizzying epic in colonized Korea
In “The End of August,” the Akutagawa Prize-winning author excavates her own family history and traces multiple generations living under Japanese rule.
This year’s Fuji Rock Festival, which took place last weekend and featured The Strokes, Foo Fighters and Lizzo as headliners, brought a cumulative total of 114,000 attendees to the mountains of Niigata Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 4, 2023
Fuji Rock’s diversity is back — and it feels great
Millennial rock, Gen Z rap and a Sinead O’Connor tribute fill a stellar weekend of music.
A woman takes a picture of the poster for the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 2, 2023
Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece
Our critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of the new Hayao Miyazaki film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
Customers visit a grilled eel store in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2023
People line up for grilled eel on the Day of the Ox in Japan
Japan has a tradition of eating nutritious grilled eels, believed to be good for restoring energy, on the midsummer Day of the Ox.
The 1975 perform at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 22, 2023
Malaysia halts music festival after same-sex kiss by U.K. band The 1975
Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Rights groups have warned of growing intolerance against the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
A theater-goer takes a photo of the promotional poster for Hayao Miyazaki’s new film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2023
‘The Boy and the Heron’: It’s so good to be back in Hayao Miyazaki’s world
Studio Ghibli’s latest film takes viewers on one last journey to the familiar world of a master animator who has captivated audiences worldwide for decades.
A cinema employee checks on a display showing a digital poster for Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, "The Boy and the Heron," on the first day of its premiere in Tokyo on July 14.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2023
For his last movie, Hayao Miyazaki recycles himself
While visually and technically stunning, "The Boy and the Heron" might give some viewers an unsatisfying sense of deja vu.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals