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November 04, 2025
 

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Kaori Shoji
Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'Blue Jasmine'
We love watching rich people be rich and happy, but maybe we love it more when the cash stops flowing. There's a Japanese phrase for that, and roughly translated, it goes like this: "The unhappiness of others tastes of honey." In that vein, Woody Allen's newest work, "Blue Jasmine" — a film that stirred...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'The Secret Children'
Hiroshi Nakajima is one of the few Japan-born directors working in Hollywood, and his second feature, "The Secret Children," opens tomorrow. Exploring the issue of human clones with an all-American cast, "Children" has the uminstakable sheen of a made-in-the-USA sci-fi thriller. That said, Nakajima's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'
Director: Francis Lawrence
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
This tale of brutal vengeance is no fantasy
A thousand things can go wrong in a kidnapping investigation, and "Prisoners" goes through about 100 of them before you lose count. After that it's easy to blackout under the chokehold of desperation that defines both the film and its protagonist, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'Prisoners'
Cinematically speaking, Thanksgiving is beginning to have the same connotations as the white picket fences and manicured lawns of suburban America: symbols of disaster or tragedy. In "The Company Men" (2010), Ben Affleck feels his jobless life unravelling at the Thanksgiving table. In "Four Brothers"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'Labor Day'
There's nothing like an extremely stressful situation to bring people together. Keanu Reeves said something like that in "Speed," and by the end of the movie he had a relationship in the works with Sandra Bullock. By the sequel, though, they had already broken up. Stressful situations are not always...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'R.I.P.D. (Ghost Agent)'
Director: Robert Schwentke
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'
Spider-Man returns once again — something other superheroes also have a tendency of doing. Marvel Comics' entomological superhero, aka Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), is up to his web-spinning ways again in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" — the second in the rebooted "Spider-Man" movie series launched...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'Omamamia'
Let's get one thing clear: Women want to lose weight. Even if they're rail thin, women still want to be skinnier than they are. That is, everyone except German actress Marianne Sagebrecht, who wears every one of her pounds with regal grandeur and walks into each scene as if she owns the movie.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'Prison Break: The Final Break'
Directors: Brad Turner and Kevin Hooks
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
The amazing thing about a modern Spider-Man
Too often, superheroes are clueless about what women want. Sure, they can catch the villains and save the world, but when it comes to relationships, they stink.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 20, 2014
I heart cherry blossoms — the rise of Japan's petit nationalism
My friend Naoki has a new strategy when it comes to getting dates; these days he says the best bet is to kusuguru (くすぐる, tickle, or appeal to) a woman's sense of aikokushin (愛国心, patriotism).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2014
Tortured POW meets his Japanese tormentor
"He is most interested in having contact with you for he has lived with many unanswered questions all these years, questions to which perhaps only you can help him to find the answers." So wrote Patricia Lomax in a letter sent from her home in England to Takashi Nagase, who at the time lived in Okayama...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2014
'The Railway Man'
Speaking as a Japanese, "The Railway Man" is extremely difficult to sit through, as it deals with the treatment of British POWs by the Japanese Army after they took Singapore during World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2014
'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'
While other fantasy heroes and heroines — such as Katniss Everdeen ("The Hunger Games") or, heck, Harry Potter — had no time or funds to enjoy themselves, the heroine of "The Mortal Instruments," Clary Fray (Lily Collins), is a privileged teenager living in a cozy Brooklyn apartment with her attractive...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2014
'47 Ronin'
Director: Carl Rinsch
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2014
'August: Osage County'
As far as craziness in families goes, it can't get worse than what's shown in "August: Osage County." Start to finish, the film recalls rusty barbed wire, the type usually seen around maximum security prisons. Mind you, the story has nothing to do with prisons or crime (unless bad-mouthing and mean-spiritedness...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2014
'Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones'
Despite the unoffical verdict that the "found footage" genre is dead as the dodo, there are those who have a weakness for the stuff, namely myself. Forgive me if I seem predisposed toward "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones," but it does breathe a bit of life into the found-footage cadaver.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2014
'The Killing'
Language: English
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2014
Finding a heap of treasure in 'Zipang Punk'
It's the late 16th century, when Japan was in the vicelike grip of rich and ruthless warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Things were good at the top, but the rest of Zipang (Japan) was poor, hungry and repressed. Welcome to "Zipang Punk — Goemon Rock III."
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
A narrow Pacific waterway at heart of U.S. plans to choke China’s vast navy
Philippine and Australian troops fire an M777 howitzer during live fire exercises as part of joint military drills in Laur, Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, in August.
Trump would make U.S. Supreme Court history by attending tariffs case
There is no record in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 235-year history of a sitting president ever attending arguments, according to Clare Cushman, director of publications and resident historian at the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dodgers clinch back-to-back World Series titles as Blue Jays downed in thriller
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and teammates celebrate after winning the World Series against the Blue Jays. Yamamoto was named MVP for the series.
How airlines are refining their in-flight food in Japan's tourism boom
All Nippon Airways' gourmet program, The Connoisseurs, showcases the Japanese concept of "shun" (peak season for ingredients), giving passengers a preview of the refined cuisine that awaits them in Japan.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
Anime isn’t competing with Hollywood — it’s beating it
After its July release, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle,” an animated feature adapted directly from a TV arc, became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever.
Oasis returns to Japan after 16 years — and fans can still sing every word
Liam Gallagher commanded the stage with effortless charisma during Oasis' Tokyo Dome set on Saturday.
At Japan Mobility Show, BYD gears up to conquer Japan's EV market
BYD Auto Japan President Atsuki Tofukuji unveils the Racco at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

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