Tag - yu-aoi

 
 

YU AOI

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
Feb 8, 2017
'Survival Family': Soft-pedaling through dystopia
To Hollywood, "dystopian future" usually means invading aliens, exotic technology and gigantic explosions. Shinobu Yaguchi's "Survival Family" posits an alternative, more mundane cause of civilizational collapse: Japan's electric grid suddenly freezes up, like a laptop that's been doused with hot coffee....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2016
Ishizaki switches guitars for scripts in his on-screen debut
Making his on-screen debut in Daigo Matsui's multistranded, disorderly and, at times, moving film "Japanese Girls Never Die" ("Azumi Harako wa Yukie Fumei"), singer Huwie Ishizaki admits that he was nervous prior to stepping in front of the cameras. The 32-year-old solo artist is used to putting on intense...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2016
'Japanese Girls Never Die': They want to have more than just fun
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he wants to build a society in which "all women can shine." But as Daigo Matsui graphically shows in his new film "Japanese Girls Never Die," women in Japan are still living in a male-dominated society that, in everything from unequal pay to blatant sexual harassment,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2016
Japan's eclectic collection of choice
The Tokyo International Film Festival offers a great once-in-a-year opportunity to see new and classic Japanese films with English subtitles. The sheer quantity on offer — more than 50 titles in the main sections alone — can be overwhelming, though. Here are samples from my own must-see list.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 18, 2016
History of life on Earth; a tale of two women; CM of the week: Asahi Group Foods
There has been life on Earth for roughly 3.8 billion years, and humans have only been around for a small portion of that time. The four-hour special "Ningen wa Nan da?" ("What is a Human Being?"; TBS, Mon., 7 p.m.) attempts to get at the meaning of human existence through close scientific research.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 27, 2015
Japan-Korea dramas shine
Festival/Tokyo, which bills itself as "Japan's leading performing-arts event," is notable this year for its international collaborations — especially between Japanese and Korean dramatists, whose works comprise three of the 12 main programs in its Oct. 31-Dec. 6 span.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 3, 2015
World Heritage site tourism; visualizing Hiroshima's bombing; CM of the Week: Mitsui Real Estate
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hakubun Shimomura takes time away from dealing with the new national stadium to make a guest appearance on the travel program "So da, Dokka ni Ikko?" ("Well, Where Shall We Go?"; TV Tokyo, Tues., 6:57 p.m.). Shimomura is there to introduce...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2014
Fatal Frame: Mari Asato's uncanny, ghostly dopplegangers
Japanese horror movies have various ways of making you squirm, shiver or watch the screen through your fingers. But sooner or later most scares of the spook-house variety become annoying. How many more times do I want to see a ghostly hand surging from a tub of bloody water to grab an unsuspecting wrist?...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 14, 2013
Mishima plays get the puppet treatment
The "Five Modern Noh Plays" by Yukio Mishima (1925-70) has already been the subject of many adaptations, but the latest is by marionette theater company Youkiza. Not only is the original set of yūgen (a mysterious, profound universe) retained, but so is the modern approach typical of novelist Mishima's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013
Ishikawa knows when to throw away the script
Japanese directors of TV dramas often make films that are basically big-screen versions of small-screen shows. No surprise, since their TV-network backers want product that will work equally well with multiplex audiences and home viewers.
Reader Mail
Feb 27, 2011
Pawns of leading-edge 'research'
The front-page Feb. 22 article "Work starts at Shinjuku Unit 731" prompted me to make a few comments as a student of the Chinese language who visited the Biological Warfare Unit 731 site in the Pingfang district of Harbin, China. (The Shinjuku site in Tokyo is said to have been research headquarters...

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