Tag - documentary

 
 

DOCUMENTARY

Journalist Shiori Ito sheds a tear as she speaks to reporters outside the Tokyo district court on Dec. 18, 2019, after hearing the ruling on a damages lawsuit by her, accusing a former TV reporter of rape.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2024
Japanese journalist brings lonely #MeToo battle to Sundance
Shiori Ito's fight for justice is the subject of "Black Box Diaries," a documentary she herself directed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2022
'Tokyo 2020 Side B': Behind the scenes of the 'pandemic Olympics'
While the overall tone is positive and inspirational, the second volume of Naomi Kawase's documentary on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games feels overloaded with aural and visual details.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2022
‘Soup and Ideology’: A touching family portrait that feeds the soul
Director Yang Yonghi comes to terms with her mother's past trauma and animosity toward South Korea in the moving final chapter of her documentary trilogy on familial ties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2022
'Tokyo Side A': Making sense of the 'pandemic Olympics'
Official Olympics documentaries can be as triumphant as a gold-medal performance or they can end up in infamy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 27, 2022
'Honoka' challenges assumptions about the lives of those with severe disabilities
Director Yugo Kunitomo hopes his documentary will get viewers to recognize underlying prejudices through a glimpse into the life of one family.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2022
‘Mlabri in the Woods’ offers a rare look at former hunter-gatherers
Director Yu Kaneko's documentary about an ethnic group living in the hills of Laos and northern Thailand began with an encounter with a Japanese linguist fluent in the Mlabri language.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 15, 2022
‘The Mating Game’: NHK's 8K nature series reveals all
The national broadcaster's 5-episode natural history series, which follows the courting rituals of 80 species in 22 different countries, is the first of its kind to be shot entirely in 8K.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Feb 15, 2020
Netflix to air Naomi Osaka documentary series
Two-time Grand Slam singles winner Naomi Osaka will be featured in an upcoming documentary series to air on Netflix, and the project has the backing of one of global sports' most prominent individuals.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 26, 2019
New Stephen Curry documentary takes look at Japan's grassroots hoops
Do yourself a favor. Set aside 30 minutes to watch a short documentary. Actually, that's enough time to watch it twice. Do it twice. You'll come away with an even greater appreciation for the crisp cinematography, lively action and compelling insights more by absorbing the information twice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2019
'i: Documentary of the Journalist': Japanese press freedom laid bare
Tatsuya Mori follows Tokyo Shimbun journalist Isoko Mochizuki as she attempts to get answers from government officials in this bleak look at press freedom and integrity in Japan
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2019
Yayoi Kusama: The underdog story of a Japanese art maverick
A documentary tells the story of Yayoi Kusama's battles with racism, sexism and mental illness during her 70-plus years of creating art.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Aug 10, 2019
New four-part documentary showcases history of FIBA World Cup
Before the 2019 FIBA World Cup begins on Aug. 31 in China, basketball's global governing body is celebrating its rich history with a new four-part documentary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2019
Japanese filmmaker debuts Parkland school shooting documentary
Following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives in early 2018, Japanese filmmaker Emily Taguchi and her team spent months with members of the grieving community, documenting their recovery and activism in the wake of devastating gun violence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 5, 2019
Ron Howard frames Pavarotti story through arias for new documentary
Director Ron Howard did not know much about opera, but he understands drama when he sees it, and Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti's life was packed with it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2019
'Shinjuku Tiger': A story of one man and his mask
Spend enough time on the streets of Shinjuku, and you'll eventually spot a flamboyantly dressed figure in a tiger mask carrying fake flowers, stuffed animals and a boombox. This is Shinjuku Tiger, the subject of a documentary of the same name out this week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2018
'In Pursuit of Silence': A documentary looks at what it'll take to finally get some peace and quiet
The 1964 tune "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is a bona fide classic, but it never really identifies just what this "sound of silence" is. That task instead falls to "In Pursuit of Silence," the documentary about this surprisingly hard-to-pin-down aural quality and why it's worth pursuing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2018
Documentary to capture views of young Okinawans on U.S. Futenma base issue
As Okinawa continues to be roiled by tensions over a plan to move a key U.S. air base within the prefecture, filmmakers from Iwate Prefecture are using their next documentary to give younger Okinawans a greater voice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2018
Filmmaker makes her case for a nuclear phase-out in latest documentary
Masako Sakata, an award-winning Japanese documentary film director, took the long route to answer a gnawing question: How is it that Japan is still wedded to atomic power while Germany decided to phase out its nuclear plants by 2022 in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2018
Soundtracking the thrill of the climb in Jennifer Peedom's 'Mountain'
With "Mountain," director Jennifer Peedom has done for the mountaineering film what Marks & Spencer's did for food advertisements years ago: taken the concept and beautified it to such an extent that it provokes a visceral response. Salivating over the movie's visual perfection is the only appropriate reaction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2018
Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda visits the stadium that's home to all of America
'The Big House' captures more than just football in a documentary about the University of Michigan's main stadium.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores