19
P/SUNNY
A sit-in by visa violators and their families entered its second day Tuesday in front of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau with protesters seeking government good will. The action at the bureau in Minato Ward is being organized by the Asian People’s Friendship Society, ...
Kazuhiro Shiraishi, 66, is a guest-house manager in the Izu-kogen Highlands, a famous resort area on the Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture. Looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, and just 90 minutes by train from Tokyo, Izu has a warm climate all year round ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Takashi Miike's blood-soaked vengeance tale, one of two Japanese films being shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, draws the biggest boos so far, with critics savaging it as overacted and cliched.
Have you ever given your best effort while striving to achieve something but felt like what you were doing was futile? That’s the feeling I’m getting about Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics. With just over three months to go until the IOC ...
This is the followup to “Herb & Dorothy” from 2008, in which New York-based documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki wowed the world when she introduced Manhattan art-collector couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel. For some reason, it took a full two years for that film to ...
Director: David Koepp Language: English Bike-courier thriller “Premium Rush” never opened in theaters here, but if you have ever pondered the possibilities of a career in bike delivery, this one is HUGE. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is his coolest self as New York courier Wilee, careening ...
Good news for sci-fi/horror geeks with big and generous hearts who have nothing to do on a spring Sunday but to check out this “Alien”-meets-”28 Days Later”-meets-”Species”-and-they-decide-to-move-in-together-to-save-on-rent kind of movie. And not so good news for the rest of us. “Crawlspace” is brought to ...
Directors: Oliver Nakache, Eric Toledano Language: French (subtitled in Japanese) The best-selling French film of all time has finally finished its theater run and is available to rent. “Intouchables” sparked controversy on both sides of the Atlantic: Some critics couldn’t forgive the racist underpinnings ...
Since her auspicious Japan debut in 1963, Miffy (or Usako-chan to her Japanese fans) has enjoyed a constant and stable popularity, if less sensational than her homegrown counterpart Hello Kitty. Miffy — the adorable white girl-rabbit with ears pointing straight up — was the ...
At first glance it seems as though filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul came out of nowhere, made documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” on his home computer, then floated onto the red carpet to be awarded an Oscar. “In fact, it was incredibly hard work,” says the ...
A fantastical (and technically stunning) spin on a classic bedtime story, “Jack the Giant Slayer” doesn’t tell us anything new, but some moments may give nightmares to the under-12s. The fee-fi-fo-fum ambience is there, but director Bryan Singer (of “X-Men” franchise fame) instead mostly ...
Ever heard of a Detroit-based musician by the name of Sixto Rodriguez? If so, you’re extraordinarily well informed, or perhaps you spent some time in South Africa during the late 1970s. But if you’re unaware of the man or his music, “Searching for Sugar ...
In this major overhaul of the lucrative “Bourne” franchise, Matt Damon is replaced by Jeremy Renner (“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”) and Bourne himself is relegated to a mere mythic figure instead of appearing as a flesh-and-blood agent. Groan? Possibly. Renner as agent Aaron Cross ...
It’s that time of year when the Japanese turn their thoughts to what I call the 3-S’s: sakura (桜, cherry blossoms), sakamori (酒盛り, drinking parties) and shuran (酒乱, getting raucously drunk). Fifty weeks out of the year we’re our dull, proper, work-addicted selves, but ...
