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April 25, 2025
 

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Mark Schilling
An immature college student (Riku Hagiwara, left) is caught in the middle of a love triangle in “She Taught Me Serendipity.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2025
‘She Taught Me Serendipity’: A quiet reminder not to take people for granted
While Akiko Ohku’s latest seems like a rom-com on its surface, the ensemble piece delves deeper into the importance of appreciating loved ones while you can.
A reincarnated Chinese strategist (Osamu Mukai) finds himself in modern-day Japan and helps an up-and-coming pop singer win a music competition in “Ya Boy Kongming! The Movie.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2025
‘Ya Boy Kongming! The Movie’: J-pop spectacle goes heavy on performances
Shuhei Shibue's film about the improbable musical career of a Chinese strategist reincarnated in modern-day Japan delivers J-pop high notes and history deep cuts.
Akari Takaishi gets laughs playing a woman who is possessed by the ghost of a middle-aged hitman who bears a grudge in “Ghost Killer.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2025
‘Ghost Killer’: Spirited action and sharp humor make for deadly fun combo
“Baby Assassins” collaborators Yugo Sakamoto and Kensuke Sonomura team up again for an action-packed comedy with Akari Takaishi.
Mitsuko Kusabue plays the feisty proprietor of a ramshackle drinking establishment in “Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2025
‘Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar’: A granny like none other
Acting veteran Mitsuko Kusabue brings wisdom and wit to Yurugu Matsumoto’s lighter-than-air comedy.
Tadanobu Asano plays real-life photographer Masahisa Fukase in “Ravens,” which follows the artist’s life from his professional beginnings to the accident that ended his career.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025
‘Ravens’: Tadanobu Asano plays troubled photographer with scapegrace charm
Mark Gill’s visually lush film subverts the realism of Masahisa Fukase’s life story by introducing a human-sized raven as an imagined antagonist.
A college student (Mizuki Yamashita, right) falls hopelessly in love with a stoic yet kindhearted high school student (Ryuto Sakuma) in “My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2025
‘My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999’ shows that even stoic gamers can fall in love
Yuka Yasukawa’s sweet rom-com with feather-light comedy offers more than a pastel-hued romantic fantasy.
College roommates Yumi (Shiori Kubo, left) and Ruka (Yuna Taira) become close friends despite being as different as night and day in “Nemurubaka: Hypnic Jerks.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 13, 2025
‘Nemurubaka: Hypnic Jerks’: Opposites come together with quips and dry humor
“Baby Assassins” director Yugo Sakamoto swaps action for emotion in his coming-of-age film centered on two college roommates with different levels of ambition.
A welfare caseworker (Takumi Kitamura) heads down a dangerous path despite trying to do the right thing in “A Bad Summer.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2025
‘A Bad Summer’: A scorching drama of simmering rage and its consequences
Hideo Jojo pushes into forbidden territory and navigates the darker currents of his latest film with assurance.
Kumi Takiuchi plays a prostitute talking about her life’s pains and pleasures in detail to a psychiatrist in “Reveal.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2025
‘Reveal’: Kumi Takiuchi’s performance stuns in one-woman film
Kazuyoshi Okuyama’s powerful drama about a sex worker baring her soul features its lead actor emoting nearly nonstop with no cuts.
Journalist and filmmaker Shiori Ito made the documentary “Black Box Diaries” about her years-long battle to find justice following her sexual assault.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2025
Oscar-nominated documentaries put Japan under the microscope
Shiori Ito’s “Black Box Diaries” and Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “Instruments of a Beating Heart” both mark firsts in their respective categories.
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
Kichitaro Negishi’s drama, based on a real-life love triangle among notable figures of the Japanese literati, captures the flavor of a bygone era.
In “Kanasando,” when Mika (Ruka Matsuda, left) returns to her hometown in Okinawa Prefecture, she starts to see her estranged father (Tadanobu Asano) in a new light as his health deteriorates.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2025
‘Kanasando’: Heartwarming homecoming inspires a change of heart
Tadanobu Asano shows a vulnerable side of his tough-guy image while playing a dementia-afflicted father reconnecting with his daughter in Toshiyuki Teruya’s film.
Although she’s unlucky in love, Shigusa (Kirara Inori, left) finds strength in expressing herself through art in “Kisspeptin Chronicles.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2025
‘Kisspeptin Chronicles’: Quirky rom-com dances through the pain of heartache
Shiika Okada’s debut feature has an autobiographical feel and a hopeful message about self-discovery despite romantic disappointments.
A young couple (Ryuya Wakaba and Mai Fukagawa) fulfill a lifelong dream of moving to the countryside, only to find their new community may have sinister intentions toward them in “Welcome to the Village.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2025
‘Welcome to the Village’: Tradition takes a twisted turn in the countryside
The ancient tradition of “murahachibu,” ostracizing community members as punishment, gets a contemporary twist in Hideo Jojo’s slow-burn thriller.
Reality and dreams begin to blur for a former French literature professor (Kyozo Nagatsuka, front) after he receives a cryptic message in “Teki Cometh.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2025
‘Teki Cometh’ slides in and out of a hypnotic dreamworld
Kyozo Nagatsuka gives a finessed performance as an elderly gentleman who is not as gentle as he seems in Daihachi Yoshida’s drama.
A keen fisherman from Tokyo (Masaki Suda) moves to a tight-knit community in Miyagi Prefecture during the COVID-19 pandemic in “Sunset Sunrise.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2025
‘Sunset Sunrise’: Rom-com finds pathos in peak pandemic setting
Yoshiyuki Kishi’s film delivers a deliciously uplifting story with humor and heart in a tight-knit community impacted by disasters.
NHK’s latest taiga period drama, “Unbound,” centers on Tsutaya Juzaburo (Ryusei Yokohama), a commoner who becomes a successful bookseller and publisher.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 10, 2025
‘Unbound’ breaks NHK period drama tradition with a hero of the common folk
Public broadcaster NHK marks its 100th anniversary by flipping the script on its long-running period drama series.
Hisao Kurozumi (left) and Kazuki Nagaya (the film’s director) play brothers with a strained relationship in “Mending Cracks.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2025
‘Mending Cracks’: A muddled drama about brotherly discord
Kazuki Nagaya’s directorial debut has its charms, but doesn’t offer enough substance to engage the audience.
Tomoko Tabata brings verve and emotion as 11-year-old Renko in “Moving,” Shinji Somai’s forgotten classic from 1993.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2024
‘Moving’: A profound, poetic coming-of-age masterpiece restored in 4K
The 1993 film by Shinji Somai is rekindling interest in the late director as a generational talent.
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 / 2024 in Review
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.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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